Day 83 - Quote Challenge

This week, Kim gave us a quote challenge along with her sample photo of The Duck Lady standing on a beach.

At first, I didn't quite know what to do with it.  The whole Duck monicker made it kind of comical (Think of Sonia-the-Duck in Peter and the Wolf.), so my first thought was a wise crack.

Then I was thinking about what might she be thinking staring out to sea?
*     Is it Una waiting for Captain Ahab to return from sea?   No--
*     Did she lose something?  No--
*     Could she be The Little Mermaid, later in life?  Wondering if she'd do it all again?  I really dislike the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, though I recognize many, many people adore it.  I have read modernized versions where Ariel gives away her voice in exchange for legs, and does NOT wind up with the prince.  Instead, she starts living for herself--and she gets her voice back  (Kissing the Witch : Old Tales in New Skins) and she realizes the Witch isn't so bad after all.  Face it : Ursula is a powerful woman who truly is The Captain of her Own Fate.  That's not such a bad thing ...  In the end, Little Mermaid didn't seem to fit this image either ...  The only relevant quote I could think of came out as a wisecrack from This American Life. [Do NOT follow the link if you can't tolerate colorful language.]

Then I started working on that Facing your Fears image from Day 79,  and thinking about my own fears.  There's been a lot of turmoil at work.  2012 turned a lot of things up-side-down for me, with even more change on the horizon.    A few years ago, a treasured Supervisor and dear friend told me that my identity was too wrapped up in being a Librarian, that my skills and talents went far beyond that.  If my job was eliminated, I would still be me, with those talents and skills.  I would land on my feet -- somewhere else.  When he first said that, I knew it was true.   Still--no one likes the idea of being down-sized, or unemployed.  I've been there, done that.  I re-tooled and landed on my feet back then, and I could do it again, if I had to.  So what am I afraid of?  Last summer, I had to re-apply for my job.  I was re-hired.  It was a chance to re-commit to the organization and formally decide that this is the job I still want to be doing career-wise.  While I made the cut, everyone else's job in my department of 14 years was eliminated.  Eeesh!  I said it was a difficult year ...

Kim Klassen put out this quote a few weeks / months ago, and I thought it was perfect.   I know I cannot continue at work the way I was ;  I literally don't have the staff to do operate that way anymore.  I've got to find a new way ...  But whatever happens, it will come from within ...

So there you have it--I start out thinking this silly little image had nothing to do with me, and then I realize it goes right to the core!


Here is Kim's original Duck Lady Image.

Here's what I did to Process the Image :
Layer 1 : Background  Image
Layer 2 : Copy background Image.  Crop Image; Remove a few seagulls.
Layer 3 : Text with Quote - Apple Chancery Font (Added last) ; Overlay 88%
Layer 4 : Text Author Attribution - Curly Joe Font (Added last) ; Normal 63%
Layer 5 : Coffee Shop Blog's Magic Sunset Action
Layer 6 : Color Fill Frame - Soft Light at 77%