The challenge of August

Fun in Ocean City.

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.  The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot.  It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.  Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone.

~ Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

First week

Back in July, Karma invited us to play along with the iHeart August photo challenge.  I never could resist a good challenge, and I kept Karma’s invitation in mind throughout the month of August.  Thank goodness Karma is loosy-goosy with the rules because, as it turns out, August was a challenging month for me.  Travel, friends and family visits, my health, and staying on top of the everyday chores combined to keep me busy.  I’m going to have to fudge a bit to come up with something for each day of the month, but I think I managed to capture most of the photos for this challenge within the month of August (or at least within the summer months).

Most of the first week’s group of shots are self-explanatory, and you’ve seen a few of them throughout the month.  Happy was my father’s birthday celebration with the M&M’s.  Sidewalk consists of shadows on a sidewalk.  The clock pictured for the word Treasure might not be as obvious as the rest.  I picked that shot because time is a treasure, or at least something we ought to be treasuring, since it tends to fly by so quickly and before you know it, you’ve run out.  Floral are the morning glories on the garden fence.  Messy are the flowers in the meadows.  Two are our bikes parked at the Point.  And Relax are my feet resting in the swimming pool.

Second week

Blurry was taken while on the road during one of the trips I took this month.  Horizon is a sunset at the Point.  I had to cheat a bit and use my feet twice (they appear in the first week’s collage as Relax and again here for Feet).  Given that I use my feet as my Gravatar, it’s kind of funny that I didn’t think to take another picture of them sometime during the month.  The clouds in the sky are Up High.  Someone Special is my someone special who prefers not to be recognizable on Ye Olde Blogge.  Throwback is a beach scene.  It reminds me of my childhood when my parents would rent a house on the Jersey shore for two weeks in August, and our days were spent on the beach swimming, playing, building sandcastles, and crowding under the umbrella when we’d had too much fun in the sun.  Speaking of In the Sun, that’s a table decorated with shells and a fish sitting in the sun at the Hide Away Grill where we went for lunch with the M&M’s on a hot afternoon when the sun was blazing.

Third week

Circles are some circles on a leaf I found in the woods.  Adventure is from a bike ride we took with the M&M’s when we went out exploring country roads.  Cool is a refreshing cup of ice water with lime and a cherry.  Window Pane is a reflection of a window pane in the yoga room.  Simplicity is a single spatterdock leaf floating in the pond at Pocomoke River State Park where we went hiking with friends.  Before/After is the meadow, the sides before mowing and the path or middle after mowing.  Visit is a photo taken during dinner at the Hide Away Grill with friends who were visiting us.

Four from the fourth week.

Fresh is a freshly bloomed zinnia.  Shadow is Izzy lying on the concrete pad by the garage, her shadow relaxing with her.  Sign is a sign on the beach in Ocean City (with the M&M’s doing their part).  Splash is, obviously, a splash in the pool.

Dream

Outside

In the circles above, you’ll find Dream taken on the last day of August when I was dreaming of autumn and cooler weather, and Outside taken from the dock in Crisfield when we were out with friends.

Details.

Details, I thought, deserved a spot on its own so that you could actually see the details.  It is a bird’s nest that M found on the ground.  Do you remember the image of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher I posted the other day?  (Here is a link in case you didn’t see it or don’t remember.)  The nest is about 3 inches wide, and was built by a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  Or possibly by a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers since the male and female work together to build their nests.  They build a series of nests throughout the summer to avoid parasites, predators, and mite infestations.  Their nests are intricate works of art, held together with spider webs and caterpillar silk, and decorated with pieces of lichens.

The last three.

And so we come to the end of the month.  Sunrise was taken the morning we had the sunrise rainbow.  Silence is a bird at sunset when the wind disappears and the world become quiet for just a little while.  Warmth is my father holding his dog-friend, Bubba, whose preferred spot in life is on my father’s lap.

Heart string.

Thank you, Karma, for another fun photo challenge.  As I put this together and rounded up images and memories from what I thought of as a challenging month, I felt filled with a profound sense of gratitude for all the fun, adventure, and love I experienced during August.  It was good to have the opportunity to look back, not just through August, but through the summer, and realize that most of the challenges were positive challenges.  I am beginning to see why monthly photo challenges are so appealing and popular.  I might even give some thought to wrapping up each month, or maybe just the seasons, with a similar post in the future.  It’s a great way to count my blessings.

Ending and beginning.

Thank you all for stopping by today and having a look at some of my memories from August.  There is still time to play along.  The deadline is not until Saturday.  That’s plenty of time to pull something together.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂