Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon

Quick:  What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word horizon?

For me, what thundered across my mind was a cowboy riding off into the sunset.  Then a ship appeared, getting smaller and smaller as it sailed off for lands unknown.  If the images stopped there, the connotation might seem to focus on departure, ending, some unknown future, maybe even loneliness

But the truth is that HORIZON carries a much more positive message. Horizon is hope, expectation, transition, possibility, progress.  The horizon marks a liminal moment marking change or passage from one place or emotion to another.  Some dash across that horizon racing to tomorrow as quickly as possible; others tend to linger, stalled by something—fear, apprehension, contemplation—perhaps daunted by expectation.  Fortunately, the horizon is magnetic, always pulling us forward. Horizon is akin to a spiritual journey leading the traveler to new adventures and people, future prospects, potential improvements. . . to the next horizon.

Here are a few of my photos that capture the horizon as if it were a static moment in time.  What new beginnings do they conjure up for you?  Which quote below clarifies what horizon means for your life?  I wish you all a world of beautiful horizons to strive for, to capture the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

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“[My father] had a name for the bottom of the sky–‘the hem of heaven.’”   Nancy Horan

 “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.”   Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.”  Dag Hammarskjold

“Between two worlds life hovers like a star, twixt night and morn, upon the horizon’s verge.”    Lord Byron

“Do not be in a hurry to succeed.  What would you have to live for afterwards?  Better make the horizon your goal; it will always be ahead of you.”   William Makepeace Thackeray

“A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.”    Howard Thurman

“One of the reasons that I accepted, once asked to do Star Trek, was to give a single child a chance to see the long thought, to see themselves some 400 years hence.  It occurred to me that we must ensure that we keep in front of children the ever-changing horizon.”   Avery Brooks

“We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.”   Konrad Adenauer

“When we look up, it widens our horizons. We see what a little speck we are in the universe, so insignificant, and we all take ourselves so seriously, but in the sky, there are no boundaries. No differences of caste or religion or race.”    Julia Gregson

“Hope is the moonlight filtering through the trees,
Hope is the silent prayer that we make in distress,
Hope is the promise that we make to ourselves,
Hope is the happiness that we visualize,
Hope is the horizon that we reach, if we try!”  Balroop Singh   

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You

“My teacher asked my favorite color. I said ‘Rainbow.’  I was punished to stand out of my class.”   Saket Assertive

On any given day, I am likely to give a different answer to the question, “What is your favorite color?” I guess you could say I am fickle.  I love the dark violet blue of the sky just after sunset. My favorite flowers tend to be purple (iris, Texas bluebonnet, lilacs), but oh those glorious pink roses.  The soft grey of wolves and pussy willows and kittens is amazing.  And when I see a big yellow dog, reminiscent of my long ago dog Murphy, my heart literally skips a beat.  I also love green, even speculating in the past that it was possibly God’s favorite color.

Today, my favorite color is ORANGE.  In all its shades and hues:  peach, terra cotta, sienna, vermillion, tangerine, amber, and coral just to name a few.  Orange is less vibrant than red but exudes more warmth than yellow.  It is earthy, enticing, and energetic.  According to one website, orange is associated with enthusiasm and creativity, vitality and endurance, curiosity and change. No wonder orange is a hue that speaks to me!

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I love quotes, but who would’ve thought I could find some about “ORANGE”?

 “There is no blue without yellow and without orange.”  Vincent Van Gogh

“Orange is the happiest color.”   Frank Sinatra

 “If love were a color, it’d be orange. Not because that’s a romantic color, but because it’s the sweetest.”  Jarod Kintz

“Orange is one of God’s favorite colors— He stuck it right there between red and yellow as the second color in the rainbow. He decorates entire forests with shades of orange every autumn. It shows up in sunrises at the start of the day, sunsets at the end of the day, and in the glow of the moon at the right time of night.”   Reggie Joiner

 “Orange is red brought nearer to humanity by yellow.”  Wassily Kandinsky

 “The woman had told the truth. The flowers were the color of sunset. And not the yellowish tinge of a lazy sun either, but the intense orange of a sun refusing to set on anyone else’s terms.”  Dolen Perkins-Valdez

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 This is my first time completing a weekly photo challenge.  I was inspired by the entries of two bloggers I follow: Tricia Booker Photography and  de Wets Wild.

This was fun!  What is your favorite color?