California visit...and texture Tuesday...

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.  The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over, and let the beautiful stuff out." -Ray Bradbury

I think the above quote is perfect for this picture!  I am on the front of the cup...just pour me out.  I got the cup as a free offer.  It is the right size for a pumpkin spice latte which is a perfect beverage for the middle of the afternoon.  Yum...so good.  I am linking this up with Kim Klassen's texture Tuesday.  I have not participated in it since before Christmas.

kk_waterfront18, soft light 100%, kk_scripted,soft light, 100%, kk_rien, multiply, 56%, masked painted over the cup.  

I am so behind in my posting, so I am going to catch up by going back to the end of December when we took a trip to LA to see Mark and Amber.  We flew into the DFW airport, where boarded our plane, and sat at the gate for an hour, because there was a dent in our airplane.  They had to get a mechanic to come make a decision as to whether our airplane was flight worthy with the dent.  Thank goodness it was approved for flight.

The delay put us into LAX in the evening.  I was glad this was our final destination.  Mark and Amber live only 15 minutes from the airport.  We were very excited to see their new apartment.  They always select places where there are nearby stores, and fun things to do.  Our hotel was just across the parking lot from their apartment.  This was very handy.

Zach joined us for our California adventure.  We were very happy he was able to get time off to join us.

Mark, Zach, Warren

 We all went for a walk to take in the sights...with a stop at Starbucks for tea, and coffee.

Mark waits outside of Starbucks with Oliver.  

 Amber's brother, Tony, joined us for the afternoon, and dinner at this fantastic barbecue joint.

Warren, Tony, Zach (look at his eyes), Mark, and Amber.  

Then football game watching time for the guys...

 Head shots...when we were out and about...

Mark...

Zach...

Amber...

Of course, we had to take a walk along the beach...it was such a gorgeous day!

Amber and Mark...

Amber working, and a view of their kitchen.  Amber always has such pretty flowers on the table.  

Oliver...isn't he so cute?

 We grilled burgers...well Zach grilled burgers for our evening meal.  Mark supervised.  Their apartment has an amazing outdoor pool with nice grills, and fire pits around it.  There are nice tables for eating outside, and that is exactly what we did...eat outside.  Amber's mom joined us for dinner. Very nice, and pleasant...and good, good food.

Zach and Mark...

That evening we went to get some sunset photos of the beach.  It was a beautiful sunset.

And we cannot forget the family in the sunset...

Zach...

A little chilly in the water...

Mark standing, me kneeling getting a photo...

Now it is Zach's turn to get a photo...Mark is standing close to the water's edge...gazing at God's glorious sunset.

Just Mark...

Mark, and Zach looking mean, sort of...

Mark wanted me to take some head-shots to use on his website, so we took a lot of photos.

These are the unedited ones.

This is not one he can use, but I like it a lot...

We took the photos in their bedroom since it had good window light.  (SOOC-straight out of the camera)

This one I took as we were finishing...also, not to be used.

Here are a few of the edited ones.  He wanted them on a white background, so I extracted him, and put him on a white background, just like he wanted.  

We left sunny California just in time to catch a snow storm here at home.

Our Maggie was so glad we were home.  

I am now caught up on all the activities for December.  Yeah...

Some snow photos

"When snow falls, nature listens." -Antoinette van Kleeft

I love fresh fallen snow...the whiteness, the crisp air, the quiet, and the beauty of it all.  Truly a bit of God's handiwork!  I am in the process of catching up on long overdue posts.  Snow scenes are among them.  I like to see how I can capture the ordinary in an extraordinary way.  I like any kind of street scene.  I think our street is lovely covered in snow.

Snow on the boughs of some of our pine trees.

One of my resolutions for the new year is to do a 'Photo Art' picture once a month.  This month, I chose a snow picture of my grandkids.  I know it does not look like it, but I converted the photo into a sketch, then added back just a little of the detail in the photo.  I added a light post to the right side of the photo like the scene in the Chronicles of Narnia. If you look at it closely, you can see rays of light coming out where the light bulb would be in the lamp post.   I am pleased with the results of my photo art.

"Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest

is a faithful messenger to those who send him,

for he refreshes the soul of his master."

                                               -Proverbs 25:13

Christmas...a little late...

"Better late than never..." -old saying.

Yes, I know, I am a little behind.  Christmas has come and gone, but the memories linger on.  Ones that I definitely want to share.  So here is a look back...part one.

My husband has the most awesome office staff.  They keep everything running smoothly for him, and as a result, I have a happy, unstressed hubby. (thank you girls!). The girls add fun to the office.  On Christmas Eve, they all wore "ugly" sweaters.  Even my husband.  No Grinch for him! Don't they look festive, and cute!

He took all the girls out for a Christmas lunch.  The kids are not part of the staff...they are patients, and our grandkids.  They stayed with us a couple of days, so they came along.  They added to the festivities.

While the grandkids were staying with us, we did a lot of crafts.  One of the bigger, more involved craft was making wooden Christmas trees.  Of course, Pawpaw had to cut them out for us.  Since he did not have a table saw, he had to improvise.  He needed a helper to hold the board still.  It was quite the project.

This is how our wooden trees turned out.  Each grandkid got their own set of 3, and I made one for myself.  That meant PawPaw had to cut out 9 trees.  Thank you, PawPaw...you are our hero!

We, also, made these cute snowman candy wraps.  They are made from the mini Hershey bars (see in the photo the krackel and hershey bars?).  My granddaughter painted the faces.  My grandson, cut the fingers off the gloves for the hats, and I glued the paper, and bells.

We made huge paper snowflakes...It is hanging down in the middle of our table from the light fixture.  And note our three sets of wooden Christmas trees on the table.

Here's a better look at our snowflake.  It sort of looks like Warren's hat, but it is not.

One night we all went out to eat at our local Burger King.  We met some people we know there, so we took a selfie.  Selfies are the best.

After we ate, we went to look at Christmas lights...

These were my favorite lights....

Here is what they were pointing to...and there was music playing as well.

We took a lot of photos...

We did not have a Christmas tree this year.  Instead, I used a sled, and put gifts in and under it.  Maggie thought this was her new play land, and that the ribbons were there just for her to chew on.

I finally had to turn the packages upside down so she couldn't chew on the ribbons.  

The art gallery here has a class once of month where we are taught how to paint something.  For December, we painted an angel.  It is always a lot of fun with about 16 ladies.  We sometimes have some pretty interesting paintings.

My friend Diane always goes with me.  

Here's an unclose photo of my finished angel.  I really liked this class, and how my angel turned out.

Then came Christmas.  Whew!  We are finally to Christmas.  Our son, and his family came over for Christmas dinner, and yes, I had to take photos.  These two look real excited about the whole thing. Such enthusiasm!

Thank goodness, they were transformed from Grinches to happy Christmas faces.

Like I said, "Better late, than never."..we hope you had a Merry Christmas...

We did...

See what he puts up with?

  

We do have fun...And I could hug the stuffing out of him...

 I have to end with some artful shots.

And a backwards glance from Maggie, too!

Hugs!