The August Break 2016: Part three

BREATHE
Day 16

The calming influence of small waves breaking on the beach.

Breathing slowly and calmly brings helps us find a peaceful inner rhythm
 which relaxes both mind and body and eliminates stress.

Inhale 1-2-3-4-5
Exhale 1-2-3-4-5

Here is a short video to help

This sort of breathing is called 'cardiac coherence' (cohérence cardiaque).

BEDROOM WINDOW
Day 17

The gentle atmosphere and soft reflections before the sun comes over the hill.

The same window
illuminated by the sunrays

FIVE YEARS AGO
Day 18

Five years ago, a new tin of brightly coloured felt pens
was given to him for his birthday.
The first thing he did was organize the tin with strips of colour and numbers,
so that the felt pens would always be in their original order!
I love his quietly pleased expression as he admires his handiwork.

MY HANDS
Day 19

We use our hands to express ourselves,
to create and to follow artistic pursuits.
They allow us to feel textures, like the smoothness of a mother-of-pearl shell.
Hands can soothe a child and express compassion and love.
When I take photographs, I am very conscious of my hands and their importance.
Every day I am grateful for all my hands allow me to do.

CLOUDS
Day 20

This hot and humid month of August has shown us the most wonderful
and colourful cloud formations.
These were taken in my neighbourhood as the accumulated heat of the day
was culminating in big dramatic clouds filling the sky
with their majestic presence!

Clouds to dream by

A mosaic of a few of the clouds I saw during the past week.

TODAY IS...
Day 21

Today is walking along the lake in the early evening
and admiring the elegance of this beautiful swan.

SQUARES
Day 22

MY FACE
Day 23


This brings us to the end of the third week of the August Break.
See you on the last day of the month again!



22 comments

  1. Visiting this post is like going on a short relaxing vacation. Absolutely breath taking . . . it calms the soul. Thank you :)

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    1. Thank you Connie, how sweet of you to say so! I hope you are enjoying your summer!

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    1. Thank you for popping in to give your sigh of contentment, Sandi!

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  3. Lovely breathing video - thanks for sharing.

    Always wonderful pictures here.

    We are still enjoying the 4th week of a heatwave!

    Hugs, Sarn xxx

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    1. Thanks, Sarn. That slow breathing is wonderful, isn't it?
      We've had our share of heat-waves here too... luckily interspersed with two or three cooler days with either rain or storms! Keep cool!

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  4. Such a beautiful variety of photographs...all peaceful and calming. Looks like you've had a sweet mixture of beauty and serenity for your summer vacation...By the way, I love the selfie.....

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    1. Thank you for your visit, Nancy! I had some issues with the presentation of this blog posting and had to redo it. In doing so, I lost all the kind comments from my visitors, so it's so nice to see you coming in to say hello!

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  5. Another great collection. We haven't had many clouds this summer and I miss them greatly!

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    1. Thank you, Sarah. Some of our August Break prompts are a challenge, but those cloud shots were a real joy! We have had a wonderful collection of clouds of all shapes and colours - thanks to the build-up of heat and then a few storms to cool down the heat until the next heat-wave envelopes us!

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  6. another
    "your images are calming"
    and love your picture

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    1. Thank you for your visit and your kind words. Have you tried the calming, breathing exercise on the link underneath that first photograph of the sandy beach? I love to do that slow breathing for a few minutes.

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  7. I took a break from the August Break this year, Sandra, but I'm glad you didn't! I love to see your clouds and your squares and your lovely hands. Wishing you a great end to the month of August.

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    1. Thanks, Sherry. This is the first time for me doing the August Break. I have enjoyed it as it comes to an end tomorrow. I'm actually really looking forward to cooler autumn days!

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  8. I love this set of photos - you have beautifully captured the word prompt. The cloud formation is amazing - it almost doesn't look real. The picture of your beautifully manicured nails put mine to shame, I have been grubbing about in the garden all day and let's just say, my nails are less than clean :) They won't be asking me to do a nail advert any time soon that's for sure. Looking forward to the next set of photos. Have a lovely week.

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    1. Thanks, Elaine! The cloud formations were particularly wonderful throughout the hot and humid month of August. I've never seen such beauties!
      As for hands and gardening, I use pretty little gardening gloves when I do my balcony gardening!

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  9. As Connie says a lovely calming, contented post with beautiful photos.

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    1. Thank you, Diane. One more posting to go on the August Break and then it will be time to move on to other things!

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  10. wonderful shots especially the clouds and the swan

    have a lovely day.

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    1. Thanks, Lissa for your visit. I like the images you mention too!

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  11. The heat is producing some amazing cloud formations! I love the hand photos - so appealing and graceful. My own hands are so scuffed and often dry - I like yours better, but I'm glad for mine,too! I especially love the lace curtain shots - your curious eyes find great compositions. Are you liking the new camera, Sandra? I just bought a 17mm pancake for mine. It should arrive by the weekend.

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    1. Yes, the clouds have been amazing and I couldn't get enough of them! Thank you for popping in to leave a comment.
      I love my Fujifilm camera and appreciate the lighter weight and the excellent quality lenses. I still keep my Canon for the macro and 50mm lens.
      A pancake lens sounds exciting! I shall look forward to seeing what it does! It will be lovely and light to use!

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