The World Through My Lens 05.2026

Sweet shutterbugs, thank you for popping by today. Bringing you this month's photos taken for the 2 photo challenges I am participating in this year. They are The Everyday Images challenge hosted by my friend Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee and Sunday Stills, hosted by my friend Terri at Second Wind Leisure Perspectives. 

These gals share their photos several times a month but I can't seem to get my photo challenge posts together more often than once a month. You can find the April edition of The World Through My Lens, here, if you missed it.  

Everyday Images 

Love that this challenge features prompts for...well, everyday things. I try to find ways to put those everyday things in their 'best light' because I want my photos to be pretty. Sometimes that is difficult but this month, I found many of the prompts among the beauty of London and Edinburgh. 

Everyday Images #87

Saturday scenery:  this was Saturday, 05.02.2026.  We were on our way back to Edinburgh from St. Andrew's and Fife where we had spent the day.  Our tour guide stopped on the side of the twisty narrow road so we could snap a few photos of this abandoned castle and the Highland cattle grazing near it.

current project (quarterly):  we cleaned the garage.  Finally!!  I think it made me sick (upper respiratory infection as I am very allergic to dust and there was an abundance of it) but it is done!!

green:  Scotland was green from one end to the other.  Every possible shade.  I was in my element in all that green.

on my plate:  this was our delicious lunch at Greyfriar's Inn in St. Andrews, Scotland.  I had fish cakes and PC had a steak sandwich.  The cider was refreshing, too. 

miniature:  version of Kensington Palace played with by Queen Victoria as a child.  

tower:  of London.  It was so interesting to see old, historic buildings like the Tower of London sitting in the middle of a modern cityscape of glass skyscrapers.

connected:  apparently, if we trace our family trees far enough back we are all connected.

Everyday Images #88

building:  while in London, we participated in a Jack the Ripper tour that focused on the lives of his victims rather than their deaths.  This building in the Whitechapel community was a refuge for women and children in the late 1800s.  One of the victims lived here temporarily before she was murdered.  Like many of the old historic buildings in London, it was festooned with scaffolding as efforts were underway to restore the building.

selfie (quarterly): took this selfie on the drippy morning we climbed Arthur's Seat.  It was very chilly, wet, windy and quite the rocky climb as we neared the peak.  

vintage:  one drippy Edinburgh afternoon we dashed into the Toy Museum to wait out the rain shower.  The museum was cute, smallish but had a great variety of toys, especially dolls.  The dolls below were their examples of China and cloth dolls.  I was reminded of my Raggedy Ann from childhood.

arrow:  I pondered this prompt for waaaaaaay too long!!  There it was, under my nose, in a patriotic decoration I have sitting on our couch table.  I bought it because it says 'Veteran's Way' and PC is a veteran.  Salute.  

handwriting:  while we were away, I asked Lauren and the girls to stop by once or twice to water my potted plants and to say 'hi' to our kitties.  When they did, both girls left me notes.  Cami's says she loves me more than her make up!! Lucia's is an update on what she did when she visited.

                

nest:  we discovered this nest full of 3 noisy baby birds in a tree at our neighborhood park.  Lucia slipped close enough to snap this photo of the nest and its inhabitants.  Mother bird was ever-watchful from a nearby tree.  Can you see the pink head of one of the babies?

 

in the kitchen: this is a photo of my mother-in-law's kitchen.  It is in the house that Paul's grandfather built for his family in the '50s.  This kitchen has seen lots of good meals.

Everyday Images #89

flag:  we visited Ft. Bliss National Cemetery on Memorial Day.  I have heard that we are never really gone from this world until our name is spoken for the last time.  So PC and I wandered about the cemetery reading the heading stones.  This one touched me because of the little rock heart and the single pink rose and the row of pennies across the top of the headstone.

simple and/or complicated:  compared to most of the houses of worship we visited in the United Kingdom, this little chapel at Lake Lomond, Scotland was much simpler and less ornate.  There were the cutest grandmas inside the church giving homemade cookies to all of the tourists.  I can't help but believe this is where God would feel more comfortable and where God's presence could be felt more readily.

at home (monthly):  there's no where I would rather be than on my patio at home.  

Wednesday weather:  sunshiny and warm on this 05.06.2026 Wednesday.  We strolled through Kensington Gardens on our way to Kensington Castle.  

doorway:  while on our trip, I posed in front of every quaint store front and book shop we came across.  This shop caught my eye just with its vivid green.  

movement:  Lucia about to land in the pool.  We opened the pool on Memorial Day and it was delightful.

branched:  this is a vase I found interesting at Kensington Palace.  I think it was Queen Victoria who loved tulips so.  Rather than grouping the flowers together for a pleasing arrangement, this vase had the flowers branching out from all sides.

Sunday Stills

05.03.2026  No challenge

05.10.2026  Monthly color challenge - pink and pastels:  all the pinkness of Amo Cafe.  

A few years ago, I had these toe shoes made for my granddaughter Cadence.  They are in the epitome of pink in my mind.

05.17.2026  Family and friends, street photography:  I wasn't sure if we were to combine family and friends with street photography but that was what I decided to do.  Most of these are older photos.  El Paso has some pretty interesting street art.

a mural being painted at our outlet mall

Portuguese artist Bordelo II creating a mountain lion mural from recycled trash

Lucia inspecting a chalk mural at Chalk the Block

PC horsing around

Cami and her shadow admiring art at Chalk the Block

05.24.2026  Babies - all species:  one of our Rover.com jobs a few years back was for drop-in visits on 2 mama cats and their litters of 5 kitties each.  It was great fun watching the babies' antics.

Cadence was not too sure about becoming a big sister but she has risen to the occasion.

Lucia and Camila often say 'sisters before misters.'

05.31.2026  Bikes and biking:  on my few trips to Europe, I have always been impressed with the number of people there are apparently biking to work.  Here are a bunch of commuters in London waiting for the traffic light to turn.

A bicycle collage I created in 2021

A frosted bicycle in Santa Fe, New Mexico

It has taken me forever to finish this post.  I tend to be very picky about the photos I use for these challenges - although you might not be able to tell that by looking at them!!  And I try to use photos I have taken during the month.  

It just occurred to me that I can search for 'kitchen' or 'home' among my Google photos and have only images for those prompts sorted out for me.  HAHAHAHA!!  Not the sharpest knife in the drawer over here!!  Anyway, that will make things much easier and faster going forward.  Maybe I will get The World Through my Lens posts out in a more timely fashion now.

Your Turn

What have you captured with your camera lately?  This is a busy time of year for many families as the school year winds down, there are graduations, and summer vacation and family reunions.  Hope you are enjoying all of the joys of the season.

Off to the gym.  PC is playing baseball this afternoon in 102* sunshine.  I am staying home.  Ha.

Hugs and kisses,