I traveled to Portland, Oregon and although I was on a short blog break last week, I managed to talk about blogging the entire time! Marsha Ingrao of Always Write flew to Portland from Phoenix, Arizona. I drove my car 6 hours from Spokane, Washington, and picked her up. We had arranged to stay a few days with my cousin in Tigard, a suburb of Portland. More about the blogger meet-up shortly.
“I can’t write on the road. I have to be home. I have to be around all those rusted tractors and dilapidated fences and things like that, because it just grounds me in a way that I can’t find in a hotel room.“ — John Fullbright
DILAPIDATED. Basic definitions describe dilapidated as something that needs repair or is broken down.
Imagine a picturesque, rustic old barn. Sadly, I did not see any. Where is a rustic red barn when you need one? So, help me out here and post a few of those for me 😉
Dilapidation Everywhere?
After the pandemic, do you feel that many things are in a state of disrepair? It seems everywhere we look, things appear dilapidated, broken, junky, and incomplete.
On our trip, Marsha kept taking pictures of EVERYTHING, commenting, “that looks dilapidated.” She was right of course (because she “always” is), but I suggested that she should look for compelling images to depict dilapidation. There were still a LOT of compelling dilapidated images to capture.
The supply chain is still compromised, repairs to roads and infrastructure are still slow to be rectified, not to mention ridiculous prices on everything. It shows up more in our daily lives.
Since I live in a rural area, I rely on online shopping for a LOT of everyday items. When my postal clerk pulled this package out I almost died. This dilapidated box held dishes from a major department store.
He suggested I take a picture of the package in case the contents were broken. Thankfully they were packed well inside, and nothing was broken. Good job whoever shipped this.
This old home in Deer Park, Washington is in need of repair, and the rustic backyard fence shows stages of dilapidation.
To describe dilapidated, we can be positive and say something has been well-used, like this old basketball hoop in my cousin’s backyard.
Spent and Droopy Flowers
The idea of dilapidated also applies to flowers. Last month, I missed the nearby gorgeous sunflower fields by a few weeks.
And a spent sunflower from my garden in 2019.
One of our original sightseeing ideas was to visit the dahlia fields south of Portland. When my cousin told us that her neighbor had two huge beds of dahlias, we checked for ourselves and were not disappointed. We were so amazed that we walked the two blocks to the mini dahlia fields at least three times to snap our fill of amazing dahlias. We saved money and time by staying closer to home.
Some of the dahlias were the size of salad plates, and so heavy that this happened!
Looking abandoned and broken, the dahlia was rescued by Marsha and me and propped back up to its mended glory!
Stay tuned for more dahlias next week!
Although we are still waiting for Autumn to fully arrive, fallen leaves “fall” into the category of dilapidated.
“Prune the ill branches so that a tree grows. Prune the dilapidated buildings so that a city flourishes.” ~Khang Kijarro Nguyen
Relationships are Fortified When Bloggers Meet-Up
Visiting Marsha is always a treat–we’ve now visited each other in four states. We were so excited to meet up with three other Pacific Northwest bloggers. Our visit was enriched by our time together. We met for lunch in downtown Portland with Miriam Hurdle (The Showers of Blessings) and Diana Peach (aka D. Wallace Peach, Myths of the Mirror), both of whom are in the middle of book launches. They both took time out of their super busy lives to spend time with us. We so enjoyed talking and just getting to know each other better.
We met with Kirstin Troyer two days later at Fort Vancouver National Park, just across the Columbia River in Washington. We spent hours walking around capturing images that depict upcoming photo/blog challenge themes. Kirstin is a loyal participant of Sunday Stills and you can find her blog here at Loving Life.
I swear we did not plan the orange shirts and denim jeans (maybe Marsha and I did, but just a little). Kirstin, Marsha, and I then drove to the nearby Weekend Market, took more pics, and ate lunch.
Wake Me Up When September Ends (WOTY)
The month of September was a stressful month due to the focus on the wildfires in California that destroyed many areas of the Western Sierra Nevadas. My dad’s home was spared but many homes and properties were not.
My Word of the Year is WALK. And that I did.
Let’s see, what else? My Facebook page was hacked and the hacker got into my bank account and spent $$ on advertising! A few days before my trip to Portland, my dog was attacked and bitten by two neighbor dogs, resulting in a sizable vet bill. My brother-in-law suffered a mild heart attack which was treated and he is home.
My trip to Portland was well deserved but busy! I got to spend time with fellow bloggers getting to know them better. We visited areas of Portland, Vancouver, and Tillamook, places I hadn’t seen. Marsha probably thinks I’m a hot mess after driving with me (Portland traffic is legendary and I’m not used to ANY traffic)! I got to spend special time with my sweet cousin (her husband passed away in June 2021). All the while my stalwart hubby stayed home with the dogs and still managed to work on the interior of the shop/barn.
I am truly blessed in spite of it all. Walking kept me sane.
Photo Challenges I’m Inspired By This Week
Each week I am inspired by my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I find it fun to incorporate these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.
- Cee’s Flower of the Day
- Dawn’s Festival of Leaves
- Johnbo’s CellPic Sunday
- Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share
How To Participate in the Sunday Stills Photo Challenge
Sunday Stills weekly photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- 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 to the comments.
This Week’s Featured Bloggers
Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are this week’s links from bloggers who shared their “dilapidated” photos. I add these all week as new links are posted.
- YOUR BLOG’S NAME HERE!
- Always Write
- Calling All Rush-Babes
- Cath’s Camera
- Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
- Cee’s Photo Challenges
- The Day After
- Equipoise Life
- Graham’s Island
- Hugh’s Views and News
- Kamerapromenader
- Light Words
- Loving Life
- Middleton Road
- Now At Home
- Philosophy Through Photography
- Quaint Revival
- Stevie Turner
- Travel With Me
- Wind Kisses
- Woolly Muses
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The Sunday Stills themes for October are ready to view on my Sunday Stills Page.
Dilapidated? Rustic? Timeworn? You decide. I can’t wait to see what you come up with, and I’m serious about sharing your rustic red barns.
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