Tag Archives: surprise

Expect the Unexpected: SOL25 Day 18

After a beautiful sunny day yesterday, I got in the car with a colleague to drive to UCLA for a conference event. We had barely gotten out of the driveway before droplets starting appearing on the windshield. Before we hit Camp Pendleton, it was a full-fledged downpour! And then the ribbon of sunset started to peek out from below the blanket of clouds.

The conference center/hotel at UCLA was tucked away from the freeway, forcing us to navigate narrow streets with cars parked at odd angles…and avoid the abandoned scooter right in the middle of the street. After taking the odd u-turn directed by Google maps, we arrived at a strange stopping place in front of a building that may or may not have been a conference center. Lucky for us Milton was out front–obviously used to confused conference center seekers. He was funny and welcoming and got us situated, checked in, and headed toward an equally odd driveway to a narrow underground parking lot.

When I arrived at my room and peeked out the window, I found myself looking out at a football field, bolding marked UCLA.

This morning after walking on the treadmill before what I knew would be a sitting day, I headed into the shower to get ready for the day ahead. As I was getting dressed I kept hearing a sound. Is that chanting? Does someone nearby have the TV on loud? I looked out the window to find an entire squad of young men in matching uniforms shouting through their calisthenics!

And as if that was enough of the unexpected, as we headed downstairs for the conference, we noticed a strong and visual security presence. We learned throughout the day that there was some kind of protest going on outside. (Although we never did learn exactly what the protest was all about!).

As we left for an oh-so-long and not-really-unexpected-LA-traffic-filled drive back home, the conference center was teeming with security. Men standing at attention, ear pieces in place, barriers everywhere. We actually had to have a guard move a physical barrier to be able to leave the parking area! (After another policeman jokingly told us we’d need to stay awhile!)

Luckily, the event was interesting and felt like worth the time and effort. And I didn’t have to suffer the long and traffic-filled drive home alone, instead my colleague and I were able to talk, debrief our experience, and otherwise entertain each other in the pain of stop and go traffic.

It was truly an expect the unexpected kind of experience–including the somewhat unexpected enjoyment of the event itself. I’m trying to learn to embrace the unexpected, and realize that unexpected is just another opportunity to learn and grow and make a choice to see what surprises me as a gift rather than an ominous talisman of trouble to come!

How do you respond when the unexpected shows up at your door?

Finding Gold: SOL22 Day 25

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I’ve heard it said that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But I live in a place where rain is rare, which means we also don’t see too many rainbows. So I guess that means we need to look for our gold elsewhere.

With many of my university colleagues enjoying a three-day weekend thanks to Cesar Chavez, I found my day unstructured. I had no scheduled calls, no imminent deadlines, just wide open time to complete some of those work projects that keep falling to the bottom of my list of things to do. Gold!

Wednesday’s summer was short-lived. Today arrived cloaked in a gray cape, keeping the sun at bay and temperatures back down into the low 60s. And when I saw that the tide would be low near lunch time, it occurred to me that I should take advantage of my flexible schedule and take my walk smack dab in the middle of my typical work day! Gold!

As I walked along the shoreline, I watched the seagulls hanging out and as usual they were engaged in loud conversation with one another. I noticed interesting shells and bits of kelp and other algaes that had washed up onto the shore. And then I spied a bit of gold. A closer look revealed a tiny golden lion snuggled up against the red algae. More gold!

After I took a photo, my husband snatched up the plastic creature–we’re working hard to eliminate beach plastics and doing our part to keep them off the beach.

As long as we were out, we decided we might as well head off to our favorite hole-in-the-wall local Mexican restaurant: Juanita’s. My taquitos with guacamole were encrusted with golden cheese. and also picture perfect! (My husband added some of this golden treasure to his burrito, pictured in the background.)

We definitely struck gold with our day today. A perfectly unstructured day that allowed for both productive work AND a satisfying low-tide beach walk followed by a yummy, comforting lunch. The perfect way to end the work week!

SOLC Day 14: Finding a Poem

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My face-to-face meeting with directors of California Writing Project sites all over the state became a Zoom meeting in light of the Corona virus pandemic. I was not looking forward to hours in front of my computer screen, I knew I would miss all the informal opportunities for conversation and camaraderie. But I was wrong. Today’s meeting was energizing and comforting and brought much-needed connection and shared experiences with others who can relate in a world that is suddenly so filled with uncertainty.

Our rich conversations had me jotting down phrases, words I couldn’t forget. And during my beach walk this afternoon, they started to become a poem of sorts. So here’s the early draft…not quite done, found in the words of my colleagues.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE

Just Wait

In a roiling cauldron of virus brew

we swim

blindly dodging infection

unwilling to get out

sure if we can’t see it, it’s not there

The pandemic spreads

morphing from fear of illness

into a pandemic of disappointment:

canceled events, weekend plans, the coveted spring break

we resist–just this once, I’ll be okay

wash your hands, pump the hand sanitizer

It’s time for each of us to listen loudly

to hear voices of those at risk

each of us is a single brick, interlocking, interconnected

whether we want to be or not

Distance physically

but not emotionally

wash your hands, cough into your elbow

cancel your plans and check on your neighbor

find ways to inject an inoculation of connection

without passing the virus

Write more, read more

Facetime with Grandma, phone call to Dad

and wait…

®Douillard

(And an image from this afternoon’s trip to the grocery store. Empty shelves are so unexpected!)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

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Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

Sometimes as I am going about my life I see something that stops me in my tracks and makes me think. I’m having one of those kind of weeks. On Monday I had a meeting to do some planning with colleagues…that happened to take place in the San Diego Natural History Museum. I love meetings there–the grand old building oozes character, and when I walked in the conference room on Monday, I was surprised to see there was a tusk on the floor! I couldn’t resist a shot!

Over the weekend the weather continued to be unseasonably warm (into the 80s on the coast!), so the beach was the best option for a walk. As we walked along I was surprised when I spied this man on a ladder. You can see that he is right along the shoreline, perched on the top, with his big camera lens pointing at the surfers navigating the larger than usual waves. Did he carry the ladder from his car, does he live nearby? Does the ladder make a difference in his photography?

Further down the beach I was surprised by the pop of color from the orange umbrella. It felt like a fall leaf turning in the sea of greens and blues.

Earlier this week I took a photo of the palm tree that graces our school playground. And later in the day came across a new editing app for my phone. It was fun to play with the different effects and lenses. Here is the surprising result.

And this morning on playground duty my eye was drawn to the purple boa on the playground bench. Who wore their boa to school…and who left it on the bench? Will this person be surprised when it is missing?

So what has surprised you this week?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #surprise for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Be on the lookout for those things and situations that surprise you this week. I can’t wait to see surprises through your lens!