Lilies

When I bought a pot of Calla Lilies yesterday, it was a whim. We were shopping in one of our favorite Publix Supermarkets and there the lilies were. They were absolutely beautiful.

I decided to get a pot of them and take them home to photograph. At one time, I would have thought this an odd thing to do, but it has become quite common place around our house. So, this morning, after a sunrise shoot, Mitch and I both spent some time photographing the lilies.

Here is one of my efforts. I hope you enjoy them. I hope that they give you the lift in your spirit that they did for me.

'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not,
neither do they spin:
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
~ Matthew 6:28-29

White Egret at Ding Darling

These are such stately birds when they are stalking along the shoreline. We see them frequently near our home on Lake Seminole. However, this image was taken at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. I like the clean look of this image. Just the bird and water. I do certainly wish I had gotten all of his tail.

Valentines Day

A friend gave me a lens set to go with my new Lensbaby (a type of camera lens). I then went to the store and bought a pail of red tulips to practice taking pictures of, with my news lens set. I had a great time. Tulips to me are one of the signs of Spring that lift my heart. Taking pictures of tulips with a new lens from a friend – well, what a great time.

Thinking of friends and people I love brought me to this coming weekend.

Valentines Day is this coming weekend. This is a difficult day for many people. There are those who have never found that special someone to be with, married to, engaged to, or just “in love” with. There are those that may have found that someone but lost them, perhaps in death (we went to a funeral today and there have been several losses of friends in the last week). Perhaps that special someone they love is far away, I think of our men and women in the military or in service to the Lord as missionaries. There are so many reasons to be away from a loved one. Then there are those who are divorced, not by choice but whose marriage fell apart due to things they could not control.

Valentines Day is a “Couples Day.” And it can be very sad.

However, if you can learn to love yourself I believe you can be alone and be okay. I found the following quote today:

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with. ~Wayne W. Dyer

I have not learned this yet. I still sometimes do not like myself. I still sometimes think I am too . . . Though; I am more comfortable in this skin than I was as a young woman.

My Valentines greeting to each of you is:

Find yourself and be pleased with yourself. In essence, love yourself.

Buy yourself some tulips and enjoy the day!

Bit off more than you can chew?

Do you ever have days when you seem to have bit off more than you can chew?

I sure do.

When we were at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge, I caught this picture of a Woodstork that had grabbed a hold of what looked like a Gar fish. In subsequent pictures the Stork actually ate the Gar. However, for a bit there it looked like a toss up as to who was winning.

This is how I feel sometimes in life. I get a hold of something, it looks good. It looks like something I want to eat or something I want to do, something I want to have, etc. Then I realize that it is much larger or more difficult or more time consuming or more expensive than I had thought it would be. And there I am, holding on to it because I can not or will not let go. What gets in the way? I truly want it and do not want to let go? Or maybe pride gets in the way? Or maybe stubbornness gets in the way? Maybe, just maybe, I do not know how to let it go, but I want to.

For some reason, I do not think I am the only person that does this. Do you want to know how I deal with it?

I have learned to pray about it. “God, is this really something I am to do? Is this really something you want me to do? Lord, what should I do with this?”

Sometimes, I get answers . . . right away. Sometimes, I get answers . . . but after I have learned the lesson that goes along with teaching. In some cases, I am still learning and have not yet had an answer.

Just a few thoughts to share, hopefully you are better at dealing with such things than I.

Focus

Do you focus so much on where you are going that you fail to see the here and now? I sometimes do this. I fail to “live in the moment.”

This image was taken by a lens called a Lens Baby. It has a “sweet spot” where things are in focus. The rest of the image is somewhat out of focus, depending on several variables.

This image however speaks to me about living in the moment. I fail sometimes to see the trees where I am. I may not appreciate enough the love of my family or the love of my Lord. I may fail to hear my friends when they call out to me. I may overlook a need by one close to me.

Mitch and I got up early and we were sitting on a dock on another part of the lake as the sun rose. We went to take pictures of the sunrise. There were Coots, Herons, and ducks. A couple of fishermen put their boat in the water and took off, in the early morning fog. We also heard the cry of a Loon.

After the sun rose, we came home and had French toast for breakfast.

I am sitting here at my computer listening to a Brown Thrasher. Earlier, I heard Blue Birds. I just enjoyed a cup of tea, listening to the sounds of the morning.

Today, I am going to try and focus on the now. I am going to try not looking around that bend and wondering what is there and worrying about the “what if’s.”

Worrying about the “what if’s” is a major problem about not living in the here and now. Yes, you need to prepare for the future. You can, however, worry yourself, literally, to death by focusing too much on the “yet to come”.

My grandmother used to tell me, “Don’t go chasing shadows.”

Join me in the here and now. Enjoy the gift given to you today!

William

A few days ago, Michelle and I were discussing how our family (the girls and my nephews) are programmed to “pose for the camera.” It is amusing how when I take out my camera or when my sister-in-law does the same, our children know to pose.

Here is a picture of our grandson, William. We were lucky enough to take care of him this past Wednesday. He is a treat! He can count to ten. He is learning his ABC’s. He already knows the “no” word, and he is not yet two years old. In the background is the box his Christmas gift was in. He is still enjoying the box. He goes in it, saying “goodbye” as he does. This is followed by “see you later.” He closes it up. Then out he comes. As for the Christmas gift, well who knows . . .

As you can see, he already knows to pose for the camera. I had forgotten to take my Canon so this is with a point and shoot. However, he immediately knew what it was for. As soon as Mitch took the camera out and pointed it at William, he posed.

I hope his smile is as contagious for you as it is for us.

Captiva Island Sunset

The first day we were in Fort Myers, we went to Sanibel/Captiva Island. It was a nice drive. We also got some of our first pictures at Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve.

We then drove north on the road connecting Sanibel/Captiva, looking for a place to park and take some pictures of the sunset. While the gulf front is “public” land, there was absolutely no place to park. So I took several pictures while Mitch was driving.

This is a sunset from Captiva Island, taken while Mitch is driving south and I am shooting out the window on the passenger side. You can see some people have set up for a sunset viewing. (If you click on the image it will upload the complete panorama.)

It was an absolutely beautiful sunset.

I love sunrises as they bring a new day. I also love sunsets – they are so beautiful!

Hope you enjoy this one as well.