Kat Eye Studio

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Giving Thanks

Today, in the US, we are pausing to give thanks. At this moment I’m giving thanks for my son snuggled up next to me under the quilt, for sunshine, and for creating art. My list will change throughout the day.

For those of you in the US, I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends. For those of you outside the US, I hope you can take a moment today and give thanks for what is good in your life, what makes you happy, and the beauty of the work around you.

And for the US expats, my heart is with you today. I remember the feeling of going to work, having a regular old week day, while my home nation was celebrating my favorite holiday. But I’m also a little envious, because I look back fondly on all of the work it took to make Thanksgiving in Italy happen, and I see how much more I cherished the holiday, even if celebrated two days late.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, wherever you are. I am giving thanks for you today, too.

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Creating the Sun

It’s summer again, and I’m so glad. For about a week there, it wasn’t summer around here. A lot of rain and grey skies; muddy trails and wet dog. I wanted to wear my summer clothes – not my rain jacket – but didn’t have much of a choice.

I did have a choice in what I created, though, so I created my own personal sunshine through my art. Summer-y flowers and leaves in bright colors filled the bill. I could change my mood with a choice of brilliant oranges and reds, like this one…

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…or lemon yellow and lime green, like this image “Looking Up.” Ahhhh, hello sun.

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My husband complained that some of the colors were too bright. They hurt his eyes.

That sounds just about perfect to me. If they are too bright for you, just put on your sunglasses. I’ve achieved my goal, and created some sun.

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Monday Flowers

Happy Monday! The sun is shining and the flowers are blooming here in Oregon. Yesterday I was out exploring and discovered these beautiful orange-yellow flowers scattered various places along the side of the road. I loved how they were intermixed with the different plants growing along with them.

What were you up to this weekend? I hope it involved sunshine and something creative! If you weren’t around, don’t miss out on this month’s Exploring with a Camera, which posted on the weekend.

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The Color Yellow

Yellow is such a happy color, don’t you think? Evoking sunshine and flowers, it’s hard to frown at yellow. And a yellow scooter? Now that is something that should make anyone smile!

Today I share another scooter sighting from San Francisco, this one so nicely parked so I could capture the street and architecture behind it. Sighting scooters in San Francisco was much easier than getting a good picture of them. It’s often hard to create a good composition when the scooters are wedged in between cars, or I would need to stand in traffic to photograph them. I guess that’s what makes getting a good scooter sighting photo so much fun. It’s a challenge!

What do you think, is yellow a good color for a Vespa? As cute as this one is, I don’t think I’ll switch my dream Vespa from red just yet…

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Happy Women’s Day

In Italy, the tradition on Women’s Day is to give the yellow Mimosa flower to women in your life. So today I have some Mimosa for you!

I had never heard of International Women’s Day before moving to Italy. Now, I see references to it quite a few places here in the US too. Maybe I was never aware of it before, maybe it’s come into greater prominence in the last few years. I’m not sure.

It’s an important day in a lot of ways, requiring a moment of pause. An opportunity to take a moment and reflect on the lives that we are able to lead as women in the developed world. For all of the challenges we may face, they pale in comparison to our counterparts in other places around the world. I have had so many opportunities – for education, for employment, for freedom in my relationships and life. I have practiced engineering for 20 years, a non-traditional women’s career, without serious issue with my gender. I have a voice here online, without fear of reprisal. We are lucky for the freedoms women have in our culture.

I think that’s why I resonate with the idea of what Nest does so much, helping women build a sustainable career and life for themselves and their families. Today I learned of Kiva, another microfinance organization. Through Marie Forleo, I heard about this special opportunity to give a loan to women in other countries without it costing you anything. Visit this link to see how Kiva and Dermalogica are making this possible, and you can take advantage of the opportunity to give a loan too.

If nothing else today, take a moment to reflect on the opportunities that you have had as a woman, and how lucky you are when put into perspective by other places in the world.

In the tradition of Italy, give a yellow flower to a woman who matters to you. You all matter, thank you for being here. Happy Women’s Day.

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Thrill of Discovery

There is a thrill of discovery that sometimes happens when you go out exploring. On our excursion last weekend (yes, the one with the grumpy pre-teen in the back seat), we happened past this awesome hot dog stand in the middle of nowhere.

“Stop! Turn around!” I exclaimed to my husband, “I need to photograph that.” I couldn’t resist the red, yellow and black and the vintage car. There were so many cool details in this little place! It’s too bad it wasn’t open, they serve Chicago-style hot dogs which are my husband’s favorite. We’ll just have to go back again! I’m sure there is another photograph or two to be captured.

I hope you have a chance to get out this weekend, maybe experience a little thrill of discovery of your own.

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