237/365

Baseball Discussion

Some pitching discussion at a high school baseball game.

183/366

Graffiti

The topic for my photo group competition last week was graffiti.  Somehow I managed to miss this wall in downtown Abilene.  I found plenty of murals. Murals didn't count for the competition.

I guess I just didn't look hard enough.

145/366

Flowering Tree

I have no idea what this tree is, but it sure is pretty.  It's the only one of this road.

My heart is grateful for:

the beautiful weather today

241/365

At the Splash Pad

My town has several of these fun splash pads scattered around.  My daughter takes the kids to them pretty regularly, but this is the first time I was able to meet them this summer.  The huge bucket (in the upper right corner) fills with water and then dumps out.  The kiddos aren't brave enough yet to stand where the water cascades down, so my daughter was giving them a demonstration.  

My heart is grateful for:

how kid friendly my town is

219/365

Power Grid

On my way home today I drove out of my usual route through a new neighborhood and came across this power grid.  It was the best I could do today.

This evening I was sorting through one of my bookcases with the intention of getting rid of some of the books.  I came across some self-published books that were made from my blog posts in the years 2009, 2010 and 2013.  The name of the company is "Sharedbooks".  It was a very simple process.  After registering, you would indicate the dates you wanted to print and the site would pull all the blog posts of the dates indicated and print them into a book.  The pictures are small, I don't remember there being an option to increase the size, and the text didn't always line up with the pics, but it was a cool way to preserve the blogposts.  

Looking at those books, I was surprised at what I took pics of and the text I included.  These days I'm lucky if I can find anything to photograph and it seems like I have nothing to say.  

I'll have to look and see if the company still exists.  I might get another book made of my more recent posts.  Maybe my kids will be glad to have them.  If not, they can toss them.

I'm grateful today for:

the homemade bread my friend gave me yesterday and the great grilled ham and cheese sandwich I made for lunch today with that bread

99/365

Partial Silhouette

I was out today enjoying the incredibly beautiful weather and looking for a photo op.  I was at the local park/lake when I saw this scene.  The people were spaced apart nicely and when I saw the image on my camera it looked like a great partial silhouette.

So there ya go.

My heart is grateful today for:

ice cream

9/365                The Mermaid

So...it's been such a long while since I've posted.  Unbelievably,  I've almost forgotten about my blog.  The days when I posted everyday or even once a week are long gone.  I've been concentrating on Flickr and Fine Art America right now.  Also, I still struggle with what to take photos of.  

Years ago when my friends and I challenged each other to post every day, I forced myself to photograph any ordinary things within my vision. I should probably just do that again instead of waiting for inspiration, which seldom provokes me to photograph these days.  There are about 34 days until the end of the year~~maybe that's what I'll do.  Take a photo of anything, post it and add a little text about why I thought that item was worthy.

But here's today's image.  I took a trip to San Angelo, Texas a few weeks ago.  They have a River Walk and this mermaid statue is one of the destinations along the way.  She intrigues me every time I see her.

Almost Year's End

5/365

"Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written".  Jn 21:25

I was just looking back on the posts from this year, a paltry 4 before this one.  I can hardly believe that's all I posted.  Where has the year gone?  And how bad of me that I didn't post more!  And just 4 posts in spite of my determination to post at least once a week.  Ooops.

So much has happened this year both good and sad.  I stayed in NY last winter for the first time in 10 years.  It was nasty cold with a lot of snow, but my hiking buddies and I managed to get out to snowshoe or use spikes almost once a week, which made the winter a little more tolerable. 

This Fall we continued finding trails and the one below is one of the last hikes we did before the weather turned snowy.

Last April my youngest daughter and her husband were blessed with their firstborn child.  James made his arrival three weeks early but completely healthy and happy.  The parents are over the moon.

8 months in this picture

In May my oldest grandson graduated from college.

         This past summer one of our hiking buddies passed away after a 2-year long struggle with bone cancer.  I was out of state at the time.  We think about her every time we hike.  She is missed.

In early October I attended my 50th College Reunion in Jamestown, ND.  I hadn't been back or seen anyone from my class in all those years.    Everyone reconnected so easily and we had such a great time.  It was a bittersweet weekend.

           In late November my second oldest grandson began his BB season so I spend a lot of time attending his games.  After this year's season there are only two more seasons to go.  That is, until the little guy starts sports.

 

 That's a quick review of the past year.  In between the big events were all the mundane activities that make up a life.  Sometimes those mundane things seem bothersome or annoying or pointless.  When I feel that way I try to remember how much I'm blessed 

*with good health

*with family

*with adequate finances

*with friends

*with a nice home

*and on it goes

Basically I try to keep things in perspective.