Thursday, December 31, 2015

Looking back...

"For last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice.  And to make an end, is to make a new beginning. -T.S. Elliot

So Long 2015...

January: Lots of snow, our daughter-in-law hit the big 40, and pictures of us...house, grandkids,  and Maggie.


February:  More snow, Valentine's Day, February follies...that was postponed because of snow...Tate and Sawyer's 3rd birthday, and a painting day craft with friends Diane and Stephanie.


March:  February follies in March...Warren was Elvis Presley escaped from a nursing home, Baseball, Softball, WPPI conference with friends Diane, and Stephanie, photo shoot with grandkids, and Maggie.


April: another painting craft class, Warren biking and posing, flowers, Softball, Photoshoot with grandkids, my friend Ruth visited (I worked with her in Waco), Photo shoot with Stephanie DeFranco...I was Cruella in her 30 days of Disney challenge.

Cruel make up, hair, and photo done by Stephanie DeFranco

May:  Warren decided to retire after 43 years in practice.  It was bittersweet.  Sad to say good-bye to his amazing patients.  Sweet to look forward to him not working.  The McNally's and the Norris' had a wonderful surprise retirement party for him.  All the boys came to help with the celebration.  I made the cake.  It was a fun time.


May continued:  My Granddaughter turned 10, Mother's day, more baseball, Maggie, more photoshoots, Dr. Bond hospitalized.

Photo of Dr. Bond, and his wife taken by granddaughter, Stephanie DeFranco.
 June:  Lots of activities...birthdays, mine, and my grandson's, Father's Day, my frosted red hair, the gang is all here for the official retirement party on June 14, Luke does his first half ironman, my aqua class says good-bye to me, and we go to NC to help Luke with the twins.


July: Independence Day, Luke and I go to a 3D Minion Movie, Twins, Maggie, Warren, and I buy rain boots when I go to visit my friend, Pat in Tennessee.


August:  Luke's birthday, Maggie, Warren's brother, Bruce, visits, fun, and relaxing activities.


September:  I decide not to dye my hair anymore.  Last photo with dyed hair, and my new white hair, we buy a house in NC,  Warren and Luke participate in the Tour de Apple, and Apple carnival rides.


October:  Warren's birthday, Luke does his second half ironman, Luke visits Grandma Mac's old home in Albuquerque, my hiking friends, and best of all I get to meet my very favorite pastor, Alistair Begg, at the Cove.


November:  Our anniversary...we went to Tupelo Honey and had sweet potato pancakes, with Chicken on top,  I go to Dollywood to participate in a 5K run with my friends (it was at night through the Christmas lights...we wore reindeer antlers, and red noses), fall colors, Maggie, Luke, Hikes, and my photo of the pump jack was selected to appear in the Heritage Foundation's 2016 calendar...in the month of August, and Thanksgiving turkeys the boys made.


December:  Celebrating Christ's birth.  My Christmas tree on the front porch, Mark's birthday...I made him a cake shaped like a laptop computer, Christmas...Mark and Amber came, Warren relaxing, Christmas game of Bananagram, Twins, record storm in NM...grandkids in the backyard, and trees that are the view from our bedroom window.

Photo of snow and grandkids done by their Daddy.
It was a good exercise for me to go back through a year's worth of photos to try to select ones that reflected the most memorable moments of that particular month.  I remember not only the time and place, but the feeling, smells, and joys I had being present in that moment.  I love that about photography...how it stirs up all your senses as you remember.  Photography helps me remember, keeps the past in my present, but most of all, it is a spiritual practice as I seek to "find the light", I am communing with God, my light.  I gaze at all the wonder, majesty, and awe of His creation, and see how beautifully He has "knit" together the members of my family...and I praise Him.  I worship Him.  He is good, and good to me.  It has been a year of change for us...some very difficult, as well as heartbreaking.  But, all in all, it has been good.  We have found the blessings in the wilderness.  We say good-bye to 2015, and embrace and say hello to 2016.  

"It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life, and I'm feeling good." -"Feeling Good," Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.


Thursday, December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas...

For unto us a Savior is Born...


Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Mark's birthday...he's getting up in years...

"Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake." -unknown

Mark and Amber are here to help us celebrate Christmas.  Mark's birthday is 4 days before Christmas, so we could celebrate his birthday as well as Christmas.  Mark works as a web designer, so I thought it might be fun to make him a cake in the shape of a computer, and instead of putting the typical "Happy Birthday" on it, I would write happy birthday in Java...that is computer code, or something.  Not knowing anything about it, I called on my friend Gennean who has a son that is a computer expert... to see if he would write out the code for me.  He did, and explained that the color on the code had great significance.  Here is the cake I made, complete with code written by Karl.

there is a candle for each year of Mark's life...33.




Mark really liked his cake...he pretended to type on the keys...he liked the code.   He was very impressed, and even more so when he learned the cake was made by his very own, little mom.




For those who are wondering, the cake is chocolate with chocolate frosting under all the fondant.  I had to look online to see how to make the fondant...marshmallow fondant.  It is really easy to make, and shape.  I made the screen part of the cake from foam board, and used icing to "glue" it to the cake (keyboard portion), and to outline the board.  I cut out the Apple icon, and used two sided tape to attach it to the board.  It was very good cake.  And I think Mark had a Happy Birthday, indeed.  Many thanks go to Karl who wrote the code for me.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

A grandkid photo shoot...

"If I get one good photo, I will be happy." -Rob McKelvy

Sometimes trying to photograph kids is like nailing Jello to a wall.  I wanted to get some Christmas photos of my grandkids, and well...I got some interesting photos.

What??? you want some photos of me...

How about this pose?

Okay, I is this better?...

Or this?...

Yes, this is what I want...So handsome!  

Looking good...
Now how about the other grandson...
Not to bad...

Nice smile...

I told him to try to keep his eyes open a little more after I had about 20 pictures in a row with his eyes shut...

I just like this one...

Cuteness...

This one is not exactly the pose I had in mind, but they are both very happy.  So I will take it.

Brotherly love...



One of the boys favorite activities is skateboarding.  Luke always holds the skateboard while they are on it, and talks to them the whole time about where to look, and how to bend their knees.
Getting instructions on where to look...
Doesn't he look like a pro?
 Next one...

Getting the vision of where to look...

happiness for sure...
Okay...Warren was my guinea pig to test my exposure...so I couldn't leave him out.

Glad he is my man...
I love all these guys...Dearly...
That's my photo shoot!  

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Splendor...

"Days decrease, and autumn grows, autumn is everything." -Robert Browning

I thought I would do better at keeping up with my blog.  I have pretty much failed with my good intentions in "keeping up", which I hope to rectify somewhat.  It is so beautiful here (Hendersonville).  The trees have lost their leaves, but there is still so much beauty in the barren branches.  Add in the sprinkling of evergreen trees, drops of dew, snatches of color, and it is a gorgeous sight to behold.  Many mornings we wake to a covering of fog.  One day, I decided it would be fun to go out to photograph it.  I love the fog...well, not to drive in, but I love how it paints mystery to the landscape.  It was a great day for a photo walk...

It started with the trees we see outside our bedroom window.

Not far from where we live is a golf course that was purchased by the town of Flat Rock, and converted to a walking park...



It has the largest holly tree I have ever seen...



Nice autumn colors abound...

"Let me, o let me bathe my soul in colours; let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow." -Kahlil Gibran







"It is the still, yellow kind of afternoon when one is apt to get stuck in a dream if one sits very quiet." -Dodie Smith



It is a wonderful place to touch the face of God.  I love it here!
 
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