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...

Craving Inspiration on a Textured Tuesday

I have always been one who loves all four seasons...but I must admit that I am weary of the colorless winter.

I pulled out this photo from June of 2011...drawn by the color.  Worked it up in Lightroom 5 and added Kim Klassen's waterfront27 texture.

The theme this  TextureTuesday is "still," and I thought this quote would complement this nicely.

A Quickie Post - Textured Tuesday

I have been totally enjoying Becky Higgins' course, Project Real Life...

This week we are to be pondering and photographing our gratitude (which we should be practicing daily)...

Yesterday, I sat on the bed and was so grateful for the birds at my feeders...

I love the softness that comes from having the window screens still in and combining that effect with Kim Klassen's texture "love."

And, of course, Mrs. Cardinal waits her turn...

How grateful I am for the gifts of nature just outside my window.

Ohio North to I 80 West

...and forty hours later I would be there!

God has blessed me with a dear friend whose face I have not seen "live" in 34 years.  We left our respective high schools and ended up at a small Christian college in central Ohio.  Going separate ways after college, we reconnected on Facebook 30-some years later.

Beth lives in Eugene, Oregon.  I'm in Akron, Ohio.  I could hop in my Honda go a few miles north and get on the Ohio turnpike (I-80) and head west.  With my Eas-Z Pass in check, I would not need change for tolls.  And 40 hours later..I could squeeze her face, embrace her, share smiles and cuppas.

A dream that warms my heart...but for now, I must savor her spirit from afar.

Beth is a kindred spirit.  Beth and I are both social workers by training...and embrace that profession.  We both love reading, books, thoughts, and ideas.  We are both very spiritual people with a love for our Creator.  We both crave nature, silence, and solitude...as well as journaling and cuppas of coffee or tea with a dear friend or alone.  We are both comfortable in our own skin in our mid-50s after doing a lot of personal work and allowing God to mold us into the person He intended us to be, which sometimes means taking roads less traveled.

She has the practice of gratitude down to a science!  Who would doubt that the closest person to her is named Joy?????!!!!  And her letters and posts always make me smile and feel refreshed.  There's so much of each us to experience and share with each other which is challenging at a distance...which can only be fully appreciated face to face.  But for now I treasure the dear heart and friend she is to me.  (Stills include some items she sent me in a birthday care package including a homemade card she made, an issue of Kinfolk, a handwritten letter, plus some other treats.  Texture used on all images:  Kim Klassen's waterfront23 for Texture Tuesday.)

By the way, because of Beth living where she lives, rooted for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl!  Must've been why they won!  She roots for my Mountaineers...and I root for her Ducks!

A Quote for Textured Tuesday

Linking up today with Kim Klassen and Texture Tuesday...I came across this photo and re-edited it using her texture, "cora."  Taken at dusk, there was a subtle pink hue to the sky.

And this quote from Charles Spurgeon really cuts to the marrow...

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. . . . Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord. . . .” 

― Charles H. Spurgeon

Slow Me Down That I May See

My pastor showed this video in church and to much chagrin...I believe this is so true.

A social experiment was done in a Washington DC subway, captured in the Washington Post article, Pearls Before Breakfast, showing how busy and pre-occupied we are as a society that we are not present to the goodness around us.  Joshua Bell is a Grammy-award winning violinist and conductor, once a child prodigy, playing on an instrument worth $3 million.  Watch as he plays in the subway area of DC as people go to work.



I believe he earned approximately $30 in his open violin case and very few paid him any attention at all.

This strikes so much conviction in my heart...as I know my heavenly Father is lavishing wonderful gifts upon me continually that go unnoticed because I fail to see...to stop...to contemplate...to listen...to notice.  If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?  Am I missing???

I'm sure I am not alone.

Weekend Highlights on a Textured Tuesday

I'm linking up today with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday...

Edster and I (and the dogs) went to Berlin, Ohio this past weekend...right in the middle of the largest Amish community in the world.  It was my birthday...and it was good to escape from the city to the simplicity of this rural life.

This man, a blacksmith, had just replaced this horse's shoes and took him for a walk to check his work.  Of course, the dog had to go along...

.
I came across five horses standing along the road...used most likely for transportation.  Here is a photo of three of them with Kim's waterfront27 texture.  They were all black...

except for this one.  This gorgeous Percheron (shown with Kim's 0212 texture) was stunning...

And I could not take my eyes off of him and those white lashes!

There is nothing so pristine as Amish farms...where nothing goes to waste. (Texture used is Kim's brisbane and sybil.)

I was moved as I contemplated how materialism complicates our life so much...and what we miss because of it.  I saw this buggy in the distance while it was snowing and the sun peeking through.  (Texture used is Kim's waterfront17.) One phrase came to my mind..."live simply."

Now, I must say that I am very hesitant to photograph the Amish, respecting their beliefs.  I try to be non-intrusive, never photographing a full face...often photographing from behind or from a distance.  At most...a profile.  But I was blessed by this bonus of ice skating youth on a frozen pond.  Watching them for nearly a half an hour, watching their smiles and their antics.  They were living their lives.  And one phrase came to mind..."simply live."

It was a beautiful weekend with those I love in a rural land truly and simply all its own.