Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

In my last Challenge-related post, I wrote about choosing a topic for this week's Photo Challenge. I wrote that I would most likely choose to go with the first five topics of photographer Nicole S. Young's 10-day #StayOutThere Challenge . I hope it won't come as too big a surprise that that's exactly what I chose to do. This week's Photo Challenge blog post features photos covering the following topics, as inspired by Nicole S. Young's Challenge: 01: Sky 02: Flower 03: Water 04: Blur 05: Texture Quick update: Photos will be posted soon - I hope. It's been a stressful week and sitting down to edit photos (to get rid of the spots and scratches on my camera's lens) has not been a priority. Here are links to the photos that Nicole S. Young took: Sky Flower Water Blur Texture I hope that despite the lateness of this week's Photo Challenge photos, you will enjoy the photos when they do appear!

On the 25th of August I posted a blog entry about photographer Nicole S. Young's 10-day #StayOutThere challenge . Inspired by the topics she chose to cover for her challenge, I decided to see if I could 'do' her Challenge as well, my own way. The topics Nicole S. Young chose for the ten days of her Challenge: 01: Sky 02: Flower 03: Water 04: Blur 05: Texture 06: Farmer's Market 07: Summer 08: Play 09: Shade 10: Reflection In my earlier post, I mentioned that finding a Farmer's Market (#06) might be challenging. However, I did figure out a possible alternative. There is a carnival / fair going on in my city at the moment. It may not be a Farmer's Market however it does have a lot of interesting-looking attractions. A walk through the Kermis might be a good substitute for a Farmer's Market. I faced another challenge when deciding on a topic to photograph for #08: Play. In the past, I've written that I don't like taking photos of people without p...

Baby animals are cute. How many people can resist smiling when faced with adorable kittens and gorgeous puppies? Maybe it's just this photo but I think I may have found my all-time 'favourite baby animal' because baby pandas are ridiculously cute, gorgeous and adorable! #DYK . When born, a #panda cub is just 1/900th the size of its mother. pic.twitter.com/21nN7eADqU — WWF (@WWF) August 26, 2015

Photographer Nicole S. Young recently partnered with Adobe for a #StayOutThere 10-day Photography Challenge. She shares her images online every day and explains her reasons for participating in the challenge on her blog / website:   " Over the next ten days, I am partnering with Adobe for a “#StayOutThere 10-Day Photography Challenge” to help you look for new ways to invigorate your photography! Each day I will share a photo that fits in with a daily theme (see the next section for more info). Please follow along with my posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to view my interpretations of each daily theme, and don’t forget to share your own images as well! " Source: 10-Day #StayOutThere Challenge | Nicole S. Young Challenge yourself to #StayOutThere over the next ten days with @nicolesy ’s daily themes: http://t.co/XoabB50ZuR pic.twitter.com/4UlaqQ1Zbn — Adobe Lightroom (@Lightroom) August 24, 2015 As an avid photographer myself (albeit not a professional o...

While I'm not a self-help guru, a Professor or a researcher, I am a reader and a blogger - someone who sees a lot of articles online with titles like " Five steps to a new you" or " Six ways to change the world" or " Seven things you need to know right now!"  Most of the time, titles like that make me laugh. After all, the whatever-many steps that worked for whoever wrote the article may not work for me or anyone else. This blog post is entitled "How To Fix The World In Five Simple Steps" not because I believe that these five steps will actually 'fix' the world but precisely because titles like this one make me laugh. Because they make me curious yet also make me think Let's see what this author comes up with... These five steps may not fix the world, however I hope this article will make you think. Step One: What works for you may not work for another Realise that your system, *your* way of seeing the world, of believing, of ...

This week's Photo Challenge used photos taken on the same day and at the same location as last week's Photo Challenge photos. In a way, they're more of the same - photos of nature taken around the Noord Holland area in The Netherlands. Moss on a branch #01 Moss on a branch #02 Moss on a branch #03 A Touch of Red Fold Me Up Branches and Leaves It's A Fluffy World Flower Thistles on the Water Delicate in White

I've been reading a lot the last few weeks. I wrote about it briefly - in this 09 August 2015 post - however didn't elaborate all that much. I haven't even updated Goodreads (which is where I keep track of what I read and want to read) to show or share what I'm reading. Those who know me won't be surprised that I'm reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series and loving it. Starting to get to the last few books and have to say I almost want to take a break from reading just so the series will last longer! All this reading means I haven't been blogging much, haven't shared many posts on Twitter and have barely updated Facebook. And honestly, while I try to keep up to date with what's going on in the real world, I find myself thinking more about what's going on in MZB's fictional world than our real one. So, here's a quick post today with a few quotes about reading... The quotes were all found on Goodreads . “The more that you ...

It's Tuesday evening and I'm writing a Photo Challenge post. Honestly, I'm a little amazed with myself. Instead of trying to come up with a topic on Saturday and posting photos on Sunday, I'm actually starting 'early' this week and posting the first photos on Tuesday! (Heck, I might even try to add a photo every day this week to have a complete post on Sunday. No guarantees though...) Enjoy nature up close and personal this week! Sunday Update: I've added more photos!   Thistles, horizontal Cows in a field Thistles, vertical Just a field

I have a confession to make. I didn't take many photos this week. Well, a few of the sunset and a few of some trees, but really - I didn't think that they were nice enough to share or even to edit profusely and then share. I've been busy reading books and honestly, reading has been so much fun that taking my camera out wasn't high on my list of things to do. Even looking through older photos to find some to share seemed like too much time away from my books. Seeing I decided on weekly photo challenges, I feel a little bad about not actually taking any photos, yet reading has been so much fun that I don't feel guilty or bad about not taking my camera out. So, instead of sharing more photos and works of art that aren't actually mine (yet still very awesome, cool, amazing, share-worthy and all that), this week I'm posting several older photos. Because, yes, I did look through some of my older photos after deciding that posting no photos at all would be worse ...