Enough Said for Friday Finds!

Spring is definitely here...and yesterday I spied a favorite whose color is brilliant but whose bloom is all too fleeting.  No words today...just enjoy their show.

Enjoy this fleeting season...

Lessons from Lambs - A Friday Finds

Maybe we came to West Virginia a week too early...or maybe Spring is a week late...(the high mountains are still pretty dormant).

But the timing for finding lambs could not have been more perfect!!!

We came across a flock of about 200 ewes...and the owner/caretaker said they average 2 lambs each.

Then things began to get very active...they were all very aware of their owner...and began crossing the road to follow him.  At first, mostly the ewes...

Then the lambs started to catch on...to follow their moms to the action.  But what was the action?

He brought out a tractor with a contraption that spread corn all over the grass. 

The ewes were ON it...like white on rice...and the lambs could not get a look for nothin'!

And even lambs who were in the thick of it even seemed clueless (or perhaps this one already had the pecking order down and knew it wasn't his turn)...so much to learn when you're a baby!

But I could not help but be fascinated at how these sheep knew who their shepherd was. It was obvious this was the owner and not just a hired hand.  They knew who cared for them.  And they never let him out of their sight, followed them without straying to the right or to the left, without doubt or fear.  Just having celebrated Easter, I thought about how Christ proclaimed to be the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep in John 10.  And the characteristics of His sheep are plain and simple:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)

Oh that I might follow my Shepherd as this gift of grace found in these sheep on the backroads today.

Absent without Leave

Here it is the end of March and no blog posts this month!  What is wrong with me?  I think the winter has seemed so long and inspiration has waned.  Forgive me?

So when the well is dry...I go dig into some Kim Klassen fun!

She gave us this image to do with as we want (this is the original above).

I edited in Lightroom 5.3 and added Kim's texture Petra in hard light, soft light and added a wrinkled paper texture I purchased with a HUGE vintage bundle from Design Cuts.

Truthfully...I started a Becky Higgins' course, Project Real Life, that has taken a lot of my extra time.  I'll be sharing!  The Project Life bug has bit bad!

So on this cloudy, rainy, gray day...I'll continue to lay back (I'm on call this weekend) and see what other creative mischief I can get into while Ricky Skaggs plays in the background.

PS:  Feels good to get a post in...

A Thank You and Changing It Up

I have not posted a Texture Tuesday in quite some time...Kim Klassen's feature every Tuesday...

But first...

Thank you for all the wonderful feedback and encouragement you have given me after my last post...some posted on my blog and others communicated with me privately.  I will be responding to each of you in the next days to come...until then...know that each one of you are amazing!  My hope is that my openness will encourage others they are never alone...

I was so attracted by this green and white barn on an unpaved road in the back hills outside of Elkins, West Virginia.  Pairing it with Kim's texture, Bamboo, gave it a soft airy look in early Spring.  Interestingly enough, when I took the photograph, I never noticed the solitary little red tulip in the foreground.

That little bonus made this photo even a little more sweeter!

Happy Texture Tuesday!

You Can't Have One Without the Other

As I progress through the current book I'm reading...The Gifts of Imperfection...by Brene' Brown.  She's spent her career as a researcher of shame and resilience, spending the past ten years focusing how the gifts of imperfection can lead to wholehearted living.

She writes about over the years to research...there are certain concepts that cannot stand alone.

The concepts of joy and gratitude...without gratitude, there is no joy.

A virus got ahold of me and kept me in the house for four days...as well as took my voice.  We have had the long-awaited 70-degree spring, sunny days those four days.  I felt as if I might miss Spring in Ohio because I couldn't get out in it.

I went back to work today...at about 50%...but I went.  After dinner, Edster and I took a walk with the doggies...a slow stroll through the neighborhood.  I inhaled the Spring air and each bloom and blossom were eye candy as all the lawns were a lush green.  I viewed the neighborhood a little differently...a gratitude walk...not only to be outside, but to have the privilege to be surrounded by the brief beauty of the choreography of Spring.

And then there it was...the reviving of joy in the deepness of my soul.

My God, you are so creative and so amazing by what I see...how can anyone deny you or think that for one moment a relationship with the God of the Universe is dull.

A Sense of Place - Our Home for a Week

We are up in the Stuart Recreation Area of the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia...renting a home on a mountain...about 5 miles from the nearest paved road...overlooking the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River...

Spring in West Virginia...like everywhere else...has been slow comin' especially compared to the early  Spring down here this time last year.  As you can see, the May Apple on the property is just starting to open their "umbrella tops."

...and leaves just starting to pop forth.  Things are further along down in Elkins, however, where the elevation is lower (photos to come from our photowalk we plan to take today).

Actually things looked a little "gnarly" up here on the mountain...stacks of tree branches everywhere and a lot of trees snapped in two. (Actually this scene isn't too bad because I didn't take ones of the really bad areas...this was on our property...but you can see piles of branches to the right...).

West Virginia folks are folksy...especially when they don't think you're here trying to take advantage of their wealth of natural resources.  History has taught them a hard cruel lesson about quickly trusting outsiders...

(Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

Yesterday...as we traveled down the mountain...we ran into a WVDOT worker running a grater continuing to clean up the road from debris.  I yelled out the window, "Hey...I gotta question."  He turned off his motor and said, "Yes, ma'am?"  "What happened up here?"  "Ever hear of a storm called Sandy?"  (I love the sound of a West Virginian voice...hard to believe my parents worked to hard to lose their drawls to assimilate into northeast Ohio.)

And then I recalled national TV reporters broadcasting from Elkins...and did some "review" on the internet...how soon we forget.  Talk about a change of perspective...now I appreciated the survival of those among the remnants of that perfect storm...

I'll be the first to tell you...it is hard to get photos of a place before the Edster starts putting luggage and bags and jackets on every empty flat surface within 3 seconds.  But I did grab this quickie of this long table for eating (beautiful without the pads on).

And next to the phone on the counter in the kitchen is the gentle warning sign...

This is the main living area...and while there is a flatscreen TV...there is NO cable...thank God!

And yet there were games...where you could find out it was the maid in the library with the candlestick who did it...

And a large variety of DVDs...but Deliverance?  How stereotypical! (smile)  Okay I confess:  We brought along about a dozen DVDs ourselves which DID include The Hatfields & McCoys miniseries...

And somebody likes Oprah...(that's one of Arthur's toys in front)...

And there were three bathrooms...this one with a huge jacuzzi tub.  This entire house is filled with light, many windows and many skylights from all the ceilings...

And a variety of little details...but let me take you outside...

The deck/porch wraps around the entire home...with ample sitting room...overlooking the property and Shavers Fork...

And a walkway...leading across a swampy area filled with skunk cabbage into a spacious grassy areas along the riverbank...

And here's the view from there...(okay, I struggled with aligning this photo -- do I make the roofline straight or the deckline straight...obviously I couldn't do both...I chose roof.)

Then this gorgeous river, which I might add...

Arthur unknowingly explored...

But he dried out in the end...no worse for wear...loving his bone...

I've only scratched the surface of our wonder home away from home and hope to grab some more photos before we leave...

...but I hope this gives you a sense of place.

March - Schmarch!

For the love of Mike, where did February go?  March is here and I am SO not ready...but that's another story.

But how can one help but focus on Spring...especially being in the middle of the Lenten season.

So Day 6 in Kim Klassen's Beyond Beyond class...we were challenged to take photos "From Above."

Here's some of my renderings...paired with quotes about Spring...

Texture used here is Kim's 1301...

The same texture was used for this one, as well...

These next two photos are not from above but ones I tok from the same setting...

Again using 1301 texture, which I think works great here...

And if it's not broke, don't fix it...so I used 1301 texture here, as well...

Additionally, Kim provided one of her Lightroom presets (barely color) and gave us a few secrets to use in Lightroom to give the effects below.  Again...I can't share the secrets...my gangsa KK groupies will find me and cut me... They are obsessed!

This is using Kim's texture called Chilled...

And I liked it on the first one, I used Chilled again.

I think this quote is very appropo for the month of March...it is SUCH a tease...

Who knew Sitting Bull could be so eloquent?...

And this is just part of how I responded to Kim's challenge for Day 6...

And just how are you feeling about Spring?