Aspenglow's Window ©: November 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Final Post ~ Picture Perfect

I can barely see as I post this ... I think it took until now, coming to post these last four photos, for me to really let the sadness of Multiply's end overtake me.

Each of you has had an impact on my life in some way. I can't even begin to describe how much I appreciate all the ways I've been touched by your words and your photos. I'm glad it isn't really ending for Picture Perfect, or I couldn't stand it.

My four photos chronicle my trajectory here, on Multiply and PP. The honey jars is the first photo I ever posted on PP, during competition time, and I won. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even know it wasn't always a competition, or how it all worked. From that to where I am now, as a person and as a photographer have so much to do with the group and with Heather's friendship. Now, as an admin, Gary and Cherie have taken me in warmly. Who knew where it would all go from that first post?

May we all meet again, online or in life. I thank you, every one, for what you've shown and taught me.

Blessings on the road ahead,

Gayle

Honey Jars - Pike Place Market

A Frosty Sequoia ~ first trip to meet Heather

My first guest host shot for PP - Lady Washington in Fog

The way I feel about Mulitply, Picture Perfect and ... Life ...

Be Well...

Gayle

Saturday, November 10, 2012

REGARDING: Ugliness Online

I write this after a day spent defending a dear friend against hostility online. Not that she can't very competently handle it herself, but when someone throws out a prejudiced, racist, vile and utterly misplaced insult to someone I love, I am going in, CLAWS OUT.

To be clear, this didn't occur on Blogspot, but on another, similar site. I have ZERO tolerance for this kind of Neanderthal thinking. It makes me almost physically ill to come into any contact with a person like him. One could ask what drives some people to unleash hatred and vitriol against someone they barely know. Or wonder at what twisted upbringing led to thinking that such behavior is acceptable on any level in any relationship. But, ultimately, only the reasonable and rational among us have the capacity to even ask those questions and the answers won't lead us to a solution.

For me, the only solution to it is to fight it at every turn. Speak out when you hear or see it. I don't befriend people of this sort either online or in my day to day life. If I find I've made a mistake and true colors come out which show someone to be ugly inside ... they're GONE. I do not expect everyone in my circles to believe what I do or think the same way I do. I demand decency, open-mindedness, manners, kindness and mature behavior.

And ... that dog above is a beautiful sweetheart, compared to the man I'm speaking about. In my eyes, every animal is beautiful.

� THE END �

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

In which, I take the photo, you write the caption ...

Saturday, November 3, 2012

The Human~Animal Bond

Time and again, we are shown the special relationships which people and animals form with one another - often at the initiation of the animal. And scientists still act astonished at "proof" of things like animal intelligence, empathy, communication and humor. For those of us who work with, live with or are sensitive to the animal world, their 'epiphanies' seem ridiculously self-evident. The human-animal bond is profound and real.

I listened to an NPR story this morning about a Korean elephant, Koshik, who has learned to speak a few words of Korean in order to communicate with his keepers. The elephant has been deprived of the normal herd dynamic as he has matured, only having human keepers as company. The elephant has found a unique way to use his trunk, inserted into his mouth, to form the words it hears most often, with inflections. And still, the scientists interviewed were SO skeptical that this was possible until studying the animal at length. Really? Are they so removed from emotion and the evidence before them that they cannot conceive of such things without all kinds of tests? Elephants are incredibly emotional animals and we learn more about that aspect all the time. Dolphins are equally sensitive and communicative. For more information, here is a link about Koshik and the researchers: http://news.discovery.com/animals/elephant-speaks-korean-121101.html

I read 2 books early in life which affected me strongly because the authors wrote about animals in the way that I experienced them. It was reassuring to read of someone else feeling as I did about communicating with the natural world on a deep level that didn't fall in to "accepted" forms. The books are still in print (!) as I found out when I checked tonight:

http://www.amazon.com/Kinship-All-Life-Allen-Boone/dp/0060609125/ref=sr_1_73?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352009031&sr=1-73&keywords=Animal+communication

http://www.amazon.com/Communication-Between-Dolphin-John-Lilly/dp/0517565641/ref=sr_1_91?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352009255&sr=1-91&keywords=Animal+communication

My family had always been supportive of my sensitivity - we were taught about nature and respecting and nurturing it from an early age - but once I started school I found that friends, teachers and other adults definitely made me feel odd and tried to stop my "strange ideas". Even then, I knew they were wrong because not only the support of my family but the evidence of my own experience told me so. I became quiet about my beliefs on the subject, but I didn't ever change my mind.

Animals and the natural world stayed in my heart and goals. I've been a veterinary technician for 24 years now. I worked as a volunteer and then as a biology assistant at the Seattle Aquarium for 5 years; I've been a wildlife rehabilitator and serve as a volunteer for the Washington state Veterinary Emergency Corps. to respond to animal and agricultural crises in times of disaster. I am passionate about working for and helping those who cannot act for themselves.