The Moments Between

North Dakota Skies

2009-06-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

We had beautiful clouds most of the day, today, and I got out several times to take photographs. I've made a short Flash slideshow using some of the unedited photos, which you can find here. A larger picture of my favorite can be found on my JPGMag.com page.

I also took a photo, late in the evening, of some of my last tulips: Evening Shadows.

Enjoy!

Flower Photos

2009-05-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

At JPGMag.com (link above), I have been putting lots of close-up shots, lately, of spring flowers in the garden beds around my house. They seem to be coming in waves. First are lilies and some early tulips that catch the morning sun on the northeast side of the house. Then we get white violets there and blue violets in the front. Next come fancy tulips at the front of the house, and now the ones in the flowerbeds along the garage (southwest) are starting to bud.

I have half of the windows cleaned along the west-southwest side of the gazebo. Today the winds are over 20 mph, and so I only have windows open on the lee side. Feels good!

Spring Flooding 2009

2009-04-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

There is a new entry at my The Moments Between Blog, The Art of the Moment: Spring Flooding

Frost Series

2009-02-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a series of Frost Patterns photographs that I rather like. They can be found on JPG Magazine and my Quiet Spaces Blog.

Quiet Spaces Blog and Facebook

2009-01-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

I have been posting winter photographs on my blog at Quiet Spaces. Also, my brother Tim instigated a movement in my family to Facebook accounts; it's nice to hear about people I don't see from one year to the next.

Apex Book Company's Blog

2009-01-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that Apex Magazine (which has published several of my sister Christine W. Murphy's short stories in print issues) is now on-line at http://www.apexbookcompany.com/apex-online/

You can find their blog at http://www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/

Enjoy!

Photo a Day

2009-01-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

Given that JPG Magazine is changing hands (and,or disappearing), I set up a Photography Blog at my QuietSpaces.net domain at powweb.com: http://quietspaces.net/blog/

In other news, I sold a poem to Star*Line that should be appearing in their July/August issue.

Changes Coming Round

2008-12-29T00:17:00.001-08:00

I have consolidated my various blogs at one site: http://www.themomentsbetween.net/blog/ (LiveJournal isn't going anywhere, though.) The one at WordPress is still up, until I'm sure I've got everything moved over properly. Then it goes away.

Implementing changes

2008-12-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

I requested a WordPress blog (link above) set up on my SFF Net domain, and have been fooling around with the various themes, plug-ins and options. I learned how to import information from another blog, and have now added the miscellaneous poetry posts that I had tucked away elsewhere.

With any luck, I can get my photo art and writing more organized using the WordPress layout. Or, if not organized, at least more visible.

Christmas Day photos (my family's gathering) are up at LiveJournal.

A present from me to you is here: Christmas Present -- an 8.5x11" PDF suitable for printing of my photo, "Day's End": http://www.jpgmag.com/photos/1184601

Feelings of Accomplishment

2008-12-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

The HelpVera community at LJ has done a wonderful job of collecting enough donations to keep Vera and her mother in their home and to pay for the necessary sewer work. I want to point out that there are still some wonderful items to bid on. The auction can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/helpvera/

(Reflections on this and related happenings are on my wordpress blog with this same user id.)

Finally, an update

2008-12-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

RL has been busy enough that I haven't been doing much writing on-line. I do have a piece at Holy Leftovers (WordPress.com) dated Nov. 18.

The economic slump, the past two months, has also hit my business, since three-quarters of what I do draws on people's discretionary income. I actually find myself looking at it as a blessed gift of time, and I am hoping to get through many tasks that have not found a spot on my "To Do" list.

Flash Slideshows - Outdoor Scenes

2008-11-15T00:14:00.000-08:00

I have put together a page at PostcardArt.net with links to some of my photo slideshows, mostly flowers, trees, and sky. So far, there are photos from 2004 and 2005. I hope to get more linked during the coming weeks.

These used to be on my Patchwork Prose gallery pages.

My On-line Poetry Reading

2008-11-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

I've started an on-line poetry reading page at The Moments Between. So far, I have audio files of myself reading "VisionStalker," "Waiting," "Hunter's Moon" and "Allantide" (the last three being from the SFPA Halloween poetry readings from 2006, 2008, and 2007, respectively).

There is mention of my poems on the Dublinka blog for the 2006 (entry of Oct. 26) and 2007 (entry of Oct. 31) SFPA readings.

SFPA's 3rd Annual On-line Halloween Poetry Reading

2008-10-26T16:10:00.001-07:00

For the third year, members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association have been making audio files of themselves reading their own Halloween-appropriate poems. As of Sunday, October 26, there are 14 poems by 14 SFPA poets available for your listening pleasure at http://www.sfpoetry.com/halloween.html

"Skinwalker" by David Lee Summers
"The Biology Building" by Karen A. Romanko
"A Maid Betray'd" by Ann K. Schwader
"The Quince Bedroom" by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
"A Canoe in Night Waters" by Deborah P Kolodji
"Forearm Bones" by Marie Vibbert
"Its Hour Come Round at Last" by J. C. Runolfson
"The Sepultress" by Rhonda Parish
"Da Capo Senza Fine" by Peg Duthie
"The Thirteenth Hell" by Mike Allen
"Hunter's Moon" by Liz Bennefeld
"Hello Shadow" by irving
"The Bone Tree" by Julia Rios
"Famous Monsters of Filmland" by Gwynne Garfinkle

If you are an SFPA member, it's not too late to record and e-mail a poem for this year's On-line Halloween Poetry Reading. Just send me (Liz Bennefeld) an e-mail at sfpoetry (at) quietspaces (dot) net for specifics. I do want to have the page finalized by Wednesday or so.

Cloudspinner

2008-10-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've added a desktop wallpaper graphic of one of my cloud photos at The Moments Between.

Garden Colors / SFPA

2008-10-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've finally replaced the grass photos at lizbennefeld.net with something brighter and more cheery, as we enter into fall. The thumbnails on the Garden Colors page link to 1024x768-sized photos of a flowerbed I came across, late in September, near the neighborhood Islamic center. Hope you find something there that you like.

It looks like we are going to have an SFPA on-line Halloween Poetry Reading, again this year. I've gotten recordings of poems from three SFPA members, so far. I was asked to coordinate the event, again. I do want at least five recordings, before the new page goes live. (I suppose I'd better write a poem for it, again.)

Looks like a wonderful morning in the making, here.

SFPA Poetry Contest

2008-09-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

My poem "Future Freedom," written for the Science Fiction Poetry Association's third annual poetry contest, while it did not receive the 1st-3rd prize or the honorable mention, is among the eight Judges' Picks selections. The theme, this year, was "Energy," and there were more than 400 entries. I am pleased!

Walking in this World

2008-09-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed being able to get out for a walk before my work day started, Thursday. Planning to try for that again on Friday. I put several of the pictures on my JPG Magazine page. This picture (I do not know what kind of flower this is) is cut from a larger one that I used on LizBennefeld.net.

The temperature was back in the 80s, today. Hopefully it actually will be in the low 70s for Saturday, when Al and I are working the Alzheimer's Memory Walk with other members of our ham radio club. (Taking my cameras along!)

Artist Dates (sort of)

2008-09-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have added several pages of photographs to The Moments Between: Peony Blossoms, Along Highway 10, and Minnesota Lakes Country. I also uploaded a favorite close-up of an iris blossom and a photo of my favorite red tulips to my page at JPG Magazine.

At Café Press, I uploaded my Meeting House Cat photo under the title of "Contemplation" and made note cards and greeting cards using it (*sample photo here*). I do wish that the graphic weren't so small; at 1024x768, there's a definite limit to what I can do with it. I would set up a section for postcards, if I actually thought people sent them once in a while.

Still not recovered from last week, and Al has come home half a day early from his ham radio day out (rain), so we're both going to take our naps, now.

Another photo

2008-09-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

Finally came up with a photo with regard to "faith" for the JPG Magazine theme. These definitely are more challenging and rewarding to me. It's not a "writing what I know," but a discovering what I think.

New Photoart Piece

2008-09-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

I just uploaded a new photoart piece to lizbennefeld.net -- now that fall is coming, I'm looking through the spring flower photos.

I don't thing I've ever lived through quite such a short summer as this has been. The temperature is getting down into the 50s during the night. Central air is off. So nice!

This coming year I am rearranging my work load somewhat. I'm taking only one academic style editing client for the coming year, and limiting the number of longer jobs. By concentrating on smaller writing/editing assignments, I hope to have more "moments between" for my own photography and writing--mostly, for more contemplation. Time to slow the pace and concentrate on the "being" of life.

JPG Magazine

2008-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've gotten another two photos uploaded at JPG Magazine: Crabapple Time, which I've put into the Growing Up category, and Night Roses in the Nighttime theme. Still many more photographs to sort through. However did I take so many?

Also today I have written one poem that I had a whole month to write,* and am going to try to write two more before the end of the afternoon. Energy? Energy is that of which I have none, right now. Just a lot of "relax"!

*SFPA's annual poetry contest.

After the Rain

2008-08-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

I uploaded a photo to JPG Magazine: After the Rain. It seemed to me to fit into the Zen theme. It's a close-up of the same flower as pictured on my LJ.

Web site updates

2008-08-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

I have changed the photo on the opening page of LizBennefeld.net and added a link to a page that has some of the photos I've uploaded recently for cards at my Café Press Shop.

Finally, I took the time to replace my two old hard drives with a new 230GB (?) one that actually has enough room on it. When I bought the new HD in the spring, I also got a Windows XP OS. I have spent more time than one would ever believe, just reloading software and moving backup files off my Linux box onto the Windows desktop.

Tonight, though, I am going to sleep. Soon . . . very soon . . .

If I do that often enough, I will have the enthusiasm to do something in addition to work and eat and sleep.

SFPA's Third Annual Web Poetry Contest

2008-08-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Science Fiction Poetry Association is pleased to announce its
third annual web poetry contest.

Entries are free and must be submitted between August 1st and August
31st. Poems may be of any form, of 20-lines or less, and must be on
the theme of ENERGY. This theme may be interpreted in a variety of
ways; these include metaphysical, magical, and mystical, as well as
those energies attributed to scientific realms. This is a speculative
poetry contest, so submissions must have a science fiction, fantasy,
or horror element.

First prize is $100 cash, SFPA website publication, Waterman pen and
journal, a signed hardcopy copy of The Journey to Kailash by Mike
Allen, a copy of In the Yaddith Time by Ann K. Schwader, and a one
year SFPA membership.

Second prize is $40 cash, SFPA website publication, an original
painting by Marge Simon (the winner's choice of three), one year
subscription to Dreams & Nightmares, and a copy of Riffing on Strings,
edited by Sean Miller & Shveta Verma.

Third prize is $20 cash, SFPA website publication, a copy of Lost
Innocence: A Niteblade Anthology edited by Rhonda Parrish, and a copy
of Sporty Spec: Games of the Fantastic edited by Karen A. Romanko.

Other prizes include The Poet's Workshop – and Beyond by Terrie Leigh
Relf, M.A., Covenant by Elissa Malcoln, a copy of each available Spec
House of Poetry title, and a copy of Passionate Eye: The Collected
Writings of Suzanne Vega by Suzanne Vega.

Please check the link below for more detailed information and guidelines.
http://www.sfpoetry.com/2008poetrycontest.html