Where I Stand

Every month, the Capture Your 365 photo prompts include this one - "Where I Stand."  I have pictures of my bare feet, my sock covered feet, my feet in comfy shoes, funky shoes, and dressy shoes.  Throughtout these photos I can be seen with my feet curled around the base of my desk chair, propped up on the couch relaxing, standing side by side with the one I love, on rocks and mountains,  close to home, and faraway.  Each photo tells a story of where I was physically in that particular moment on that particular day.

This week I was prompted to focus on where I stand not through my camera, but through my heart.  I was faced with examining where I stand emotionally, spiritually, theologically, and morally, not though pictures, but through my actions..  It is much more diffucult to create an image of where the inner me stands than it is to show where the physical me has planted my feet.

The week began with awakening last Sunday morning to the devestating news of the attack on the Pulse Night Club in Orlando.  Such an attack is horrifying in its own right, but when I learned that the attacker specifically targeted  the LGBT community, it felt like salt being poured into wounds that were already quite deep and painful.  The LGBT community is my friends, my family, my church.  If such an incident were to occur here in Dallas, I have no doubt that someone I know would have been among the dead or injured.

I actually went to two different church services last Sunday morning, the Episcopal church, the church in which I grew up, the church in which my children were baptized, and the church in which I was married...twice. :-)  Sadly, the events in Orlando were not mentioned during that Sunday morning service.  I then went to Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ, the largest LGBT church in the world.  There the events in Orlando were on the hearts and minds of everyone.  The response, however, was not one of hate, but of sadness for the great loss of life and a need to extend our love to a commuity that is grieving and in pain.  There was an outpouring of love for the victims and families in Orlando and for the LGBT community here in Dallas.  Yes, there was anxiety and some outright fear, but when we came together as a community a faith, that fear was lessesned a bit during that time when we all stood together in prayer and praise.

On Monday, I received emails from both churches.  The one from the Episcopal church sadi that the regularly scheduled Wednesday night Eucharist would be a Requiem offered for those who lost their lives in Orlando, but because the sanctuary was being used for another event during that time, they did not know yet where that service would be held.  Interestingly, I never recieved any further information about that particular service.  

From Cathedral of Hope came an anouncement that The Turtle Creek Chorale, a premier men's chorus here in Dallas, and the Cathedral of Hope Sanctuary Choir were going to offer a concert entitled "Songs of Healing" on Tuesday evening.  I was honored to be asked to sing as part of that concert.  In a time when I felt helpless, music was something that I had to offer.  

That Tuesday night concert was attended by 1600 people and watched by 500,000 more via live streaming broadcasts.  In addition to the gift of music offered by the collective musicians, those who attended the concert, through generous hearts, gave $18,000 to be sent to agencies Orlando who are helping the families of the victims with final expenses.  The people of Dallas showed their love for the people of Orlando.

This event was engineered and executed in forty-eight hours thanks to the hard work and commitment to the cause by many, many people, not the least of whom was the Dallas Police Department who sent sixty officers to keep us all safe that night.  For that ninety minutes, fear subsided.

I have no idea how many attended the service at the Episcopal church that I assume ocurred Wednesday evening in some undisclosed location.  

It should come as no surprise that because of Cathedral of Hope's position in the Chritian church and the LGBT faith community,  our head pastor was sought out by reporters for his thoughts and commentary on the week's events.  As ones who are proud of the work of our church and its leaders, we shared many of those articles and videos through social media.  I was no exception.

I was surprised yesterday when my Facebook feed included a "rant" against our pastor's words by someone I consider to be a good friend.  At first I was hurt.  Then I was sad.  I then felt God's hand on my shoulder and words in me ear telling me that this was my chance to show where I stand.  When I am hurt or upset, I generally have one of two responses - withdraw completely from the situation, or fire back in "unpleasant" discourse.  I knew that neither of these responses was acceptable this time.  The person who wrote the post in question is someone who I believe God intentionally brought into my life.  We have had several different, all positive, encounters prior to this.  And as I said, this is someone I consider to be a good friend, so withdrawing would be a personal loss to me.  And now more than ever, as is evidenced by the political climate in this country, I know that angry discourse is a coward's response.  It is a response from the head, not the heart.  The heart responds with love as its guiding force.  With God's help, I did my best to respond in love - balancing my love for my church, my pastor, my faith, myself, and my friend.  I received a gentle response saying that we could agree to disagree.  Indeed we could and that was ok.  I honestly believe that responding to the initial post was God calling me to articulate in a respectable way, where I stand not for my friend, but for me.

As if all these things weren't enough to make one question the goodness of life, on our way to Cathedral of Hope this morning we received a text from a friend saying that the building had been evacuated because of "suspicious packages" left on the premises.  The worship service was moved to a safe spot outdoors, away from the packages.  Amidst the Dallas bomb squad and a number of other police officers, worship went on.

I have written here many times that I am not a risk taker; yet despite all that was going on, it never crossed my mind that I should not attend the worship service at Cathedral of Hope this morning.  Another opportunity to show where I stand.  This morning I stood with my closest friends, surrounded by lots of love and police officers.  And it was good.

As it turned out, the "suspicious bags" were harmless, clothes and a cell phone.  We were able to return to the building, and the air conditioning,   There was an amazing sense of community as we all held hands and sang, "How great is our God" after breaking bread together.   Love will conquer hate. It may take awhile, but love will win.

As is the case with our "village" of friends, we headed to brunch after church.  On the way, I checked my Facebook feed.  There were lots of posts about the morning's events at church.  Hidden amidst all of that was a notice that my friend, with whom I'd had the exchange yesterday, had tagged me in a post.  In it, she said that she had misinterpreted the article that was posted, responded without fully processing what was said, and after some time to let it settle, now understands what was really being presented and what I was trying to say in my response.  Wow!  The Spirit is at work!

There was a huge lesson in this for me.  First of all, I neither retreated or responded from the wrong place when faced with, what was for me, a challenging situation.  Nor did I judge my friend, because I have done the very same thing...replied to someone or something without taking time, without listening to God guide me through to the place where I should be.  I also learned from my friend how to admit when I have made a mistake.  I hope that I have the courage to do as she did the next time I find myself having jumped to a conclusion too quickly.

So as a new week dawns, where do I stand...

• Still deeply saddened by the loss of life in Orlando
• Grateful for the healing power of music
• Proud to be part of a community of faith that not only talks the talk, but walks the walk
• Thankful for the support of the Dallas police department throughout this week
• Truly blessed by friends both far and near
• Certain that love conquers hate
• Confident that God is good.

The Road Toward Christmas

It was Thanksgiving when I last wrote and now we are only seven days away from Christmas.  Over these last three weeks there were days that seemed to go on forever - mainly those where I was so tired that all I could think of was a nap; but for the most part, time has whizzed by.  Until the last week, I wasn't sure that I was going to get my act together for Christmas.  There were moments over these past few weeks where I had to talk sternly to myself, saying that it would all be okay, really!

Throughout the month of December, all of the Capture Your 365 photo prompts focused on holiday preparations.  Until last weekend, I had done none.  Continuing to take a photo a day during this time despite having little holiday cheer at my house kept me from completely panicking over the fact that I was so far behind.

Today, thanks to Amazon.com and my school semester being over, I now think that I will make it.  

Focusing on Advent, the time of waiting, has also helped me to maintain some sanity and a sense of calm throughout the first weeks of December.

I missed photographing the lighting of the third candle last Sunday.

Thanks to the new landscaping that we had done earlier in the fall, our backyard, which was normally nothing but brown at this time of year, is full of color.  The yuletide camellias began budding a few weeks ago and now are full of brightly colored red and yellow flowers.

Piper, the newest addition to our family, is full of love for us and for her big dog brother and sister.  Even the cat has decided that things are going to be OK.  It is hard for me to even imagine that this poor little thing was abused.  

Even amidst the craziness of the season, we have made time each week to spend time with friends. Regular "diner dinners", the wedding of two of our dearest friends, and a few theater productions have been some of the best times this month.

And now, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Piper is not so sure about that Santa Claus fellow.  I think she has been talking to her youngest human sister who, from a young age, has thought Santa Claus creepy.

Though she does like napping under the Christmas tree.

I am thankful to have the next month off with time to spend with family and friends.  I also have lots of things on my 'want to do" rather than" have to do" list and the time now to actually do them.  What a wonderful feeling!!!

First World Problems

So the worst thing that some folks have to worry about these days is the fact that Starbucks has removed any "Christmas" symbols, like snowflakes and reindeer, from their holiday cups.  One militant Christian posted a viral video online saying that this is because Starbucks "hates Jesus."  I'm fairly sure that snowflakes and reindeer are not signs of Jesus.  And even if they were, why does it matter what is on your coffee cup?  My understanding of Christianity is that Jesus is supposed to reside in our hearts, not on a paper coffee cup, especially a coffee cup that will,  minutes after being paid for, be tossed in a trash can only to be replaced later by another such cup.  Maybe this is why Christianity is making such a bad name for itself right now.  People treat God, Jesus, and their faith like they treat their coffee cups; as disposable.  For a little while people feel all warm and fuzzy inside and then they discard the cups and don't think about them again until they need to feel good again.  This whole debate/discussion/tantrum about the red cups is ridiculous.  I am almost ashamed to have even mentioned it.  It does, however, give me an introduction to my own first world problem of today.

On Tuesdays i only teach until 1:30.  With the addition of Piper to our family, we make sure that someone comes home every day at lunch to let her out.  Since I had a relatively short teaching day, I figured I would come home and do some work from home this afternoon, though I had also entertained the idea of a nap first.  This is one of those stories about the best laid plans...

While I was walking home, Weber called to tell me that there was a possibility that we had no power at home.  How did he know being that he was at school?  Our thermostat is hooked into the wi-fi, which requires electricity.  When the thermostat goes offline, it sends and email notification.  Sure enough, when I got home, no power.  I figured that was a sure sign that God wanted me to take a nap since with no power, I could not do any work on the computer.  (I have a desktop, not a laptop so battery power was not an option.)  Cool!  A forced nap.  And then the problems started...

I'll just have some lunch first.  Since I'm going to lay down, I don't want anything super heavy...maybe a couple pieces of toast.  Oh wait, I cant use the toaster.  No big deal.  I'll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Get the bread.  Go to the fridge for the jelly.  It is really dark in here!  Where is the jelly?  The fridge is stuffed full since it is early in the week so most of the weekly groceries  have not yet been eaten.  Fumble around feeling for the right sized jar in the place where I last remember seeing the jelly.  Success!  Next to the pantry for the peanut butter. Wow!  I sure wish we had a window in the mudroom. It would make it slightly better than impossible to things in the pantry.  Fortunately, the pantry is well organized so the peanut butter is easy to find.  Voila!  Sandwich now made.

I just need some iced tea to drink.  Back to the fridge only to discover that there is none there.  I didn't miss it in the dark.  The big bottle would have been right in the front.  Not a problem.  I'll get a new bottle from the pantry.  It will be warm, but I'll just have it over ice.  Oh.  No I won't.  I can't use the ice maker to dispense the ice.  Forget it.  I'll have a Diet Coke; the power hasn't been off long enough for the cans in the fridge to get warm.  

Lunch was good.  Now time for my nap.

Gather up the puppy so that we can curl up in the recliner together.  That way she doesn't have to go back to her crate but I know she, and all the shoes and socks in the house, would be safe.  Ready.  Set. Go.  Push the button to recline and nothing.  Oops. We now have a recliner that is electric.  No reclining happening right now.  The puppy and I move to the couch.  In Piper's opinion, the couch is not a suitable nap location so we give up on sleeping and go sit outside on the patio.

The temperature here today was perfect so the lack of heat or air conditioning caused by the power outage was a non issue.  I had  a reasonable lunch, much more than many people get  to eat in a day or maybe even a week.  I had running water and a flushing toilet. My cell phone was charged and handy to keep me entertained.  And I was surrounded by three loving dogs.  Life was good.

The events of the afternoon did make me think about how much I take for granted every day - the ability to make a piece of toast whenever I want it, with either peanut butter or jelly atop, an ice maker, my beloved recliner, my computer.  How silly is it to "miss" such trivial things?

About as silly as is it to miss snowflakes on a disposable coffee cup!

What's Been Going On

What the saying?  "Life is what happens while we are busy making plans."  I made the big pronouncement that my plan was to post here regularly.  I guess the truth is that I don't yet have enough of a trend to define "regularly" but in my head that meant almost every day if not every day.  And here it is five days since my last post.  So what's been going on?  Lots, actually.

The biggest obstacle to posting has been no computer.  Well, that's not actually true.  I had two computers.  An old one and a new one.  

YAY!  Weber spent all weekend cleaning up files on my old computer, backing up everything, and then doing the migration of everything to the new one.  It was a long process that I am happy to say is now complete and everything is working perfectly so far, but it left me with no computer over the weekend.

Friday was food post day on Pixels, Plates, and LOLs.  Our subject is cinnamon.  If you are interested in recipes for cinnamon rolls or cinnamon streusel coffee cake, check out this link.

http://pixelsplatesandlols.blogspot.com/2015/09/sugar-and-spice-and-cinnamon-are-nice.html

On Saturday while Weber worked on my computer, I cleaned.  I'll spare you pictures of my clean bathroom, but I assure you that it is picture worthy. :-)

Then we get to Sunday, usually one of my favorite days of the week.  Normally it is filled with church, singing, food, fellowship, and, if I'm lucky, sometimes even a nap!  All of  those things happened, but I must say that church was discomforting, and not in a good way.  My morning started in the Episcopal Church, the church in which I was raised, married, and have called my spiritual home for my entire life.  The guest preacher was the newly elected diocesan bishop of Dallas, a man who is proud to stand in opposition to the held beliefs of the Episcopal Church as a denomination and the Supreme Court of the United States.  He is proud to preach in favor of injustice and inequality for gay and lesbian children of God.  He also began his sermon by invoking the story of St. Francis, which he totally bastardized.  I found myself saying out loud, "That is not the way the story goes!"  I left angry rather than refreshed.

The good news was that I had another service to attend at Cathedral of Hope Dallas where, in direct contrast, the sermon focused on our need to coexist with all of God's people, even with those who hurt us or with whom we disagree.  

There is something seriously wrong with having to go to a second church service because you are so unhappy with the things you heard at the first, especially when that first church is supposedly your home church.  And to add insult to injury, the "first church" had the nerve to do the stewardship pitch.  Yeah. NO.

And then came Monday... 

I woke up feeling not great, but went ahead and got ready and went to school, knowing that it was my shortest teaching day of the week.  I figured I could get through two classes just fine.  I did, but by the time I got home, I felt much worse.  After dinner, I was running a 101 temperature and made the decision that I should not, could not go to school today.  Why is that such a hard decision to make?  I felt terrible yet I also felt a sense of responsibility to my students.  I finally realized that there was no way that I could give them my best so instead of wasting their time, I emailed my classes and told them I would not be at school.  Once I had committed to staying home, I was able to rest and not worry too much.  I can't remember the last time I took a sick day from school.

The animals and I have spent all day doing pretty much nothing but resting, except for the test that i had to write for tomorrow.  

Though I still have the fever hangover kind of feeling, I am better.  I will be back at school tomorrow.

And it will be a new day.

93/365-3 In the Garage

"Good Friday"

This has nothing to do with today's prompt and everything to do with today.

88/365-3 Looking for the Light

"Purple and Gold"

I have seen the light and realize that it is much easier to post every day than to try and go back and upload a month's worth of photos at once!

I wish everyone a most blessed and holy of Holy Weeks and may we each emerge into new light and life.

358/365-2 Naughty or Nice

"You Decide."

I was drawn to this image of Erin that was taken on her birthday.  For someone reason, to me it is perfect for "naughty or nice."

We had a somewhat less frantic Christmas eve than usually.  I did get everything wrapped, chili made for Christmas day, and some cleaning done, but I decided that some cleaning just was not going to get done.  That's why they make doors that close.

Church was a nice change this year.  I had the opportunity to play with the orchestra at a different church rather than sing in the choir at our church.  I enjoyed the opportunity to play.  It has been a long time since I have been an instrumentalist rather than a chorister.  It felt good to get back to my roots.

Because we were actually running a little bit early, Weber and I had time to stop at Starbucks before church and enjoy a cup of coffee together.  

It was calm and quite, the perfect way to settle our spirits before attending church - twice.  I played for two services and weber was a good sport and went to both.  At least the sermons were different.

A few years ago we began this weird tradition of going Waffle House after midnight Mass on Christmas eve.  So after church Weber and I picked up Brooke and headed out for our eggs with cheese and hash browns.  I'm not sure how this became part of our holiday tradition, but I always enjoy it.

By the time we got home, I was wide awake.  I think it was 4am by the time I finally got to bed.  That's OK.  Now that the girls are older, Christmas morning doesn't start so early.

With wishes for homes and hearts filled with joy during this holiday season and the year to come.

334/365-2 Give Thanks for the Holiday Season

"The Season"

Today marks the start of Advent, the beginning of the new liturgical year.  Today is also the eve of World ADIS Day.  Tonight I was honored to play for a service that remembered those who have lost their lives to AIDS, celebrated the accomplishments made by researchers in finding ways to manage this disease, and gave thanks for all those who are living long and productive lives despite being HIV positive.

253/365-2 Discarded

"Friendship"

Friendship and all of its intricacies have been on my mind this week.  I don't think that I realized a few days ago when I photographed the Diet Coke can, with the phrase 'Share a Diet Coke with a friend." on it, that I had any idea where my week was going.  Now, posting this photo two days late, it is all making sense.

As one who grew up in a military family and moved a lot, I don't have any "childhood friends."  In a time where there was no email or texting, it was next to impossible as a child to keep up with people  place after place and year after year.  My current friendships go back only as far as my college years, which is now thirty five years.  Yikes!  But, even contact with these people has waxed and waned over time.  It wasn't until I finally succumbed and created a Facebook account that we have re-established and thankfully maintained the deep friendships that we had back in our younger days.  I must admit that I was reluctant to add Facebook to my life, feeling that it would be yet another distraction in my already overly busy world.  Fifteen months later, I have learned that friends are not a distraction; they are a life force.

This week I have viewed friendship from both ends of it's continuum - that where you feel the genuine love and support of your friends during tough times and that where you experience the intense hurt when someone whom you considered a close friend betrays you.  Thankfully, in the latter circumstance I was not the one who was betrayed, but I was honored to share with someone that hurt and be there with a listening ear and compassionate heart as this person shared deep feelings of pain and grief.  It was during our communications that I realized how meaningful it is to earn the trust of another person.  The trust of another human being is nothing to be taken lightly.

I also became even more aware of how blessed I am to have the circle of friends that I have.  To look at us each individually, most would probably wonder how in the world we became the close-knit group that we are.  The only answer that I have to that question is that God brought us together.  I don't mean that to be, or even sound, cliche.  I say it with great respect.  We have been brought together by a series of circumstances, events, and independent relationships that none of us could have ever foreseen.  I am not wasting the time and energy to ask "why,"  My energy is being used to say, "thank-you."  I do know that what sustains our friendship with one another is regularly breaking bread together - spiritual bread as we pray and share the Eucharist with one another on Sunday mornings and physical bread over at least one shared meal a week.  In looking at life this way, that first blessing that most of us learned as wee little humans, 

"God is great.  

God is good. 

Let us be thankful for our food.  

By God's hands we are fed.  

Thank you God for our daily bread."

becomes so much more meaningful and powerful as adults.

This week each of us in this close circle of friends was faced with making an extremely difficult individual decision, one that had to be made by oneself, but in the long run impacted each of us.  We all did that, knowing that there would be support from and for one another regardless of our personal choices.  We talked and prayed our way through this process.  And now that all is said and done, we still have each other; we still have a wonderful and beautiful and blessed friendship.  There really is nothing greater for which to want in life.

So, in case you were wondering, that is the story behind this particular photo.  

225/365-2 Homegrown

"Downtown"

First of all, I am not doing well with daily posts here.  I think that I have too many irons in the fire right at the moment... and school hasn't even started yet.   I am still taking my daly photos as well as  finishing up the phone photography class (where I am also two days behind) and I have just started another online photography class.  In addition, regular choir rehearsals started last evening.  

Weber goes back to school on Monday.  We have been finishing up some summertime  "have to's", like eye doctor appointments and so on.Despite having things that could have and probably should have been done, we decided to have a "date day" in downtown Dallas yesterday.  We often go downtown to the arts district for specific performances, but we have not gone just to explore intentionally our city. 

I have been to the Sixth Floor Museum, but I had never seen the JFK memorial.  I also had no idea that there are so many eateries open during the week.  The one specific thing that we wanted to do was visit the chapel at Thanksgiving Square.  As luck would have it, the chapel was closed for maintenance yesterday.  It would have been nice if that had been posted on their website, which I did check before we left.  Though I was disappointed with this closing, we still had a delightful day and have already decided that we will try to visit again on some Saturday later in the fall.

We did visit St. Jude Chapel, a small but beautiful urban place of worship nestled between the office buildings of downtown Dallas.  It is a calm and quiet repute from the business of the downtown area. Mass is said over the noontime lunch hour and then the sanctuary is open for personal prayer.  The sanctuary is surrounded by stained glass windows of the Stations of the Cross.   This is definitely a downtown Dallas treasure.

None of this, including the photo above, has much of anything to do with "homegrown", the prompt of the day.  We have no garden this year because we knew that we were going to be traveling most of the summer and a garden would not have been properly tended; so, nothing homegrown to photograph.  I did like the way these dainty flowers looked against the mirrored downtown office building in the background.

I will try to to better with daily posts.  Thanks for your understanding and continued support.

177/365-2 Have A Ball

 "A Ball to Remember"

These balls (marbles) were given to us at church at the end of book study on The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz.  This can be a life changing book if its ideals are taken to heart and made an integral part of our everyday.  The marble serves as a tangible reminder of what we hope to do.

Thank you Todd for facilitating this fantastic class and to all those in the class who faithfully shared so much of themselves during our time together.  God was working in our midst!

157/365-2 Well-known Landmark

"Interfaith Peace Chapel - Dallas, TX"

When you think of iconic Texas landmarks, the Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas is probably not the first thing that comes to mind for anyone, even those who live in Dallas.  That said, in a recent article in which the Huffington Post identified what it believed to be the most spiritual place in each of the fifty states, the Interfaith Peace Chapel is that place in Texas.  It is a fascinating structure, the last by prominent architect Philip Johnson.

I am blessed to have the opportunity to play, as a musician, and pray here on a regular basis.

Here is the link to the Huffington Post article.

127/365-2 A Vision of Poise

"Read, Pray, Love"

Come, pensive nun, devout and pure, 

sober steadfast, and demure, 

all in a robe of darkest grain, 

flowing with majestic train.

- John Milton -

Today was the student art sale at school.  I love these ceramic nuns!  These are the only kind of habits I am allowed to have!

73/365-2 Mark the Spot

"The Right Spot"

68/365-2 Emerging

"Budding Artist"

Yesterday was a good kind of busy, but it kept me from taking my POTD until very late last might and then I forgot to post it before I went to bed.

We went to church yesterday morning with some friends to hear a guest preacher give the sermon.  The whole church experience was pretty awesome!  The friends with whom we went are some of our closest, the service was one of the most God-filled that I have attended in a long time, which a rather sad statement since I go to church at least once and week and often more than that, and the sermon

 was challenging, enlightening, and entertaining.  When I come away from a church service feeling both challenged and energized it is a good experience!

After the service our fellowship continued with lunch.  Unfortunately, it was a quick lunch because several of us had a rehearsal before we met again at church for Evensong and a Q&A with Bishop John Shelby Spong, this morning's guest preacher.  Again, another fabulous experience.  And afterwards, again we all shared food and fellowship.  The tasty Italian food did not help my daily calorie count, but it was worth it to finish out a great day with people who are the best of friends in every way.

Though the time has changed and theoretically I had an extra hour of daylight with which to accomplish the day's photo, it was late and dark when I got home, not conducive to photographing "emerging, budding or rising".  The intent was to capture the early signs of spring.  Being that this time last week  had a day off from school because of ice and extremely cold temperatures, not much is budding yet and what had started prior to the last cold snap has not survived.

So what to do...

On considered stopping by the grocery store and buying some buds.  I hated resorting to that but I would hate more to miss a day's photo.  Then Weber suggested that Brooke has been practicing making gum paste flowers and that there have been bits and pieces of all kinds of flowers all over the kitchen for the past few days.  Good idea!  

Brooke was OK with letting me photograph her flowers as long as she didn't have to be in any of the pictures.  Deal!  The problem was that the flowers were still drying and could not be touched or moved too much.  I had to maneuver around to try and find a decent angle of something that was more or less a completed flower.  I took several shots.  This is the one that Brooke liked best.  Since it is her artistry that I am showing, I figure the least that I could do was to let her choose her favorite photo.

Though I have not yet taken today's photo (Monday) yet.  I'm going to do better about paying attention to the light!

64/365 A Story In Three

"Me In Three"

Many ideas went through my head during the day for what to do for today's prompt.  I had lots of time to think because I left the house at 7:30 this morning and did not get home until 9:30.  needless to say, it was a very long day with not much time at its end for photography.

There are many things that I could have photographed that would have told a part of more story.  Many of them would probably have been better photos than these, but the longer I thought, the clearer it became that everything I do is guided by these three things.  They are who I am at my core.

Here are these three photos stitched together in a triptych.

As today is Ash Wednesday, blessings to all as we begin our Lenten journey.

58/365-2 seize the Moment

'A Moment of Silence"

This evening I was able to seize a few much needed moments of stillness and silence.

56/365-2 Bittersweet

"The Way of the Heart"

I struggled with what to photography today.  The primary prompt was "bittersweet" with the secondary words of mixed, chocolate, and nostalgic.  With a little imagination, this image reflects mixed (feelings) and nostalgic.  

If you are interested in the story being retold in this photo, it can be found here in a previous post.

361/365 Well Used

"Blessed Art Thou Among Women"

This is a rosary that belonged to Weber's grandmother.  The rose petal beads were made from her mother's funeral flowers.  Though rose petal beads start out rose colored, over time and with use they turn black.  These beads are black having been prayed with by now four generations.  I was struck by  how the bokeh is pink, as if the light and life of those roses still live within the beads.

Hail Mary full of grace

The lord is with you.

Blessed art thou among women

And blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, mother of God,

Pray for us sinners,

Now and at the hour of our death.

Amen

335/365 Collect

'World Aids Day 2013"

Cathedral of Hope - Dallas, TX

A very dear friend of mine was singing as part of a service of remembrance and gratitude on this, World Aids Day.  It has been a long time since I have been to a service that was so moving, one where God's presence was so big and so warm and so loving.  This is kind of a sad statement from someone who attends church regularly.  Every part of this service was spirit-led rather than rule or "because that's the way WE do it" led.  

Despite the losses that many of the people who participated tonight

have endured and the battles that some currently are waging against this disease, the church was full of upbeat, loving, faithful people.  I am so blessed to have been a part of this service.