181/365 Wings

"Welcome Home"

The only wings that I saw today were the wings of planes as we made our way from Minneapolis back to Dallas.  And, I never even had a good shot at a photo of these.  I love airports - people watching, and photographing the travel experience, but it just didn't happen today.  The prompt was intended to inspire photos of insects.  I didn't see any of those either.  I guess that I should be thankful that I didn't have any encounters with Minnesota mosquitoes, which apparently are huge.  In fact, one of the tourist T-shirts that I saw in the airport had a huge mosquito on the front with the text "Bite Me."

When we got home, we went out for Thai food with Brooke.  Though the food at the hotel where our meeting was held was very good, there was a distinct lack of vegetables in our world over the past five days.  After dinner, I had some work to do for school.  Weber volunteered to go to the grocery store to get some breakfast food.  (Though Brooke has been at the house with the dogs, she does not see the breakfast hour very often so does not consider breakfast food a priority when she grocery shops.)

Shortly after he left, Weber sent me a text message with a picture of the bottle above.  My response was, "That does not look like breakfast food."  As I looked at the label, I realized that it has my name on it.  Obviously he bought it.  And no, we are not having it for breakfast this morning, but we will find a nice time to share it.sent me 

Though I had a great week away, I am glad to be home.

180/365 Dark Background

"Franciscan Spirit"

I have been at a gathering of Franciscans all week.  There is been much serious discussion, most of which about the Doctrine of Discovery.  But tonight, we had an evening of Franciscan fun.  Three of our former Minister Provincials went head to head in a game of Jeopardy in which all of the questions pertained to St. Francis.  The categories were Francis' Biography, The Principles (of the Order), The Devotional Companion, The Franciscan Calendar and Cast of Characters.

The Final Jeopardy question was, "What would Francis do with the money won tonight?"  Here you see the wager (all the money he had won during the game) and the correct answer - "Give it away!"

179/365 From the Garden

"Liturgical Dancer"

This beautiful woman was a member of a group that took part in a little almost spontaneous liturgical dance.  She was portraying Brother Sun.  I love the yellow wrap on her as well as the sparkle of her jewelry.

I'm going for fruit of the spirit here because there was nothing fresh from any garden in my world today.

178/365 One

"All Saints Episcopal Indian Mission Altar"

This evening I had the opportunity to visit the All Saints Episcopal Indian Mission and share a meal at their First Nations Kitchen.  All of the food was locally grown and organic.  We had buffalo stew (a first for me and it was a little "chewy"), cornbread made with pumpkin, wheat rolls, salad, and a berry cobbler.  Feeding people is a mission of this community.

What a blessing it was to share a small part of the culture of these indigenous people.

177/365 Footwear

"Extra Sturdy"

With each of the daily Capture Your 365 Daily prompts also comes a photo that either inspired or represents the day's photo task.  Today's image was that of two obviously strong boys' feet on a trail in hiking boots.  So, the subtitle to the "footwear" prompt was "sturdy."  I am at a conference with a bunch of Franciscans.  Nobody is wearing anything that resembles a sturdy shoe; we are all wearing Birkenstocks or something similar.

When I saw this man standing with his cane, it reminded me that sometimes we all need a little extra help to stand tall and feel sturdy.  I did crop this image.  I thought about leaving it from the waist down so that his hand was visible holding the cane, but I kind of like the minimalistic perspective here.

176/365 Dinner/On A Plate

I am out of town and posting from my iPad so things will look weird here for a few days.

"Food With Friends"

175/365 A Dramatic Scene

"Sitting At Sunset"

I had hoped for a dramatic sunset tonight, but was disappointed.  (I could have opted for a dramatic sunrise, but my schedule is kind of weird right now and I'm staying up way too late to get up for the sunrise.)  There were some clouds early in the evening that gave me hope that the sunset might be colorful, but the clouds dissipated before sunset.

So that the evening's shots weren't a complete loss, I decided to play with silhouettes, a technique that creates images that I love, but one that I am not very good with.  I was happy with the above shot.  I particularly like the shape of the trees around Weber's back.  I also like the reflection of the sun above his head.  The colors are much more dramatic reflected in the water than they appeared in the sky.

This is my one true sunset picture with which I am somewhat happy.  The colors are pretty, especially to me who loves blue and orange, but the composition is kind of "meh" as my girls would say.

And then there is my ongoing fascination with ducks . . .I photograph them every time we go to the park.  I find them to be beautiful creatures.  It has been fun to watch all the ducklings grow throughout the spring.

This duck spent the evening diving for dinner.  She managed to get more grass wrapped around her body than she seemed to get in her mouth.