Flickr

See it, snap a photo of it, look up its story

May 23, 2011 by Rosa Say

In doing so, you are sure to practice the value of Mahalo — appreciating those elements which make your life most precious to you.

You’ll also learn about a wealth of different things in the process.

Hayden Island river houses along the Columbia River in Northeast Portland

I’m getting reminded of this as I upload photos to Flickr which I’d taken on a recent trip to Portland, Oregon.

As part of my trip, a mixture of business and pleasure, I treated myself to a full three days of self-guided walking tours throughout the streets of downtown Portland, heading out any time the rain let up, with just camera and a pocketful of change for food and coffee stops — and my raincoat, for it’s Portland after all, and spring seems to be quite elusive for that part of our country this year. Can you find me anywhere in the photos below?

Dogwood in bloom at the University of Portland up on The Bluff

Had a great time, a very relaxing few days wherein I could let my book-in-progress simmer for a while, enjoy some terrific meetups, and just relish being in new, comfortable, yet unfamiliar surroundings. I had not been to Portland before (or anywhere in Oregon for that matter). That held a ton of promise for me.

‘See it, snap it, and learn its story’ has become one of my favorite things to do ever since getting newly familiar with easy-peasy point-and-shoot digital photography about three years ago (no film to process!). Three years and 6,165 Flickr uploads ago as of this writing to be precise, not including the many experimental and lousy shots that never made the upload cut.

Though my Portland uploads have re-triggered my practice, causing me to stop and share this posting about it with you, this is something you can do while at home, at work or play, or anywhere: All you need to do, is carry a camera with you wherever you go — or just use that camera on your smartphone more than you have been doing up to now:

See it: Look at your surroundings more deliberately. Take extra time and really see it. Look closer at the detail, or back away for a bigger picture. Look down toward your feet. Look up above your head. If people are caught in your view and they catch you staring, just smile at them.

Snap it: Take a photo. Take a couple of them. Move the camera around” move you around. Indulge your natural curiosity about things, and focus on color, on lines and angles, on something quirky or unusual, or on a feeling, and the simple fact that you like what you see — or even that you feel emotionally interrupted by it in some way. Consider the interruption an awakening of your attentions.

Learn its story: This is where the internet has made new explorations so incredibly easy: Just search. See what you can find out about the subjects of your photos. Are there stories to be learned? I’ll bet there are, for everything has some kind of story, including those just waiting to burst out and happen. You might even stumble on a legend.

Bonus points: Share what you’ve learned in the spirit of Aloha and value of Mahalo, for it’s learning in what we can better appreciate about the fascinating, complex, and beautiful lives we’ve been given on this very precious and amazing planet of ours.

I like doing so on Flickr where my uploading can be tagged in the weird way my mind works to organize things, by making sure I add detailed descriptions when I have them, and photo-blogging within the helpful and very supportive community there. Unless there are people in the shot, I leave copyright permission open with Creative Commons so others can use the photos too. At other times I’ll add something on Ho‘ohana Aloha, my Tumblr, or here on the blog.

The learning part is what always blows my mind. I knew very little about Portland when I arrived there, just prepping enough to get a general lay of the land (several unique districts within downtown alone” Old Town, Chinatown, The Pearl and South Park Blocks to name a few) and could choose good hotels. Otherwise, my ignorance was bliss; I wanted to be surprised and romanced by the place itself.

I’m sure I snapped a lot of photos that many native Portlanders wouldn’t have bothered with. I simply felt they looked charming or interesting in some way, and I would take my snaps knowing I could easily find out more about my subjects later.

My web searches will then take me on incredible journeys — I returned from my trip ten days ago, and I’m only about halfway done with my uploads! What Flickr forces you to do, (not the site itself, just my own obsessive habits with using it) is label your photo in some way, so to start, my searching is prompted by the simple desire to put the right name on locations I have visited, and not be careless.

Here are just three of the stories I discovered:
The first tells the story of an train watchman turned urban artist back when The Pearl was a rail yard. The second explains how Ecotrust is a steward of the Reliable Prosperity Project, relating to something I find I am increasingly interested in: Eco-business practices. The third will point you to a video which (I personally hope) will inspire more renewal in the district Portland calls Chinatown, for despite its rich history, the place seemed to be stopped in limbo to me.

The Lovejoy Columns: Project story (with more links). Be sure to look at this Flickr set too, with photos taken back in 2008 where the columns originally stood (my photos are at a relocation project).
The Ecotrust Building: On Tumblr (with more links). At Flickr.
The Hung Far Low Chinatown Neon: Video. Story at my Flickr photo.

When you click over to Flickr, clicking the project tag (right side of the page) for the photo you land on will help you see all the photos I have for that particular story.

One of two Lovejoy Columns relocated to the Elizabeth Tower

Chinatown icons on NW 4th

Next time I go to Portland I’ll have a wealth of choices with spending my time there, now knowing so much more as I do! There are several buildings I would love to revisit, and see the inside of, timing my visits for when they are open. Loved using their TriMet transportation (even to the airport!) and will have to get more snaps of their Public Art.

Flickr, and my searches for more labeling info, is getting me to feel like I am visiting these places a second time now, and that when I return, for I definitely will, it will have more of a 3rd-time connection for me.

I will leave you with one more story which made me smile, about John’s Cafe: You can find two story links in the photo description there.

So your turn now: See it, snap a photo of it, look up its story. You’ll be so very glad you did.

Lovingly, The Weekend

February 5, 2011 by Rosa Say

Aloha Weekend, what shall we do today?

I often imagine that The Weekend is another person, or another relationship I have to/want to weave into my life. It’s never suited my Type A personality (or palena ‘ole coaching) to think of weekends as the days most normal people consider days ‘off,’ and it’s only been in recent years that I’ve been at all deliberate about shaping The Weekend into something else of relationship caliber, and a better alternative that would keep it special. Hō‘imi Interesting versus Easy To Ignore.

My parents had Monday through Friday types of jobs, but I don’t remember us doing much on weekends as a family. Saturdays and Sundays represent a big fat ‘church-ness’ in my growing up memories, and it was a good thing for me (though of course I didn’t see it that way back then.)

Living With The Pope

When I was growing up, ours was a family that went to church every Sunday without fail. My dad was the one we thought of as “the holy one” and we’d all call him “the Pope” when we were sure he couldn’t hear us (my mom was the one that started it).

For as long as I can remember, my mom was the one that did the flowers for the church every Saturday afternoon, and I honestly think that Sunday mornings were more of a vanity fix for her as the entire congregation “ooh”d and “aah”d over them. She deserved the accolades; she also had (still has) an extraordinary talent for fashioning any kind of flower a bride would choose into bouquets for weddings, and all was done in her volunteer time as her hobby.

That’s me and my dad at my wedding, and yes, my mom did the bouquet.

Dad made Sundays sacred. You wouldn’t describe them as a “day of rest” though; he kept us all busy. They were sacred in that they were about our faith, and about ‘ohana, our family, and about generally being as good as we could possibly be for the entire day. Sunday was the day that you made up for any slip-ups or indiscretions in the week before, and you fortified your character for the week ahead.

We also thought of Sunday as a kind of neighborhood and community day, for that was when ho‘omāka‘ika‘i; we went visiting. It was the day we’d get lectures on things like citizenship, civic duty and social responsibility, or charity, patriotism and history.

Sunday was the day that we learned values from our parents, just as they had learned them from their parents. We had modest scoops of value-learning every day, but Sunday was the day it came in droves, and you better be able to take it all in.
~ from some older writing on my old MWAC blog

In contrast, I fear weekends may be a big fat nothing for my own children” I don’t want to ask them because selfishly, I don’t want to hear the answer.

Hubby and I have never had Monday through Friday jobs. Our days off were whenever business was slowest, and never, ever the holidays, for those were when business was booming. It’s still like that for him. As for me, you run into a similar 7-day sweep when you’re self employed and mostly work from home, for working is something you never stop doing — and that’s honestly not a problem for me” it’s sort of like discovering that 6 or even 7 smaller health snacks during the day are actually better for you than those conventional 3 meals a day which leave you fat and yearning for naps instead of workouts.

However, blaming jobs and work habits is a cop-out. Both can change, if you choose to change them.

So these days, in coaching myself to shape better habits and be healthier mana‘o, kino, ‘uhane (mind, body, and spirit) I’m feeling a ma‘alahi calling back to making the weekends special in some way, and to forcing their separateness. (Best I can describe it, ma‘alahi invokes simplicity, and a calm persuasion toward contentment, even when it may require some kind of feels-right disruption at first to break inertia, for ease is a part of ma‘alahi too” so many western words for just one Hawaiian one!)

I’ve no definite plan in mind, other than wayfinding, and finding some other time to do my chores (which are still chores, though downsizing has gotten cooler). You?

That sounds good Rosa, play instead.
For starters, you can get outside…

Lovingly,
The Weekend

On my Best Habit List: Play Tourist

January 22, 2011 by Rosa Say

In keeping with my theme for 2011 as The Year of Better Habits, I am definitely continuing with something I started in earnest during 2010: I’m reaping the joy of playing tourist.

In my dream of all dreams, I’d shed all my earthly possessions but for the essentials I could backpack, convince my family and friends to come with me, and set off to travel the world, living for never-rushed months at a time in as many places as I could. Yep, I really would — and I’m working on being able to do it one day, sooner versus later! I want one of those cool walking sticks which travelers stud with emblems of the trails they have hiked, and I want to take pictures with people who speak a different language, and yet we still understand each other… in our photos we’re always smiling or laughing, and we’re usually hugging.

Meanwhile, I’ve started to do so the practical way close to home, both to appreciate where I am now, and to keep my dream vibrantly alive and within reach: I play tourist.

I don’t have the walking stick yet, but I do have some photos.

At least once every two weeks, I get out to see what visitors to Hawai‘i come to see, for there’s so much here, and I want to get my wonder back about it all, and not take it for granted. When I take a trip somewhere new, usually to speak or teach, thanks to Managing with Aloha, I tweak my schedule so I can stay an extra day or two, and play tourist there.

I bet there’s a wealth of attractions nearby to where you live too: Get out and see it. Feel what your visitors feel, when they snap their pictures, and sigh, “Wow, can you imagine what it would be like to actually live here?”

You do. And Nānā i ke kumu: Your sense of place is something to be savored.

Here are some photos I took while at Volcanoes National Park last Sunday, just a bit more than a two-hour drive from my home. I’m still uploading more” you can scroll through the full set on Flickr. A bit of introduction:

When completely opened, Crater Rim Drive is an 11-mile drive which circles the KÄ«lauea summit caldera and craters of Volcanoes National Park, and it leads through both rainforest and desert, with marked scenic stops and short walks on the way. Highlights are the Steam Vents, Jaggar Museum, Halema‘uma‘u Crater, Devastation Trail, KÄ«lauea Iki Crater, and Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube).

On this particular day less than a fourth of the drive was open because of the toxic air quality being created by the current eruption, yet I was able to see all of those attractions. You can discover the full character of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park by adding another 25 miles roundtrip descending 3,700 feet to the coast, dead-ending at a lava flow crossing the road on its land-creating journey to the sea. There are also 150 miles of trails, still including the 4-mile/400 foot descent of the KÄ«lauea Iki Crater trail, where under-the-surface flows still steam through, but are deep below, and considered safe enough to tread.

Volcanoes is a very special place, and it’s such a shame that so many residents of Hawai‘i have never visited. Those who have, know that once is not enough. You might see it all in that one trip, but you leave knowing you’ll want to return.

Devastation Trail

‘ÅŒhi‘a ‘ula ‘ula

Raindrop kissed PÅ«kiawe

Inside Nāhuku: Thurston Lava Tube

Sawtooth Blackberry blossoms

Plume of smoke from Halema‘uma‘u Crater

The ‘Ae fern gets to work

Lava lichen

**Related reading in the Talking Story archives:**

Rapid Fire Learning | June 2010

June 26, 2010 by Rosa Say

Aloha Ho‘ohana Community,

If you are newly joining us, Rapid Fire Learning is another way we “take 5” here at Talking Story: It happens on the last weekend of the month. Jump right in! If you’re one who likes learning of the backstory, you can catch up with a fuller explanation of what it’s all about here: Rapid Fire Learning Returns to Talking Story. Click on the tags near the post footer to skim through previous month editions.

I’ll go first, and I invite you to join in. Use the comments here, or send me a trackback from your own site. Tumble something, or tweet yours one-by-one in the Twitter 140 if you like!

My RFLs for Iune ~ June, 2010:

One of the mantras I had adopted for 2010 was “Less will be more.” (Here is the backstory.)

Within the spirit of that mantra, I gave June of 2010 up to an experiment, one of using, and doing, as little as possible in diverse ways. More simplicity. Less complexity. More calm. Less busy-ness. These became guidelines I applied to everything, including my work. One of my reasons was family, for I knew there were graduations, weddings, and some vacation time to be had this month, and I wanted to focus on people and on conversation, and see if I could further wean myself from my digital habits, habits I know to be too hungry in their greediness with my time and attentions. Thus RFL is a bit more focused for me this month, for here are the 5 key learnings I have taken from my Spring-into-Summer, June 2010 Less is More-ness of a month:

1. While my intention was to “see and better hear others” more than usual, I learned to see myself more, and began to watch my own habits as they happened. I have noticed that I dabble a lot as new inputs come my way. It is possible to remain an incessant dabbler without choosing, and without deciding for long stretches of time. On the one hand, I like that I jump into dabbling as I do, and that I do not hesitate, nor stifle my curiosity. On the other hand, this dabbling gives me a wanton restlessness that I do not like very much, and I need to end it at some point, with a choice or a decision of some kind being that ‘ending’ or a finish-with-flourish.

2. When you are family, you take each other for granted way, way, WAY too much. We all know this, but what do we do about it, and how often? We think we know all there is to know about each other, forgetting that family grows and changes just as our friends, co-workers, and other peopled relationships do. This month I taught myself to catch up with family more intensely, asking them better questions, and listening to their whole answers in that I welcomed their going “off topic” whereas that meandering can honestly annoy at other times. Family can be endlessly interesting; I’m the one that gets boring if I’m not careful with curbing my impatience for an answer. Impatience can kill a much more fascinating story.

3. I learned how little I really need my laptop (when traveling) now that I have my iPhone and my Kindle. When home, and in-office, and I force myself to ignore my laptop, I start to initiate phone calls, and connect with people more by voice and conversation, and less by email and text message. Voice is better. Conversing is richer. Both give you a timely, emotional connection that simply cannot be duplicated because there is interplay.

4. Part of June included a totally unintentional radio silence both online and off (I had to cancel a speaking engagement for the first time ever) because of a worrysome family accident that brought everything else to a halt for me. I learned who missed me, and who did not as connected to a business initiative I’d taken on: Decisions previously fraught with emotion became very easily made, teaching me how useful emotional detachment can be if only I can manage to stage it in a less dramatic way!

5. I hate that I have become a skimmer in our world of informational overload, for I crave that old ability I once had, and have lost, to read slowly and deeply. In these June weeks I’ve learned that I can get that ability back if I enforce longer stretches of digital/interweb abstinence on a daily basis. Yes, daily. Turning off once a week or weekend is not enough, not for the habit shift which must be re-cultivated.

This Less is More RFL-ing dished up more time I could give to my hobby-ing on Flickr… the photos I have included as dividers here are a few of my personal favorites, among those which caused me to focus on the natural beauty around me. Click on any photo to get the larger view appearing on my Flickr stream.

So how about you? What did you learn this month?