Pam's Week 20: Backlight or Backhand?

Yes, we are lyric-less this week.  The music stopped playing, the birds stopped singing and the sun, though it kept shining, stopped warming this week.  It has not been one of my better weeks, as a wife, a mother, a colleague, an employee, as a friend.  Stress that began a year and a half ago and has been building over the past month took a rapid flight to the maximum this week.  I can't go into details for fear that what I say may be misinterpreted by some and create more drama than I really have the time or energy to deal with.  Let's just say that some people in our lives can be very manipulative and play the victim very well, leading to paranoia and insanity in those around them which seeps into all areas of our lives in spite of our best efforts to keep various aspects of our lives in their own spaces.  As a result, I would really like to give someone a very hard backhand.

Luckily, I have my good friend Sharon who continues to encourage me to find the beauty in the world around me through my photographs when the world is looking its bleakest.  She texted me yesterday afternoon as I laid on my couch bawling my eyes out with my kids trying to assure me that I was a good mommy and they are okay to see if I was available to take photos with her at the crack of dawn today.  I said I would have to drag my kids along but that if she could deal with my red-rimmed eyes with dark circles under them, then I could be available for sunset yesterday evening.  Since my day today was already looking rather idiotically insane, she thought the sunset may be more appropriate than the sunrise with 2 cranky kids...If not for her, I wouldn't have taken a single photo all week.  I researched how to take backlit photos and was hoping to find a moment in the insanity of today to snap a photo or 2 of one of the kids but then the sun was hiding behind the clouds and not being very cooperative.  So thank you, Sharon.

I should mention that I'm not typically prone to depression or anxiety but if this week is any indication what people who suffer from those conditions, or any other mental health problem, experience on a daily basis, I have a newfound empathy and compassion for them.  It is physically and emotionally exhausting.

Spending time looking for the beauty with Sharon (and perhaps the beer and conqueso with Sharon and Maxine), however, has rejuvenated me.  I am still quite unhappy with the situation but it has reminded me that I am surrounded by love, laughter, friendship and beauty and I must find a way to compartmentalize the aspects of my life that aren't making me feel the same way.  Although I wish I had the power to rid myself of the toxicity, I don't so I must find a way to not have it consume me and make me toxic too.

Sorry for the prolonged and rather sad/pathetic introduction to this week's photos....but alas, here they are - all taken atop a hill Sharon and I climbed at the Locks!  I liked the grasses and was amazed at how pretty the Steel Plant looks in the twilight.

Now to get Duncan off to his birthday party, finish making the dessert for the party Robert and I are going to tonight (which also involves a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some crushed pineapple), and perhaps shower myself and wash my greasy hair....Tomorrow I will have to put some thought into what "object" I would like to photograph on different surfaces....Any extra ideas out there?