“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” Audrey Hepburn
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Even stray cats enjoy a loving hand…
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Love is a mom holding her twin babies – sculpture at The Met
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Janet Jackson makes a loving heart sign for the audience at her concert.
The first shot is one of my favorite photos taken in the french countryside. As my friends and I walked back to our quarters in a local monastery, a beautiful stray cat crossed our path, stopped, and stared at us in defiance. My girlfriend knelt down and picked him up. Her husband, you see his hands in the photo, stood there smiling away as I captured the exchange. We can help and heal each other with our hands. I’ve added direct notes to explain the other photos…
“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.” Maya Angelou
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Extend a hand of peace to all
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Obliging hands taken at the Botanical Garden.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Classic concert shot. Concert goers trying to capture Tyga on a cellphone
The lovely set of hands in the bright yellow coat belong to a young lady I saw at the Met Museum. She was wearing the brightest yellow PVC like coat, carrying an orange messenger bag, and wore a green band-aid on a finger. I loved her colors; especially that jacket/coat that reminded me of the designs of Courrèges in the 1960s… I asked for a photo and she obliged. For this challenge on Hands, I found that I had to crop photos to focus on the hands. I generally don’t take photos of the hands, even though it is one of the first body parts my eyes are drawn to after the eyes… What about you?
“Your hands, your eyes, your voice, your thoughts are your servants.” Loretta Young
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Vitarka Mudra: A Mudra of discussion and transmission of teachings – knowledge sharing/giving
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… The lady at Storm King offers a thumbs up sign… and with a different finger, things could get ugly.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… One of my kids offered this attack mode gesture … as a joke
The hands are a powerful way to communicate without words. We wave goodbye with our hands; we use it for sign language; and we have popular gestures that say all sorts of things from loving signs to curse words. The ancient gods and goddesses in India had special auspicious Mudras (hand gestures) that were pithy with meaning and blessings. In the first photo, the mudra symbolizes a transmission of knowledge. The circle symbolizes the taking of refuge as the union of method and wisdom, and the three extended fingers represent the Three Jewels of the Buddha, dharma, and sangha as the objects of refuge (about.com). Dancers use their hands to emphasis a particular dance movement and to carry the body forward in a routine… The hands don’t lie either. They show our age and the natural wear and tear of daily living. The above selections depict a message; something we can relate to. What favorite gesture do you demonstrate with your hands? More below!
“The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” Anne Frank
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Our hands nurture our bodies with food
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… feeding our hands and minds
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands… Mother’s Day lunching hands
This series of photos were taken when I went to lunch with one of my daughters and her friends at her college. We had an exquisite Thai lunch and then they had ice cream for dessert. Since the photo challenges have turned me into a camera totting fanatic, I captured it all. It was a lovely afternoon and I cherish the memory. Hope you enjoyed this! What are your thoughts? What photos showcasing Hands did you find? Was it easy/hard to find photos that made sense of your views on the subject? Were you drawn to certain types of photos for the prompt? Do share? Thank you! 
*Please bear with me as I continue to catch up on your blogs and commenting… Thank you all for your patience!
My fellow bloggers were equally creative with their selections. I listed several via Zemanta below. (I will update it and add more). We all appreciate trackbacks/ping-backs and LIKES from fellow bloggers too! Check out how others interpreted the theme – HANDS – below. ***
This post was inspired by a prompt from WP Daily Post: Weekly Photo Challenge: Hands. Hands can be instrumental in a photo – they emphasis, they hide, they reveal. They can be the star of the show, or just a prop to help the main attraction stand out better. In this photo, this hand was what kept me between life and death as I walked down a rickety metal staircase on the side of a cliff down to the beach. I was glad for that hand and I’m glad I captured the moment, too. Share a picture that has a HAND in it with everyone!
Positive Motivation Tip: From hands that heal to hands that hurt, we extend them daily in our interactions with others… Make your hands a helping one.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos from my personal collection.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
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some wonderful photos!
Ty for your feedback!
we all need helping hands
- and a bye bye to hurting hands
True… we all need a helping hand.
That Audrey Hepburn quote is a wonderfully succinct way of saying something very profound. Thanks.
I love that quote and read it somewhere else a while back. I’m glad to be able to use it now. TY!
Will make my rounds to connect and respond to everyone… 
we all need a hand along the way , we all need to offer a hand too! I love this post and agree with you about the Rainbow girl in the Yellow Coat! xxxxx
TY and I agree we all need a gentle/kind/caring hand… I definitely need one lately… Prayers and blessings are always a welcome gift to all.
I love the cat! So cute! Thanks!
It is adorable… TY!
Terrific accompanying quote. Like your hand series but No1 is No1 to me!
Thanks for the link back, too. I liked this week’s challenge of hands.
Yeah… I like this challenge too. But it looks like we had to do a bit of cropping to fulfill it. I’m grateful I found a few to use. TY!
I enjoyed looking at your entries for this week’s challenge. And I love the Audrey Hepburn quote.
I love the quote too. TY for your kind words.
This was your best yet Eliz! The Hepburn quote is as classy the lady!
Oh you are so sweet Madhu! I love that quote and you’re right that it says a lot about her classiness.
Wonderful post punctuated with fun photos. I love the statue, and the Maya Angelou quote!
…and thanks for the pingback!
TY…
Yeah, those were fun to do for sure. 
Zemanta offers the pingbacks and I wish it would offer me even more to add. TY!
Expressive, unique and beautiful post! Something we often take for granted is the use of our hands. The only hands photos I have are me and my kiddo and you aren’t kidding about the age thing!
I think I will try to get a photo of me my mom and my sons hands together! Thanks for the inspiration! xo
TY Karen! I think it’s a great idea to do that generational hand shot. Go for it.
I love the first picture of course….. but my favorite photos of hands are of the old, gnarled ones… they have stories to tell.
I bet they do… I’ve seen some in photo journals and they are accompanied by expressive faces… They tell many stories. TY!
I love the photo of the stray cat – and that Audrey Hepburn quote! *dies* I absolutely adore her.
This was a really interesting post – thanks for sharing and more importantly writing!
TY Em! And what a lovely surprise to see you here… You vanished from the blog scene for a while and we wondered what happened. I’m glad to see you back. Welcome back to WP blogging!
So very wonderful are these photos of helping hands. So right to start off this post with the Audrey Hepburn quote about why we have two hands! Great meeting of the challenge!
TY Granbee! I’m glad I found a few more shots that worked… It was fun.
Eliz, thanks for commenting on my blog, and yes these are so wonderful. Keep up the great photo’s. ☆ ♥●••´¯`•.☆.•´¯`•.☆.•´¯`•.☆ ♥●
…./\„,„/\
…( =’;'=) ~Have a Delightful Day
…/*♥♥*\
.(.\.. . . /.)
TY for the cute emoticons… Have a great weekend!
The pictures are total love!
Your posts are always enjoyable.
Oh TY for the vote of confidence… and the sentiments are mutual! Love your blog too.
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Great entry for this week theme Hands
TY for your generous comment Jake… Glad you liked it.
the heart mark is touching. Very nice challenge.
TY CoCo!
I love the first one with the cat, mine loves to be scratched but hates to be picked up.
Same here… TY! I love that one too.
I love the yellow vinyl coat and peace sign! So cheery! So sixties! Yea, Eliz! Debra
You should see the rocking bag she was carrying… it was very Mod!
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Wow! I’m so honored you selected my post. Thank you so much
It’s an honor to connect with you and other bloggers too. TY!
I feel the same way. Your blog is so wonderful! Thank you, too, for making yourself at home
Ditto!
A nice collection of quotes and quotes, I love the yellow coat lady and sometimes ask to photograph someone but then I don’t know what to say when they ask why I want to!
OH TY! I usually pay them a compliment and say I’m in a photo challenge online.
Hands so important in our activities
You’ve got a lot of photos on this collectie, very nice. Thanks for stopping in my blog, regards 
TY! I did a bit of cropping but I’m glad you like them.
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So many hands. Did you crop it or just love to take photo of hands?
Amazing photo and quotes nevertheless. I love the obliging hands on botanical garden the most.
Definitely some cropping involved. I don’t typically take photos of hands but maybe now I would… TY for stopping by.
I’ve got to hand it to you . . . some handsome hands!
TY Nancy! Loved yours too.
Love the Maya Angelou quote. She puts so much throught and care into the things she says.
She’s an amazing woman and I love her work…
*thought
Apparently, I need to use a little more of that myself. 
LOL
We all do! TY!
Love your array of hands in various modes … I struggled to find ONE! Thanks for the ping.
TY or your feedback!
good selection of quotes and photos. I use my hands a lot as my students are just learning English.
Oh Okay, I can see how that would be of great help… all those hand gestures.
Hands that love and inspires others. Beautiful images to go with the wonderful words that delights the heart and soul. So true, ““As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” Thanks.
TY IT! I loved that quote too… We all need helping hands…
Delightful post and truly hands can be a source of healing. Enjoyed this. Thanks!
TY and I appreciate your feedback!
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Well said. Great post.
Thank you Ginger!
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Aha! Here Is the post….and it is defiantly great. Love the quotes .
Toni
TY Toni! You beat me to it as I just replied to your question. TY!
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eliz…what a beautiful series on hands. I was mesmerized as I went through each one and read your text below. Such a lovely variety and so meaningful.
Thanks so much for this post, and for the ping too!
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