I’m thinking about containers…at least in part because of the weekly photo challenge over at the Daily Post.  But I don’t want to limit myself to boxes and jars, those typical containers that we find around our homes and in our workplaces.  Instead I want to think about other uses for containers.  What capacities do they have?

Maybe like this skyride traveling high over the San Diego Zoo, containers can propel.  In this shot, my mom–with a tremendous fear of heights–decided to board the ride to quickly descend from one side of the zoo to the other.  She didn’t end up seeing any sights, her eyes were tightly closed throughout the whole scenic ride, but she did get to her destination!

And then there is my coffee cup from a trip to Starbucks the other day.  I took this photo because this is the first time anyone has ever managed to spell my first name wrong!  (Kim is not easily misspelled!)  But then again…it is also a reminder that there is always a first time to be surprised, to be misread, to be redefined.  And in defense of the barista, he has a family member who spells her name with the “y.”

In this photo, my container is the rear view mirror.  Stopped at a stop sign, in a line of traffic, I couldn’t help noticing the beauty of the ocean reflected in the mirror.  Instead of containing the reflection, it magnified and refracted the blues of the sky and the sea reaching into my heart and mind allowing me to relax in spite of the traffic, taking me away from the hustle and bustle of commuting into the wonder and majesty of the natural beauty around me.

And so I find myself reminded about a conversation going on at the CLMOOC today about the containments/limitations/shallowness about many of the containers we use on the web.  How likes and plusses and hearts and favorites push us like a tide, more flow than ebb if we aren’t paying attention.  Stopping to consider our containers and the forces that move (or don’t move) them can change the quality of our experiences.  Maybe it is in our attention and in our interactions that we can reconsider and reinvent the containers.

What do you think?