Afternoon Delight

This photo of my husband fishing on a beautiful afternoon to me is one of shelter during the current pandemic.
The WI DNR has seen an increase in those applying for fishing licenses. They attribute that to people having more time, or being placed on furloughs. Many of us have gone back to nature during these trying times and fishing relieves stress and provides fresh air. Social distancing is easy to come by when fishing. The great outdoors is a shelter from the pandemic.

An Antique Piano from the Spanish War Era

Often times I seek emotional and physical refuge at my piano. It never fails, and unlike humans who have their own priorities and emotional issues, it's always undoubtedly there for me. My piano has helped me through stress, break-ups, family fights, family deaths, and many other dire situations. However, it's also helped me succeed immensely. It never tells me to stop practicing but rather encourages me to keep working hard when I make mistakes. It holds me accountable and lets me know when I hit the wrong note, but sings to me and soothes me when I play a beautiful piece. Whatever I'm going through in life I know my piano will always give me refuge, a place to think and let out my emotions. My piano gives me shelter through the good times and the bad, and for that I'm ever grateful to her.

Autumn Trail

Nature is a shelter and source of refuge to many during the pandemic. I have found a walk on the many nature trails in our area a source of stress relief. In fact our daily routines have changed to include walks and bike rides.

Bringing Music to the Community Through My Senior Recital

Often times I seek emotional and physical refuge at my piano. It never fails, and unlike humans who have their own priorities and emotional issues, it's always undoubtedly there for me. My piano has helped me through stress, break-ups, family fights, family deaths, and many other dire situations. However, it's also helped me succeed immensely. It never tells me to stop practicing but rather encourages me to keep working hard when I make mistakes. It holds me accountable and lets me know when I hit the wrong note, but sings to me and soothes me when I play a beautiful piece. Whatever I'm going through in life I know my piano will always give me refuge, a place to think and let out my emotions. My piano gives me shelter through the good times and the bad, and for that I'm ever grateful to her.

Building Security

These images are of my youngest son Simon and I building blocks together. These blocks have been passed down from my childhood from my grandmother and have been used by each of my 5 children. They have provided a fun and safe way to explore and expand creativity. Each of my children are artists and creative souls. As a parent I have provided them with the safe creative shelter to nurture and inspire their hearts with these simple blocks. I believe this creative shelter has given them the foundation to dream, succeed, make mistakes and to build resiliency to keep trying.

Colored Houses

Shelter is where people gather to smile. Shelter is where people gather to cry. Shelter is a place you feel safe and sit for awhile. Shelter is a place where you look up at the sky and wonder why.

Cozy Shelter

I took this image of my friend in her room surround by the things that make that space her shelter. This space is her safe space. This is where she rests, where she rises, where she finds solace, and where she can comfortably let out her emotions. This to me is the meaning of shelter.

Gazebo at Sunset

Golden hour sunset over looking the lake from the protection of the gazebo. A place to sit, a place to daydream, a place to be at peace sheltered from whatever life has in store.

Home

There is nothing like having 4 safe walls around a person. I am grateful every day for the roof over my head.

Home on the Docks

Many of us have found refuge in outdoor activities during the pandemic. This shelter was found along the river during one of many exploratory walks of Oshkosh.

Home to Me

Shelter to me looks like this. This is where I grew up, and this is what I call home. It is the sound of birds chirping, steers bellering, and tractors running as morning chores begin. The comfort of these sounds bring me a sense of peace and comfort. Many people do not understand it when I say, "Mmm, smells like home." as they are trying to keep themselves from plugging their noses as the scent of steer manure floods their senses. This is the place that I call home, and this is the place that shelters me in the most troubling times.

Isolation exploring on a country path

Final Harvest.
Natures Pine Needle Seat Cushion.
Camouflaged in the woods.
It plowed the earth and now the earth is taking it.
It served the fields well and now discarded.
How many miles of fields did it plow?
How many hours in the tractor seat?
How many families were fed from what it sowed in its lifetime?
Sun Up to Sun Down.
Rain Sleet Snow Sun Fog Mist or Global Crisis

Jacob is Shelter

I have had an interesting life to say the least. Many things feel very uncomfortable to me, but I have always had someone to be there for me who felt comfortable. During COVID, I worked many long hours as a CNA at a facility that was populated with COVID positive residents. Taking the chance of taking COVID home with me was nerve racking, but I always had Jacob to reassure me everything would be alright. He was always there for me after work with something yummy to eat for dinner taking the risk that both of us could have COVID. Luckily neither of us were compromised by COVID and both remain healthy.

My Father

My shelter is my Father, which may seem like an abnormal definition of a shelter. At first I tried to think of my room or my house but those arent what make me feel safe. It is my Dad. He has been giving me so much comfort and love during these hard times and he makes me feel safe and calms me down that everything will be okay.

My Safe Place

This is were I can be and do not have to feel afraid.

My Shelter

Shelter can be defined as something that protects you from harmful things. The people in this picture are my 'shelter'. They protect me from harm, whether that be sadness or poor decisions, I can always count on these three to protect me.

Nature as an Escape

When school went virtual this past spring, followed by the rules for quarantining, our family made sure to spend time outdoors every single day. We found our time in nature allowed us safety and space away from others, while also bringing us a sense of peace.

Nature as an Escape

When school went virtual this past spring, followed by the rules for quarantining, our family made sure to spend time outdoors every single day. We found our time in nature allowed us safety and space away from others, while also bringing us a sense of peace.

No matter what

Parenting with a disability is hard work. In these times we cant take anything for granted. There are moments of shelter in the storm. My daughter knows how hard it is for her father to get out of his wheelchair to get on the floor to play with her. We shelter each other emotionally as the world goes on around us.

Over the Clouds

Shelter is where one feels safe and at peace. To me, I am at the most peace at the highest level of danger. When I am able to look down upon the world, thousands of feet above the clouds, that is where I feel pure bliss. Whether it be jumping out of an airplane, or just simply riding in one, nothing compares to the feeling of floating above the world.

Palm-demic Tree

Creative outdoor spaces provide shelter from isolation. EnJOY some time with me under this Palm-demic Tree.

Real

My son has found shelter in his favorite stuffed animal for ten years now. I had thought, perhaps, he might outgrow this source of refuge. But to my delight, the bond between monkey and boy has only grown stronger. During difficult seasons, however short or long, he knows he can seek comfort in the worn fur and loose joints of his lifelong friend, who is incapable of doing him any harm.
“Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.” --Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit

Safety

he lights of home can bring a person in safe from a blizzard.

Sail Away

An otherwise populated marina becomes a ghost town as the pandemic surges on. A wife finds her solace on her sailboat harbored in the bay. The air feels empty and quiet as the water laps against the boat's hull. Other sailboats chime in with their halyards playing against their masts. The wind howls through the standing rigging creating an almost eerie yet somehow soothing addition. What once was filled with the sounds of engines firing, people laughing and singing is now replaced with gentle melodies created by the sounds of the harbor. A new place to find peace and shelter in a rather trying time.

Serene Sunrise

Psalm 91

1
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

Serenity in my Sanctuary

This is my room, and it is my shelter. This is the place that I work in, I play in, I laugh in, I cry in. I spend 12 hours a day in this room, sometimes more. It is a safe space for me, a place that I can truly be myself in without the judgemental eyes of others. It is the place I can truly call my own. With the only light illuminating my room coming from string lights, time stands still while I watch a movie on my computer accompanied by a bowl of popcorn. I escape into the world of the movie and leave my troubles behind my door.

Shelter

Shelter - a place to sit, think, enjoy the day. 

Shelter - 4x4 Style

This year I finally graduated college and decided to celebrate by buying a truck and rooftop tent. Social distancing is easy when you are miles deep into the backroads of Montana. It was the perfect shelter as it allowed me to safely leave the house and go explore to get my mind off of the current events that were happening. Sometimes the best therapy is a weekend spent camping in the woods with no cell service!

Shelter from the Storm

We were watching the storm ride out at the Francis Hardly art museum in Door County. We had to stay for the amazing picture opportunity.

Shelter Homes

When I think of shelter I think of a place that has a roof. The first photo is a book that looks just like a roof, It symbolizes that all you need for a home or shelter is a roof that can protect you from the outside world. To me, a shelter is something that has a roof that you can live under.

Shelter Homes

My second photo is a little storage garage, and to me, it symbolizes that all you need is something that you can call home. It doesn't matter if it is big and it doesn't matter is it is small as long as you have something that has a roof over your head. Also, the photo has open doors and I think shelters are very welcoming and let anyone in. To me, a shelter is something that has a roof that you can live under.

Shelter in the Garden

In the mornings and when the rain begins to fall, I have caught several bees finding shelter underneath the little blooms of an Autumn Joy Sedum. What a beautiful canopy to wait out a storm. I’ve spied bumbles who have made their bed on a Zinnia and wasps peeking out of the folds of the petals of Dahlias. Sometimes I feel like the bees when I’m tending beneath the towering blooms and petals – snuggled in with the foliage while I’m therapeutically removing weeds that threaten its ability to thrive. I’m finding shelter, too, in the garden - leaving behind the big world and its concerns for a little while and joining the bees & butterflies in their own ecosystem.

Simply Live

 I believe sheltering has forced a lot of us to stop our overly busy hectic lives & start living simple, start taking in the everyday simple things around us, like sunrises, again. These two rode their bikes to Menominee park to watch the sunrise & it was beautiful. 

Summer Time

Our black lab Cam came into our lives four summers ago. The moment she walked into our house it was like she was home and our family was complete. Having cam in our lives, made us get back into the things that we loved. We started hiking more as well as finding trips that allowed her to come along. When I think of shelter I think of the word "home." Along with that what goes into a home, and what goes into a home for me is family. Family is what holds things together whether they have 2 legs or 4. Having cam come into our lives was a blessing and brought our family together.

Sunset

This image is a sunset over part of the UW Oshkosh campus. UW Oshkosh has been my shelter for over a year now. It has provided me a physical place to stay and place for emotional security during the instability of the pandemic.

The Guardian

 Family is all around. It just depends on how you view it. This family has allowed me into their home over the last year and has shared with me their story and life through the historic record. Their story has shown me that we are all together under the same roof at all times, just in different parts of the house.

Unto the Breach

This is one of the only places outside my home I have felt protected, entertained, and at peace throughout this year.There is a deep sense of calm I feel walking down this hallway and sensing the wonder that is to come through that door.

Wandering my Spring Garden 2020

Isolation allows time to wander and notice natures details.
What do you see?
A surprise discovery.
Hidden in my perennial garden.
Perfect camouflage.
Newborns.
Watching them grow.
Their eyes are open.
How many kits?
How many sets of ears.
Comfort & warmth in cuddling together.
Is the mother rabbit near?
Plenty of food in the garden.
A quick check and they are no longer in their nest.
Going to miss watching.
Less perennials bloom this year.
Lots of nutritious delights close.
2021 will be a prolific year for the next generation.

Warm Colors

this image was taken while surrounded by fresh air, good friends, warm food, joy, and laughter. Looking back at it, it reminds me of home, and of shelter. The term doesn't necessarily mean being cooped inside. To me, it represents a warm feeling when you think of home and being surrounded by warm love.

Long Road Home

This Picture, taken in Alden, Michigan while I was on a trip visiting family there, captures my idea of shelter, or home in a few different ways. My idea of home, of safety and comfort, isn't a place. It's people. My home is where my family and loved ones are, and usually, we spend the most time together while on the road, driving to visit family members far away, or see new places. This picture is of the road we travel down most often while away from home, and it will always be a comfort to see. So, for me, shelter is no shelter at all, as long as my family is there, I'm happy to be out on the open road.

Nature at its finest

This picture of a yellow canary is one of my most prized possessions this was at a aviary so I didn’t harm the bird when taking the picture, when taking pictures i lawmakers sure my subjects are safe even if they alive or not.

On Wheels

Home and shelter, words used interchangeably but couldn’t be more apart. Shelter can be any roof over your head, where a home is specific to you. Your life and love all wrapped up into the place you stay to protect you from the travels ahead.

Our Sunset at South Park

 In this picture, my family is looking at the sunset during one of our daily walks in South Park. We walk, talk, take pictures, look at bugs, squirrels, and sometimes feed the ducks. It's a peaceful and great time to exercise during our form of sheltering together.

Togetherness - Our Daily Walk

This picture is of my family on our daily walks in South Park. We walk, talk, take pictures, and sometimes feed the ducks. It's a lovey and great time to exercise during our form of sheltering together.