mastodon 4.7.3With years of experience as a professional photographer, my focus is on landscape, night, & architectural scenes spanning from the Great Lakes to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Using my own photographs (and paintings (I'm a beginner!)), I am creating new art using digital software.
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Dad’s place sold after just 2 weeks on the market.
I can finally stop worrying about managing Dad’s property from a thousand miles away. As a bonus, it happened before another hard Michigan winter begins.
Grateful for the attorney and title company who sorted out the property title mess, despite the confusion along the way.
#threeGoodThings #3goodThings #gratitude #caturdayeveryday #blackcatsofmastodon #blackcat
I was channel surfing on Sling TV and happened to catch the very end of Saturday Night Fever. It was just enough to send me straight to the soundtrack.
One album turned into another—first Kool & The Gang (Get Down on It and Ladies Night), then Earth, Wind & Fire (Let's Groove), and now Chaka Khan (I Feel For You). I've had the music turned up and haven't wanted to stop listening.
A good reminder that music really is good for the soul. It has an amazing way of lifting my mood and changing my whole outlook.
#ThreeGoodThings #mackinawcity #michigan #3goodthings #today #gratitude
Thankful the cleaners came last week and cleaned years of dirt, grime and nicotine from the ceiling fans. Expecting a high of 95F / 35C here in Upper Michigan today with a heat index of 105F / 40.5C.
Old habits from childhood kicked in - close up all the windows and draw all the shades early during a heatwave and you don’t have air conditioning.
Making good progress in the clean out of my dad and brother’s place after being here a month.
#today #heatwave #gratitude #michigan #ThreeGoodThings #3goodthings
Had the bathroom and kitchen professionally cleaned on Monday, including all the ceiling fans. The difference is remarkable.
Had the grass mowed this morning by a local fellow. It hadn’t been cut since last September when my brother last took care of it.
Coming here for two months to sort through things was absolutely the right decision. While I can’t move the heavy items, I’ve been able to bag, box, and donate many useful things to local charities.
Bonus: The cooler Upper Michigan weather has been a welcome change, though we’re expecting a high of 99°F next Monday. With no air conditioning, those freshly cleaned fans are about to earn their keep!
#ThreeGoodThings #3goodthings #UpperMichigan #Decluttering #Donation #HomeImprovement #LifeUpdate
I’ve been going through old photos and this one packed a wallop for me. I reimagined the original photo as a painting before sharing it, but nothing could change what this moment means to me.
I was a teenager, proud of the Thanksgiving pie I’d made, while Dad finished carving the turkey behind me.
Over the years, this photo has come to mean so much more. It reminds me of how he was always there—steady, supportive, quick with a smile, and always ready to make me laugh. Those are the memories I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. ❤️
#FamilyMemories #Thanksgiving #Grief #GriefJourney #Dad #FatherDaughter #MemoryKeeping
Turning the calendar page today was harder than I expected. That last month held the final days of my dad’s life, and letting it go felt like I was moving farther away from him.
This photo, Solitude at Sunset, helps. That’s my dad in the silhouette. I took this years ago, after Mom had already been gone for a while, and gave it to him for Father’s Day. Somehow it feels like it’s come back to me now — a quiet reminder that love doesn’t disappear just because time keeps moving.
And the third thing is that I did it anyway. I turned the page, even though it hurt, choosing to carry him with me instead of leaving him behind.
#3goodthings #ThreeGoodThings #photography #ayearforart #grief #grateful
The photo shows my boon companion and a welcome shadow as I begin to navigate life without Dad.
She really is the sweetest cat in the world — despite the slightly grumpy look she’s giving here.
Girlie gives me something tender to focus on, a small anchor to steady me as I move through my days.
#3GoodThings #ThreeGoodThings #CatsOfMastodon #BlackCat #caturday
I created this by combining two of my own photographs using digital editing, and I’m honestly so happy with how it turned out. This new image is what I see in my mind’s eye when I think about Dad’s place—and something I’ll carry in my heart forever.
Even though the image is a bit grainy and noisy, it feels true to how memory works—piecing together moments that aren’t always perfectly clear. One photo that I used was of the window, taken early one morning in 2022 when Dad was waiting for me to arrive. The other was a black and white image of his place a couple of weeks after my brother died last fall, as we were getting ready to drive back to Virginia—his truck still sitting in the driveway.
#Grief #Memories #HealingThroughArt #PersonalWork #Photography
Three good things today:
The steady rhythm of Lake Superior waves at sunset — that familiar, grounding sound that hasn’t changed.
A memory from 2024 with Dad, staying at my grandparents’ cabin west of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, a place that was theirs until the 70s.
Realizing that even now, that shoreline still sounds like home to me.
#ThreeGoodThings #LakeSuperior #3goodthings #GriefJourney #Home #Michigan #QuietMoments #MindfulLiving
1. No tear of the retina was found today (detachment of the vitreous is what's causing the floaters and flashing lights).
2. Trip to Michigan delayed for a month until I'm rechecked, but that just gives me more time to settle things here at home first (and to plan my route to and from Michigan).
3. Got the new lens for my new full-frame camera, and wow, what a difference it makes for my photographs!
A different perspective of the Mackinac Bridge today. Standing beneath it in the fog, the steel seemed to disappear into the mist while the gentle waves lapped at the shore. A quiet moment in a place that has always felt like home.
#MackinacBridge #Michigan #StraitsOfMackinac #PureMichigan #Fog #GreatLakes #today #gratitude
The losses keep coming, each one testing my strength. Today my uncle passed away — just over a month after losing my dad, his brother. It feels heavy, but I will keep going.
But I’m still here. Still breathing. Still choosing to look for small things to hold onto.
1. Dad and my uncle are no longer separated by illness or time.
2. I am stronger than I feel in the middle of the night.
3. I am not walking through this completely alone.
Bonus: This sunrise on the Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the images in my “filmstrip in my head” — the kind I think about when I wake in the night. It reminds me that light returns, and with it comes quiet gratitude and hope for the day ahead.
#3GoodThings #Grief #LifeAfterLoss #OneDayAtATime #FindingLight #ThreeGoodThings #virginia #blueridgemountains
Stepping out the front door and seeing snow still covering the ground here in Virginia. It feels surreal—quiet, bright, and almost borrowed from somewhere farther north.
Thinking about Dad as this storm moved through. He passed while it was still underway. Being from Michigan, snow never surprised him—but Virginia snow usually disappears so quickly that he was always a little amused by it.
Except this time it didn’t. Nearly two weeks later, the snow is still here, the cold holding on. It feels like a pause that fits these days. And it brings a quiet awareness that I’m now between two homes—Michigan and Virginia—and neither quite feels like home without Dad. Still, I know I need to find my way forward here, to build a new sense of comfort in Virginia, carrying him with me in spirit.
#today #threegoodthings #3goodthings #grief #reflection #healingjourney #gratefulheart
Kindness doesn’t always show up when I expect it. I’m learning I can’t control that—only how much space I give it, and who I choose to remain.
When I was a teenager, Dad and I were at a grocery store checkout where the cashier was having a hard day. Dad met her with kindness anyway,. I asked him how he could do that and he told me, “Her bad mood doesn’t have to change who I am.”
I’ve carried that lesson with me ever since. Some days it’s easier than others. But it’s still the way I want to move through the world.
This photograph was taken nearly twenty years ago at Tahquamenon Falls, on a cold winter day when the footing wasn’t easy. Dad was always willing to come along when I headed out with the camera. I think of it now as a reminder that I’m still walking with his guidance, even now.
#Grief #Kindness #Photography
#WalkingForward #TodaysSmallMoment
#Michigan #UpperPeninsula
A month ago today, Dad died.
Somehow that feels both recent and far away, and I’m trying not to let the passing days make him feel further from me.
This photo was taken in 2022, just south of Grayling, Michigan. I was driving him to Virginia so he could live with us. The road stretched out ahead of us, and we had no idea what the next years would hold. But we were happy to be on the journey together.
A few days before that trip, he left me a voicemail telling me he loved me and was happy I was coming for him. I still have that message. It’s my most precious treasure.
Lately, when memories hit, my chest tightens and I sigh to let the pressure out. Sometimes I cry anyway. And that’s good.
I’m especially grateful for the people who have understood where I’m at without me having to explain it, and who have quietly offered their support.
One month. Still figuring out how to carry this.
1. Today was one of the hardest tasks. We brought Dad’s ashes home.
2. I’m grateful I didn’t do it alone.
3. He’ll be laid to rest beside Mom later in spring or summer — his final wish.
@Lizette603_23@mastodon.social Oh my, you made me laugh, and boy, did I need that. Add to that - "that which doesn't kill us will make us stronger". Gee, thanks. Seriously, though, I understand that people don't know what to say. And given there are people in real life who have yet to say a word to me, I'd rather someone say something ridiculous because that is better than nothing and it's good for a laugh sometimes, like now. Hugs to you.
@Lizette603_23@mastodon.social thank you so much.
Slowly setting into a more normal lifestyle and pace back at home, after a year of incredibly difficult upheavals and devastation.
Thankful for our female cat, my heart cat, Girlie. She is my therapy cat and I missed her while I was away.
No cavities at my dental check up this week!
Dunkin’ Strawberry Dragonfruit Daydream Refresher, light on the concentrate, fill with more oat milk.
Tackled my biggest and most dreaded task first thing today - calling the IRS. (Probably not the best thing to try and do on a Monday morning as the hold time was 30-60 minutes, so I hung up and will try again tomorrow). Even tho the call wasn’t completed, I am happy I tried.
Started on a new art project using an old magazine as the base. Tearing out some pages so that there’s room for collaging and gluing some pages together for strength. The result will be a one-of-a-kind altered magazine filled with collages made from images and papers I love.