Meri's Play Place

This week's 52 PHOTOS PROJECT theme is water. Water's a magician. . . . it can be transparent or don a coat of many colors, taking on the hues of things around it. It's rarely still enough to be a perfect mirror. Sometimes it's just itself, flowing from source to destination soaking up the sun. lapping quietly against the shore. Sometimes though, it likes to roar.  and splash and make its mark upon the land.

  Colorful places Colorful finds Ruby Tuesday

Light -- the magic ingredient in photos. Illuminating light rays. Magic circles of light. Making everything we see visible.

Mosaic Monday Though today is damp and rainy, I can see the lilac in bloom outside the guest room window. Some of the camellias are still in bloom and the peonies planted up against the south side of the house are in bud. Aquilegias and violets are naturalizing in the side yard garden and make a pretty sight -- a nice contrast to the hostas that are shaded by my neighbor's laurel hedge. I love the opening energy of spring!

Hugh Brady, born July 29, 1768 in Pennsylvania to John and Mary (Quigley) Brady. He was a twin to Jane Brady and one of ten children who survived infancy and early childhood - six boys and four girls. His father, Captain John Brady was killed during the Revolutionary War in a skirmish with Native Americans. After John's death, Mary Brady moved with her children to her father's home in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. When Hugh was 16, his mother died. HIs older siblings had begun to marry, so Hugh moved with his brother Samuel to Washington County, Pennsylvania. Though Samuel married, Hugh continued to live with his brother until 1792, when Hug embarked on a military career. Library of Congress Photo Collection (Daguerrotypes) -  LC-USZ62-110036  portrait of General Hugh Brady by Mathew Brady between 1845 and 1851. He was inducted with a commission from George Washington as an ensign in the army of General Anthony Wayne and joined a rifle company. Within two year...

Escape. Sit beneath an awning and eat a leisurely lunch  beside the sparkling waters of the canal. Watch the seagull posing prettily. Watch people settle in to gondola seats and  be propelled along the waterways by a striped-shirted gondolier. Enjoy the view from the bridge. Wander in the marketplace and imagine  what a feast you could prepare,  if only you had access to a kitchen. Okay - I'll admit that I don't have a clue how to cook these or whether I'd like their taste, but they're so pretty! Stop to look in shop windows examine possibilities imagine yourself in costume, pretending to be someone else, escaping who you are if only in play. Watch evening fall and dream of staying in this magical place just a while longer.

Ruby Tuesday Telling tales on a teen. . . . or self-fulfilling prophecy? Who knows?

There's a Robert Redford film out now  about the trial of Mary Surratt  before a military tribunal for conspiracy  in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln..  That film inspired today's SEPIA SATURDAY post. (Click on the link to visit Alan and the other Sepia Saturday participants). Mary Surratt (nee Mary Elizabeth Jenkins)  was born in Waterloo, Maryland in 1823.  She was educated in Alexandria, Virginia  by the Sisters of Charity at the school  for girls run by St. Mary's Catholic Church. Mary Surratt photo from the Surratt.org website In 1840, at 17, she married John Harrison Surratt  of the District of Columbia. They lived  on a small farm in Oxon Hill where they reared  three children : Isaac, Anna, and John Jr. John H. Surratt bought 287 acres of farmland  in Prince Georges County, Maryland (near present-day Andrews Air Force Base) in 1852. On the land,  he built a two-story frame building that be...

52 Photos Project Color. . . . Do you have a favorite? A preferred palette? What draws you in  and makes your heart sing?

Mosaic Monday Reminding myself that spring is out there, waiting for me to recover from this wicked bronchitis.