Edit day and something new

Ohhh ho!
Lookie here, I figured out how to add what they refer to in blogger world as a "button".


Somehow, in computer land when you click on that up there, it takes you where it is to lead you.
My poor little right brain just can't comprehend it, but I know it is so!!

On Monday I referred to this link in my comments section (As I was still figuring it out!)

The deal on this site is to take a themed picture on Monday and post it SOOC, then head back to a partner blog on Thursday to post your edited version and to learn a few tips about editing!!

Ohhhh so much fun to learn new things.
I have a feeling Photoshop is still a Loooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg way off for me (especially seeing as how I am saving my pennies for a new camera body)!
So much of what is talked about through that link is either photoshop, or lightroom, or something else that I don't have either!! Ha haha.

I am A-Okay with that. I think at this point I still need to keep working on my initial skills and when the time is right God will provide what I need to grow!
Besides, it is way easy for me to get overwhelmed with technology. (laughing at self)

Blah blah blah...where are the pictures you ask?
My new blog friend Cedar did a super cool thing where both of her images are overlaid on one another, but change with the scroll of a mouse!
I hope that isn't too complicated to learn, cause that is awesome!
For us, we are gonna rely on old school SOOC image first with Edit displayed second.


So on the above image I began by cropping, sharpening, covering up a car with some bushes, bringing the gamma down, shadows down and highlights up.

Do you almost wish I hadn't even tried to tell you all of that??

It was a bit complicated to keep track of....so I didn't for my other two shots.

I have decided that I do like this one the very best, especially after the edit.




This next one I took huge steps with.

I decided since I like the other ones so much, it was just a bit of overkill for me visually to try and rework the same basic composition again.
I decided a nice patriotic wallpaper for my computer would suit me better!!

So I cropped a ton off and boosted and pushed and pulled and came up with this.



Before I go on, I feel that I must thank my loyal readers for seeing me through the many phases of this blog.
I don't know if it is pleasing or frustrating to come each day not knowing if you are gonna get just a single image, a recipe, a biblical quandary, a parental rant, a gushing mom, or who knows what else. Thanks for coming back anyway, and thanks for sticking by me as I transition through this crazy life and all that God is blessing me with!
Obviously right now my focus is on growing my photog skills, so it is what I am writing about!!

Apology/thanks/probably unneeded statement of obvious insecurity over!


Alrighty then, now on to something new!
In the spirit of the newest SOOC challenge I tried to really push myself on composition and lighting today only allowing for minor cropping once the images hit my computer.
I am finding that what I think I see through the viewfinder is not always what I get once I see the image full size.
Maybe I need to mess with that adjustment a bit more.

A friend of mine needed a ride home from the airport the other day.

Before I dropped her off at home, she whipped out this box exclaiming "I brought you a present!!" (yes I re-wrapped it for these shots!)
Ding ding ding...love language speaking loudly right here, second only to acts of service!
I LOVE gifts, I don't care how big or small. Just that someone took the time to think of me and choose something specifically...whoa, love it!!!

Inside was a delightful tri-fold card.


Written to the far right were these words, in what initially looked to be handwritten script; "Antique Thais" are created with metals handcrafted in Chiang Mai, Thailand
For You, JM


Ohhh, my fave...peridot green!




And that is all for today friends!

Hopefully I can share some fun news with you tomorrow!!

Basic Bible Outline

Whoa...I am not sure where this vine is headed, but it has long outgrown its respective box!

Happy Wednesday!
Yes, I am still doing laundry...don't judge me too harshly okay?

On Monday (while I was also doing laundry) I chose to link up to a photo challenge.
It has been so NICE to go and visit all the blogs of the other people who have linked up as well.

Why is it nice??
Well for the most part they are people just like me.
People who love God and want to talk about it a bit as they ponder on the other stuff going on in a day, AND they all take pictures...and have the ups and downs that go along with that!

So, that has been a big blessing in a short amount of time!

Now on to today's pondering!
All scripture is quoted from the NASV.
I want you to go check out (or just read it right here) Genesis 12:1-3.

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great ; And so you shall be a blessing ;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you the all families of the earth will be blessed."

In my Thursday class our teacher has pointed out this threefold promise given to Abraham which is in essence a threefold outline to the bible in general...condensed!

3 promises given, 3 promises fulfilled!
Basic outline of what the Bible is all about.
Genesis-Exodus 1 is the promise of a Nation.
Exodus 1:7-Joshua 21 is the Nation seeking to obtain the promise of the land.
Joshua- the birth of Christ are stories from the long lineage from this nation leading to the "Son of David" finally making his debut!!!
After that it is a bunch of wonderfulness to help us make good choices about how to live.

Let me lay it out a bit more for you with scriptures to aid in the journey!
Now the promises are not fulfilled in the original order given, but you can be flexible right?

Promise 1:
I will make you a great nation.
First we need to visit Genesis 15:4-6 where we learn more about this.
4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir ; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir." 5 And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6 Then he believed in the LORD ; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Now head over to Genesis 21:5
Now Abraham was 100 when his son Isaac was born to him.

Promise fulfilled in another 190 or so years!

Check it out, Exodus 1:7
But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them!

Promise 2:
To the land which I will show you!

For this one we must head all the way to Joshua 21.
Those children had some trekking to do before they could finally settle in the promised land.
verses 43-45

43 So the LORD gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. 44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed ; all came to pass.

Now for the third promise which affects us personally!
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed!
Lets take a closer look at that one over in,
Genesis 22:15-18
15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore ; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
That there is a big promise!!
HUGE!
We have some trekking to do in the scriptures before we find out where it is fulfilled.
Luke chapters 1 and 2 tell the story magnificently!
In 1:54, 55 Mary is talking, maybe even praying and says,
"He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever"

She knew the promise was close to being fulfilled and had been taught the significance of it.
I do really like though, the passage in Galatians 3 where Paul is trying to explain justification by faith!!
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of Law, having become a curse for us...
14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

16Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "and to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is Christ.

Yeah, I would say coming to know Christ is the biggest blessing a person could attain!

I have all of these passages marked in the margins of my bible for ease of finding!! All I have to remember is Genesis 12 and then I can just follow the bread crumb trail I have created for myself. (you know...since my rememberer isn't so great!)

I hope that this has come across concise and not confusing.
It is something I have been meaning to share for some time!
We review it so often in class that it is just second nature to me now, so I hope I had my explainer working okay today!

I need to get some summertime action going on now.
See ya tomorrow!

More lily shots

I wanted something different for you today, well before I show you more of the same old, same old...ha haha!!!

There is so much around that I just don't take the time to look at, and I bet you are the same way!

This particular view is usually not available to me since our large green trashcan usually hides it!
Ahhh ha I thought...something new!!!

I didn't make any mention of it being exciting...just new!

Alrighty then on to other stuff today.

Oh boy...I just remembered that I have a load of laundry in the dryer.

Ha! It has probably been sitting there for a good 40 minutes because as usual I have gotten distracted!!

I was going to type out a nice long post, but alas I got a phone call from someone needing some help!
So, instead I will make it a short post and leave the long one for when I have time!

I am sooooo excited about my lily/fish pictures today!!

You know for the longest time I have moaned and moaned about just not being able to get good crisp shots of my fish.
I keep trying early in the day and late in the day, but never have given the middle of the day a fair chance!!!
Truth be told, I am not often here in the one o'clock hour so it has never really occurred to me!

Just check this one out!!

This shot made me so happy, I instantly made it my computer wallpaper!!


Consider that the fish were not the intent of the picture, but an accompaniment.



I then tried several different angles on the flower for you.


Well, angles that my creaky body could accommodate!!


Well, I simply must move on, though I wish it were not so!!

I need to whip up some chili...for a treat night supper of Frito Pie!!
I am gonna sneak as many veggies in there as possible AND use V8 as my soup base!
Hee hee hee(evil laugh, as opposed to girly laugh-these things are hard to tell via written word!)

America

Happy Independence Day!!

We have had a lazy around the house family kind of day around here, and it has been wonderful.

I was really wondering what my photograph could be of today, but then I meandered through my blogroll and a thought got bumped back from the depths!

I came across a blog several months ago which I really really like.
It is quite interesting to look at visually. That is what kept me going back to it time after time.
What keeps me going back is the author's obvious faith in God.

Blog + Beauty + Belief = you got me coming back!

Seeing as how this gal is also a photographer...well come on, that is a super duper combo.

I know I know, what does that have to do with the photo of the day right??

Well this is what!
She has issued a RAW challenge! (head over to the link and check out the other images!)
That means you must take the theme of the week and compose a photograph then leave it completely untouched for posting!!!
In this era of touch up that is not a common thing, believe me!
So this weeks challenge...AMERICA!
Well duh, right?

When I think of America, I think of freedom.
Sacrifice of so many for freedom.

A nation built on the promise of freedom, and on the principles that strive to make it great despite our ineptness and ability to ruin things.

Sounds a bit like the gospel as well right???

Anyhoo...We fly our flag proudly around here, proclaiming our rights and freedoms.
That is where I went with picture taking today.
I am proud to live in a neighborhood where flags are abundant, as is the fire for America the Beautiful.

SOOC!! We talked about that the other day remember??
Straight out of camera!

I whittled down my results to about 9 shots and then called my husband in to help make a judgment call.
Huh? He picked the same one as I did!!
(Years of training folks, years of training!!)

Here are the runners up!
also both SOOC!

I personally almost like this one better...*






*I tend to like things a bit darker with a touch of drama.
That is my taste...always has been!

I hope your day has been awesome...or just American, which worked just fine for us around here!
Off to enjoy a grilled burger! YUM

ohhhh, found another SOOC challenge!!!

New Lily

LOOK!!!

It opened in the night!!

See my greedy fish there hoping for breakfast?
That made a nice addition to the shot!

Notice it is neither red nor soft purple.

Hmmmmmm????

I went back out around 1p.m. today and took this shot.

Ha, it looked like it had closed up shop to keep the bee from entering!


Do you know what today is???

It is the day that marks our one year anniversary having Shelby in our home.

Here is her cover shot I took back in February just in case you can't bring to mind who Shelby is.


She is such a happy girl and has come so far since arriving here.

So, today we celebrate what we are calling her "gotcha" day!
My daughter made up a song and everything!

You love it here...don't ya Shelbster??

"Why yes, yes I do!!"

Ha haha, she was chewing a treat, but it looks like she is talking.
Okay to me it looks like she is talking.

I think the very best way to celebrate "gotcha" day is to take a nap!

Yeah, off to do just that!

Lethargic-ish

So this is how my picture taking went today.

Look at camera.

Ignore camera.

Feel bad about ignoring camera, look at camera again.

Pretend I forgot that I ignored the camera and subsequently felt bad about it, eat a few more Cadbury mini dark chocolate eggs.

Close the bag of Cadbury mini dark chocolate eggs because I didn't make it this far past Easter by eating too many all at once.

Wish I hadn't closed the bad of Cadbury mini dark chocolate eggs, but proud that I had the discipline to do so, which reminded me that I should have the discipline to pick up my camera and take some shots.

Ignore camera.

Feel bad about ignoring camera and finally pick it up to go outside to... sigh....take a few shots of the same old things.

Sigh!!

Hey Shelby is out here, I will take a few shots of her.

No one gets tired of shots of Shelby.

"Shelby, here girl."

Oops, forgot to check the metering.

Try again as she gets closer.

Whoa...stunning image!

I keep panning as she clicks her in need of clipping toenails across the paving stones to get closer for a neck rub!

Oops, she is moving faster than I, the stones are in focus instead of her.



Oops, she is moving faster than I, the stones are in focus instead of her, again.



Ahhh forget it, I give up.

How about a picture of the seemingly dead Sago, and a charming weed keeping it company!

Yes, that would be a superb way to end this post of ridiculous pictures and lacking text.


Sorry, gotta jet.
Snickerdoodle blondie awaiting consumption.

Lots and Lots

Last night my husband and I were chillin' by the pond.

Okay the truth is last night we were swatting mosquitoes and sweating but trying our best to enjoy one another as the trickle of the water running over the stones in our pond tickled our ears.

He asked if I had seen any tadpoles.

Huh? I thought....well there were those few days when there was lots of singing and egg laying, so there must be some in there.

It was too late in the evening to catch a glimpse of anything, so I went back out today when the sun shines in the water to check it out.

Uhhhhhh, yeah there are tadpoles.

I simply must get a filter so I can photograph water images better.
I'd say there are a good 20 just in that simple 6 inches or so of pond.

YOU do the math, that is gonna make for lots of froggies!


Oh, I simply must show you this jewel which has been so long in coming.
I am referring to the bud there just to the left of center. It is going to be a water lily flower.

Okay, I know you are having as hard a time being excited about that as I am but here is the dealio!
I bought one water lily 2 summers ago. It has speckled leaves and stunning purple and yellow flowers when it blooms.
It did not bloom last year at all, just from the shock of moving. I am just so thankful that it is even alive and producing pads for me.
The other plain leafed water lily my husband purchased when we built the new pond at the new house.
If I am not mistaken the bloom from it will be red.
So, I am all a twitter waiting to find out which it will be!!!
Now you can be excited too!

Oh, AND...it is a very rare thing that I take a photograph and am 100% happy with it. I crop, I boost the value, I bump the contrast, I tweak it just a bit.
But, that one of the tightly closed bloom waiting for release is SOOC!! (that is straight out of camera for all you non camera speak friends)
I just love it.
The focus, the water, the contrast, the negative space, the feel it gives the viewer... all of it just does it for me.
It was no accident either. I fell asleep thinking about this shot today. I created it in my mind before I even touched the camera.

I am not tooting my horn...or at least I don't mean for it to seem that way! I just hear so many people say that it is easy to take a great photograph.
You know, I used to think so too!
That was before I had a camera and tried to do that consistently every day.

It is easy to happen upon a good photograph, it is easy to accidentally take a good photograph, but composing and shooting a great one time after time after time...well it takes some effort and skill.
And that my friends, is why I will keep at it everyday!