Yep, girly images. Let me explain. For those of you who don’t know, some of the people on our team of photographers consider nature pictures, well… girly. It’s kind of an ongoing joke…I think. Hmmm…

When in the field taking pictures, some of us tend toward architectural elements like doors, windows, manhole covers, etc. Others of us gravitate toward mechanical elements, or electrical objects. Still others of us are drawn toward nature, or girly “stuff”. That would be me. I would say the biggest percentage of my own image library for the websites is National Parks, landscapes, skies, rural images, vegetation, or flowers. There is something refreshing and uncomplicated about these images.

Being in nature, or looking at pictures of nature…err, girly pictures, is relaxing. I believe being in nature helps us focus on that moment. When we watch a sunset paint the sky, stop to admire the beauty of an opening flower or patch of wildflowers, or watch waves crashing on a beach, we pay attention to what is happening right then and there. We, even if only briefly, forget about the groceries, the errands, the appointments and whether or not the quilt on our bed needs replacing. We are in the present moment and nowhere else. We enjoy the beauty in front of us.

If you can’t get out in nature today or that easily in general, take a look at some of our girly images and see for yourself how relaxing and inspiring it can be!

Related articles

• RSWL: Sunsets
• RSWL: National Parks

“I NEED that! Give me that!!” my 2-year old son yells across the room. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and give him my best “excuse me?” eyes. Pause. “Puhleease. Please can I have that Momma?” he rephrases in a sweet voice he has mastered so well in such a short life. A small victory. I hand him the book he “needed” so badly, and he says without prompting, “Thank you! Thank you!” Another small victory.

Meanwhile, my 1-year old is tugging on my leg, making her little begging noises. “Uh…uh…uh,” she pleads with big brown eyes. She doesn’t quite get the eye communication yet, so I ask her, “What do you say?” She stops and rubs her palm across her chest repeatedly, the sign for “please”. Another small victory.

Are these really all that small? Are they more like huge victories in a society where the presence of polite conversation is a surprise? I was in a playgroup setting once and a parent declared quite proudly that they aren’t teaching manners to their children. They don’t want to force them to do anything unnatural, and are curious to see if manners will develop as expected. Oh….kay. I couldn’t quite articulate (politely) why at the time, but that felt strange and…wrong.  

Here’s the thing. I believe (and I don’t think I’m alone) manners are pretty cool. They go a long way. I’m not talking about elbows off the table and napkins on laps. I’m talking about the kind of manners that make people feel appreciated and respected. I’m much more likely to help a child or adult who asks for something with sincere politeness instead of demands. Manners show courtesy and respect for others and are seemingly missing in far too many families and social settings.

Manners make friends! I’ve noticed in our field adventures that workers and people are very helpful when we show respect through our behavior. Instead of assuming that we can enter an area of a ship we are touring or building we are exploring, we engage the people there. We talk to them, with eye contact and kindness.  More often than not, we learn more than we thought possible, and we get to go in those areas that are “restricted” or for “authorized persons” only. We hear special stories from our new friends. We feel happy, and our new friends seem thrilled to share and valued for their knowledge. That’s a win in our books. And when that 2-year old on my back yells out an unprompted “thank you” as we walk away, we are rewarded with the biggest smiles possible. We taught him that. It’s working. That’s another win.

So, please, can we all just put our manners into practice and show those around us the consideration and respect that come with those open doors and “excuse me’s”? Even if we are rushed or in a hurry, we have opportunities to bridge gaps and teach by example. That’s the other thing.  Courtesy seems to spread. When a person greets you, asks about your day, holds open the door, picks up something you dropped or offers to help you, that warm feeling you get usually makes you want to do the same for others.

So go spread some manners! I mean, PLEASE go spread some manners.  Thank you!    

A while back, during one of our travels, we spent some brief time on a Jeep tour in the mountainous area of the United Arab Emirates, which also took us into a remote area of Oman.  Our driver/guide was very familiar with the area as he had been giving tours in that area for more than 25 years. As a result, he knew many of the people who lived in the area and had a good plan of where to take us for photos.

He knew that I was particularly interested in unique architecture and photo opportunities (he had already taken me off the “beaten path” to get some great shots of some old metal gates – which you can see on the site).

After a few hours of bouncing through the rocky desert mountains, he took us onto a nice paved asphalt road with a clean yellow stripe down the center.  While I have to admit, my back and various other typically unused muscles that go to work when you are bouncing in a Jeep were relieved for the break,  I still felt a bit of presumptive disappointment that what we would see on a road like this would only be ordinary.

So, imagine my surprise when the nicely paved road rounded a gentle curve and ended… into the side wall of a building.  Well, a small, simple mosque to be exact.  We got out for a few minutes to look around (and take some photos of course).  He told us he was friends with the family and they had built the little mosque for themselves at the end of the road. We were free to look around and take as many pictures as we wanted as he went through a small doorway in a smooth plastered wall to say hello to the family.  As we looked around, a curious little boy his equally curious sister and an even more curious goat came out to look at us.  The little boy and his sister appeared to be about 4 and 6 respectively (no idea how old the goat was).

We smiled and waved to the two children, who giggled, smiled shyly in response and slowly backed around the corner of the doorway with that universal childlike body language that can express both curiosity and cautiousness at the same time.

The goat on the other hand was not shy at all and trotted up to us, his mouth in a perpetual chewing motion.  The expectant look on his face appeared to be his only expression.   We had nothing on us to give him so we showed him our empty hands and continued to walk around.

After about fifteen minutes our guide came out and asked us if we were ready to go.  We said we were and we climbed back into the jeep.  A few minutes down the road, the way we had come, our guide slowed and asked if we wanted to go back and meet the people who lived there and visit with them.  We immediately felt a mixture of wanting to and not wanting to intrude on them.  He said it was no problem, that they liked visitors and insisted that we return.  As her turned around, we hesitantly agreed.

Upon our return, we got out of the Jeep and decided to leave our cameras in the vehicle (it just didn’t feel right.) We followed our guide through the narrow doorway in the wall that the children had been observing us from.  Within minutes, we were greeted by members of the family with smiles, hospitality, and food and drink.  The mother held out a large tray of sliced melon, smiled, nodded and greeted us in Arabic.  We smiled back, thanked her and took a piece of melon.  Fresh, plump dates and hot aromatic Arabic coffee followed, all of which we accepted by returning their smiles with our own and “thank you”s confident that even though we did not share a common language,  smiles and nods of gratitude were universal.

Our host family gestured for us to sit, and we sat on a low wall around a planter in the courtyard.  After a few moments the shy children must have decided that us being on the inside of the wall made us okay now and they came quickly over to us, stood about three feet from us, and beamed with some of the warmest, most genuine smiles I have ever seen.  (I am not sure where the goat was at this point.  He was probably nibbling on the tire or bumper of the Jeep. )

After just a brief moment of grinning at us, the little girl must have realized that we were speaking English, and started counting.  At first it felt a bit random, especially when she switched to letters in English.  We soon realized that she was reciting her ABCs and 123s and was pausing for feedback from us.  Once we clued in to what she was doing, we gave her our undivided attention.  She recited her ABCs half way through and stopped.  We smiled larger, and nodded, saying, “Yes, that is very good!”  She responded with a giggle, clapping of her hands, and a little hop of excitement.  Next, we were treated with her performance of 1 through 10.  Our affirmation of her work was again greeted by her with even more joyous, well-earned self satisfaction.

Our guide explained that even out here, in the rural, fairly remote areas of Oman,  the children learn English in schools.  As I turned back to the little girl who was excitedly repeating her performance over and over with absolute glee, I couldn’t help but think what a wonderful thing human communication is on any level, but here, far from any city, people were making an effort to learn a language that was native to me and not at all to them, so that one day we might be able to communicate more effectively.

I will probably never see that family or that little girl ever again, but her unbounded enthusiasm to learn one of the most complicated, exasperating,  contradictory languages in the world, and her pride in sharing what little she knew of it, touched me…

I wish her, and all of us who seek to connect to others through a common language (any language!), all the support in the World.

Maybe it’s because of Facebook postings or tweets that I read; maybe it’s because I am a punctuation stickler (not to be confused with a grammar snob) sometimes; maybe it’s from editing many newsletters and student writings; or maybe it’s because punctuation saves lives. Whichever it may be, I felt prompted to choose punctuation as today’s Random Stuff We Like entry.

Though the following statements don’t necessarily apply to me whole-heartedly, they definitely resonated with me…enough so that I thought I’d share them from a book I am rereading.

“It’s tough being a stickler for punctuation these days. One almost dare not get up in the mornings…Part of one’s despair, of course, is that the world cares nothing for the little shocks endured by a sensitive stickler. While we look in horror at a badly punctuated sign, the world carries on around us, blind to our plight. We are like the little boy in The Sixth Sense who can see dead people, except that we can see dead punctuation.” -Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves

You think I exaggerate when I talk of dead punctuation and saving lives. Ah ha! (said with the tone that indicates I have proof.) Consider what Lynne Truss shares:

“A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

“Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

“I’m a panda,” he says at the door. “Look it up.”

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.” So, punctuation really DOES matter, even if it is only occasionally a matter of life and death.”

See! I told you so. Next time you loosely use your punctuation, for the love of pandas, think about it. Furthermore, if any of this left you smiling and nodding your head, perhaps you should pick up a copy of the book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

I have been traveling a fair bit in the Middle East, and though it may seem like a stereotype – I can honestly tell you that there are thousands of camels everywhere.  It doesn’t take long being around the creatures that you find you really start to like them.

They have been referred to as “ships of the desert” and have for thousands of years, performed a very important role in parts of the world that can be extremely inhospitable to life.  I have since learned that camels can live for more than 25 years and are very tolerant of heat (duh) but, can also function just fine in cold weather as well.

We were recently in Jordan in an area known as the Wadi Rum, a beautiful, vast desert area that is most known for its association with T.E. Lawrence, on whom the movie Lawrence of Arabia was based.  It was a cold morning just above freezing and we approached our camels bundled up and barely awake and they looked at us as if to say, “Great, more tourists…”

The three camels we rode on our two hour trip through the desert.  Mine was the one in the back – not looking at the camera.

We had a two hour ride through the desert and it took me the first hour just to figure out how to get comfortable sitting up there.  Our guide, a man from Egypt who has been in the area for the past ten years, showed me how to sit with one leg crossed over the front of the saddle in front of you.  Once I did that and found a good balance, not only was it easier for me to take photos as I was not bouncing around so much, but my butt was happier as well.

I am clearly not the first person in history to develop an affinity for these funny looking creatures.  As evidence of that, on our ride that morning, our guide pointed out some petroglyphs carved into the rock face that showed many camels.  These were carved by the Nabateans, an ancient people who inhabited many parts of the Middle East from the B.C.s into the first century (in fact – they were responsible for creating Petra).  So there was proof, literally set in stone, that I was not the first!

Nabatean camel petroglyphs carved two thousand years ago into the desert rock

So why have I come to like camels…?  Well, in no particular order, here are a few reasons:

1. They just have that laid-back attitude that seems to say, “Whatever…”

2. They look really funny

3.  The have an attitude that seems to say, “Fine, I’ll do it, not because you asked me to, but because I have nothing better to do”

4.  They have long necks, big humps, long legs and well… just look funny

5.  When you ride them they sway so much that you can’t help but have fun on them because you know you look so ridiculous

6.  Did I mention they are full of attitude…?

7. And… they look funny!  They just make you smile.  I guess because they are sort of the “ugly ducklings” of the quadruped world – they have to have an attitude! 

This camel was definitely ready for his close-up.  Look at that attitude!

One of the events I went to while in the UAE was a festival during which there was a camel beauty pageant (I am not joking!)  During this event I saw many, many camels and while my eye was not trained to be able to make an aesthetic judgement, there were several locals who enthusiastically showed me what to look for.  I was also shocked to learn that the winner of the pageant can then often sell for somewhere between two to six million dollars!  Yes you read that right, millions of dollars!

I am not sure where my travels will take me next, and if I will ever spend so much time around camels as I have in the past six months, but when I see them in movies, photos, or on TV I will most certainly think back to a time in my life when I saw more camels than people and how those funny looking creatures just made me smile (the camels not the people…)!

A mother camel and her two young camels trailing behind.

We’ve all done it.   We’ve all asked someone to do it with us…maybe even begged.  We all probably wish we could do it more.   I’m not sure what you’re thinking of, but I am referring to volunteering.

Volunteers are the backbone of organizations and events throughout society.   Who hasn’t signed up for a creek clean up day, soup kitchen, building project or more?  Sure, some people volunteer a few times a year, others volunteer like it’s their job.  And while I usually smirk at these do-gooders, the truth is that I wish I was more like them.  I’d love to volunteer about a gazillion percent more than I do, and I want my kids to grow up volunteering throughout their lives.

There is such a range of volunteering too, that there HAS to be some area we all fit into with our abilities and personalities.   Whether it is helping at a race event, vacuuming a church, tutoring kids, walking a dog, or fighting fires, volunteer opportunities abound.   I’ve seen firsthand the impact a couple dozen people and a few hours can make on the lives of people who are hurting.  Giving our time for something bigger than our needs gives hope.  For me, helping out at whatever occasion comes up is a good reality check and a reminder that life isn’t just about my needs, troubles and wants. Sometimes the circumstances are eye-opening, or life altering, like a mission trip or being part of relief efforts after a natural disaster.

I’ve also seen firsthand how easily volunteers can be abused.  All too often, the same group of volunteers can be called upon to virtually run an organization.  Not good.  And yet, these volunteers wouldn’t think twice when called upon to give and help.  Witnessing these people time again give with their hearts (without grumbling) is often another self check for me:  Should I do more?  Can I do more?  Does my attitude need adjusting?

Whatever the motivation, whatever the cause, whatever the reasons for helping, volunteers are just plain cool.  We don’t all have to believe the same thing or think the same way to have an enormous impact together.    Imagine a life without volunteers.  What would happen at our churches, libraries, volunteer fire departments, schools and parks if the volunteers didn’t show up??!!  I don’t think we want to know.

So, if you have ever volunteered, or if you are going to volunteer…thank you.  You. Are. A. Superstar. Seriously.