Current Photo Friday theme: Best of 2009

Note about this photo: I haven't previously published the photo that I thought was my best one in 2009. I took it in Galveston in August. I was just trying to get the contrast of the child's dark skin and clothes against the bright sky, and I had to photograph her fast because she never stopped moving.

It was only after I uploaded the photo that I saw the bit of graffiti I'd inadvertently captured on the lower right of the photo. I found it so disturbing in the context of photographing a child that I was reluctant to share it (even though I thought it made a powerful image). For me, not much is more soul-numbing than the death of a child from disease, injury, or violence. The United Nations made the decrease in mortality rates for children under age five one of their Millennium Development Goals. It goes without saying that poverty and HIV/AIDS have an enormous impact on this fragile population.

The reason I decided to share the photo after all is because of a report in September showing that as of 2008, global child mortality rates are continuing to decline. I was particularly moved by a quote from Caryl Stern, President and CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF:

"Statistics tend to be clinical and antiseptic, however the practical, real world implications of this development cannot be ignored. These new numbers illustrate that 1,500 more kids a day are waking up to see the sunrise, play with their friends and make their mothers smile."

That's a "best of" worth sharing.

Current Photo Friday theme: Winter

The end of the morning glories.

Current Photo Friday theme: Homemade

The fifth little piggie must be wee, wee, weeing all the way home.
Gift from my mother, who did the needlework when she was in her mid-seventies.

Current Photo Friday theme: From My Past

My baby book, several decades old.
Badly water damaged, but some parts are still legible enough for me to get a glimpse
into what preoccupied my mother about her youngest child.

Current Photo Friday theme: Vehicle

This is "Faith," a 1984 Camaro art car.

Current Photo Friday theme: Three

I do, I do, I do.

Current Photo Friday theme: Softness

Back in the 1990s, my friend Big Hair Lisa and I went into a grocery store late one night. It must have been near Valentine's Day, because all these red bears were posed among the flowers in their floral department. I picked up this one and fell in love with him because he was the softest thing I'd ever held. Lisa took him away from me, paid for him, and gave him back.

Recently on a daytime drama I watch, a couple exchanging wedding vows promised to be each other's "soft place when you fall." Lisa, like me, is a steel magnolia. But many times when I've fallen, she's provided that soft place of friendship and unconditional love.

A soft heart is the most beautiful place I know.

Current Photo Friday theme: Well Groomed

Current Photo Friday theme: Autumn 2009

Houston doesn't get autumn's riot of color found in cooler climates.
So Mother Nature gets dressed with a little help from her friends.

Current Photo Friday theme: ...Is In The Details

Silver Spoon: Style is in the details.