Weekly Header Challenge - All Things New

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ All Things New

Since it's New Year's Day (meaning wintertime), and since it snowed all day yesterday, and since I'm cold, I'm thinking about snow.  Tie that in with this week's header theme, and you get The First New Snowfall.  You just have to go out and walk in it, catch some snowflakes on your tongue, and marvel at how a blanket of snow can seem to make everything look new--or at least you're looking at things in a new way!

A sunrise is definitely new every morning (just like the mercies of the Lord, according to Psalms)!

And, just like a snowfall makes things look "new," spring flowers bring the promise of warmth and green and all things new!

With all things new, here are some of the new things I'm personally looking forward to this year:

Fernando learning new things (here he is fixing the car after learning

via YouTube videos).  He passed the CDL (commercial driver's license)

test and got his permit yesterday and will soon be in a new job, learning the

ropes as a satellite truck operator!  (Goodbye, unemployment!!)

For Joseph, our autistic son, I hope this new year is filled

with opportunities for him to grow, learn, and develop

into a fruitful participant in life.  (In this image, he got up

with me on our 2011 Florida vacation to catch the last

sunrise of our trip.)

For Thomas and Jacob:  Thomas will graduate our homeschool high school,

and move on to bigger and better things!  Jacob will graduate from WIU and

begin his career in law enforcement with an eye toward the FBI or U.S.

Marshals (watch out, world!).

New beginnings!  There are already three weddings on the horizon this year,

with the promise of a few more for us to attend.

Lastly, for my business, I hope to capture more moments like the above

(holding baby sister for the very first time).  I hope to hone my skills and

shoot better and better!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Cloud Formations

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Cloud Formations

I don't usually take photos of interesting cloud formations unless something else is involved--the sun or a storm, for instance.  So with the help of sun and storms, here are my images for the week, starting with the full image from the header:

January 6, 2012 - In the dead of winter (Riverwalk Park, Naperville).

I just happened to catch this while at the park

waiting for Fernando's physical therapy session to end.

September 7, 2013, at Thomas' first home football game (they won!).

I was on the field and this was behind me just prior to the game.

I framed the shot with the speakers on poles to create some symmetry.

July 5, 2013 - Red Hawk Park, Carol Stream, Illinois.

During one of the guys' summer Frisbee games.

I actually edited out the telephone poles on the horizon.  :)

April 14, 2012.

No storm here, but these clouds were like vertical swirly things all lined up.

August 23, 2011, from my front yard mid-morning.

These summer storms are awesome; this one came in in a straight line,

barreling right toward us making things darker and darker.

I just stood there on the edge of my driveway

(that's my house on the left) watching it come in.

June 29, 2012, taken from my back yard patio.

Our back yard faces generally west, and the storms blow in from that direction.

I try to aim my camera high to avoid the signs of suburbia.  ;)

June 11, 2013, standing in my back yard.

A crazy storm blew in and the clouds were much more spectacular in real life.

August 7, 2011, taken from my front yard.

These storms missed us, and they made for a cool image

with the sun setting to the west.

May 19, 2011 -- Vero Beach, Florida.

Friends invited our family down to vacation with them for a week

in a beach house on the Atlantic Ocean.  I made the effort to get up at 6am

and trudge down to the beach to shoot a sunrise,

and this is what greeted me:  an offshore morning storm.

June 1, 2013, taken from my back yard again.

My husband loves me!  I would've missed this one since I was in the basement

editing photos, ironically enough, on the computer down there.

He called me up, saying simply, "Honey, you've got to see this."

It's one of my favorite sunset images!

July 19, 2012.  Read the next photo's caption for details!

July 22, 2012 -- My favorite place on Earth on a summer evening.

Lake Bonaparte, Harrisville, New York.

My parents have a summer home on this lake, and I've been vacationing here

since I was in my mother's womb!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Thank You

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Thank You

I wish I had one single image to portray this theme of thanksgiving!  I think this is the highest number of images I've posted for these weekly challenges, but I narrowed it down as much as I could.  I started thinking about what to be thankful for, in a year filled with Fernando's job layoff and back surgery, my own back problems, no money to spend on Christmas, and many other "bad" things that have happened.

I decided that this sunrise is a good way to show that hope does not disappoint, and that as surely as the sun rises, we are in His care.  A quote about thanksgiving in all circumstances:

Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 NASB

Thank You for hope!

Thank You for my country.

Thank You for family who loves me enough to play my favorite game with me!

Thank You for autism, because You are glorified in our weaknesses.

Thank You for little and fun reminders that You care.

Thank You for a hubby who helps me build kitchen drawer organizers!

Thank You for signs of spring.

Thank You for leading and guiding my sons in their lives.

Thank You for long life for my parents for us to enjoy them!

Thank You for awesome teenagers.

Thank You for all the wonderful beginnings we celebrated this year!

Thank you for guys who help me in my garden.

Thank You for daisies in my yard.

Thank You for strong, godly sons.

Thank You for sunsets right in my own suburban back yard!

Thank You for garden strawberries that help make this possible.  ;)

Thank You for flower gardens.

Thank You for peaceful spots near home.

Thank You for technology!

Thank You for garden harvest.

Thank You for hard workers at home.

Thank You for Jacob's tree in autumn.

Thank You for my bench in my little corner of back yard.

There is so much more to be thankful for, but this sampling helps me realize I have ever so much to be thankful for!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Saturday Sunrise

I deliberately got up at 6:00 a.m.  On a Saturday.  For no other reason than to catch a sunrise.

6:36 a.m.

This is actually right down the street from my house, a mere 3/4 mile walk--if I had a good back.  There's also a parking lot at a storage facility just a football field's length away.  That's where I parked.  I think it's wonderful that the camera's lens is really a frame, and we can frame our photographs in such a way as to frame out what we don't want.  Which is what I did to capture the simple beauty of a sunrise along a busy suburban four-lane road, literally five steps from my tripod and camera.

6:52 a.m.

It wasn't as peaceful as it looks in the images, with the steady waves of cars swooshing by on their way to who knows where that early on a Saturday, and the occasional honk directed at me for the Lord only knows why.  But as the earth turned, and the sky became orange in preparation for the sun breaking the horizon, there was a simple peace about the scene I captured.

6:58 a.m.

And then there it was.  The beautiful rays of a late September sunrise breaking across the prairie.

Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning...

Psalm 59:16b NASB

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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The Farm on The Hill | Wisconsin Website Photographer

I know you just read my post about our time down on a farm.  Well, down in that case meant south.  And now I'm talking about another farm, and up on the farm--north, that is.

It was my great privilege to visit the Farm on the Hill up in Wisconsin, in the Driftless Region (what a lonely sounding name!), to help with this amazing farm start-up!  Besides watching guys work and pitching in where I could, I also had the honor of doing on-site photography for this soon-to-be pasture-raised lamb, chicken, and egg business.

Although the farm is in its infancy, its owner, Bryan Havens, is working hard to get everything ready--both house and lands--for the animals that will soon inhabit the spaces, pastures, brooders and stalls.  I have already been invited to return once those farm denizens arrive, and I can't wait for the opportunity to provide Bryan with some all-natural, pasture-raised images of his up-and-running farm in business!  ;)

Story behind the sunrise above:  Since the farm is a four-hour drive away, my family and I drove up on a Friday night and spent the night right on the farm.  I gratefully slept in a cot in the kitchen/dining area, and I slept really well, too, through the night.  Somewhere near morning, 5-something and I never looked at a clock, I was lying there peacefully, noticing it was getting a bit lighter in the room.  I finally rolled over in my cot and opened my eyes--and found myself looking out of a huge picture window and onto a gloriously brilliant sunrise.

I hemmed and hawed for several seconds, figured I wouldn't get another chance, and grabbed my camera.  All the settings were wrong, I didn't have enough light to fix everything, plus everyone was sleeping, but I found the most unobstructed view I could and shot.  *click-click-click*  *click-click-click*  (Danny told me later that he heard me shooting away!)  I ended up with the above shot, through the window and over the deck railing.

Then I went back to bed.  :D

Enjoy the rest of these images of the property in all its farm-y wonder and beauty.

The neighbor down the hill.

The walkway to the farmhouse.

Love the color and texture of this silo.

Tool shed.

Stalls in the lower barn.

I can't tell you how much I loved the lower barn!  It didn't seem dirty or anything, although it needs a good cleaning out.  I loved the stalls, and especially the stone--just look at that texture!

I noticed the barn swallows making an entrance at the back, so I stood there for a while trying to get a good shot.  I must've taken 10-15 shots, and this was one of them and my favorite.

Windmill by the farmhouse.

View from the back deck.

The next-door-neighbors have horses.  :)

Garfield, one of the barn cats, walking along the second-story railing.  *yikes*

The sun setting behind the barn.

What a beautiful end to our first day on the farm!  I'll share more tomorrow--I had some flower fun with my macro lens!

Don't forget that you can purchase prints, etc. of my images--the farm-y and rural ones are here!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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