Undeserved, Moment by Moment

There is no way in which a man can earn a star

or deserve a sunset.

G.K. Chesterton

 Tonight's sunset is brought to you courtesy of Ellie, captured moment by moment.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

One Touch of Rosy Sunset

If I can put one touch of rosy sunset

into the life of any man or woman,

I shall feel that I have worked with God.

G. K. Chesterton

First, a close-up image to capture the glory of that evening.

Then, the fullness of the Lord's creativity.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Sweet Summer's Eve

We recently invited our church family to our house for an end-of-summer get-together.  We had a beautiful time of fellowship, with children providing the evening's entertainment.  No TV needed here!  A dog-barking app on a friend's iPad was sufficient to amaze this little child.  The expressions on Miss E's face were priceless, and I caught only one of them.

I love the family interaction of this image, with mama and her two girls, and daddy looking on.

Cindy practiced being a grandmama, holding Joy's and Thomas' baby.

Little Mr. A is starting to look just like his older sister, and his personality is just starting to emerge.  He's such a cutie!

Little Miss J and Little Miss E sat themselves down in the doorway, and this was one time I didn't mind shooing someone away so we could shut the door.  :)

I took several shots of them, and fell in love with them all.  For the below image, I applied my own pre-set called Summer's Eve to the image.  I love the vintage look of this winsome photo.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Silent and Soft

In silence the three of them looked at the sunset

and thought about God.

Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy-Tacy and Tib

A simple sunset graced the sky that evening.   Simple, yes, but still soft and peaceful.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Project 2012 -- Week 34

Project 2012 -- Week 34

August 19-25

Welcome to my Project 2012 weekly post!  This is my time for looking back over the past week, choosing my seven favorites images, and sharing them here with you.  If you have a project you're working on, please leave a comment so I can visit your blog and see what you're up to!

Last week began with veggies and ended with veggies.  I'd say that's a good week of summer!  Below is the product of two different days of canning:

[232] Canning day

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and decided to try it.  I layered salads into canning jars, minus the dressing on the bottom.  Each day at lunchtime, all I had to do was dump one jar out onto a plate and top with tomatoes (I like to cut them fresh) and dressing.  I didn't fill these quart-sized jars, but trust me, once I dumped one out onto a plate I realized I had a huge salad for lunch.  My layers:  carrots, red peppers, purple onion, chopped lettuce, cucumber, green olives, cubed mozzarella cheese.  They were delicious with my homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

[233] Salad days

After another tomato harvest, I had some fun with my macro lens and caught the below once my eyes spotted the reflection.

[234] Tomato reflection

Danny, my science-minded son, called me to grab my camera right before Friday Frisbee.  He had filled his water bottle to the top, without spilling over, and filled it a bit too much.  Science concept at work:  cohesion of water.  :)

[235] Filled to the brim

At the Friday Frisbee game, Emily brought her three children.  Sammy, #2 son, decided to tackle his little sister, who's only two years old.  I think she's used to roughhousing with her two older brothers, because she took this tackle in stride.

[236] Tackle!

Thomas threw the Frisbee to me.  :)

[237] Catch, Mom!

Last photo of the week--more veggies!  I spotted a recipe over on Proud Italian Cook, and tried to duplicate it.  I had cut the palm of my hand with the knife, however, and forming veggie patties with my hand stung.  So I dumped the veggie mix into a stoneware pan and baked it.  It turned into my own version of a recipe, which I'll post on my family blog soon.  Promise.

[238] Eggplant veggie frittata

Thus ends another week of summer photos.  We're starting to get into the full swing of school, since my two college students are already in full-school mode.  Thomas is taking chemistry!  So I'll probably have some awesome photos of him doing incredible things with chemicals.  Let's hope he doesn't blow anything up.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Don't Miss So Many of Them

There's a sunrise and a sunset every single day,

and they're absolutely free.

Don't miss so many of them.

Jo Walton, science fiction and fantasy writer

I just discovered this quote, and I definitely take it to heart every vacation.  The Lord gives us this spectacular beauty every single day; am I there to witness it?  To see just a hint of His glorious splendor painted on the sky?

A few images, one night at Lake Bonaparte

8:32 p.m.

8:36 p.m.

8:42 p.m.

8:53 p.m.

9:05 p.m.

Wasn't that a glorious show?  Here's a close-up of the incredible colors along the horizon:

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

Dog, Loon, Lake, Chip--Steel Drums!

In other words, a totally random day at Lake Bonaparte.

This particular day was our friends' first full day at the lake.  We eventually gave them The Total Lake Experience (you can read Part I or Part II if you want to see what we do for our friends).  Our random activities included a visit to Winter Bay, where we swam, splashed, played Frisbee, read books, and took pictures.  There always seems to be a dog or two at Winter Bay, and Maya was there this time.  Here she is in all her Labrador-ness.

Labs have an indefatigable energy that makes me want to go take a nap.  Several of us were tossing the Frisbee around, and Maya chased it every time.  She swam out to one of the guys, and right before she got to him, he threw the Frisbee to someone else.  She'd turn right around and keep swimming toward that person, and on and on it went.  She never bothered swimming closer to shore to get her legs under her, or to take a rest.  We endured probably close to an hour of her energy until some kids came along and found some sticks for her to fetch.

We took off from Winter Bay for a casual, long ride back to the lake house.  Upon leaving the bay, someone spotted a loon.  The below was the best I could do.  I would love for Ellie to really capture this elusive bird!

Some sights from the boat:

Huckleberry Rock

Little Birch Island

Upon arriving back at the lake house, we commenced making dinner.  It's nice when teenage guys help out, which they did with gusto.  Because teenage guys are naturally perpetually hungry, we broke out a bag of chips, only to have one of the guys discover the below inside.

Totally random image of 13 tortilla chips fused together

After dinner, we drove in to Carthage and the pavilion where they hold their weekly farmers markets.  Throughout this summer, the town hosted weekly concerts, and this night featured a steel drum club which performed for us.  The drums were loud, but otherwise the concert was fun.

They had several different ability-based musicians who played and/or entertained us throughout the evening.  During several numbers, some of the non-players danced through the audience.

I love the below shot of their last number.  Here's where I'll get technical with you.  With ISO set at 800 (due to low-light conditions), I was able to capture some clear shots.  But when the whole steel drum crew came out and played, clapped, and danced their way through the song, there was a lot of movement that would be difficult to capture.

I was able to hold Ellie steady enough for a 1/30-second shot--steady enough so that non-moving objects (ceiling beams, speakers, the blue shirt of the boy at lower right) were clear.  Obviously, at 1/30 second, I was going to capture some motion blur of the dancers and musicians.  But motion blur can be a good thing!  I love how the blur shows that people were in motion--can you see some of their feet just off the ground?  They were clapping and jumping up, and this shot captured just the right mood and spirit.

ISO 800, 17-80mm lens at 26mm, f5.6 at 1/30 second

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook

German Shepherds and Waterskis

But not in the same picture.  :)

We spent an afternoon one day early on in our vacation at Winter Bay.  Partially owned by the U.S. Army, this area of the lake is all sand, and is a popular swimming area for lake residents.  That's where we were sunning, swimming, and playing Frisbee, when a couple other boats showed up--one with dogs, the other with waterskis.  Of course, I pulled Ellie out to capture some sweet shots.

I'll start with the waterskiing shots--these two young boys were so fun to watch!

I love that last shot--that boy did a serious face plant when he released his grip.  I love that I captured not only his splash (with his face, and a foot sticking up), but I got the hand grip as well.

On to the dogs.  I must tell you--the only dog I do not like is the German shepherd.  I was bit by one at the tender age of five, and it must've made a large impression on me, because they're the only dogs I'm nervous around.  Well, maybe Dobermans, too.  But I get a very unique, queasy feeling around German shepherds.

Anyway, meet Jake and Riley.  (I'm not sure which is which.)

Their owner, Mark Miller, explained that these two dogs--father and son--love to snap at the water when it's splashed in their faces, or in their direction.  The guys made very sure to keep their distance as we splashed toward the two dogs.  Their snapping jaws made a loud, distinct click as their teeth closed at the water droplets.  If a hand got in the way, I'm sure bones would have been broken; that's how powerful their jaws are.

Intense focus

Their whole bodies came out of the water as they leaped at the splashes.  (Another dog, Georgia, got in on the action in the below shot.)

They truly are beautiful animals.

In the below shot, it looks like this guy and Thomas were going at each other!

I think this last image is my favorite German shepherd shot.  I cropped it square so the focus is on the dog and his jaws and teeth.  I love the droplets of water splattered throughout the image, and the water streaming off his front legs.

I eventually got up enough courage to pet one of them.  He didn't seem to even notice I was there.

One fear, somewhat conquered.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook