flag

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: flag.

I am flagging today. I had just a touch of cold symptoms Sunday and then got worse and worse in clinic yesterday. I wore a mask to try to keep from giving my cold to my patients. Home to bed as soon as I finished the last one, but today I am up early, in spite of ten hours sleep , and worse. I have learned the hard way that if I try to “work through it” I will cough for weeks or get pneumonia, so I will cancel clinic today.

I like the elements in this photograph, the triangle of the adult, the kayak and the gull. I also like the child “perched” on the gull’s back. It reminds me of an old children’s book: At the Back of the North Wind, by George McDonald, first published as a serial in 1868. It’s an odd and magical story.Β  The whole text is available on project Gutenberg here. I like to read children’s books when I have a cold and am trying to rest. They are very comforting.

And here is an illustration on line as well.

Mundane Monday #181: shadow

For Mundane Monday #181, my theme is shadow. Halloween is approaching, yesterday was gloriously sunny in the afternoon here, but the shadows are darkest when the sun is brightest. Contrast. I took this from a downtown restaurant balcony, out over the water.

What shadows and contrasts have you photographed? Send your link or a message, and they will be posted next week.

From last week, Mundane Monday #180: fall coral.

KL Allendorfer with real coral.

 

it’s natural

Sometimes in clinic, people say, “It’s natural, so it can’t harm me.”

Um.

As we hiked Tunnel Creek yesterday, the forest shifted. We entered a drier section, still in shadow, and saw patches of these black fungi. We enjoyed their creepy beauty and wondered if we were entering a forest of no return.Β  Even though they are natural, we did not touch, nor pick, nor eat these mushrooms.

early

Driving to work yesterday, I pulled over and took this photograph. It was so beautiful in the early morning.

Yesterday evening I walked downtown after work. Our local Kiwanis is working on a memorial for all those lost at sea. I started thinking and wondering if we have a memorial for those lost to drug addiction, lost to domestic violence, for lost innocence.

This photograph is for all those losses.