Spotted Photo Theme – Circles

March 31, 2025 /

OK, I’m squeaking in under the deadline here. iHanna has another Spotted Photo challenge, where the idea is that you go through your phone/iPad photos, and find pictures that match the theme she has given. You’re not out looking for that theme, not taking new photos, just curating the pictures you already have. I’m not a photographer by any means, so mine are not going to be gorgeous like some others, but here they are anyway. A lot of them are food. And I snuck in some memes, which is totally cheating and not cool at all.

The Rose Window in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, 2018. I really hope to go back and be able to see Note Dame now that it is open again. I’m amazed at how different it looks in photos after a good cleaning.

The ceiling of the Palais Garnier, Paris, painted by Chagall. Stunning.

Continuing the Paris theme, this is perhaps the best meal I had in Paris (in France, really) on our 2018 trip. Risotto with saffron and shrimp. SO good.

Final France photo, look at these delicious desserts! I don’t remember where these were, but I think they were in a little town near the West Coast of Brittany, Pleben.

The circle in this picture is the face of Ted’s watch. I love this picture of Ted and Maya in Waikiki, circa 2005. She’s 9 and cute as a button. He’s not too shabby either.

Maya’s cake for her college graduation in 2018! She graduated with an English Literature degree from the University of California, Berkeley, the #1 Public English Lit department in the US. Maybe we’re a LITTLE proud.

Artsy black and white photo. Mulder can tell where Ted has been on his bike ride, because his nose is magic.

Genevieve in the back of one of our cars. The circle in the picture is the light at the bottom left on the bumper. She’s a sweet darling.

The stunning cake that Ted’s cousin made last year for a family birthday party. It’s a lemon/olive oil cake with cream cheese frosting, and pistachios. My favorite cake ever.

The circle here is the setting sun, photographed from Maui, 2021.

2020 – Sign of the times. Sticker on the floor to encourage social distancing.

The circle here is the peace sign. I loved this mural painted at the Neiman Marcus building in our town after the looting that accompanied some of the social justice protests in our town. Summer 2020, after the murder of George Floyd.

Art installation at The Broad, a modern art museum in Los Angeles. The artist is Yayoi Kusama. I visited with my BFF Rosemary in February of 2020.

Art exhibit at the SF MOMA, September 2024. Another exhibit by Yayoi Kusama, she loves circles.

More circles from Kusama. This exhibit was titled Dreaming of the Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love which seems perfect for this challenge. I didn’t realize until putting this post together that the exhibits in LA and SF were the same artist! She was born in 1929, and is still producing amazing art.

I love this picture of the soup I had at my fancy birthday lunch in December. It’s a delicious soup, Littleneck Clam and Young Potato Chowder, at a lovely San Francisco restaurant, Spruce.

Fun lunchbox at a record store in Berkeley.

Spock (channeling his inner Bowie)! Laser disk I think, same record store in Berkeley.

Why not finish up with a meme? Our beautiful home. Musk can go live on Mars, I’ll stay here.

18 Comments

  • Margaret

    March 31, 2025 at 11:31 pm Reply

    What beautiful photos! The rosace at Notre Dame de Paris is amazing but did you also make it to Sainte-Chapelle? What a stunning place that is, especially if the sun is shining. I love French desserts which are a feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds.

    • J

      April 1, 2025 at 5:21 am Reply

      Margaret, yes, I went to Sainte Chappelle on a different trip! SO BEAUTIFUL! My sister has been to a classical music concert there, she said it was SO moving.

  • iHanna

    April 1, 2025 at 1:45 am Reply

    Thanks J for joining and doing the Spotted Photo theme in March. Yayoi Kusama is one of my favourite artists ever so I appreciate you sharing photos of her big US exhibitions! Polka dots are my jam!

    The sunset is my favourite because the fact that the sun does not look like a circle in your photo. That’s “not cool” either but I give five gold stars for effort & the rebel in you! 🙂

    • J

      April 1, 2025 at 5:22 am Reply

      LOL, thanks Hanna! I thought about that, that it’s not really a circle…but we know the sun is a circle even if we can’t see it all, so I went for it.

  • Birchie

    April 1, 2025 at 5:50 am Reply

    Mulder was truly the handsomest gentleman that the world has ever known.

    I’m obsessed with the Paris Opera ceiling after Elisabeth’s post yesterday, so I was happy to see another picture here. I know the image from the first movie version, which is very true to life of the opera. The only thing is that of course the movie is in black and white, so the amount of color and detail in the ceiling wasn’t something that I imagined.

  • AC

    April 1, 2025 at 6:22 am Reply

    That was a very thorough dive, and I am sure that you enjoyed the memories. I had also a deep dive today, but the memories were not so great.

    • J

      April 1, 2025 at 9:40 am Reply

      Oh, I just went and looked at your post for today, and it brought back so many memories for me too. Poignant, I’ll admit to getting a little choked up myself. Will comment there when I’m on my other computer later, my iPad doesn’t let me comment on blogger blogs for some stupid reason.

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