Just Pure Lovely

Filled Up

My computer is complaining and making grinding noises.  It's making it nearly impossible to write on the thing.  In the back of my mind, I wondered why it was such a mess, but just kept on filling it up until the day I received a little pop-up note that said some mumbo-jumbo about how the computer is rather full.

Rather.

I wondered why it would be rather full.  I don't have a lot of music on it, almost no video, but...oh, yeah, I do have pictures. 

36,404 of them. 

Who knew, right?

And there are 721 on my camera still waiting to download to my complaining, grinding machine that has no space for them.

I think I'm going to need to find a solution!  Do you have an idea of what to do?

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In the Middle

When I flew from Chicago to our home on the coast last week, there was an amazing sunset in the sky over Atlanta, complete with the brightest of stars, the planet Venus, I think. 

I've been mulling over this photo for the past week, along with a vertical one taken out of my airplane window a few minutes before...

...and I've been trying to come up with a brilliantly written post.

Sunsets like that should be accompanied by words about beginnings or endings or final days or some such, but.

We're just in the middle.

In the middle of our marriage.

In the middle of childrearing.

In the middle of our lives.

In the middle of making our million. 

...wait, no, actually, we're not even close to that.  Not a fraction of close to that.  I meant,we're..

In the middle of our dreams for the future.

In the middle of maturity.

So a sunset over Atlanta means, to me, that it's simply the middle of my journey from Chicago to Florida. 

There's nothing spectacular about the middle. 

It's not a fresh beginning.

It's not a satisfying ending.

The days can be ho-hum.

A moment is often the same as the last.

There aren't awards for being in the middle.

There aren't ribbons to cut.

But it's where we are. 

I like it here, in the middle.

It feels just right, for now.

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Chicago by Night

My friends and I got the sudden urge last weekend, at 1:30am, to drive to the "loop," Chicago's downtown.  We were just about the only ones on those city streets, a perfect time for some photos of Chicago by night.  

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Happy Valentine's Day!

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En Pointe

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Happy Autumn!

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(Photo by me, somewhere in North Carolina, October 2008.  My brother and his family are in the canoe)

Rebekah's Senior Pictures

Rebekah asked me to take her senior pictures.  

I don't do that picture-taking business, for money, for people.  I don't do let's-meet-at-6-and-hope-the-sun-is-just-right, and I really stink at flash photography and indoor lighting and fake poses.  I'm more of a hey-I-have-the-camera-with-me, look at that dappled light, kids, get out of the van, quick! kind of gal. 

For some reason, though, when Rebekah asked, my mouth said yes, sure, I'd love to. 

It's just that Rebekah likes Michael Buble and Jesus and writing, so I like Rebekah.  She's my type of gal and so if she wants me to take her senior pictures and if God will stop the sun in the sky just right, and if all the pictures can be taken outdoors... 

...yes, sure, I'd love to.

I was  nervous the days before we went out on our little photo "shoot." Shoot,  I've never done a photo shoot before.  All the what ifs? went through my mind.  My mind can be quite ridiculous.

As with most worries, I didn't need to worry.  God blessed us with not only a beautiful 17-year-old whose inner beauty shows up in her outer beauty, but He also blessed us by holding the sun in the sky just right. 

All I had to do was click a button.

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My Camera

While organizing the blog tonight, I created a "My Camera" page to give to those who ask about, well, my camera.  You can see the page in the left sidebar, under Pages, or click here.  I hope it will answer your questions!

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(Photo-) Shooting Alpacas

I had a great time shooting alpacas at the nearby farm about a week ago.  The gun?  My Nikon D40 with its big ol' lens. 

They are such graceful creatures.  I'd hug the entire bunch of them if I could, but they don't much like being touched, so were pretty skittish around me.  In the shot above, I'm about as close as I ever got (that's Alpaca Farm Girl's daughter by my side - she's 6 and she got into quite a few photos.  I can't resist photographing a cute kid, as you well know).

The Alpaca Farm Girl posted a few of my photos on her blog yesterday.  Keep checking there, and you just might see all 650 of them! ;) (I told you the secret to good photos is taking a zillion shots.  It's my secret anyway...until I get good enough to just snap a few instead of a few dozen...hundred).

It was a wonderful way to spend a sunny February afternoon!

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It's Weird. It's Entertaining. It's Cheap.

Every now and then, our kid does this...

He gathers assorted army men, puts them in different positions in a container, fills it with water, leaves it overnight, and then...

...then, he whacks at the ice block with a knife, sprinkles it with salt, and excavates the frozen army man.

It's weird.  It's entertaining. It's cheap.  

And so, we let it be.

 

Freezing army men?  Uh, huh, that works for me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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