Slender Snake Cotton
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: May #Gray

Welcome to the Sunday Stills monthly color challenge! This month’s theme is gray. I chose gray, because, a) I’m running out of interesting colors, and b) I recall years of gray days during the month of May growing up in my home town of San Diego. Marine fog typically rolls in between May and July during the evening and morning hours, burning off by mid-day.

Southern Californians dubbed May as “May Gray,” hence the name of my post. But I’m featuring a variety of gray images so please be as creative as you wish for the color challenge.

“Gray is the queen of colors because she makes everyone else look good.”

Helen Van Wyk, artist and writer

This quote is inspired by Marsha’s Writers Quote Wednesdays, and helps define how we appreciate beauty. As the color gray is often found in nature, haven’t you noticed how much more colors pop against a backdrop of gray clouds? Or in the above image, the light gray snake cotton weed brings out the best of the purple lupine.

Grays Made by Humans

Various shades of gray offer pleasing neutral tones and a popular choice for home interior paint colors.

The gray walls in my new home take on varying shades depending on the light. The new wall decorations reflect gray and wood tones. Even our pole barn/garage currently under construction shows varying shades of gray in the evening sunlight!

  • Window Shades of Gray
    Window architecture in shades of gray
  • Home Decor shades of gray
    Wall hanging
  • Gray tones in Barn Building
    Shades of gray in construction

Other architecture like bridges lend themselves to shades of gray.

  • Is there a doorway under the Sunrise Bridge?
  • FLoating Dock Reflections
    “Floating” dock on Sacramento River

Grays Made by Nature

Mother Nature works closely with time to create granite monoliths that can be found in National Parks and other preservation areas of the world.

  • Half Dome View from Glacier Point
    Half Dome View from Glacier Point
  • Devils Postpile National Monument in Mammoth Lakes, CA
    Devils Postpile National Monument in Mammoth Lakes, CA
  • Pine Trees make a window onto the world of Yosemite Valley
    Yosemite’s El Capitan peeking through the trees

Then there are the small things…

  • Sunflower gone to Seed
    Dried Sunflower seeds
  • hail, rain mix abstract
    Hail
  • San Dollar Art Sculpture at San Diego's Palomar Hotel
    San Dollar Art Sculpture at San Diego’s Palomar Hotel

Grays Combined

Sometimes, nature and made-made materials combine to make beautiful pairs to highlight the gray and the subject matter. This graceful Snake Cotton weed grows within the stark, man-made dark-gray gravel surrounding areas of our property. These delicate weeds create a light gray patina amongst the variety of weeds and wildflowers.

Another favorite photo is this one of the “twin” dandelion, taken at my former home.

Flowers twinned

A misty spring sunset looks particularly idyllic as colors pop against the gray mist and wet asphalt.

Florals submitted for Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Where can you find gray this time of year? Show us in your images, stories, music, poetry and other creative ideas. And don’t be fooled by the post title, gray does not have to occur in May to be shared for this color challenge.

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post. I also recommend adding your post’s URL into the comments.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Use hashtag #SundayStills for sharing on social media.

Blogger Links for Weather

Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Each week I will share the links from the previous post so you can continue to meet and support each other. And with that…enjoy the weather from their perspectives!

Next week we look at your favorite vacations spots! There will be no challenge on May 30 during Memorial Day weekend as I enjoy my daughter’s visit for the first time! Have a wonderful week!

Camera graphic

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102 comments

  8. Terri,
    We have a big dose of “May Gray” in Morro Bay this week. Hopefully, it will get out of here before “June Gloom” moves in. Your next challenge will be interesting. Looking forward to discovering some new vacation destinations. Have a great week! Joe

    My contribution is a full moon with a gray tone to it.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    • Yep, good old coastal California shrouded in marine layer. I found out as a high school kid at the beach you can still get a nasty “sunburn” in the fog. Gorgeous moon, Joe! Hope your trip is going as expected!

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    • Thank you, Graham! It’s fun to discover the various wildflowers and weeds around our area. We’re told there is now a concrete shortage so here we go with another delay. We hope to have internet in June. Moments ago as I was commenting, the 4G disappeared but popped back in. Sigh…

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Sure is, but we’ve lived here two months, we’re grateful. The interior issues were fixed finally and most everything is going smoothly. The long term effects of the pandemic on society affects products that once plentiful. Too many people are preferring to live on unemployment so production has really dropped. This too shall pass!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Yes, I’ve been reading about the odd shortages and the reasons for them. There was a job fair here a week or so ago where no one showed up, primarily because people make more on unemployment currently. I think it will change here when the governor reintroduces the requirement for the unemployed to make three job contacts each week. This was waived during the pandemic because no one was hiring. I’m back at work now and making less than I was when I was out of work! So it goes, but to be honest, I’d have preferred for none of this to have happened and have been working for the past year.

        Liked by 1 person

      • “Stranger things…” as they say. I didn’t even realize the unemployment rules had changed. To stay in a construction union here, my BIL had 3 chances to accept work to keep active in it. He took the third offer which ended up being night work. He’s not retired like Hans and their older brother so he needs to stay working to keep his union benefits and continue to vesting process. Glad you are back to work Graham!

        Liked by 1 person

  23. I thought, initially, how boring..grey..(yes we spell it differently!) but then I saw the greys in my world via nature and man made objects. The special one for this post is the Sydney Harbour Bridge – always grey – and as I drove over it yesterday (no photos from the driver allowed) it made me smile. The bridge has been part of my life since our family moved to Sydney in 1959. Thank you for the challenge Terri! Got the news about next week and then none on last weekend of May. https://www.denysewhelan.com.au/denyse-blogs/grey-images-today-sundaystills-60-2021/

    Liked by 2 people

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    • Yep, you got the schedule for the rest of May, Denyse. I look forward to reading your post. I have the doc and image ready for the WOC, but will have to get wifi to send it. Please bear with me. I think our warm temps (86 degrees F) is messing with my phone’s 4G today.

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    • A lot of dried wildflowers end up looking gray and sometimes quite beautiful 😍 glad you could stop by and I hope all.is well. My lack of internet makes it difficult to read some blogs including yours…I can read but can’t leave comments.

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  25. How gray is used is the key to making it look good. Think about how popular gray has been as a design color for the past 10 years. Meanwhile, gray stone is a wonderful color and look. Well done, Terri. I think I have a future beach walk about gray … I think.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • A gray beach walk, that sounds fun! I found a light gray on interior walls to be restful and easy to decorate around. I had lived in my former home with pale peach walls for years and when we repainted to sell, we painted it a pale gray and I kicked myself a little for not doing it sooner!

      Liked by 1 person

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  27. I enjoyed all your grey photos Terri and how you pointed out the way grey can often highlight other colours, especially in nature. I once painted my office a dark grey but had a feature wall of bright orange, because you know I love orange right?? and it worked pout so well, others started copying my idea!! It seems grey is a popular colour for houses these days. Your quotes are spot on too, and I have never heard of May Gray so I’ve learnt something new from you, again!
    My post is about a grey Sunday here in Tumbarumba and getting out on a bike ride regardless of the weather. https://debs-world.com/2021/05/16/a-grey-day-for-a-bike-ride-sundaystills/

    Liked by 1 person

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    • We had a feature wall in our dining room, in our former house, a pumpkin orange, a color we both like, Debbie! Before we sold it we painted everything a soft gray. Sold like hotcakes! Gray really does work as a popular interior color, so we’ll see how long that trend lasts! Glad you can get out and ride your bike!

      Liked by 1 person

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  29. What was that book “50 shades of gray”???!!!! You’ve definitely explored at least a dozen of them! My favorite is your wall hanging piece. I love that and can just imagine it in your new home.

    Liked by 1 person

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  31. Hi Terri, I love your gray quote! Thanks for the mention for Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays. It’s a beautiful picture to go with it. That twin dandelion is gorgeous! It’s prettier than any dandelion I’ve seen even though I thought mine came out ok. I love your Sacramento dock, too. Some people don’t like fog, but it give me the feeling of being encased in a protective love. I don’t know exactly why, but it’s gentle and hides all the harshness of life from our view.

    We got home okay tonight, and I was surprised at how many gray things I found to photograph this week. Here’s my post. https://tchistorygal.net/2021/05/16/sunday-stills-may-gray-vacay/

    Liked by 2 people

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      • I shouldn’t even press like to that statement! 🙂 I’m sorry about your phone. Ours didn’t work at all where we stayed, and their internet was so slow that I worked in the middle of the night to write and publish posts.

        Liked by 1 person

      • I’ve done that before! I needed wifi to upload photos from my camera when we stayed in north Phoenix in 2018. When we were at the RV park 3 months ago I had to use the wifi before 5pm before everyone started streaming. What a world, lol 😆

        Liked by 1 person

  40. My favourites this week are your photos of the sunflowers seeds and hail, Terri. Here in Wales, our grey month tends to be August, when we have grey cloudy days that block out the sun. I’ve always seen grey as a mysterious colour. It’s everywhere, although you wouldn’t particularly notice it.

    My nephew sent me a cool photo of storm clouds that fit your theme for this week. He lives in Brisbane, Australia, and some of the storms they get are dramatic.

    He’s given me full permission to share the photo.

    I’ll be joining in again for Wordless Wednesday.

    Have a great week.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you! Wonderful photo from your nephew, Hugh, so brooding and scary! After unseasonably warm temps and sun here, it’s windy, cold and rain us expected this week. Messes with my phone 4G and therefore my online work. Looking forward to your post!

      Liked by 1 person

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      • So, still, no wifi installed at your new home, Terri? I hope it gets sorted soon. I’d have been as moody as the clouds in my nephew’s photo by now without any wifi.
        I will keep my fingers crossed for you that it happens soon.
        We’re still experiencing unseasonably cold weather here in the UK. Nobody would think the longest day was only a month away.

        Liked by 1 person

      • No wifi, Hugh. I manage OK with the phone as a hot spot and I’ve even borrowed our gym’s wifi in the parking lot to upload new images to a draft post! 🤪 where there is a will…
        We had Dish Network for TV for years and had it restarted when we moved in. Got a great deal so we can watch TV. Can’t stream anything but eventually that will happen. Rural internet is sketchy at best so we will get squared away next month I hope. I also hope you get some nice warm weather soon!

        Liked by 1 person

  42. Hi, Terri – I LOVE gray as a colour theme. (It actually is one of my favourite colours). And I have been feeling a bit gray because I no longer seem to be able to receive email reminders about your blog posts. I have tried twice to restore this. Fingers crossed tonight’s efforts have done the trick!
    Awesome photos to a creative theme!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thank you, Donna, I’m quite fond of gray as a color scheme too! Amazing how much gray surrounds us. I saw that you refollowed my blog, hope it worked. Been missing ya! Reading posts via email has been exasperating lately.

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