The Sparrow

I found some more time to work on my photos!  The first for today is for the challenge from Word Art.  The Bible verse for this week was “Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.”   1 Peter 5:7

 

 

My first thought on reading that was over to the verse about His eye being on the sparrow.  

 

I shot this photo of this chilly little sparrow early one morning in Mississippi.  Even tho he was fluffed against the morning coolness, he was singing brightly.  I remember thinking, “There are two of us listening to you…”   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/

September's Gold

The next couple of weeks are going to be really busy (very good busy!)  and I’m not going to have much time to work on any sort of creative endeavors of the make it/build it variety. 

 

But I do have time to work with my photography.  I can take photos waiting in a parking lot!  In fact, I sometimes challenge myself to come up with X number of interesting shots while I’m sitting ‘doing nothing’. 

 

So I was able to work on my photos challenges this week!

 

I really liked the photo of goldenrod I took a few days ago on my lake walk.  It reminded me of a poem I had to memorize in 5^th grand.

 

SEPTEMBER

 

by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

 

The golden-rod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down.

 

The gentian's bluest fringes

Are curling in the sun;

In dusty pods the milkweed

Its hidden silk has spun.

 

The sedges flaunt their harvest,

In every meadow nook;

And asters by the brook-side

Make asters in the brook.

 

From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odors rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.

 

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

 

But none of all this beauty

Which floods the earth and air

Is unto me the secret

Which makes September fair.

 

'Tis a thing which I remember;

To name it thrills me yet:

One day of one September

I never can forget. 

 

 

 

 

 

And with that memory, I made this note card.  I’m looking forward to having enough variety to do a printing!

 

 

 

 

 

http://thecsiproject.com

A Stroll To The Lake

The weather has been wonderful and we’ve taken advantage of it with several walks down to the lake.

 

 

It’s really nice to have somewhere this beautiful to walk to… and to have it all to ourselves!

 

 

On the way down we watched one of our neighbors haying the flood plain.  It smelled SO good!

 

 

A few leaves are starting to turn for autumn.

 

 

I’m not sure what these flowers are.  There is some sort of bug that REALLY likes them… most of the leaves have been chewed down to the stems.

 

 

The bright red of the locust thorns caught my eye.  Definitely a “keep away” sign!

 

 

There was an amazing variety of butterflies and moths working over the flowers. 

 

 

I found this huge garden spider while taking a picture of her web…

 

 

… and a bit farther along the lake shore I found her sister!

 

 

There are a lot of dragonflies at the lake this year… and less up at our house.  I think the heat and drought brought them down here.

 

 

The hickory nuts trees are producing like crazy… and the squirrels are grabbing them up like crazy too.

 

 

We’ve been doing our family Bible study down along the lake.  We get in a good walk to get there, then we have a beautiful place to sit and study.

 

 

I love watching the waves on the water as Himself reads.

 

 

It’s amazing how they change patterns!

 

 

Found another locust tree…

 

 

…and this one has mature thorns.  They can really make a mess of you!

 

 

The bees are busy gathering the last of the nectar for the year.  This guy’s pollen bags are really loaded up!

 

 

They aren’t the only busy ones at the lake… the beaver have been cutting like crazy! 

 

 

We found quite a surprise in the lake this time… there are clams of some sort in there! 

 

 

And they are BIG!  Now we know what all the bubbling along the shore is about. 

 

 

I must be a frog magnet… this tiny guy was jumping around me as I rested.  Himself nabbed him long enough for the photo, and then we let him go.

 

 

An interesting leaf.

 

 

One last dragonfly before we headed home.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.cornerstoneconfessions.com/

 

 

 

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

 

 

 

http://mylifesatreasure.blogspot.com/

 

 

A New Venture

One of the things I want to work in over the next year is to actually USE the photos I take.  One idea is to do note cards that I can sell or give as gifts.  I got the push I needed to start working on this at Word Art Wednesday.  There they have a weekly challenge to incorporate a Bible passage into an art piece.

 

The passage for this week was “A friend loves at all times…”  Psalm 17:17.

 

 

Perfect for this photo of two sweet little friends in Celaya, Mexico.  Maria and Alejandra were inseparable.  They were part of a Bible study during around a medical clinic mission trip I participated in. 

 

 So… my first note card…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/

 

 

ITP: A New Perspective

The self portrait challenge at Urban Muser for September was “a new perspective”.   Hmmmm… since EVERYTHING about self portraits is new for me, what could be ‘newer’? 

 

I decided that self portraits with Himself would fit the bill!  So many times when we’re traveling I want a photo of both of us and there is no handy stranger around to beg.

 

 

Here’s the good ol’ long arm shot… 

 

Not bad, not bad.

 

 

Then I played with the special effects on Picasa and did a ‘pencil sketch’.   Fun! 

 

 

Then I decided it was time to learn to use the timer properly!  A trip to the river made the perfect opportunity to play with it.  It took a few times, but I’ve got it figured out now. 

 

I wonder what the challenge next month will be!

 

 

 

 

http://www.urbanmuser.com/

 

 

Autumn Slipping In

We’ve had several night where is has gotten down to the low 40s.  Ahhhhhh… autumn is slipping in. 

 

Finally.

 

I am SO ready for autumn… fires and marshmallows, colored leaves, cool nights with the windows open, pumpkins, smoke barns, and fields full of asters.

 

 

The golden rod is blooming along side of the road.  A sure sign that fall is in the air.

 

 

Thistles are making one last push before there is frost.  The finches will get most of these seed heads before they have a chance to grow.

 

 

And the geese are coming through.  I’ve only seen a few ‘V’ formations going by but that will pick up as the days become cooler. 

 

Welcome Autumn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.52photosproject.com/ 

 

 

 

Not INSIDE!!!!

Sometimes something… or someONE just shouldn’t be inside.

 

Inside places like a shower…

 

An inside place where one doesn’t expect to be jumped on!

 

And that someONE left inside very quickly!!!

 

 

 

http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/

My Artful Friday #4: Celebrating Friendship

I was able to finish the “Celebrating Friendship” challenge from Inspiration Avenue.  And it worked out to combine it with the "buttons" challenge at Crazy Amigos too. 

 

Late every fall we head up to Wisconsin and Minnesota to visit “the senior delegation”… Himself’s older relatives.  They range from their early 80s to 94 years old (last year we lost the oldest relatives… at 108 and 101!!). 

 

One of Himself’s family members is an auntie of the heart.  Lorraine was his mother’s best friend and there is now a sweet friendship between the two of them.  So when I saw the theme, that was the friendship that immediately came to mind.

 

 

Although the miles are many (about 820)… it is never an issue to make the trip.  And we’ve been doing it for years.  I took this photo in Lorraine’s yard on one of our many visits. 

 

 

The photos of Himself and Lorraine span the years of visiting. 

 

I used the lace to represent some lovely crochet works she has given us… including a beautiful piece made by her mother.

 

The buttons are in the colors of autumn; when we always go visit.

 

And the heart button represents the love between them.

 

It’s is a very special friendship and one that we will always celebrate.

 

 

 

 

 

http://inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

http://cachallenge.blogspot.com/

My Artful Friday #4: Owls

It’s been a busy week… finishing up the remodel of our hall bathroom, having a Extension Homemakers meeting and lunch out here with nine guests (plus I taught the lesson on photography too), and having Himself’s piano tuned are just a few of the things that were on our plate.

 

So I haven’t had much time for many artful endeavors.

 

However… the challenge at Collage Obsession was “owls” and I knew immediately what I wanted to do. 

 

 

This verse from Isaiah is perfect.

 

 

With that in mind, I started collecting what I wanted to use.  The photos are from the ‘net.  The bark was donated by the sycamore tree in our back yard.  I’d picked up that ‘knot hole’ piece months ago because I loved the way it looked. 

 

And the feathers have been in my stash in my ‘nature box’ since last year. 

 

(Shhhhh…I think they are from a turkey…)  LOL 

 

The verse meaning a lot to me because I’ve seen how the desert ‘comes alive’ with the rains, just as the soul comes alive under God’s Grace.

 

 

http://collageobsessionchallenge.blogspot.com/