May 31, 2009


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    God's Creation

    Today was absolutely gorgeous.  The temperature was perfect, the sun was shining and I took a walk to see what I could capture.....


    This is the neatest blue.....



    Our Mock Orange Tree is BRILLIANT this year.



    A Swamp Iris



    Multi Flora Rose....can't you just smell them???  I wish I could find this scent bottled!

    This is the color version of the flower I had posted on last week's photo contest.
    For my own amusement...and even more truer today...which is not amusing.

     



    I love the moon up there to the left of the tail.....I am on the ground taking the picture...not in the air. 


    ....and this would be Pilgrim, our latest addition.  His Latin name is "Myotis KittyKatus."   
    He just has that little bat face. 



    Please visit HERE and read the pulse Amelia has posted...AND the article she links to.
    Arghhhh......doesn't any one else see this too???!!!!  Have we become so apathetic and do dumbed down to where we really are "sheeple" of the USA???? and not WE THE PEOPLE who remember what our forefathers did and said...remember the blood shed for our LIBERTY!!!  Get out of the censored text books students....read the real thing...dig in and learn the TRUTH before it is too late.  Am I all alone in seeing all the red  flags? 




    This week's photo contest is going to be very different! 
    Please check out the posters this time...a pretty neat idea.
    You can vote here  ----->  iliveinmycamera

May 25, 2009

  • This time last year....

    Our family was hurting big time a year ago and we had a vintage 1940's bicycle here that needed a complete stripping of paint and a complete over haul...new tires, new grips...the works.   It was our "therapy"  project.  My son,  daughter, husband and Grandpa Joe worked their tails off to get this bike restored for the WWII weekend we participate in.  They pulled it off in less than three weeks.   That was the beginning of our journey to healing....which takes a long time and I guess you just have to give it time and allow the Lord to work in your life however he sees fit. 

    So this "new" old bike will always remind us of how if you put your mind to it...you can overcome the seemingly impossible.   We found the bike at an antique mall for very cheap but someone had slopped on off white paint..all over it.  Now it is a restored blue...very close to the original color which we found when we took the handle bars out.  Time...it takes time....scrapping..chipping...grinding....shining...painting..oiling......
    Just like the grape vines need pruning to grow fruit more abundantly. 
    Why should we be any different? 

    Before






    After


    I have a photo posted on iliveinmycamera's contest this week.  You  must go  see the beautiful flowers posted in black and white.    This is the second part of the contest...mine was not up last week but it is this week.  I cannot tell you which is mine but please vote for your favorite!

May 17, 2009


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    Oooooo...I won the photo contest!!!!...there were only three of us but I think we all had fun.
    Thank you to all  who voted!

    Last week I was in Lancaster County and took some really fun shots and thought I would post some of them here.   It was laundry day and plowing day and the subject for the contest that week was Motion...so here are some of my motion pictures.....

    Wind Mill Really Spinning...


    Slow Motion


    Whoa!


    Leaning in for the Turn


    Blowing In The Wind

    Yesterday I learned how to change the front low beam light bulb in my van...whew...those Kia makers sure know how to make it "interesting."  But now I know and all is well and I am not longer a padiddle(one headlighter)...however you spell it. 

    There will be a new contest up this week, posted Monday morning sometime....all in black and white...artistic flowers.  I think you all will enjoy seeing these...especially you gardeners!  Here is the link.  http://iliveinmycamera.xanga.com/

    Have a blessed week!

May 11, 2009


  •

    Back in the late 1970's I worked for two summers at a place called Camp Merry Heart just outside of Hackettstown, NJ.  It is in northwestern NJ and in the mountains with lots of trees and fresh air.  I was a counselor the first year and the second year I was a counselor and the nature lady who ran nature classes.  The camp is for handicapped children and adults ranging from mild disorders to severe handicaps.  Those were the best two summers of my whole life.  I was in my early twenties and a sophomore and junior in college.  No where else had I ever learned to die to myself and be the arms and legs for another.  I was there from the beginning of June until the end of August. Every two weeks a new group of campers arrived. We had two weeks of adults then two weeks of little ones then two weeks of children from a home in the inner city and then two weeks of mixed handicaps...ranging from mentally handicapped to all sorts of physical handicapped.  Everyone loved being there.  I treasure those years. There was barely any time to devote to self...it was the perfect thing for me and for all the other counselors.  It was all about bringing joy into the lives of the campers and they did show their joy.  I would love to get in contact with anyone who worked there through the years and I do wish I would be able to find some of the campers I had under my charge.  I loved them all so dearly.  Have you ever heard of this place or have been there to work or as a camper?  It is still there. 
    I saw this video on you tube and I was so thrilled to see this tribute.  I hope you are     too.

    Also...the new photos will be up today on iliveinmycamera.  The subject this week is "broken or busted."

    Duckies in profile pic...are from a little visit to a little place my family took me to for Mother's Day....They were soooo much fun to watch!

May 4, 2009

  • It is MAY???....how did THAT happen? 
    First of all I want to thank any of you who voted on the liveinmycamera weekly photo contest.  Didn't I go and tie for first place along with Kathleen.  Yay!!!!!  Congratulations Kathleen!


    I've said this before but here I go again.....when the new assignment comes out it is just like a treasure hunt, trying to look for and find photo opportunities for that week's topic.  You do not have to have a fancy camera at all...just follow your instincts and look for that shot...or make that shot happen.  But the point I am trying to make is that it is a nice challenge...for me anyway.  Anyone can enter and the more the merrier.    This upcoming week's assignment is Motion.....it should be very interesting.  I know I had fun with it.
    *EDIT*  The new pictures will be up Monday by noon EST.  The subject is MOTION.
    Ooooo...they are going to be good!


    Through someone here on Xanga, Kelli, I think it was you, I found a video of a young gal, Deborah Drapper,  in England who is so wise for her age and such a delight.  You can see the video here and this is the link to her blog.  She is an encouragement to me and I hope she is for you too. 

    Now, finding the time to do everything...how does one do that?  My garden is screaming for me to pay some attention to it and I gently holler back..."I AM TRYING!!!" 
    There are some new herbs to plant and some pretty little flowers to put into containers and such.  This week looks like rain all week but I will try to get in there between the rain drops.  The guys have been trying to squeeze fishing in too.  This is my husband's therapy after some long hard days at work and some other pressures of life.  It usually de-stresses him and he comes home a little lighter.  He can spend quiet time talking with the Lord and just "be."  Like father like son, as Will does the same thing.  They do not get to go a lot but are very blessed to have some great fishing spots near to our home.  They throw everything back....very gentle to the fishies....they never use barbs.
    Often, they don't catch anything...it is just the being out in the woods or by the stream listening to all of nature.  Last evening my husband said there were so many different birds singing at once that he could not even distinguish any one bird's song. 
    I guess that moment may not have been too relaxing! 

    I've got a question.  I am in the market for a sewing machine and fell for one and wondered if any of you sewers out there might be able to share opinions about this one or if you have one, what do you think?  It is a Elna Q6600.  I know Elna is Swiss made and recently owned now by Janome.  My daughter has a Janome which she loves but this Elna has stitches on it that no one else has or can share.  It is not high end quilting which is fine with me.  I just want to make things and create new things from old things.  Any comments regarding this are most welcome! 

    Sad, sad news from my garden..I almost forgot to mention this.  I was weeding a bit on the outside edge of my garden fence and just about grabbed hold of and actually touched...the tail of a snake!    Good grief! What was THAT doing there???  I'll tell you what it was doing....it was eating Francis, my garden toad!!!  It was too late to save him...he was 1/4 of the way in the snake's mouth and bleeding.  So I did all I could do...I got my camera. It sure did not take long for that snake to ....what do you call that...he wasn't chewing....ummmmm....swallowing maybe???  I have never seen this in person so I watched.  I have a fantastic picture but not sure you all want to actually see it?  Will was kind enough to scoop the snake up for me and relocate it across the road into some woods.  He can go eat someone elses' toads!  To my knowledge it was a garter snake...but unlike any I have seen around before.  There was one suggestion to chop it's head off and I for a moment considered it thinking...well...will Francis then pop out?  But..on further pondering thought that absurd and perhaps I watched too many cartoons when I was little. 
    So....the snake is alive and well and Francis provided him nourishment just as the Lord intended. 

    Till next time......

April 27, 2009


  •

    Awwwww.....isn't he a cutie?  I rounded the corner of my herb garden the other day and this is what I saw.  Thankfully I had my camera in my hand and captured the moment.
    That is a junk art bird house and bird bath made out of a pitch fork, tea pot and frying pan....and the kitty is Figero.   



    PS....Just so you don't worry....I did have a full dish of FRESH water on the porch for him...I guess the rusty kind tastes better! 


    There are new pictures up for this week's photo contest.
    Be sure to check them out here...and vote. 

April 21, 2009


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    SPRING!!!!!!!!
    Yay!!!!!


    There are 13 great photos posted on iliveinmycamera and I entered this week.  There is some serious competition!  I think you will enjoy seeing all the entries.  Please vote for your favorite. 

    It has been a sad week for us....our very close and long time friends of 14 years have moved clear across the country.  They are traveling all this week to their new destination.  Our children have grown up together and when they lived right behind our house they played together every day.  So you can imagine what an adjustment this is going to be.  They have nine children from the ages of 2 to 18 and I can't tell you how hard it was saying good bye on Sunday evening.  We've done a lot together through the years and it has been such a thrill to be there when each one of the last five were born.  We had them here for dinner on Friday evening and we all had one last Virgina Reel together for a long time.  My computer is giving me fits this week, so I will have to post some pics later.  I am borrowing someone's lap top to write this.  I am so sorry for not visiting and commenting to everyone but as soon as my pc is fixed I will be around. ...and get those posts up that I have promised.


    God Bless you all my friends!

April 6, 2009

  • Last week I, along with some other friends, had a giant used home school book sale.  The turn out was much better than I expected and most of us sold a lot.  I have TONS of stuff left and hope to sell it at another sort of local home school convention that is coming up in June.  The years are winding down for me...I say with some sadness.  When you have been doing something every day for 21 years....well...it is just going to be way different.  BUT, I still have a whole year plus left, so what am I mourning over already!?  Good grief...we have lots to do yet! 

    Will passed his driver's test this past Friday too.  He had his permit for almost a year.  We were not in any big hurry for him to take his test, so we took our time.  His dad took him driving lots of places and they practiced like crazy for the parallel parking part of the test.  Yay!!!  It all paid off.  I never am nervous driving with him...he is cautious and thinks first always. 

    Easter, already???  How did that happen?  Here is a neat tradition.  I like to go to the Moravian Easter Dawn Service which is held in a church building that was built by Moravian settlers in 1846.  The church is way in the country and even though the Moravians do not use that church building for their regular services, they do meet there once a year for this service.  This building is so neat...and old...wavy window glass and wooden floors and wooden pews that are separated in the middle.  It also has a very neat old pink pipe organ.  Oh!  I love to hear it being played.  At sunrise we leave the building and walk up a hill to the grave yard while the brass choir is playing and we sing hymns as the sun is coming up.  One time...oh please forgive me...but one time many many years ago, the pastor was praying and out of no where came a very loud cow mooing.  It was just one of those moments....where you know it is a serious moment but then your silly cousin is standing next to you and begins to giggle and you know how contagious that can be....oh me oh my!  Well..wouldn't you know I STILL remember that moment and when I am standing out there in the still of the morning...hoping a cow does not moo....I have to fight my giggles.
    After the service everyone meets in the little fellowship building and has Moravian Sugar Cake and coffee or tea. 

    While I am not a member of the Moravian Church, I still go.  I love the tradition and the history.  I love to hear the brass choir play the hymns of old.  I miss my aunts and uncles who use to always be there and now suddenly I am their age when I thought they were so "old."   Funny how that is.

    It is a new week and there is also a new photo contest.
    This week the subject is Silverware. 
    The pictures are up and they are good!
    I entered this week too. 

     Check them out and please vote for your favorite. 

April 1, 2009

March 30, 2009

suzsea

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