Showing posts with label still life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label still life. Show all posts

Monday, August 4, 2025

Bakin' Up Some Whimsy ...

“What’s life without whimsy?”

 ~ Dr. Sheldon Cooper

  ~ “The Big Bang Theory”

   ~ American sitcom

   ~ 2007 ~ 2019

 

The adorable Pillsbury Doughboy declares “I’m a Hot Little Biscuit” as he poses in front of my stovetop percolator in this monochrome capture where whimsy meets nostalgia on a summer day in the kitchen.

 

Poppin’ Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising mascot for the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many commercials from 1965 until 2005 (together with some for Geico between 2009 and 2017) ended with a human finger poking the Doughboy’s belly. The Doughboy responds by giggling when his belly is poked (Hoo-Hoo!, or earlier on, a slight giggle “tee hee”).

 

The Pillsbury Doughboy was created by Rudolph “Rudy” Perz, a copywriter for Pillsbury’s longtime advertising agency, Leo Burnett Company. Perz was sitting in his kitchen in the spring of 1965, under pressure to create an advertising campaign for Pillsbury’s refrigerated dough product line (biscuits, dinner rolls, sweet rolls, and cookies). His copywriter, Carol H. Williams, imagined a living doughboy popping out of a Pillsbury refrigerated dough can and wrote the campaign, “Say Hello to Poppin’ Fresh Dough.” Williams was inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame in 2017.


 

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

The Color Of Hope ...

   “We have this hope

         as an anchor for the soul …”

               ~ Hebrews 6:19

                 ~ The Holy Bible

Hope is colored in pink on this painted rock I spotted during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in early October at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

This painted rock is likely part of the The Kindness Rocks Project, which was founded by Megan Murphy of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who wanted to spread encouraging messages to strangers by writing them on rocks she found on the beach. The practice spread and launched similar projects across the United States.

The grassroots project encourages people to leave rocks painted with inspiring messages along the path of life. People are encouraged to take one, share one or add to the pile. You can see just how much impact she’s made when looking up #TheKindnessRocksProject. Learn more about how to join the movement at http://thekindnessrocksproject.com.


 

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Love Locks Over The Monocacy ...

“There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.”

 ~ George Sand

 ~ pseudonym of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, French novelist & memoirist

 ~ 1804 ~1876

The love locks left by visitors as a symbol of their love line the bridge spanning the rushing autumn waters of the Monocacy Creek on a mid-November afternoon at Monocacy Park, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

 

The Pont des Arts is the most famous for being the Lock Bridge in Paris, France. Visitors to the bridge attach personalized padlocks to its railing and throw the keys away in the Seine River.

 

A love lock or love padlock is a padlock that sweethearts lock to a bridge, fence, gate, monument or similar public fixture to symbolize their love. Typically the sweethearts’ names or initials, and perhaps the date, are inscribed on the padlock, and its key is thrown away (often into a nearby river) to symbolize unbreakable love.

 

Since the 2000s, love locks have proliferated at an increasing number of locations worldwide. They are treated by some municipal authorities as litter or vandalism, and there is some cost to their removal. However, there are other authorities who embrace them, and who use them as fundraising projects or tourist attractions.

Monday, December 21, 2020

One Little Candle ...

“It is better to light just one little candle,

Than to stumble in the dark!

Better far that you light just one little candle,

All you need’s a tiny spark!

  

If we’d all say a prayer that the world would be free, 

The wonderful dawn of a new day we’ll see!

And, if everyone lit just one little candle,

What a bright world this would be!

 

Let’s all light one little candle,

Why stumble in the dark?

When the day is dark an’ dreary

And your way is hard to find,

Don’t let your heart be weary,

Just keep this thought in mind …

 

And, if everyone lit just one little candle,

What a bright world this would be!

 

What a bright world

This would be!”

          ~ “One Little Candle”

            ~ Music by George Mysels,

        Lyrics by Joseph Maloy Roach

               ~published 1952

     ~ Recorded by Perry Como

          & various other artists

 

“One Little Candle” is the theme song of the television show of The Christophers, a Christian inspirational group that was founded in 1945 by Father James Keller. The name of the group is derived from the Greek word christophoros, which means “Christ-bearer.”

 

The mission of The Christophers is to encourage people of all ages, and from all walks of life, to use their God-given talents to make a positive difference in the world. The mission is best expressed in The Christophers’ motto: “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

 

The glow of a small electric votive candle pierces the darkness of a December evening a week before Christmas 2020 in the West End of Allentown, Pennsylvania, a day after 11.3 inches of snow blanketed the region.

 

As I shot this image, I thought it was particularly fitting as the world prepares to celebrate Christmas in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.