mulch day

Uuuuugggghhhhh, I know it is late for posting but I have been super busy today and am just now getting to the computer.
So...have no expectations of a well written well thought out entry today. It is a do and be done type of day.

We had mulch delivered and set about to fill our beds.
Have you ever laid mulch?
Yeah, me neither.
It is a stinkin' lot of work!!!
My boys were helping and I certainly was not gonna let them out work me, so I started early and stayed late!

Someone is gonna have to haul me out of bed in the morning!
I took this shot before I started working. My son had laid the shovel on the tree and was taking a break to retie his shoes.


And I may have gotten distracted by my neighbors cat...before I got working.


But I did get to work soon, really I did. I was determined not just to be a photographer/supervisor today.

Though, I will admit I did heed progress quite a bit as I found interesting things to shoot.
Like this little orange bug hanging out on the azaleas.

Now, I know you can't tell he is orange, you will just have to trust me. He was! Orange and silver! I wouldn't make this up.

I also took the time to weed my herb garden, and boy oh boy did it need it.
I took before and after pictures, they were lame!
So you get a shot of my baby cilantro that got moved to a better location!

I hope he likes it there!

My husband spent the better part of the afternoon building a planter type box for part of our veggie garden. He calls this one the tomato box!!
I love tomatoes and am excited to get 'em in the ground and growing!!
I took quite a few pictures of him working...he growled at me a bit for that....so I took this one on the sly.
You know, of my rosemary!!!

He is such a hard working fellow, but I want to be respectful of him not wanting his picture all over the place!
I am now going to unfold my body from a sitting position, somehow make it down the stairs and fall into bed.
uuugggghhhh!

Ducks at the park

I have been chatting with God quite a bit recently about what He wants me to do with this camera and my developing skills.

Kinda like..
...oh, putting a bug in his ear that I want something to come of it.
I don't have a prayer more specific than that right now.
I know I want to touch people, and I know that I want to be creative.
I have a feeling if I talk to God about it long enough he will work something out for me.
I am not in any big rush, just thinking ahead.

So, until I feel pulled in a specific direction...I am gonna just keep on shooting pictures!!

Today was a hum-drum overcast dreary day, which makes me think that maybe I should have set my ISO higher, but it is too late for that now.

Wait a minute, you have no idea what I am talking about yet.
Forgive me, my mind races ahead!
I threw my camera in my van with me today when I headed out to run some errands, desperately hoping for something other than my dog or lemons to photograph.

I stopped at a local park hoping to shoot some flowers or playground equipment!
When I arrived there was a little girl there gleefully feeding the ducks.

I quickly got down on the grass and started trying to catch the action without getting the girl.

Ahhhhh ha ha ha, I couldn't help but think about the face of a dog on the bill of a duck post from awhile back. Do you see it?? The pointy puppy ears and little black doggy nose?

I soon realized the fun of the shot was not the flurry of ducks, but the joy that the girl had while feeding them.
That was what needed to be captured!
So, I motioned to the mom who was just a little ways off, asking in mom sign language if I could take a picture of her girl.
She signaled back a hearty yes.

I was so excited because that freed me up for so much more.


This precious doll was fearlessly feeding an unbelievable number of ducks tidbits of bread with wild abandon.


She figured out that with just a few nibbles she could have them following her every move!

She walked away, with purpose...ducks in hot pursuit of whatever she would bestow.




Oh my...just look at the following she has as she runs off, tossing the last little bite!



I really like these next two!


She is just on the verge of being a big girl, but still has her cute toddler chubbiness as well.


Ohhhhhh, where did my babies go?
My tall lanky girl doesn't have a single bit of that little girl look any more!

Ahhhhh, is this adorable or what???

Something caught her by surprise, because I can tell you right now, it wasn't fear!
She was one gutsy little girl out there with all those greedy ducks!

I was so thankful to this sweet Momma who let me take pictures of her spunky child!
I learned a lot today as I gently followed her around, trying to capture her personality.
I do wish the light would have been better, or that I had done a better job at harnessing the light.
That's okay...maybe next time!

You know what I like very best about all of these pictures?
This was the middle child!
I mean, come on...how often does a middle child get to have their very own "photo shoot", sans siblings?!?

What a face!!!

Thanks again to this Mom of three who let me play with her girl, and this sweet little darlin' who will be grown before her momma knows it!!!

Starting today, we will have color Thursdays!

I need guidelines

parameters

boxes to fill

specific goals to achieve.

So, since color is such a part of my existence and today is Thursday, this feels like a good fit!

My oldest child suggested black, so here you have it.

This will be a good challenge I think!

It is rather difficult to arrange and shoot in an interesting way things of the same color.
This is one of 12, and I am not thrilled with it.

Yes, I do believe this will cause some stress and growth in my photo life!!
That is good.


Oh...I took this yesterday.



I did not like it straight out of camera, but messed with it a bit and feel better about it now.

So interesting what a computer program will do to an image.


Our new trees are supposed to arrive today!!

Fodder!!!!
Whoa...gotta get!

Things you will not find on my blog... a list!
1. Profanity!

Okay really that is all I wanted to say.
I have been blog scanning recently looking for blogs about cooking and photography to help me achieve more knowledge, and have come across so many with language not suitable for a lady!
I just want to say you will never, ever have to worry about that here!
I had that on my mind, now it is not.


I took my camera with me on my walk this morning.

It isn't especially easy to wrangle a dog and take good photos!


I feel like I took a lot of pictures today, but so many of them were just not how I imagined they would be.

I finally got to the point where this one looked like it was gonna be "the" picture of the day, but decided not to give up quite so easily!





I have been admiring this particular tree on my street for some days now.
I knew taking a picture this time of day was just not going to do it any justice but I did it anyway and then had the audacity to be disappointed.


It is just covered with delicate lavender flowers, and is quite breathtaking when the sun strikes it.



I decided that I would mess around with the colors and contrast for fun and came up with this.


Sigh!
At least it is visually interesting.

I must leave off quickly. I promised my middle child I would fix him homemade tomato soup for supper before he heads off for soccer practice!

later!

Now , where did I put that?

Somewhere last week I wrote a note to myself about something that I wanted to be sure and write to you about this week.

Somewhere is that note, but I know not where.

On Wednesdays we are studying in Revelation, I looked there but came up with nothing.
On Thursdays we are studying in the book of Joshua, but it isn't there!
On Sunday...Romans...nope not there either.
I checked my calendar, my notes section of my bible and about 15 other places!
Hmmmm what could it be?

Oh wait, maybe it was from Psalm 119 from the ladies retreat this weekend.

I am gonna go with that, simply because I underlined a few verses which did prick my heart.

I was sleep deprived and caffeine laden...I do remember that much.

verse 116
Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live;
And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

That verse caught up on something deep within me.
I am not sure that I live my hope "out loud" enough.

I know, I know...those of you who hang out with me are already disagreeing with me.
However, I am talking about in those moments you don't see.
The moments when an opening is there and I miss it.
Moments when Christ could shine, but my human nature gets in the way.
I know you have them too, right??

I just want those times to be fewer.

I hope as we grow and mature in Christ we will seek to live with boldness our salvation, not only for ourselves, knowing how strongly it enriches our lives...but for others who are in need of the cleansing blood of Christ.

Verse 175
Let my soul live that it may praise You.

I guess that must be what I am supposed to say today!

Now, as for pictures, I am back to being on my own in that department.
I would love for any ideas or challenges from you if you have something on your mind for me to try to capture.

But as for today, here is a day lily coming up for spring!!


We transplanted 2 from our old yard to this spot in our new yard. How is it that we now how 3 coming up??? Don't ya just love that plants do that multiply thing.....at least someone around here can do math.
The blooms, if they happen, are a wonderful red!

I caught my dog running roughshod over one of my cilantro plants, so I put this garden stake near it to help protect it.

That is what is in the background.
The plant in the foreground is one of the cilantro "babies" that came up recently!
Oh, it is sooooo yummmy!
I am glad to have it being so prolific.
I gotta say, all of my herbs are making a mighty comeback after the hard winter. They are in no way contained and are in serious need of some intervention.
I will get my husband right on that.
Ha ha hahahaha!!!

We are going to be working on a backyard fruit and veggie garden in a few weeks as well as planting some trees.
Have you been around her long enough to know that "we" means I supervise and give opinion a lot and others do the bulk of the work. Not because I am lazy....I just don't enjoy it as others do.
Oh I promise I will do my fair share most of which I hope won't involve dirt or grubs!
Well, I must get!
I have tortillas to make before the bus arrives.

Last day of February!!

Hello busy Monday and the end of my Joy of Love challenge Month!

Today was the assignment: Future.
In some way show how you imagine the future will be for a loved one!

Sigh! I didn't want to even take this one on...but then, I walked into my daughters room to wake her this morning and found this!!!

I asked..."Is Barbie marrying Batman?"
giggle giggle giggle..."Yes Mom, she is!"

"Is that little tiger cub their pet?"
giggle giggle giggle..."Yes Mom, she is!"

Problem solved!!
I just know my little princess will meet and marry a batman someday!
There is no doubt in my mind that she will have pets of some sort, though I should hope it won't be tigers!

Oh, boy...gotta go. I have to finish supper and feed the fam!

My photos today...

Here in the South we participate in Leadership Training for Christ through our church youth group.
There are many categories where children from grades 3-12 can grown their skills and knowledge base. This year the book of the bible being covered is Revelation.

I choose to help with the Bible Quiz portion of the training for our congregation.
We work every week leading up to the conference which is held Easter weekend.
This is our 4th week now!
I got this cool new app for my cellphone...just for Bible Quiz!


The kids take a 12 minute, (timed) open book, 50 question test each week.

Then they also take a closed book test, which is timed at 8 minutes.
Nothing like a stopwatch to make that easy and accurate!!

That's it folks!
No telling what this week will bring, but I will be here...everyday!