So today is June 18th, 2013... only for about 15 minutes longer till it turns midnight. My photography has grown by LEAPS and BOUNDS!! Since I last posted..like 2 years ago!!
Here is my facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cataldo-Photography/108994053182

I post MUCH more regularly to it! Let's keep in touch! :)

BLOG UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!

PLEASE COME BACK SOON!  Thank you for your patience. :)

Gabrielle

Today I am featuring a poem written on this day of LOVE we call Valentine's Day, written by

 David Derr (see link here)

http://www.d2studios.com/

one of the most talented artists of our time. His poem was inspired by one of my recent photos. I was SUPER stoked and excited about this!!! Also very humbled...

 So first here is the poem written by David Derr and the photo that inspired it :

 

Rust and Roses

Our love is forever new
and as ancient as the universe.

More solid than the earth
and as free as a summer breeze
dancing with a feather.

We are rust and roses,
our love forever entwined
in creation and destruction.

Locked in an embrace
stronger than any gravity.


Valentines Day- 2010
Inspired by a photo by Michelle Cataldo

SHE STANDS

After she extends her long arm of servanthood

SLASH! Blood.

She withdraws quickly,recoiling in pain
severely stinging
She had laid out
her body naked. out.
on the floor.
To be given
to those who need it.
Who hunger for it.
A simple sacrifice
of profound proportions.
She saw the angry faces
the hurt the lost
the BROKEN.
and gave.
'Is it worth it?' she mutters
inside her head.
As her arms now shortened by the pain, hold her knees
close to her chest.
'Can I do it?'
Tears slowly pouring out
in bittersweet streams
'Spend my life, open, naked, bare,
bleeding'
It felt so good at first
To be used of Him.
but after many turned cheeks
and bruised heartbeats
she is on the edge, the slippery slope

Her mind drifts to a time ....
of mountaintops & go-getter thoughts
Of invincibility
Of "I will take up my cross and follow Him"
"Nothing will hurt me...'
"Nothing will detour me.."
"Make me doubt."

Times have changed.

Many days of crossbearing
makes the soul feel heavy.
But the voice of hope
yanks at her soul.

She remembers Him...
His cross...His sacrifice.

She kneels.

Pouring her heart out.
All is well again.
She stands.

Clothed in humility and gratitude.

She smiles a sigh of weightlessness.

The pain is gone.
No blood to be found.

She lives to face another day.

To bare her cross and
Lay down her naked life.

So others my find the sweet surrender.

She stands.

Summer Breeze

Took this on one of my many trips to Florida! AWWWW, the beach! Love it! This was my first trip to Port St. Joe....great place....summer and seclusion are two things I think of when I think about that small town....peaceful...so great...

________________________

SUMMER and SECLUSION

________________________

________________________

You brought blue skies

and sunny highs

Water waves

like summer handshakes

We walked the sandy road

to find our respite

Slow walks ....

long talks...

Hand in hand

we found peace from man

Ocean breezes of sweet saltwater

smells

Sand that glistened in the sun, white as snow

We stood on the edge overlooking our vast escape

Water tickles between our toes as we grabbed hands

and stole kisses to grasp Love's Hold...

Come again we may to our

abyss of calm peace

Overlook our land...

Hand in Hand.

Written by: Michelle Cataldo June 23rd, 2009

Soul's Chosen Gain

When sunny days are fleeting and the rain that must come ..comes, look up cause the sky will surely change and the outlook will not remain the same..optimism, in the waiting, is the soul's chosen gain...

Raindrops fall
Like soft diamonds to the ground
Bursting into a million pieces
As they land
Scattering their brillance
to the surround to glow
As glitter
Or a light dust of shimmer
On a cheek
Not so much like a teardrop as
When it falls and makes
A jagged line down
Its hilly road
But smooth
And shiny, spread all over
Like the mother of all fairies
Took her pixie dust
And released it to the wind
With the promise to change
All around her
To make it SHINE
To glow
So
That when our heads hang low
Our minds may see
The silver lining
Of the dark & dreary
To bask in the glow of a new day.

Michelle Cataldo

(Written March 31st, 2009)

The Red Red Rose

Sometimes there's just nothing better than RED. Even as a purple girl myself I can't miscount the effect red has on me and others. It catches your eye and pulls you in when nothing else does sometimes...maybe that's why God chose to make the blood that flows threw our veins red ...hmm. Worth a thought I guess.

Red & The Empty Pocketbook

There you stood looking at me

oh so boldly

you said :

"What are you waiting for?!"

Pick me up, Pull me close

Feel my touch...

So I did.

Velvety soft, brillantly RED,

the warmest of all the warm embraces in the world

was yours..

You left me not alone so

I left you not alone..

I tried you on for size

was this gonna work?

will you fit?

can we make it together?

All the time thinking THIS IS IT!

Its perfect.

Its gotta be...

But twas not to be ...

you left me

as quickly as you came..

was the price tag to blame?

For me and my empty pocket book

Could not your cost overlook.

I felt as though I had been cut

And all my blood had spilled out on you

stained every thread..

for when I left, I was oh so pale

We together could not make the sale.

Written March 14th, 2009 Michelle Cataldo

(Just a funny little poem by me..hh...hope you got a laugh if nothing else out of it)

The things that make Valentine's Day great...

So its a little late from February but Love always keeps going and sharing so here I am.
I love those unexpected surprises like when your husband brings home roses and a box of special chocolates and a little gift with just u in mind...especially when he was an adament non-valentiner. Well hope all you enjoyed your V-day ....may your love continue to blossom and bloom into the spring of 2009.

#4

Well this probably isn't what you expected Irene when you asked for my 4th photo from my 4th file, but it brought a smile to my face when I realized it was YOUR BROTHER!!! How ironic is that!? There's gotta be a message there somewhere....

To all those who read my blog, Irene (http://www.wordloversunite.blogspot.com ), who by the way is an EXCELLENT poet and writer, asked me to play along and post this for fun! Hope she is pleasantly suprised.

I agree with you , Irene, LISTEN is a perfect word for 2009. I think a #2 word should be added. I think it should be "Surprise!" b/c :

When we listen, we never know what we might find. Michelle

Time to Still

There's a time for change

A time for complacency

for not for the routine

would we not hunger for

the change

stirring of the embers

I stand still...

In my own skin

can I peer out

of the black ash

of what was

holding me down

mainitaining my frown

I never know what

change You will bring

where the fire will stir

All I know is You

You will enlighten the way

I stand still...

"He restoreth my soul"..

He my calm makes whole..

"He knows what I have need of before I ask"..

how can I bask

in the glow of His Hol'

I stand still...

Pondering in amazement

the Love that knows no limits

that cannot be held

My thoughts, my wishes, my wonders

were more than just little lip flutters

You took to Heart

the matter for which I laked tears

trying to stay awake to hide the pain

behind the fake..

Make no mistake..

I stand still..

I stand still..

I STAND STILL!

Written: January 23, 2009

(Words in quotations were taken from the Bible)

Relevant Witness

IS it relevant or relative?

To ponder
To wonder on those things of a higher nature..
A higher power..

Relevant to you
To God or
To me?

We are all connected

U see

To contemplate
To imaginate
All the things
I should do

All the things
I fall short of

Must not let go
Of the ole’ heave ho
The workin’ man’s motto
Is a good intro

To keep on the ole
Straight n’ narrow

Keep on walking
Keep on praying

To God keep on relatin’
Not always easy you see

A God-seeker to be
Hard-work
To be kneelin’
To be stillin’

On God to be yieldin’

Relative to you
Relevant to me

Is my walk with God
Cannot stop
The impact of it all

When I fall
When I stray

Your eyes can pierce
And remind me of how fierce
I must remain

Determination

From a Higher plain
I cannot

Separate from you
Or Him be

B/c we are all entwined

In His Love oh, so sublime

You touch me
I touch you
You see me
I see you

The legacy of a God-fearing soul
Must we make
Must we mold

So others can
Without shame
w/out remiss
Our story unfold
　
We are all relevant you see,

To God
To you
To me.
　
Written by: Michelle Cataldo 7/21/08

To A New Year and New Beginnings

This year will hold alot of changes for me and new challenges. I posted this pic to remind me as I face these new challenges to:

1. Keep my chin up and my face towards the Son

2. To grow inside and out

3. and to continue to surround myself with beautiful people and beautiful things

Those are 3 of my goals for 2009.

"Ask and ye shall receive" The Bible

His Longing

Content to absorb the stillness of complacency.

Unrepined to bend my back
to the breaking point

To heave n' ho

Next to my blue-collar cohorts

Our arms casting up & down, to & fro

In unison as we throw
the hammer and turn the wrench

To the sound of Led Zepplins and CCRs,

The working man's song.

Each gear adjusted to perfection

The smell of salty sweat pouring from
our silky leather skin.

We smile as our fat satisfied bellies

Drape across the hoods.


I looked out the bay door

At ease, to see a finished lot.

to lay my weary eyes

On the sight of the ocean tide,

Me, sitting on the sand, toes not daring to be
touched by the wayward waves

Joined only by the sunset

And the note of The Waters shaking hands with The Sands.


Suddenly-

LIGHTNING! strikes the rippling tide

A fire burns inside me.

Lunging to my feet,

the water rapidly covering my toes, ascending up my thighs.


I am compelled to surf the waves,

Stand next to the captain, as I

turn the wheel and guide the ship,

Life is a Highway and Journey alternating on the am/fm radio

Anticipatorily resigning to parasail the skies,

In the freefall of the wind as

I look down on my new found friends;

The glowing jellyfish as it smiles back at me

From a mouth I cannot see,

The silver dolphins who rush from the depths of the sea

To eagerly wave hello,

My eyes look out to see

The seagull silhouetted by the sun,

Floating next to me as I sail the clouds

And scan the endless seas.

Ordinary gone . . .

Time to move on . . .

Written: Sept. 9th , 2008

Ok, to all my fans out there. The few and far between. haha. I promise I will write something soon. I have been busy with photography and life in general so do not despair...... Oh, also been reading thru my John Grisham books. While, he is an excellent writer, I am tired of the theme of most of his books. I will read "The Painted House" next just b/c it is diff from his usual. I am on the last pages of The Testament which is my fav in the last 4 I've read in the last 4 weeks. These John Grishams were given to me as gifts ands I have been meaning to read them for years. I became a fan in college when we had to read A Time to Kill which was awesome, but many years have passed and I am looking for a different kind of story to engross myself in. BUT right now I must finish the John Grisham novels so I can say I finished something. And I must educate myself thoroughly on photoshop. That will be my next 'book'. UGH!!! IT will be a trial to drag thru the pages but once I am thru I will be beyond adequate at knowing how to use photoshop. Thank God for tutorials! Can I get an AMEN?! ok, LOve to my friends and family.

This is an award from my fellow blogger and friend, Irene. Thanks for believing in me Irene! I appreciate you and your encouragement and help more than you know. Still praying for you and your dad & family.

My Photos

Ok, it was time for me to post some of my recent photo work. . .
Some are titled and some are not. Guess that's obvious, huh? Well can't wait to get some feedback ...as usual. Thanks to all.

Unknown Beauty

Bleeding Hearts