flowers – Sassy Dreams Awake

about shae, Activism, advocate, Car, commentary, community, flowers, see

Wilted Beauty

Posted on September 26, 2023September 26, 2023 by sassysheisme

Houston traffic is rarely kind. You just want to get home and get out of the car and away from all of the tons of metal that try to kill you on the way. Most of us are on autopilot, our thoughts already home and wondering what’s for dinner.

About a half mile from home, I saw her. She wasn’t young, but her circumstances could have made her look older than she is. Her head and shoulders were covered with a terracotta colored scarf, and she carried a bunch of wilted flowers in one hand and a sign that said she was a single mum of three kids needing help with food and rent.

As I’ve written before, I have had to choose between gas, groceries and electricity before. I know how hard it is to make ends meet in a system that sets up women to have to depend on others and fight harder than most to achieve financial security.

I see a lot of people on the streets with signs. This woman, however, was different. I looked at the sun-wrinkled face behind the smile she wore. I saw the divine in her. Her personhood. I saw her.

It was still over 90 degrees and I could tell she’d been out there a while in the heat, trying to get enough money to make it through one more day.

I rarely carry cash, but recently, I was paid back for something in cash and I had that in my wallet. I reached out to give her the money, and she gave me two flowers and tears ran down her face. I saw her, and she’d been seen.

Activism, badassery, commentary, fearless, flowers

I am NOT less than.

Posted on October 9, 2022 by sassysheisme

In 2022, women are still “less than.”

We still don’t get equal pay for equal work.

We no longer have bodily autonomy.

We are dangerously close to no longer having religious freedom – one has decided it’s their way or else (they’re a minority) and they are trying legislate it down everyone’s throats.

We are marginalized, suppressed and fed the lie that we are not whole as single entities.

We are not put on this earth to supply a “domestic supply of infants” as long as there are THOUSANDS of foster children in Texas alone.

What’s it going to take, women? What’s it going to take men/women/other that love women? Vote like your life, livelihood and future depends on it, because it does.

Rant over. Will close the comments in a heartbeat if someone decides to challenge me on my own Facebook page. I am tired of all of it. ALL OF IT.

Rant over…for the second time.

flowers, Pandemic Social Distancing

A Day Out

Posted on May 22, 2020 by sassysheisme

I had the day off, so I decided to get in the car and drive. My chosen destination was the Attwater Prairie Chicken Nature Reserve near Eagle Lake, Texas. It was an hour’s drive out there, and I enjoyed all the country scenery on the way.

Eagle Lake is one of the largest natural lakes in Texas. It also boasts some history, including being a major sugar refinery some 100+ years ago. I also passed a rice-drying facility as well.

I ended up at Attwater Prairie Chicken Nature Preserve. Honestly, there’s not much to see there. Unless you go early in the morning, you will miss most of the bird activity, and it is a flat, nature preserve that is a host of chaotic plant growth. Most people would yawn at spending any time there.

I am one of those people, however, that will find beauty in almost any situation, nearly every seemingly boring situation or place. I can’t help myself. I am blessed to see objects, sticks, bugs, rusty beams and flowers as opportunities for art.

I spent about an hour out on the reserve’s auto tour. I stopped every twenty feet or so, that’s why it took that long. I kept finding beauty to photograph. I saw several types of butterflies and dragonflies. Definitely the best kinds of flies. I saw many types of birds (alas, no prairie chickens, but they are rare and endangered) and even a doe as she ran across the open field.

I wish I could have captured the movement of the prairie grass. It was quite breezy, and I was thankful, because it was so hot. The breeze also made some of the photography a bit more challenging, as most everything I saw was moving – swaying, flying, landing.

On the way home, I stopped by In-N-Out. It was nearly 2 PM and the line was super long – I’d say nearly 40 cars long. Anywhere else, I’d have left, but the people at In-N-Out are so efficient, I was on my way with a double cheeseburger in about 15 minutes.

I felt renewed and rejuvenated when I got home. A day OUT was exactly what I needed.

flowers, holidays, Uncategorized

VALENTINE’S DAY BLUES?

Posted on February 14, 2019February 14, 2019 by sassysheisme

I know a lot of people can be depressed on Valentine’s Day if they don’t belong to a pair. No candy, no flowers, no dates, etc.

I learned a long time ago – I buy myself flowers. I purchase my own jewelry. I take myself out on “dates.” I eat the chocolates my coworkers’ other halves buy. 😉 I am not enamored with this one day a year of love celebration.

I celebrate love every day. I try to love people as best I can every day. I don’t need to focus on this one day where I don’t have something or someone “special” to celebrate.

Best of all, I love myself well. I am not lonely at all. I am enough.

I hope that all who may feel lonely or let down by today can get to the point where they truly believe and know they are enough. That state of being is completely possible! I live in it every day.

Buy yourself some daisies and open a bottle of wine. You are loved and you are enough.

flowers, photowalk, weather

A WALK ON LABOR DAY

Posted on September 5, 2011 by sassysheisme

I’ve been feeling better of late. Life is back to as normal as it gets for me. My new meds have left me nauseous and the dry air has kept my allergies irriated but I had wanted to get out and take some photos this weekend.

I went for a walk around the apartment complex to stay close and reconnect with the area around me.

My street was nice and quiet.

This photo illustrates just how desperately most of Texas needs rain. Trees are dying. Yards are drying up. Lakes, streams and ponds are so low.

I found a friend in a patch of flowers. The wind (leftovers from Tropical Storm Lee) was gusting so it made it difficult to get this guy to hold still.

This feather was so blue in the sun and I wanted to illustrate that.

I love taking photos of flowers and I love Lightroom presets.

I was amazed at how much trash litters the sides of the streets here. In the dry grass I found lighters, cigarette butts, napkins, a half eaten hotdog and several broken reflectors. I feel like doing a PSA for not littering and not starting fires in this dry grass with cigarette butts! People are careless. Way too careless.

I walked for about an hour and that felt good. No sunburn (I have my brain back so I remembered my sunscreen) but I’m still sneezing. I don’t know what’s in the air today (not moisture, that’s for sure). It was good to get out and take photos though. Hopefully this is the catalyst for things to come. Time to get snappin’!

flowers, travels