KISS OF FIRE

04/24/201504/24/2015 / Marilyn Armstrong / 15 Comments

Is “ring of fire” any relationship to “kiss of fire?”

It was a Georgia Gibbs song I had on a 45 RPM record when I was a kid. It was so hyper-dramatic, I learned to sing it. I can still sing it, usually driving everyone from the room.

It’s a pretty good way to get everyone to go home. A fine party ender, even if it isn’t your party.

A PHOTO A WEEK CHALLENGE – WIDE ANGLE

04/24/201504/24/2015 / Marilyn Armstrong / 15 Comments

A Photo a Week Challenge: WIDE ANGLE

In this post, we feature pictures taken with my widest angle lens.

As it happens, my widest angle lens is 24 mm, which is the focal length at which these pictures were taken.

They have all been cropped slightly. All of them needed leveling, you see. I tend to drop my right hand when shooting.

Some newer cameras — my Q7, for example — have levels in the viewfinder. It’s a big help to those of us who don’t realize they are shooting tilted.

I use a wide-angle most often, for landscapes. Otherwise, I use it instead of a macro lens because I don’t actually have a macro lens. Yet. Most wide-angle lenses will shoot pretty close.

A MOTHER’S WALTZ: A COLLABORATION OF SWO8 & SERENDIPITY

04/24/201504/24/2015 / Marilyn Armstrong / 6 Comments

Mother’s Day is May 10th

April 23, 2015 by swo8

FROM swo8: Mother’s Day is May 10th and the great American author and photographer (blush), Marilyn Armstrong and I have worked on another collaboration. To commemorate this day, we have created a photographic montage of families together. It includes eight generations of my family and three of Marilyn and Garry Armstrong’s families.

The song is bittersweet because to be a mother, is indeed bittersweet. Our children bring us our greatest joys and our greatest sorrows. The first couple in the video are my great-grandparents. My great-grandmother died in childbirth leaving 3 babies and a husband.

When my great-grandfather remarried the children were sent off to their aunt to be raised. The aunt is the lady sitting by the fire-place. The first photo of children is of my grandmother and her twin sisters. My grandmother being the oldest would have missed her mother the most. In spite of her early losses she became an extraordinary person and had a huge influence on me and my thinking.

To be a mother has got to be one of the most difficult endeavours to under take in one’s life. We are given this helpless creature for a short period of time to nourish, educate and inspire before they disappear into the ether of adulthood.

As a tribute to mother’s everywhere we dedicate this song, “Mother’s Waltz” by swo8 Blues Jazz and Marilyn Armstrong.

FROM Serendipity: It has arrived. The melody of A Mother’s Waltz echoes in my mind. I feel as if it is something I remember hearing my mother sing a long time ago … but of course, it is brand new from swo8 Blues Jazz.

The pictures of my family include my mother, me, much younger and my son as a toddler. Pictures of Garry’s family include his mother and father’s wedding, Garry’s dad back from WWII with little Garry on his knee. Garry’s mom as a young woman.

The pictures are family heirlooms that evoke strong and sometimes conflicted feelings.

Music by swo8 … with pictures from Leslie Martel (swo8) and Marilyn Armstrong. Memories in music for all mothers everywhere.