The World Through My Lens 06.2026

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 May edition of The World Through My Lens, here, if you missed it.  

Everyday Images #90

wildflowers:  little purple wildflowers line the banks of Ascarate Lake.  They look a little like something from the lily family to me.  

water:  Lake Bonito, New Mexico where we recently went fishing. The water was so calm that it was almost like a mirror.

neighborhood spot (quarterly):  our gym, Planet Fitness, is just a mile or two from our house.  We sometimes ride our bikes to the gym when it isn't red hot outside.  Every summer, Planet Fitness lets teens 14-19 years-old join for free.  We try to get our workout in before 11 a.m. which seems to be the time the teens wake up and roll into the gym.  A number of pieces of equipment are out of commission right now which makes it even harder to get everything I want to do done.  

nature:  another shot from Lake Bonito.  

adventure:  our stay in a teepee at El Mistico Ranch was a bit of an adventure.  I loved it so much!!  Would absolutely do it again.  Wrote about it in a post, here.  

favorite:  my 15 year-old granddaughter, Cady, texted me last week that she had bought something for me.  I sent her the photo below of a Christmas present she gave me several years ago - the very hungry caterpillar from the Eric Carle book by the same name.  She called it my book worm.  It is a favorite gift.

twilight:  I took this photo while walking around the El Mistico compound where we stayed for our overnight getaway as the sun was setting.  It was a beautiful night.

Everyday Images #91

at home (monthly):  it's just us kids putting on makeup in my bathroom.  This is one of the things we almost always do when Lucia and Camila come over.

who I'm spending time with:  PC.  We have done a lot of things together this summer.  This was another picture from our overnight stay in New Mexico. 

We were sitting on a large patio overlooking this valley at sunset.

what I'm working on:  finally, finally painting the pullouts on the columns around our house.  We have tried to touch up the paint on them but could never get the color right.  This time we hit on a perfect match.

where I'm going:  there's been a lot of fishing in my summer, so far.  I don't fish more than a minute or two, if that, when we go.  But I tag along with PC quite a bit.  We are planning a lake getaway for this coming week.  When we go in the morning, I take my quiet time materials.

when I'm taking a break:  I usually scrapbook, craft, read, float in the pool.  This is one of my latest scrapbook pages for our trip to Creede, Colorado last summer.  I used my Cricut die cutter to make the ball jar with the mountain scene inside on the left side.  And the circular mountain scene on the right side.  

why I'm happy today:  I am being lazy.  And loving it. Waiting for the Mexico-England FIFA soccer match and writing blog posts.

signs:  there were signs bearing wise words all over El Mistico.  This one reads. "Success has nothing to do what you have, but with what you are."

Sunday Stills 06.2026

06.07.2026 water:  another photo of Lake Bonito, New Mexico.

06.14.2026 monthly color challenge: evergreen, dark green:  I took a little liberty with this photo and edited it a bit to make the greens darker.  

Actually, it was darn near this green but my camera made everything look a little more yellowish.  

This is a photo of Kentucky green.  Or Kentucky blue grass?  

And this is the kind of evergreen we have around El Paso.

06.21.2026 animal or bird of the month:  the animals of this month were a kitty and pup I was doing drop-in visits with through Rover.com, and a frog Lucia and Cami named Bruno Mars.  Oh, and my own sweet kitties.

Brew

Milly

Bruno Mars

Purrcival is in the foreground and Purrsnickitty is in the background.

06.28.2026 future:  I worry about the future of our country and the world.  I pray my grandbabies will have a bright future.  

Future nurse, professional organizer, and 11th grader

Future singer, artist, veterinarian and 5th grader

Future influencer, makeup artist, dancer, singer and someone who 'works with daddy' and 1st grader

Future soccer player, engineer, surgeon and kindergartner

Whatever these babies wind up doing, I hope they will be happy and healthy and well loved.

Your Turn

What would your photographic responses look like for this month's prompts?  If you are in the U.S. or Canada, did you capture some great shots over the holiday weekend?  I like snapping pictures of the fireworks each year but often look back at my pictures and they are just photos of a lot of smoke!!

I have been coughing and choking for about a month or more now. Tomorrow I have a swallow study first thing in the morning to see if something internally is keeping me from swallowing and choking me.  All of the coughing and throat clearing makes me hoarse so I have been pretty quiet lately.  

Hope whatever you have in store this week goes well!!  Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day here with me.

Hugs and kisses,