Everyday Images on a July Monday

Trying something a little different today and linking with Kym (A Fresh Cup of Coffee) and her Everyday Images blog hop. She posts a list of photo prompts every two weeks and leaves the party open until the next link rolls around. 

I'm also joining Holly and Sarah for their Hello Monday hop since today's photos are a reflection of my weekend activity. 

I want to take more pictures...better pictures. I have a crummy phone camera, and think I want a 'real' camera for my birthday this year. About fifteen years ago my hubs bought me a nice Canon. He bought it from our local camera shop and the owner of the shop gave me several lessons in how to use it. So helpful. The Canon needs a repair that is costly so buying a new camera makes more sense. My birthday isn't until September, so for now a phone camera it is. 

I looked at the most recent prompts Kym posted, and tried this weekend to snap some pictures when one of the words came to mind. Here are the most recent prompts-

doorway • on my plate • on the road • glowing • hills • community 

Doorway-

Hubs and I made a drive to pick peaches at a country orchard on Saturday morning.

Besides the fruit trees there's also a cute shop...

...a cafe with patio seating, a distillery, wedding reception space, and a view that literally takes your breath away-

The doorway pictured above takes you to the covered patio dining space. When you cross the patio you'll see the orchard which is where these beauties can be found-

on my plate: After the peach picking we drove a couple of miles up the road to a well known, but very much off the beaten path, pizza restaurant. It's a hot spot for hikers and kayakers coming off the nearby trails and river. We arrived close to noon and it wasn't busy, but I know it gets really busy as the day goes on. 

Hubs and I shared what they call their Chattooga White Pizza which is named for the river, and is made with a pesto base, spinach, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and feta. Hubs is normally not a big fan of feta, but the guy behind the counter said it was his favorite pizza so that's what we ordered. The feta was not overwhelming at all and the pizza was delicious and perfectly cooked. Hubs loved it too. 

In keeping with the prompt we went next door and walked through this bright yellow entrance for ice cream... 

We sat outside and shared one scoop of peach and one of banana, both were yummy. 

on the road: my favorite summertime drive-

glowing: Sunday morning sunshine sets the lake aglow-

hills-technically they're mountains but close enough. More specifically The Blue Ridge and the farm we visited on Saturday offers you a 270-degree view. Didn't measure it myself but I trust their website. 

community: we went to church Sunday morning which is community of the best kind, but no photo. After church we changed clothes and took the boat to meet up with friends for a float in a nearby cove. It was a scorcher of a day so the water felt wonderful. I didn't capture the whole group, but I was trying not to break my other ankle lol. 

Lake people are also our people. 

This little photo challenge was fun. The prompts helped make me mindful of what I was seeing all around me and that's one reason I love blogging. If you'd like to participate visit Kym's blog (A Fresh Cup of Coffee) for the prompts, which are updated every two weeks. 

And if you want to chat about your weekend visit Holly and Sarah and add your recap there. Happy Monday everyone! 

From California to the New York Island

Yesterday I answered questions in the weekly random dozen and one of those questions has stayed with me. It was this- ‘Are you more of a NY or California type?’ And I guess I should say that its really the answers to that question that have stayed with me. Its funny that most people who played along instantly thought California=sunny beaches, laid back people and warm weather all the time and New York=busy crowded streets and loud aggressive types.

I’ve never lived in California but its true the first thing that popped into my head was sunny beaches. I have lived on the East Coast and currently am just a hop skip and a traffic jam away from New York City but the question didn’t even say NY City…just NY. Pretty much everyone read it and immediately thought city.

I think one of the lessons living in an international community has taught me is not to make assumptions about people based on stereotype. I’m not at all criticizing anyone from yesterday. I get it...for the most part people were thinking of the weather and based their answers on that or the idea that Californians are laid back and New Yorkers aren’t. I will just point out though that Northern California is known for some pretty good skiing and the Hamptons are not too shabby if we’re talking beaches. And I’m pretty sure that Silicon Valley houses more than a few driven types and Warwick NY is sleepy town USA.

The question made me pause yesterday. I thought about it before I answered and I'm not so sure I would have a few years ago. As Americans living in England we were sometimes on the receiving end of a few stereotypes. I attended a field trip with my daughter's 8^th grade class shortly after arriving in the UK and a speaker from a middle eastern country informed the students he wouldn’t want to live in America because it’s not safe to go out after dark. You might be shot-everyone owns a gun right? The kids were bewildered. They laughed. This was not the America they knew unless you count paintball and water cannons. My husband took part in some team building ‘events’ during a work conference with people from all around Europe and his team insisted he take the golf shot because 'he’s American and don’t we play a lot of golf'?

And no one has a passport?

And everyone is really loud?

And they all dislike George Bush?

And they don’t know anything about politics outside of their own country?

Those are a few that come to mind. Of course we weren’t innocent either. We had the notion like most people I think that the Brits are all reserved and not terribly friendly and the food would be not so great and the weather would be dismal. Oh wait. That bit about the weather was mostly true. And I guess in most stereotypes there is a kernel of truth, which is how they got to be stereotypes in the first place.

I find myself giving more thought to my interactions with people these days, taking in what I know of their background, pronouncing observations less broadly. We were often called upon to ‘defend’ Americanisms…to point out that yes, some Americans are loud, especially tourists on the tube in London which could sometimes make me cringe and want to fake a British accent, but not all Americans are loud. Some are gentle and soft spoken. And plenty have passports we’d say, as we pointed out that a flight from NY to California requires no passport yet takes several hours and does indeed cross a few time zones. And obviously not everyone dislikes George Bush because he was elected President of the United States. Twice. And as for politics…well, America is a great big country and I think we can agree that just keeping up with our own political nonsense is a full time job these days. In fact lately Americans seem to be tuning in more closely than ever before.

We had to face our pre-conceived ideas about the British too. The day after we moved into our house in the UK my British next door neighbor arrived at the front door with a cake. It was wonderful as were most things we ate over there. Ask me about English cream, sausage and mash, sticky toffee pudding and scones with clotted cream and jam. My across the street neighbor took me shopping in Windsor my first week in the village…just a fun day out to show me the route and the best places to go. Are the British more reserved than Americans? In general yes. Are they unfriendly? No. Some are, some aren’t. Just like Americans. And the Dutch. And South Africans. And so on. I remember quite clearly a misunderstanding I had with a German friend. She became quite angry and later apologized. She explained with some embarrassment that it was her English (or lack thereof) that was at the heart of the matter. She interpreted something in a way it wasn’t intended yet she hadn’t wanted to tell me she really didn’t understand what I was saying. She worried so about her English. She didn’t want me judging her. And the whole time we were talking all I was thinking is wow, I wish I spoke three languages like she does.

The world is huge. That sounds so simple and in essence it is. We don’t all approach life or hardship or celebration or work or leisure in the same way. Even within America there are ‘cultures’ and when I read the question yesterday I found myself thinking about what I know about California and New York. About people I’ve met who call those places home. About how California and New York are different in geography, cuisine, fashion and climate yet people are people. Maybe there is a California type and a New York type and also everything in between. Yet for every person who ‘fits the type’ there is another who breaks the mold.

'Some people weave burlap into the fabric of our lives, and some weave gold thread. Both contribute to make the whole picture beautiful and unique." Anonymous