The Liebster Award

“From nowhere, through a caravan
Around the campfire light
Lovely woman in motion
With hair as dark as night
Her eyes were like that of a cannon toy
That hypnotized me with love
She was a gypsy woman
She was a gypsy woman…”

—Gypsy Woman, lyrics by Major Lance

Over at the Charms of a Gypsy blog, Whitney has nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award and I gratefully accept her offer. As part of the acceptance process the nominees are asked to:

1. State 11 facts about themselves
2. Answer 11 questions posed by the person who nominated them
3. Nominate 11 other blogs for the award
4. Make a list of 11 questions for the bloggers to answer.
5. Proudly display the Liebster Award 

Angels Among Us

Stone Angel
Photo © Allan G. Smorra, All Rights Reserved

I took this photo at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts with a Nikon FM camera using 35mm B&W film. I had the film scanned and then made edits in Snapseed and Kyoobik Photo.

Ready, Set, Go—the Finale

By way of review, last January 24th I participated in the writing challenge described below. In response to popular request, and a personal desire to finish the story, I have completed my assignment. Read on and enjoy.

Daily Prompt: Ready, Set, Go

“Set a timer for ten minutes. Open a new post. Start the timer, and start writing. When the timer goes off, publish.“ —The Daily Post at WordPress.com

It was a tough night to start a Graveyard shift. It was the Lioness’s birthday: a big one, the Double-nickel, 55 years. We had gone to dinner after she got home from work and now I was headed out to start work – 7 nights of the dreaded overnight shift. It was ‘Out of the blue and into the black’, to quote Neil Young.

Fingerprints — Part 1

This is the first part of a series:

“Fingerprints” is a term that bridge workers use to describe what happens as we instinctively reach out and grab the nearest solid object we can hold onto when we unexpectedly slip, slide, or fall on the bridge.

We say that we grabbed the bridge so hard that “we left our fingerprints out there.”

This memoir will trace the path that led me to becoming an electrician and eventually leaving my “fingerprints” on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California.

“Man, like the bridge, was designed to carry the load of the moment, not the combined weight of a year at once.” —William A. Ward
Photo © Allan G. Smorra, All Rights Reserved

 Prologue

I originally set out to write a novel over the course of 30 days by joining the National Novel Writing Month event (NaNoWriMo). By writing 1,667 unedited words a day I would have 50,000 words at the end of November and have a novel under my belt to edit and do something with.

After two weeks of planning and outlining a story I realized that I was lacking a plot, a necessary ingredient for a novel. I had characters and situations but I lacked a good reason for anyone to read it. As it turned out, I had a revelation three days before the start of the challenge.

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 15

I took this photo of the Embarcadero 4 building from a balcony of the Hyatt Embarcadero Hotel late one afternoon.

San Francisco Reflections
Photo © Allan G. Smorra, All Rights Reserved

I took this photo with a Canon camera and made edits in Snapseed.

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 15

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Sweet

“How does sweet appeal to you?”

This week’s challenge features the Fabulous Mizz N as the exemplar of Sweet. I took this photo during a week we spent exploring San Francisco and Marin County. We bonded in many ways and a love of photography was one that we both share to this day.

FMN will be starting college next Fall and it is wonderful to look back at these old photos and see the growth of her character as she has blossomed into a sweet young lady. Enjoy.

The Fabulous Mizz N: Sweet
Photo © Allan G. Smorra, All Rights Reserved

I took this photo with a Canon camera and made edits in Snapseed.