29/365-2 Lively

"Pinwheel"

I don't know if the pinwheel itself is lively, but it was given to me today as a gift by a very lively person.  It's bright and cheerful colors and the sunflowers made me smile.  I'll take happy over lively!

28/365-2 Return

"Lost Time"

27/365-2 Secure

"Frankie and Snoopy"

There is not much creative about this photo; today's creativity came in the form of relating this photo to the prompt "secure."  Here goes:

• Frankie is secure in her belief that this is her bed and not ours.
• She is certain in her belief that she could have been "the cat next door" in the Peanuts strips.
• I am secure enough in who I am to admit to you all that we have Peanuts flannel sheets on our bed.
• And, if all else fails, there is Linus with his security blanket.  It doesn't get much more secure than that.

26/365-2 Vivid

'Eternal Light"

I am pretty much a purist when it comes to photography.  I do very little editing of my photos - cropping, black and white conversion and sometimes a little boost of contrast and saturation.  Somehow doing too much feels like cheating.  I'm not sure how I developed this attitude; it is probably one that I need to overcome, but I'm not there yet.   That being said, this photo is obviously heavily edited.

Today's prompt not only asked for a vivid photo, but also that it be taken and processed using a phone camera.  I tend not to use my phone as often as I should for photos and I never edit with phone apps.  This was a fun challenge.  Though I don't want to create images like this all the time, I kind of like this for a change.

For those of you in Dallas, this is a photo of the Preston Hollow UMC steeple.

25/365-2 Caring

"Slaving Over A Hot Fire"

Though there were many things that we should have done today, we shirked all of our adult responsibilities and spent the day celebrating a friend's birthday by sitting outside talking, laughing, enjoying the perfect weather and roasting hot dogs over the fire pit.  It was a glorious day.  And what better way to show your wife that you care about her than by slaving over a hot fire roasting her a hot dog.

Seriously, what does caring look like?  We all know what it looks like in the intense moments of life - when we need an ear to listen or a shoulder on which to cry a hand to hold or an arm to pick us up, a whisper in our ear or a stern word spoken directly at us.  In the every day,  however, it looks like a freshly made cup of coffee as we stagger out of bed, or the towel warmer being turned back on when we sleep beyond it programmed shut-off time, or our lunch having been packed on school mornings, or pain relieving gel rubbed on your back, and yes,  hot dogs being roasted over an open fire.  I feel blessed to know what caring looks like every day.

24/365-2 Fresh Air

"Friday Afternoon"

By the end of the day Friday, I was exhausted, too exhausted to concentrate on a photo so I recycled this one that I had taken earlier in the week.  It represents quite well the way I felt Friday afternoon.  As a further testament to how out of it I was, not only did I not take a new photo, I forget to post yesterday the one that I recycled.  

23-365-2 Umbrella

"Behind the Umbrella"

What happens behind the umbrella stays behind the umbrella.