Seven Days of Looking At Nature

Every now and then there is a photo challenge that goes around Facebook that challenges photographers to publish a nature photo a day for seven consecutive days.  In addition to posting a photo, you also nominate someone else to take on the challenge as well.  It is the 21st century incarnation of chain letters, but in the end you get to see lots of beautiful photographs.

I was "nominated" to do this by someone back in February, but failed to accomplish the challenge because I got sick, then busy, then uninspired by nature in winter here in Texas.  That is not an excuse.  It is the reality of where I was at the time.  I figured that being nominated again by someone else was my chance to redeem myself.

Though I thought that I might be overwhelmed by trying to do this, keep up with my Capture Your 365 picture of the day, and real life, I enjoyed the challenge.  It forced me to stop for those seven days and mindfully search for something beautiful in nature.  I was also inspired by following those whom I nominated during my seven day run.

Here are my seven photos.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

The quote by Albert Einstein that I included on the final photo is the perfect summary of my experience over the last week taking each of these photos.

It's Been Too Long!

It hurts my heart to admit that I have not written a single post here this year.  I have been writing, just not here.  One of the places where I do write almost daily is in my Morning Pages Journal.  This is a discipline that I have had for many years, one that fuels me creatively, intellectually, and spiritually.  Though this writing is not fit for public consumption, it is was inspires me to write in other places.  Over the last bit, I have found myself scrawling over and over how much I miss blogging regularly.  It is not that I think I have something to say that others want or need to read, it is more a discipline that helps me to document my life, a somewhat selfish act.

The other night I went back and read several of my posts from my early days of blogging.  I was so grateful for those words.  They gave power to such small and seemingly insignificant moments in my life, but moments that I wanted to remember nonetheless.  Moments that now are so much more important than I ever believed that they would be.   I am sad that there are now big chunks of time to which I did not dedicate even a few words.  There is nothing that I can do about that now, but I can try to pick up where I am and begin again.  Start where I am.  I need to write regularly.  I want to write regularly.  I will write regularly.

In the midst of being a bit hard on myself,  I do have to remember that although I have been absent here, I have been active creatively in other places.  I have continued to take a photo a day.  2016 is year four.  Here is a video of the 121 daily photos that I have taken so far this year.  The video creator crops the photos square though many of them were not originally square, so they look a bit strange.

I have also continued to write a food and photography blog, Pixels, Plates, and LOLs, with my friend Tracey Gehring.  This is a super fun venture, but it does take a fair amount of time each week.  Here is the link to some great recipes and food photos.  Currently we are documenting our joint weight loss adventure.

And, Weber and I continue to help our furry friend. Blueper B, with his blog.  Again, we have not been as diligent there as we would like, however, we are making a commitment to keep that space current as well.  If you are interested in the adventures of Blueper B, you can read his blog here, or follow him on Facebook.

As I approach the final two weeks of this semester, I know that I am biting off a big chunk here with a public promise to recommit myself to regular posting.  Even with the impending busy-ness of final exams, it feels good to write just this little bit here.  I am doing what I need to do.

Until tomorrow...

Birthday Traditions

Yesterday was my 54th birthday.  In the last week we have celebrated both of my daughters' birthdays and Christmas.  It goes without saying that this is a busy time in our family!  Interestingly, all of the men in our family--husband, ex-husband, daughter's boyfriend--all have summer birthdays, an they are months apart rather than days.

Despite being packed in around Christmas, I have always made a point to keep my girls' birthdays separate from Christmas and separate from each other.  Everyone gets her own birthday dinner of choice.  Sometimes it a home cooked meal and sometimes it is a meal out.  This year everyone chose to eat out.  We had an evening of Ethiopian, Upscale Americana, and Thai cuisine.  Good food and good company made for happy celebrations!

When the girls were eight and eleven, we gave them a one dollar lottery ticket for each year of their ages just for something fun and a little different.  At that point it was an under twenty dollar investment, my limit on spending when it comes to gambling.  Little did I know that the lottery tickets would become a tradition that has lasted fifteen years!  At ages 23 and 26 this year, the cost now exceeds my $20 rule, but we continue to play on.  And if that's not bad enough, the tradition has expanded to include the adults as well!

As silly as it is, we all look forward to scratching off all of our tickets and seeing who gets the most bang for their buck...literally.  It used to be that Offspring No. 1 always did quite well.  Her winnings would exceed those of us who had MANY more tickets.  This year, however, that was not the case.  With her 26 tickets, she won $10.  Offspring No. 2 won $16 with her 23 tickets.  For once, I was the big winner with $69 from my 54 tickets.  That is a 24% gain.  Pretty good for the most unlucky member of the family!  Maybe I should reconsider my investment strategies for 2016. :-)

Another December tradition that started three years ago when I began taking a photo a day is that Offspring No. 2 has collected my photos and organized them into a printed book.  The past two years I received the book as a Christmas gift.  This year I didn't.  I started thinking about putting the book together myself, but thankfully that was not necessary.  I received the book for my birthday!

There is something satisfying about seeing the year's photos in print.  And an added bonus for me is that I now know which photos are Erin's favorites.  They get more room on the page.  Yeah, the book doesn't include quite the whole year, but that is perfectly OK.  Having 2015''s book done and printed before January 1st is exactly the motivation that I need to commit to a photo a day again in 2016.  That right there is a huge gift!

So here I ago...another year of fun and photos!  I am grateful to my entire family for all of their support as models, assistants,  lens cap finders, and most importantly, for their unconditional love!

Ironically, these are all unedited phone photos. :-)

Christmas 2015

Christmas has come and gone.  In Texas, at least for us, it was the calm before the storm.  The Dallas area had devastating tornadoes last night, one of which contained 200 mph winds, that left eleven people dead and massive property damage that has not yet been fully assessed.  Though the tornado sirens sounded for us and we had a plan for taking shelter, we never moved from our positions  in front of the TV where we were watching the storm's movement, to our secure place in the hall.   Many people in DFW were not as fortunate as we were.  This kind of  loss is heartbreaking anytime, but perhaps even more so at this time of year when happiness and joy should prevail.

Christmas Day in Dallas was marked by temperatures in the high 70's.  There was no cozy family gathering around the fire for us.  In fact, we spent almost the entire day outside on the patio.  It was beautiful...and stress free!  We did not have a formal sit-down-at-the-table meal this year.  Brooke made her traditional Christmas morning cinnamon rolls and the coffee was free flowing.  We all grabbed a mug of coffee and paper plate with a cinnamon roll (or two) and made our way outside.  This was followed by self serve line that included an egg casserole and bacon.  We ate what we wanted when we wanted it.  I loved the relaxed, unstructured nature of our day.  Everyone could read their instruction manuals, program their electronics, play their games, and finish their chapters without being interrupted by a formal "dinner bell."

I need to remember this low stress approach to Christmas Day for next year...and pray again for the unseasonably warm temperatures.  Don't get me wrong, I love a white Christmas, but the out of the ordinary weather helped make our out of the ordinary celebration feel right this year.

Once my semester ended on December 17th, I was able to truly relax.  I knew that I was stressed at the end of the semester, but I don't think that I realized just how much.  A huge weight was lifted.  With some truly "free" time I was able to enjoy wrapping gifts, some last minute decorating, a little cooking, and fun with my two and four-legged family members...and our "bestest" friends.

I love this ornament given to us by one of the members of our "tribe."

A few images leading up to Christmas.

Oh, and did I mention between school ending on the 17th and Christmas we also celebrated the birthdays of Offsprings No. 1 and No.2?  Good times!

Offspring No. 1 - age 26

Offspring No. 2 - age 23

After singing the late night Christmas Eve service, we have this crazy tradition of going to Waffle House just down the road from our house.  I'm not sure how or why this tradition got started, but we've done it for at least five years and I look forward to it no matter how tired I may be at 1am on Christmas morning.  It is interesting to people watch at a sit down restaurant that is open in the middle of the night on Christmas.  There are travelers trying to get to family before morning, families for whom this may be their Christmas meal, and people who are a party of one who may be lonely and want to be among others.  In addition to scrambled eggs with cheese and hash browns, part of our Waffle House tradition is to share the love and hospitality of Christmas with our fellow patrons and the staff at our local Waffle House.  This is one of my favorite family traditions.

Christmas morning began with the littlest among us, all decked out in her Christmas PJ's, opening her gifts first.  Piper's four-legged brother and sister followed right along.  They all played while we waited for all of the humans to gather.

I put my camera down during the gift exchange.  You'll just have to believe me when I say that everyone did great both in the giving and receiving!

Here are a few shots of our relaxed Christmas afternoon.

Holiday cheers to each of you from each of us!

THE END!

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!!!

Thanksgiving and Shopping

Over the past few weeks there have been different lists of retailers going around on social media, A list of those retailers  that will be open for shopping on Thanksgiving Day and another of those that will be closed.  This information has been shared and shared and shared in an effort to get us to boycott those stores that believe that consumerism is more important than time spent with friends and loved ones.  Until this morning, I was on board with not giving in to the rampant consumerism, exhibited by shopping on Thanksgiving Day,  in our country - not that I had any plans to shop today, but I was willing to commit to spending my money only with those stores that remained closed today when I was ready to shop.  So what changed?

As we headed to church this morning, I was especially thankful that in a few hours I would be sharing a home cooked meal with my whole family.  I was keenly aware of the fact that many people would not be spending their Thanksgiving that way.  Too many people are lonely and have no one to call family or even friend.  Too many people have no means with which to prepare a Thanksgiving meal.  For many people the holiday season is marked by sadness and despair rather than joy and hope.  These are the people who volunteer to work on holidays such as today.

For those who have no family or friends, working on holidays is a way to conquer, or at least dull a bit, the loneliness that today could bring.  It is a way to be out among people,  sharing in the excitement as the Christmas season officially gets underway.   The good wishes that are exchanged between customers and employees may be the only thoughtful words that these people hear today.

Some people may choose to work today to earn money to pay their rent in a few days, or put any meal on their family's table, or buy that one special Christmas gift for their child.   It is quite the conundrum that society has created for itself.  In an ideal and compassionate world,  today would be a paid holiday for all retail workers and public Thanksgiving tables would be available and open to anyone who wished to eat in communion with others.  Maybe someday...

Until then, remember that you do not know the story of the person who checks you out at Target, or finds the correct sized shirt for you at Macy's, or prepares your order at McDonald's.  You could make that person's day with a smile and a genuine "thank-you."  Isn't that what today is about, giving thanks?

I still am not going anywhere near a store today, but I have softened my rather judgemental attitude toward stores that are open and the people who have chosen to shop.  It is always advantageous to be able to look at multiple sides of an issue and at least try to understand the perspective of both parties. I think that today I matured to that point at least on this issue.

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I am thankful to have shared a meal and the afternoon with my family.

This year, Weber smoked the turkey and Brooke prepared everything else.  My only responsibility was the mashed potatoes.  Well, and cleaning.  There is a real possibility that the amount of dog hair that I vacuumed up outweighed the turkey!

It is a long sad story, but we are without a dishwasher right now while we wait for an ordered part to come in so that it can be repaired.  This is probably the worst week of the year to be in this situation!  Brooke has been good all week about washing dishes as she goes.  After dinner this afternoon, Weber washed, Jason dried, and I put away.  With a little team work, it all went quickly and smoothly, with the exception of the one broken bowl.  :-)

With all of the terrible, scary, ugly, painful things that are going on in the world right now,  we all need to remember to count our blessings.  We need to give thanks for what we have and we need to makes sure that we tell those close to us that we love them whenever we have the opportunity.  Nothing is certain in the world.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those in the U.S. and to those of you who don't celebrate this holiday, I pray that your day was blessed  and for that, you are grateful.