God Is An Artist, Part 5

Well, I have to start with some of the most amazing works of art ever to grace my blessed life...my babies. This is Ben and Clara before school one day this past week. I finished Clara's hair for her, she looked at herself in the mirror with a smile and said, "I think you'd better take a picture this morning...Ben and I look beautiful!"

I had to agree :)



I was picking raspberries in my garden yesterday, when I found this little guy sitting quietly on a zucchini leaf:



It was interesting to take his picture because the light kept changing, one second we were under cloud cover, the next full sun...then the breeze would blow and we'd have shade from the raspberries as they swayed. Sorry for the grainy pictures. I save them as pretty small files to use up less space here, but resolution suffered this time.



Look at that eye! And you can even see his nostrils if you look closely...



Sammy helped me water the flowers out front yesterday. She started spraying everything she could see, which irritated me a bit...since I was one of the things she could see. But then I saw what she'd done to this beautiful rose, and I ran off to get my camera. "What da matter, Mama?!", she said as I ran away :)



Have I mentioned how much I love my camera lately? And my 28-300 mm lens just gives me such amazing flexibility!


Look closely at the details around you today. I guarantee that you'll find some of God's handiwork too :)

They Just Don't Come Sweeter Than This...

Remember when I told you about my friend Becky having her baby? The Lord made a masterpiece in this little one...

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
Psalm 139:14

So Much To Do, So Little Summer...

We're doing our best around here to soak up as much summer as we can in these last few days. School starts on Monday (sniff!). There's a lot to do yet! Like swing games to play...



Little girl secrets to tell...



Bars to monkey around on...



And new tricks to learn...



And I suppose I shouldn't forget: frogs to scare so badly that they pee all over the place...


He probably saw my Clara coming at him with this big stick. If I saw a giant Clara approaching with a big stick, I'd probably pee too! Here he is, checking out his "gift" (much to Clara's delighted squeals)...

He seems to approve. Mostly though, I'll bet he's trying to figure out if he can somehow hide under the stick. (Note: No frogs were harmed during the production of this summertime event. He was deposited safely in the long grass by the shed where 2 year olds with sticks and bored dogs could not find him.)


There's stuff to do inside too. Like play video games (I console myself with the fact that he at least has to be standing and moving to play this one)...



And eat snacks while charming Mama with a killer dimpled smile...


And when Mama pokes her head out from behind the camera and shouts "BOO!", there is lots of tray banging, giggling, and kicking of legs to do...


I thought I'd better grab this shot of summertime grass with a bit of morning dew on it...something to stare at when all that's outside is dead grass, brown trees, and snow (don't worry, I'm sure I'll still find great stuff to take photos of).

Awww, summer...sweet summer. Must you go so soon?

God Is An Artist, Part IV: Sunflower Infatuation

Have I mentioned before how much I'm loving the sunflowers we planted in the garden this summer?

They're in full bloom, and are just incredible! I actually pulled out the big ladder the other night to grab these shots. I'm glad I did, because it was the very next day that they started to droop under the weight of their amazing (and massive) flowers.

I love this first shot. It just says "summer" to me...carefree, sunny, wispy, bright. And the yellow petals against that clear blue Idaho sky is something to behold! As I played with this photo in Lightroom, I had a hard time deciding on a favorite. It seems that each of the following variations brings a different emotion to the photo. Vibrance and fun....romance and gentleness...stark beauty. Which is your favorite?

It's a good thing that bumblebees are not frightened off by squeals of joy, because that's exactly what came from my mouth when I saw this guy land right where I was shooting. Thank you, Lord!

The textures in a sunflower are so delightfully varied. These next two shots show it well.

There's something about this shot I'm not crazy about. It's just too...flat. Boring. I played and played, but couldn't figure out a way to make it pop. But again, it shows some nice textures, so I thought I'd put it up.

And then there's the lovely "red" sunflowers we planted. They're not at big as the yellow monsters...but they sure are pretty :)

"Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land."

Song of Solomon 2:12

Sunflower Study

My two oldest kids have their own little garden patches this year. I bought everything in seed for them...wanted them to have the experience of planting the seed, watching it sprout, etc. It's been so fun!

Each of them chose a sunflower variety to plant. Ben wanted the "red" sunflower shown here:


Such neat colors! He was rewarded for his choice by getting the first blossoms.

Clara chose the gigantic variety. No, "gigantic" probably isn't it's real name, but it should be! The things are...gigantic! Hey it's late, and I'm tired...gigantic is all I can come up with tonight.

They stand probably 10 feet tall, and are just starting to look like real sunflowers.

I like this shot...the sky was bright and went white on me, and it seems to me like the flower is almost winking at me!

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:12

Not An Ugly One In The Bunch!

A month or two ago, these guys (first picture) had a great party with some of my most favorit-est-est-est people in the whole wide world. Spending time with this particular group of people makes me think of how I imagine Heaven will be some day. We all love the Lord. We all love each other. They don't even roll their eyes at me when I stick my camera lens in their face again :) Now THAT just might be the definition of good friends!

And they all have kids that are just amazingly beautiful! It's probably they joy in them...every one of these kids are cherished, and I think they know it. Every kid should be so lucky.

I finally had a chance in the past couple of days to play around with the photos I took. Sorry gang...I didn't get every child as was my goal. Some of your little munchkins just would NOT keep their eyes open for me. It probably had something to do with a minor photographic error...of having everyone practically staring into the sun. Lesson learned.

I had a ball playing around in Lightroom...different cropping, different presets. My carpal tunnel is acting up again I've had so much fun! Here are some of my favorites:

P.S. To all of you who responded to my last post with encouraging words...THANK YOU so much...from the bottom of my insecure and frightened little heart ;)

Hodge Podge

First, a confession. I've been cheating. On you, dear bloggy friends. With my new and oh-so-sweetly gadgety Wii. I'm addicted, and I might need help! So now you know where I've been for the past couple of days :) More on my new love later.

Second, I've actually done it. I've filled up my computer's hard drive with photos and photo editing software. FILLED UP. As in 100% full. I went through last night and deleted some shots I know I won't use, and some programs that I've never used (I'm pretty faithful to my Adobe Elements and Lightroom). So I have a itty bitty bit more room. But what next? I guess I'm going to have to...oh darn...get a new computer. Maybe one with massive storage and processing that really screams. And one with about a 40 inch screen. Or maybe I'll just buy another external hard drive or some more memory for this one.

Third, see me? I'm about 3 inches taller now that the weight of the world is off my shoulders. We've been slum...I mean land...lords for about 10 years. We've owned and operated an 8 unit apartment building with all of it's glorious stories about human nature and plugged toilets. It's been a blast. Ha.

WE SOLD the place on Tuesday! The deal should close by tomorrow! We'll get to dig ourselves out of a bit of debt and more importantly, NOT worry about occupancy rates, the roof, the furnace, or who's going to play the game of "throw the big fat knife into the hardwood floors" for entertainment.

Our earnest prayer has been that we, the buyer, and the involved agents would be blessed by a fair sale. God has been good. I think that everyone is thrilled. And like I said, and I'm so very relieved.

Fourth, I think it's happening. People actually want me to take family pictures for them. So what am I so afraid of? I'm afraid of sucking! I'm afraid that they'll get all gussied up for me, stand where I ask them to stand, smile with hopes of great family pictures, and I'll snap away...only to deliver mediocre photos for them. Photos which they will say they love...not because their disingenuous...but because they're really sweet and good friends.

I keep getting on line to search for stuff like "how to take great family photos". I'm seriously considering buying a new computer, full blown Photo Shop, and some lighting (even though I loathe fake lighting and we'll be outside anyway). But then I happen upon sites of "real" photographers, get discouraged, and stomp away from the computer swearing I'm gonna stick to photographing flowers and sunsets. Or maybe I'll go back to crocheting doilies.

I just want to be good. No, I want to be great. In fact, no. I want to be OUTSTANDINGLY-STUPENDOUSLY-GLORIOUSLY-BRILLIANT. But I'm so afraid I'm not. This is almost too big a dream for me...I'm afraid to go for it and fail, because then what?

Hubby keeps telling me that I just have to go DO IT already. I know he's right, the punk.

And Fifth, and finally...guess what I'm doing this afternoon? I'm going to lunch with ALL grownup human beings! We're going to a place called "La Vie En Rose". I don't know what the name means...probably something like "The Rose Vine" or "The Beautiful Rose". But I'm thinking of it more like "Come Eat Our Yummy Food, Have Some Adult Conversation, and Do Not Wipe Anyone's Nose But Your Own". I'm sold.

God Is An Artist: Part III

Click for previous "God Is An Artist" photos.

Go see more Wordless Wednesday posts.

Wordless Wednesday: Summertime Sillies

Head on over HERE for more Wordless Wednesday fun. Thanks for dropping by :)

Vacation Mishaps, Lessons, and Beauty

Lesson #1 also goes with mishap #1: Remove thumb from path of very sharp knife before slicing into watermelon or you will have to live with a finger that looks like this and not go in the water for 4 days:

I thought for SURE I'd need stitches. I've never cut myself quite like that before. Turns out, it comes in handy for a Daddy to also have a nursing background :)

Here's some beauty for you. Well, it's beauty to me anyway. My folks' cottage neighbors were probably taking pity on my parents and their 'challenged' daughter who was staring at tree bark for so long!

Thomas learned something new during our vacation...he started pulling up (as long as he can find something short enough to pull up on). The way he stands cracks me up:

This also cracked me up...here we went all the way to Wisconsin for vacation, and I wind up peeling potatoes from my great state of Idaho. The joke around here is that they ship all the good Idaho potatoes out of state - proof!



Grandma and Papa bought sweet little kid-sized Adirondack chairs for the grand kids. They come a plain, unfinished wood. I painted Sammy's this trip:


She loved it :)


One not so fun thing about vacation is when the baby decides to wake at 5:30 AM every single morning. But I guess if he hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten this sunrise shot of the lake:

Little turd. Good thing he's so dang cute, or I might have to send him back ;)


One of the kids' favorite things to do is to "drive" the boat with Papa. They get to steer, and most importantly, honk the horn. Even Thomas got in on the action this trip:

Here I am with 3 of my kiddos waiting for some firecrackers to go flying...I mean staying safely and legally on the ground. Sammy would have been in the picture too, but I'm pretty sure she was hiding under a bed when she heard someone say "fireworks". She says they're "too caaareeey!"

Another favorite activity is dropping anchor in the middle of the lake and swimming. Sammy was so brave, she got right in with me! I thought for sure it would be "too carey" for her.


Mama's little sweet pea. Man I love this little girl.

Here's another vacation lesson for you: sleep with mosquito spray on. Never mind the supposed dangers of DEET. If you don't do it, your legs might look like Clara's did when she woke up. I count 16 on the back of her legs...and she had them to match on the front of her legs, her arms, and her face too. I knew she was sweet, but DANG!


One more lesson (and mishap): when you ask your 5 year old if she has sunscreen on, don't believe her when she says "Yes". I'm sure all the sunscreen applications just ran together in a blur in her mind...I don't think she intentionally lied. But she sure looked like a lobster after spending the day doing this with no sunscreen on! I felt terrible :(

Have you ever looked at a dragonfly?

I mean, really looked? Beautiful. And a little creepy in a buggy/alieny/don't land on me kind of way. But mostly beautiful.

That's it for today. I'm not on vacation anymore...housework calls :)

God Is An Artist: Part II

There's something about this photo of my backyard peony that just takes my breath away! I love this shot...so vibrant, yet delicate at the same time.



These flowers are actually itty, bitty, tiny little flowers. I was so thrilled to be able to get an up-close shot of them with my macro lens.



I think these pink petunias (right??) are so soft and delicate, with their thin and wispy petals fluttering in the breeze. When I look at this picture though, it almost has an aggressive look to it. It seems to me that the flowers are fighting to be at the "front" where they'll get the most sunshine. Or maybe I'm crazy and need to spend more time with people, who have actual personalities, instead of so much time with my camera and flowers!




This purple clematis is in my backyard, growing up against our yellow shed. I love these bold flowers! I was able to use a new reflector to shine some indirect sunlight at the flowers, which really got the colors to pop out of the dark shadows.

And now, for a little PhotoShop/Lightroom fun...

I took this picture of this little daisy for two reasons...the flower itself, and it's colorful background. I was thrilled to see how the background went out of focus so dramatically while the daisy came in crystal clear.

And then I wanted to see what it would look like in black & white...look! Look at that fantastic swirly background against the crisp petals of the daisy! Love it!

But I was a little disappointed with how washed out the daisy became. It just seemed to lose something. SO....PhotoShop to the rescue! I'd never done anything like this before, so I was pretty happy with the results. I grabbed the yellow center of the flower from the color version, and put it in the black and white version. How fun is this?!?

The peony is still my favorite though. Which do you like best?

I'm thinking I need to make some note cards out of these pictures :)

My 2nd Home...

I've been having some fun with my photos and Light Room. Come see me at my vacation home...my photography blog...to take a peek :)

God Is An Artist...Here's Proof:

Looks Like A Duck, Sounds Like a Duck, Must Be...

You guessed it...a Duck! A female and a whole bunch of her babies, to be more precise. What's the word used for "whole bunch of baby ducks"? Brood? Litter? Herd? Gang? Posse? I don't know. I'm goin' with "whole bunch".

Just look at them! Aren't they sweet? They turned up in my friend's back yard a week or so ago. The kids had a ball watching them parade around the fence-line. And they made sure they didn't go hungry...they threw about a half a loaf of bread at them in bite-sized pieces :)

Here's the sweet little mama and her bunch:


I love how she tilted her head in this one. She's so pretty!



She's really checking me out!

How adorable and soft are these little ones?

There's just something so sweet and innocent about these babies. They'll never say "NO!". They'll never say "Mawwwwm" in that pained and irritated voice. They'll never slam a door and stomp their feet. Or maybe they will in their little duck ways? I could be ignorant about the moods of ducklings...should I be watching more National Geographic channel?

If you look very closely, they all look just a bit different from one another.

Uh-oh. Mama duck is getting grumpy with me. See how her head feathers and tail feathers are doin' their thing? I'm no duck expert, but I'm pretty sure she's trying to say something like "Back of girl, or I'm gonna come over their and slap you upside the head with these vicious webbed orange things of mine!"

"Yeah, that's our mama! We're outa here. Watch us go. We're a waddlin'."

It Didn't Hurt To Have Such Beautiful Subjects Either

I just thought I'd take a moment to show you my latest Adobe Lightroom Miracle. My kids and I were invited to our friend's 5th birthday party this past weekend. I brought my camera with me, hoping to get a few good shots to play with. I admit that I panicked a bit when I realized that I was the only one taking pictures...but I think I got some good ones for them.

I was especially happy with this shot...it's just so sweet. Here it is SOOC:

But LOOK!! Look what I was able to do while playing around in Lightroom!

See? Told ya...miracle!

OK, well, I'm off to try and get a paper route or lawn mowing gig or something...gotta come up with $300 to buy Lightroom when my free trial ends in less than two weeks. Wish me luck!

Oh, How I Love Adobe Light Room!

OK everyone...if you love photography, or even like it a little bit, then you MUST, RIGHT NOW, go and get the free 30 day trial of Adobe Light Room (link is in the upper right corner under their phone number). Oh. Be still my little heart!

Light Room is from Adobe, the same folks who did Photoshop. Light Room is sort of like having your very own dark room...it's strictly for photos, where Photoshop also has some neat graphics stuff. There's a place for both, for sure. But I think Light Room is going to be my first pass editing software from here on out...that is, of course, if I can scrounge up the money to buy it when my 30 day trial runs out (looks like my new flash will have to wait a bit longer). I think It costs about $300.

I'm still trying to figure it out, but I've been having fun doing limited stuff. Some examples:

I took these shots this past weekend. This old wagon wheel along the fence with beautiful spring flowers poking through...the scene has been calling to me for weeks! I couldn't resist any longer. Grabbed the camera and took these shots (known as SOOC or straight out of camera shots):

I was happy with the composition, but the light wasn't the greatest. The whole shot was just a bit too shaded and flat. So I brought some of my favorites up in Light Room to see what I could adjust. NOW take a look:

I think that this last shot is my favorite. It has sort of a soft vintage feel that I think is so pretty! Can't you just see these photos blow up and hanging on the wall of your cottage or cabin? Or maybe my living room... :)

With software like this, I think the flash can wait...I can fix my lighting problems on the computer!

Photography: "Project Looking Through III"

I found another good subject for this "looking through" project right on my bathroom counter this evening - it's a tube of perfume lying across some of my girls' hair ribbons. I thought it looked pretty cool how the ribbons were distorted through the glass and liquid. I'm not sure if I like the full color version or the toned down version better.

Do you want to see more photos from this project? Go see the blog Regular Life for a list...

Photography: "Project Looking Through II"

The more I looked around at other people's posts, the more I realized that I had some other photos in my files that would work for this "Project Looking Through." I was thinking that there might be a future project on reflections...but I'm going to go ahead and use these now anyway. I suppose they could be titled..."Looking Through, In A Roundabout Way."

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This shot is one of my all time favorites. I was doing an impromptu photo shoot of my older kids back in January. I just had them stand by a window, and started shooting. When Ben looked up to the big puffy clouds, I could hardly believe what I saw reflected in his beautiful blues! It reminds me of the verse:

I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2

When winter rolls around, we like to decorate our windows with paper snowflakes. This shot is of a plant that had light shining on it...through the snowflake on the nearby window (Taken January 2008).


I got this great new mixer for Christmas, and was having fun looking for recipes I could use it for. I like how the cookbook is reflected in the shiny new bowl. To me, it speaks of all sorts of yummy possibilities! (January 2008)


I love this shot because of the "Mr Bubble" bottle reflected in the tub faucet. With the kids' bright bath toys in the background, it just reminds me of fun and bubbly ba