"Loose Change"

I stumbled across this photographer this morning who has some interesting shots of nude women presented in a book entitled "Loose Change".

"These photographs confidently add what might be called a new wrinkle to the corpus of female nudes that parades through the history of photography."
—Essay by Vicki Goldberg

http://suzanneopton.com/women

True love doesn't see the wrinkles or the drippy nose -- it's the heart that really counts!

OK..... I haven't blogged anything lately, and now I am cheating by relying on the talent of another! Don't be too hard on me. WrinkleQuest is always in my heart. My wish is to hear all of your stories whether I wrinkle you or not.

So, today I share with you the wisdom of Clara Hinton. She is a tribute to the strong and beautiful!

Thank you Clara:)

Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/photos/sicilianitaliano/

As I watched the owners of animals at our county fair, I realized how much love was showered on each and every animal -- no matter how many flaws or how intense the competition. Every family treated his/her pet as the "Number 1 - Most Special Blue Ribbon Winner" because that's how love is.

Love never sees the flaws, but sees only the heart.

Let's be careful not to get hung up on outward appearances, but rather love someone for the pure beauty and kindness found in the heart! After all, isn't that where true beauty is really found?

My Latest Wrinkle

When I was young I wondered.....

• What if I had never married?
• What if I had married someone else?
• What if I remained free?

Now that I am older I wonder.....

• What if he was gone?

The joy I feel when he smiles at me transcends all that is mortal. It feeds my soul. Honestly if he was gone, I don't think that the sun would ever shine so brightly. I am not certain that I could breathe.

So, when I received the call that his cystology test had shown signs of cancer......disbelief! After all, we had just gone through the yearly cystoscopy. Doc said that everything looked great....See ya next year.

When you have experienced cancer you put it in a little box.....a little box that need only be opened when necessary. For us after these twenty some years, it has become an annual event. We have become quite good at it over the years. The anguish invested in opening and closing the box has grown shorter with each year of benign results. But, this time the box was opened off schedule, without warning and couldn't be closed at our will.

We had to leave it open for the paperwork, the admit exam, the admit tests and the bladder mapping.....and then the wait for the results. Seven weeks of jabs and stabs at our hearts... Seven weeks of wondering will he see his grandchild grow... Seven weeks of wondering how this could change our lives.

I waited alone in the hospital filling my mind with positive thoughts, breathing, praying that all would end well. Then Doc came out. She said that we would have to wait for the results, but everything looked good. She hadn't been able to detect any cancerous tissue visually. The original test could have been skewed. Hooray! A week later the results returned benign!......So, back in the box it went.

I sealed that box as tightly as I could and placed it as far back on the shelf as I could reach. I say to myself, no worries........not to worry unless there is something to worry about.

But, somewhere deep down in the pit of my stomach I feel the haunting emptiness of the question.....What if???

Lunch Break

I was feeling a little down today, for no good reason I might add. I pondered how to present my latest wrinkle, but I couldn't find the creative energy to compile a cohesive piece. Feeling scattered I wondered if it mattered. So I gobbled down my turkey chili and logged onto Blogger.

I went straight to Wendy's' Among Mad People and read the header "Monday List Love and holy crap someone gave me an award!" I cheered! I do that for Wendy because she is a wonderful writer that I love to turn to for some quality entertainment. She sure beats watching the markets crash and the politicians berate each other. When I tune into Wendy I feel good about the precious time I invested. The return is always profitable.

So I read on and was surprised to find that Wendy had tagged me with the Kreativ Blogger Award. Who'd a thunk it? Lunch never being long enough I headed back to my desk feeling a little better 'cause maybe it did matter...just a little :)

*Here are the award rules:
List 7 things that you love and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers you love!
Be sure to tag them and let them know they have won!
You can copy the picture of the award and put it on your sideboard
letting the whole world know.....
you are KREATIV!

Seven Things I Love

(It was hard to pick just 7!)

1) Coffee by the fire with Wil

2) Stories about the good old days preferably from the oldest person I can befriend

3) Cocktails at sunset on the bow of the boat

4) Watching and feeling the little peanut move inside my daughters' pregnant belly

5) Photography 24/7/365

6) Campfires and the friends that gather around them

7) Meals because the best conversations are when people are full and happy

Passing it on to Seven fabulous bloggers

(If you have already been tagged, too bad. I want people to know how wonderful you are anyway!)

1) Invest some time with Wendy at Among Mad People http://www.wendy93639.com/

You won't be sorry.

2) Invest some money in Robin Collins at Sneaking Out at Midnight http://fourcrows.wordpress.com/

Her art is beautiful and needs many homes.

3) Estizer Smith at http://estizer50.wordpress.com/

She is a good friend who is tracing her history back to 'Bloody Lowndes' County Alabama. She is currently showing her latest photo exhibit at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, PA. She has also authored a book titled Welcome Home. Her photos and words will move you.

4) Roxi at Roxi's 365 http://roxis365.blogspot.com/ for her stick-to-it-ness. A photo a day for 1 year.

5) Sandy at Family Recipes http://familyrecipecollection.blogspot.com/ for her tempting recipes.

6) Katie at http://kkhoffmanillustration.blogspot.com/ for her beautiful illustrations.

So, I stop at 6. You should know that I don't always follow the rules. Although this entry also seems a bit off course for the quest, it's not. It is about women supporting women. We rule wrinkles and all!

Meet Roxi

She took time out of her busy schedule, and she came to my door holding a bag of homemade cookies and chocolate. YUM! The shoot was off to a great start. I had met Roxi in a photo journal class. I gathered bits of her daily life through the photos she shared during the course. She provides Communion to shut ins, holds Apple Dumpling fundraisers, host Community Dinners, knocks out walls and runs marathons. She is a strong woman who knows her path. She was patient with me as I manipulated her and the lighting to get the most wrinkled look possible. Then she left me with a warm hug and I knew that she had gone out of her way to do this for me expecting nothing in return. Funny after she left and I processed my photos, I kept coming back to this one. Not the most dramatic of the shoot, but the one in which I saw the little girl and the gentle spirit that builds into a strong woman. Here is her story....






I've never been a girly girl. I had dolls, but without sisters they were not played with as often as I played with my brothers and their cars and trucks in the sand pile by the shed. I was a tomboy and I knew it. Growing up on a dairy farm 10 miles from town in northwestern Wisconsin I didn't have girlfriends close by, so my brothers and I rode bikes on the farm, played softball and football in the yard, and did our chores.


Most often chores were divided along traditional gender roles. After supper my brothers went to the barn with my father and grandfather to milk the cows while I stayed in the house with my mother to wash dishes. I learned how to cook, how to sew, how to clean, how to manage a household. I also learned you do what needs to be done even when they crossed traditional gender lines.


I learned to fold fitted sheets from my grandfather. My mother regularly mowed the lawn. My father taught me to throw a football. When I was five my father set me on the flat roof of a steel shed; my job was holding nuts while he tightened the bolts. At 16 Dad built a small addition to the house and I was given the task of gofer; go for tools, go for this, go for lemonade.


It was the 70's and the Woman's Movement challenged traditional gender roles. I was already living it, and so were most of the women I knew. It was not a conscience decision on their part. It was simply doing what needed to be done. For me that meant working my way through college, then went on to seminary. I became a pastor, then wife and stepmother. Along the way I accumulated degrees. Now I am wrinkled, and if genetics has a say, these wrinkles are just the beginning to a face furrowed with wrinkles.


I think I should name them. One is called Hazel, my most wrinkled grandmother, whose first born died after being hit by a car when he was 4. One is called Ruth, who delighted in children. One is called Esther, an aunt of gentle spirit. Another is called Gertrude, who homesteaded 169 acres. My wrinkles are named Jane and Cori and Cari and Barbo and Freelove and Susan and Anna and Elizabeth and Caroline and Sarah. My wrinkles are named for women who sailed from England and Ireland and Norway and Germany, women who traveled west from New England to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin. My wrinkles are named for the women whose own wrinkles I see on my face.....wrinkles that declare perseverance, determination and resilience.

How To Disarm A Woman

This one is dedicated to all the men who think they know the answer to "Honey, do I look fat in these jeans?" and all the women who suffered through their replies.

Happy New Year! May your 2009 be full of happiness and joy :)



It was one of those swinging hormone days. I could see the fear in his eyes. He was close to the line of fire. He knew before I did, there was no right thing he could say. Resigned to his fate my husband looked at me pleadingly with that deer in the headlights glaze as I fired.............." I look old and fat. Don't I?"

Quickly I glanced at myself in the mirror and then returned my full attention to my opponent. I stared him down and waited for him to strike or run!

Suddenly to my surprise the look of fear dissipated. It was replaced with a twinkle in his eyes. His face lit. His lips curled. He grinned and replied, "You are beautiful, and I don't deserve you."

What could I say? I was instantly disarmed. Surrender was imminent. There was nothing left to do. Graciously I replied, "You are crazy, and that's why I love you."

Although the battle was lost, I couldn't help chuckling to myself as I walked away satisfied that I had won the war. Truth be told the battle of the bulge and wrinkles will inevitably be lost, but love conquers all.

You see, my wise husband understood that the underlying question I was really asking was "Do you and will you continue to love me despite the wrapper?" What a guy!