Pam's Week 32: Creating a Monster

I tried and tried and tried but was unable to think of any songs with the word "abstract" in the title or lyrics.  For that matter, "abstract nature" was just totally unheard of in the lyric catalogue inside my head.  If any of you can come up with any, please feel free to share as my musical knowledge is clearly lacking and in need of a refresh!

So if you've read the blog post from our latest contributor, you will notice that Duncan has decided to join us this week.  You see, it was a gorgeous evening on Tuesday and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to get out into nature to view the abstract (I'm not quite sure how this differs from "patterns in nature" or "lines in nature" but perhaps I don't have a great grasp on the subject).  Worried that Duncan would complain about sore legs, sore feet, being tired and the like, I came up with the brilliant idea of having him bring his camera so that he could look for abstract nature photos as well.  He was quite excited at the prospect, particularly when I said I would let him write his own blog post.  Unfortunately when we arrived at Whitefish Island, we realized that I'd forgotten to put an SD card inside his camera;  quick thinking Momma made an appearance and suggested we both use my camera instead!  It must have taken us 40 minutes just to make it over the Whitefish Island itself as he was a fiend, snapping photos of every leaf, blade of grass, berry, tree, footprint, waterway, rock he found en route.  The bonus - not a single complaint, even after we ended up off the main path onto the out and back add-on.

I suppose I should mention, before I continue, that he then hounded me every single night until I helped him post his blog and is quite upset that I've lost the list.  He insists I must ask Sharon to send me a new one that I will print off 2 copies of, lest I lose it again.  How can he prepare for future blogs if he doesn't have a list?!?!?!

Anyways, my parents were camping with Danica this week so with just the 3 of us, it was rather quiet around our house, especially since Robert was working a couple of evenings.  The weather got a little cooler mid-week but the sun remained shining and we got very little of the much-needed rain the weathermen keep insisting we will be getting.  The return to work after vacation was a little difficult though, in spite of the fact that someone had told me last Thursday that I looked so well-rested and relaxed.  A colleague sent a friend of mine a someecard that said something about how we should send sympathy cards to people who have to return to work after a vacation; I'm on board with that, even more so lately!

Here goes nothing....

I liked the reflection of the grasses in the lilypad-filled pond...

The mossy stuff on this tree bark caught my eye...

This didn't quite turn out as planned but I thought the blurriness made it a little more abstract-looking.

 I don't know how "abstract" this is but I liked it anyway.

This huge, dying leaf made some abstract shapes.

Look at all that soft fluff from an exploding clover!

The way the light caught the branches and shadows in the rippling water created a pretty cool effect (note that I really, really had to pee by this time so couldn't spend a lot of time near the rippling water for fear it may not be the only water rippling...)

I have always loved the patterns in the rocks around here.

And that's all folks!  Today's supposed to be a hot one so once I finish posting this, the kids and I are heading off to the market and then onto the grocery store to pick up some watermelon and corn on the cob.  This afternoon, we are heading to our friend's camp (cottage for you non-Northern Ontario folk) for summer Games Night, or "blah-blah" night as my kids have renamed it as they say all we do is "blah-blah-blah", and never play any games.

Hope you all have a fantastic week!  I know we need the rain but this summer is so long overdue for us that I hope we continue to have more sunshiny, hot, happy days!!!