Raise your virtual hand if you remember the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge? If you’ve been blogging long enough, you would remember these inspiring photo challenges. I honed my photography skills because of blogging and for this, I am very grateful. This challenge single-handedly brought big numbers of visitors and followers to my blog and I met a wonderful group of photographers, many of whom are still actively blogging today.

I bring this up because I was inspired by a WPC theme “vivid,” from June 2015. Most of us have just enjoyed or are still enjoying a vivid Autumn while our southern hemisphere friends are languishing in spring’s warm temperatures and vivid florals. **Note: the link will take you to the WordPress Photo Challenge.**

Vivid Autumn Landscape
Vivid Autumn Mountain Landscape near my house

“Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron and russet, and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies.” ~ Sharon Kay Penman

I will be brief today as I spent the week of Thanksgiving with my step(bonus)daughter and her new husband, and visiting family. They were the ones who got married in Sedona in August 2021. I still have vivid, beautiful memories of their wedding.

Mr and Mrs Thompson
Mr and Mrs Thompson

Grateful for Arizona Friends and Families

During the pandemic (a sadly vivid memory) many folks including ourselves moved. Some moved to the state of Arizona including my stepdaughter, my brother, and my bestie, Marsha Ingrao. We have already collected a wonderful set of memories from our visits there.

Red rocks of Sedona
Bell Rock, Sedona, Arizona
Watson Lake
Paddling is popular at Watson Lake
South Rim of the Grand Canyon in snow
South Rim of the Grand Canyon

I am also linking back to Marsha’s WQW Memorable trips as so many of these caught my eye on our varied travels this summer and fall.

Vivid Spurtle from Sedona
Vivid Spurtle from Sedona
Purple fountain
Downtown Prescott’s Vivid Fountain
vivid hummingbird
Touch of vivid purple on hummingbird

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie

Grateful to Wander in the Vivid Pacific and Inland Northwest

I enjoyed the wonderful vivid colors and sights in Vancouver, Washington, and Tigard, Oregon.

vivid dried corn
A Vivid Harvest
Vivid Vancouver Veggies
Vivid Vancouver Veggies
orange and yellow dahlia
Back of vivid dahlia

I brought this cute pansy into my house in late October and it is still blooming!

Vivid Pansy
Late Fall Vivid Pansy

Early snow on our street makes a beautiful backdrop for vivid red dog coats while out walking here in Nine Mile Falls.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I am also grateful for the choice this year for my Word of the Year: WALK. I walk or take a hike nearly every day, in any kind of weather. It sure is good for the body and soul!

You can find the link-up to November’s WOTY here at Deb’s World.

Inspiring Photo Challenges

Each week I am inspired by my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I find it fun to incorporate these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

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 VIVID photos. I add these all week as new links are posted.

To see more of my images and other news, consider following Terri on Social Media by clicking the icons:

Don’t forget to join me next week, December 4th as we show off our local “In Your Town.” My Sunday Stills Page lists December’s themes.

© 2022-2031 Copyright — secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved

Published by Terri Webster Schrandt

Now retired, I am former university adjunct faculty, self-published author, and retired recreation and parks practitioner living in Eastern Washington State near the Idaho border. Second Wind Leisure Perspectives is my blog about living a leisure lifestyle that includes fitness, photography, and fun.

120 thoughts on “Sunday Stills: #Vivid Memories Spark Gratitude”

  1. Pingback: #SundayStills ~ Images and Memories #Vivid #Photography

  3. (Hand waving wildly); I remember the original challenges and was so disappointed when they shut down. I was so happy that they are now carried on in the work of the Lens-Artists. I am honored to have recently joined the team.

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  5. I do remember the WordPress Photo Challenge but I think I came in more towards the end. You have some wonderful ‘vivids’, Terri. The fresh produce and flowers are so colourful and I love the scenic shots. Great memories as well.

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  7. Those are some amazing and vivid shots, Terri! And memories as well.

    I remember the WP photo challenge and participated a few times. They were perfect to put a quick post out. I wish I had more time to focus on my photography. And, I wish I could go for a daily walk or hike, but our current circumstances don’t allow this. It’s hot, humid, and hectic as long as we are “stuck” in a big Colombian city.

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  8. Lovely collection of images as always. I’ve missed joining in on these photo challenges, and plan on returning eventually. Right now, I’m embracing my new title of “Mimi” aka grandma. Lillian is now 3 months old and I’m her caregiver every Monday and am smitten beyond words.

    I really enjoy seeing the photos of your new life up in WA. Looks beautiful, but I don’t miss the cold weather and snow … well, other than around the holidays. As a former Coloradoan, it’s hard for me to get into the holiday spirit living in the desert. I’ll have to rely on your images for a holiday spirit boost.

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    1. Aww, thank you, Ingrid! It’s nice to hear from you! I’m glad you are loving being a grandma–nothing like it. I will look forward to seeing your posts in the future when you can get back into blogging. I have gotten used to the winters–my third already! It just takes longer to get dressed to go out, LOL!

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  16. Beautiful post Terri and yes indeed I remember the WP Photo Challenge. When they decided to end it (with very little notice I might mention) Patti and I decided to pick up the slack and start our Lens-Artists Challenge. Like you, the WPC brought us many followers and introduced us to many wonderful photographers. I’m so happy to see that our challenge syncs so well with yours this week, and greatly appreciate your mentioning us! I’m linking my post here https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2022/11/26/lens-artists-challenge-227-home-sweet-home/ . Loved your beautiful wedding photo and the snowy walk especially this week (altho I’ll keep my snow exposure online rather than on the ground thank you!!)

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    1. Thank you, Tina! I’m certainly glad so many started challenges and many are still plugging along. What you don’t want real snow? I’m happy to share it online for you 🙂 We’ve got snow still but under bright clear blue skies finally!

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    1. Thank you so much, Anne! I was in a blogging slumps an almost quite, and just before WP ended the photo challenge, I had the brainstorm of resurrecting Sunday Stills. So glad I did and quite grateful that so many folks enjoy it! Keeps me challenged too 😉

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  21. Terri,
    The WP challenges must have been before my time (2017), but I’ve really loved seeing your pictures in the years since–you have great skills. Hope your Thanksgiving was a blessed one. Joe (P.S. Your Pansy is cute.)

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    1. Thank you, Joe. I’m glad to have brought the pansy inside, it would have frozen. WP ended its challenge in May 2018 and I started SS in April 2018. I’m thankful for its run but love our fellow bloggers challenges and link parties.

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  22. I remember the challenge fondly as it was a great way to connect with bloggers all over the world, more so than any other challenge I’ve taken part in. But there are certainly lots of other challenges, so many that I couldn’t enter all of them as I rarely do more than one post a day. 🙂 I really enjoyed this post, Terri, fill with beauty and gratitude.

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  23. Terri, I really enjoyed reading this post – so many happy, vivid, cheerful things to admire and appreciate. Glad you had time with friends and family during the holiday week. We celebrated a week early with the family and had a quiet staycation for just the two of us on the actual holiday. It was different but nice.

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  25. What a fun post to read and of course, my hand is waving, too. I love all the enthusiasm in the comments. We all loved that challenge, but I think the ones that stepped into the gap are much more personal. We have each other to chat with. Maybe that is why they quit it. They realized that their job of priming the pump was finished and they had other priorities to attend to. Who knows why they quit because they didn’t talk to us the way we talk to each other. But they did come up with some amazing themes each week. I’m excited about WQW, which will be WQ next year. It will be much more geared toward photographers and have many repeat themes from the Weekly Photo Challenge – tweaked a bit, as you inspired me to check out. 🙂 Thanks for linking up. I loved seeing your street all covered with snow. It feels so familiar. 🙂 And your veggies came out amazing. I love what squaring the picture did to it. I’ve used several of my veggie pictures as puzzles, but yours is definitely compelling. 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Marsha for that long lovely comment 😉 Boy, you nailed it on the head when you said WP primed the pump and moved on. I hadn’t thought of it that way–they just grew too big to be personal anymore. Which makes sense since so many bloggers have joined. WP run by Automattic is a big machine and kept too small could have likely closed down.

      We had a lot of snow melt today (41F!!), but getting cold tomorrow with snow expected all week. A tech is coming to look at our heat pump tomorrow–it does a better job heating than the furnace. I was happy to use a veggie photo–it came out nicely. We’ll have to chat this week!

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  26. Pingback: WQW 45: Thanksgiving Gratitude – Marsha Ingrao – Always Write

  27. Some fabulous images, and plenty to be thankful for. I really must remember to link up every so often with the weekly photographic challenge… Thanks for linking up with us this month.

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  30. Love all these vivid photos and also the context of the post explaining about photo of the week. I too enjoy all the interaction even if I don’t join in as much as I want. I always have the intention but don’t have the discipline to sit and get on with it! I tend to use all my photos for my travel posts.

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  31. Yes, I remember that WP prompt. It was a fun way to meet other bloggers and practice playing with the camera. You definitely have a technique that shines vividly. I’m always impressed with the colors you capture and the composition of your photos. So many happy memories were shared in your selections this week. Enjoy your winter wonderland walks! Stay warm 🙂

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      1. You’re welcome. Yes, I think that’s where we met too!
        You’re fortunate to still enjoy both photography and art and have made it into a fun hobby.
        We’re getting snow today, all the previous snow we had disappeared, so it’ll be white here again. I hope your storms aren’t too bad and that you can get out and walk!

        Liked by 1 person

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  36. Sounds like you had a lovely Thanksgiving, Terri. We had our first taste of Thanksgiving on Sunday evening when we were invited over by our 2 new American neighbours to sample their leftovers. Very nice indeed!

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  41. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving with your daughter-in-law and her husband, Terri. Was the ‘Walking In A Winter Wonderland’ photo taken on that day? It would make a great Christmas card.

    The vivid spurtle would make a lovely Christmas present and Prescott’s fountain reminds me of the colourful fountains I saw in Vega, but on a much large scale of course.

    We’ve still got plenty of autumnal colours here, but it’s fading fast. Good to see you still have some too.

    My entry this week is from New York City. The building in the photo brings back lovely vivid memories of The Rockettes Christmas show which I’ve seen several times.

    Have a great week.

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    1. Thank you, Hugh, we did have a lovely Thanksgiving. We spent late afternoon with some extended family at their place then Friday over at Hans’ brother’s. My step-dot and hubby fit right in and she especially enjoyed seeing all her cousins–it had been 10 years.

      I caught us walking that same day after 3 inches of snow fell. Our Autumn is in the books as winter has abruptly made herself at home. As I type this Tuesday a.m., its 11F here (-11C for you all)! We’re expecting a major winter storm with significant snowfall up to 16 inches–yikes. Good thing about being retired, we have the choice not to have to go somewhere!

      Thank you for sharing your NYC image! Vivid indeed of the Radio City Music Hall sign and area! That must have been quite memorable to see the Rockettes there, wow! Have a great week and enjoy the last breath of Autumn!

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      1. Oh, my! Not only is that very cold to us Brits, but it sounds like that winter storm could be very dangerous, Terri. It sounds like winter has arrived well and truly early in your part of the world. The odds of a white Christmas must be very high. I hope you have plenty of supplies in the house.

        Good to hear you had a lovely Thanksgiving with the family. Spending time with family is always precious, especially at this time of the year.

        The Radio City music hall is one of my favourite buildings worldwide. And I love The Rockettes Christmas Show. It’s always the same show, but I never tire of seeing it. And a visit to Macy’s Christmas department is also a highlight.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Your NYC visit sounds exactly like what I would see while there, Hugh. Maybe a Broadway play too! We may do a food shopping today before things change. We have two autos with 4 wheel drive and it’s sunny now. Calm before the storm, literally. Newscasts are calling this the storm of the decade!

        Liked by 1 person

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  44. Hi Terri, I love your take on this week’s theme and yes I can remember the WordPress Photo Challenges, it’s probably where I met up with you back in the day! Your gratitude shines through your words and photos. Enjoy your time together 🙂

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  51. I like all your themed posts Terri. I’ve not participated in the challenges except for two of my posts which Yvette Prior read and suggested I submit them for challenge subjects – one to you and one for Norm’s Thursday Doors feature. HI got to meet you when I submitted my sunflowers contribution to you in Fall of 2021. Thank you for sharing these photos – they are beautiful.

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    1. Thank you, Linda! I’ve really enjoyed hosting Sunday Stills since April 2018! I needed purpose with my blog and doing this really made the difference. That was nice of Yvette to recommend your posts. Anytime you need more inspiration, feel free to hop in! The themes are fairly broad and I publish them in advance on my page.

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      1. Thank you Terri – I will remember that. I look forward to when I retire (no date for that yet as it depends on my boss) and then being able to go through my photos and organize them more timely. Right now, as fun as it was to take photos all Summer and Fall, it will be a daunting task to get them organized and keep them/the posts from being too similar.

        Liked by 1 person

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