A time to be Thankful

Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend and even though blessings are not only bestowed on us this one weekend, but every day of the year, we usually take time to acknowledge what we are thankful for in our lives.  During this past year, I have thought a lot about what I am thankful for in my life.

First, my husband of 37 years who has been my partner, my friend and my rock.  I can’t imagine my life without him.

My children, each special and unique in different way.  They have brought me years of laughter, joy and pride.

My daughter-in-law and son-in law.  Both intelligent, thoughtful and caring people.  They have completed our family.  They bring joy to my heart and knowing that my children will be taken care of long after I’m gone, gives me peace.

The grandchildren.  The special little ones who have come into our lives.  Little beacons of light that light up the dreariest of days.

I’m also thankful for life. To be able to get up every morning and watch the sunrise or see the Northern lights dancing above our house, hearing the coyotes howl, the birds sing or even the crunch of the leaves as the squirrel scurries about.  The friendships with the people I've met over the years and the friendships I've developed over time online with so many wonderful photographers and great women have helped me through some rough patches this year. 

So many things to be thankful for, but I am really not  thankful for this nasty cold that has developed over the weekend.

Yellow Roses

The Rose Beyond The Wall - A. L. Frink

Near a shady wall a rose once grew,

Budded and blossomed in God's free light,

Watered and fed by the morning dew,

Shedding it's sweetness day and night.

As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,

Slowly rising to loftier height,

It came to a crevice in the wall

Through which there shone a beam of light.

Onward it crept with added strength

With never a thought of fear or pride,

It followed the light through the crevice's length

And unfolded itself on the other side.

The light, the dew, the broadening view

Were found the same as they were before,

And it lost itself in beauties new,

Breathing it's fragrance more and more.

Shall claim of death cause us to grieve

And make our courage faint and fall?

Nay! Let us faith and hope receive--

The rose still grows beyond the wall,

Scattering fragrance far and wide

Just as it did in days of yore,

Just as it did on the other side,

Just as it will forever-more.

My Mother In Law passed away last Saturday and her funeral was held this week.  She loved yellow roses and her husband of 64 years wanted to make sure she had yellow roses.  As tough as the week has been, it was wonderful to see how a family came together during a time like this.  She would have been so proud of her children, grand-children, nieces and nephews and friends supporting her husband and each other.  She has not been well during the past couple of years and we all knew she was now free of pain and in peace.

It's time like this that make you sit back and take a look at your own life.  I did not grow up in a home like the Walton's and I do realize that someday I will have to handle the arrangements for my parents, probably on my own. It's also the time I appreciate my own husband, our children and their spouses.  No, my kids didn't grow up in the Walton's house either, but our family does have a special closeness.  Recently, I heard my daughter and her husband talking to my son and his wife and the words "But don't tell anyone yet, because we not making it public" warmed my heart to know that they're close enough to share special secrets.

Grandma's Phlox

A sure sign of summer in the garden is the pink phlox blooming in my wildflower garden.

At the same time, the lilacs bloom, the Swallowtail Butterflies return and summer gardening begins.  The phlox has always been one of my favorites for the macro lens. The tiny delicate pink flowers contrasting with the green stems make them perfect for a shallow depth of field and they appear to float above the greenery. 

The little pink phlox reminds me of my Grandma and makes me smile.  The gardens in her neighborhood always contained these beautiful mounds of pink flowers.  She was an avid gardener, first on the farm out of necessity and later in the city because of her love of gardening. When we moved to the acerage I had asked her for a little piece of this flower to plant in my first flower bed.  I didn’t realize it at the time because she had so many flowers, but she didn’t have any phlox in her yard but the library down the street and the neighbors did have mounds of it. 

I never did find out where mine came from. Grandma’s been gone for many years now, but I’m always reminded of her when the phlox booms.

And speaking of wildflowers, I found this little guy sitting on one of the wild violets.

Sharing with 

Mums for a mom.

Lately I've been in a photographic slump.  It was a long winter and a cold April and spring seemed to be taking forever to come.  The grass was brown and the trees were brown.  The weather warmed up a few weeks ago and it was so beautiful outside but no flowers or leaves on the trees.  I would use my camera daily but not happy with anything I was shooting.  Too little color, bad composition or just bad.  On Mother's Day, my son and his wife gave me a beautiful pot of white Chrysanthemum's.  I'm not sure he if knew it or just got lucky but this winter white flowers have been my favorite to photograph.

Yesterday morning I woke up and with the soft morning light streaming in on the pot of flowers my photographic light bulb went off.  While I should have been getting ready for work, I grabbed my camera and started taking a few shots.  Since I carpool with my husband I knew he'd tell me when it was time to leave.

Today the sun in shinning, the trees have come out with their new green leaves and everything looks just as it should in the spring.  I'm not sure if my son knew it when he picked up this pot of white Mums that it would bring color back into the world for me.

I hope your day is filled with light and beautiful color, even if it's white.

Texture Tuesday and Yellow Mums

This weeks theme over at Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday is free and easy.  Any photo, any color, any texture.  In my Easter centerpiece I used egg shells for little flower pots and they haven't hit the compost bin yet so I thought I'd get a little more use out of them.

Two layers of kk_paperlove, one set at multiply and one at overlay.

Two layers of kk_paperlove, both set at multiply.

  

One layer of kk_paperlove and one layer of kk_stained linen both at multiply.

   

  

Macro Monday Mums

"Nobody sees a flower, really - it is so small we haven't time, and to see takes time"

                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                            -- Georgia Okeefe

String, Tulips and Texture Tuesday

Yesterday I was showing you my new string project.  As you can see it's progressed a little. It's also Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's and this weeks challenge is the color pink.  I love pink in photograph's so it was an easy choice to add pink tulips to "the project". All photos have had a layer of Kim Klassen's embrace with the blend mode of multiply reduced to 50% - 75%. The texture was slightly removed from the flowers. .

My string project has been winding and gluing string around a jar to create new vases. With the theme of "Modern Cariboo" decorating for the house, these little vases will fit right in. It also brings new life to pickle and other little jars that would have been destined for recycling. 

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Once I finished a few more jars, I'll post new pics to show you the completed project.

Texture Tuesday - Whites

This weeks challenge at Kim Klassen's was to focus on the color white.  White is a color I love to photograph, but, I've never used a texture with white flowers and was pleasantly surprised with the results.  If you mouse over each photo you should be able to see the before and after. Both photos use a layer of kk_providence with a blend mode of multiply to provide a little color and a unsaturated layer of kk_stainedlinen with a blend mode of multiply at 50% to provide a little texture. In both photos the textures were softened with a brush at 50%.

Texture Tuesday - Happiness

Since Kim Klassen issued the challenge, happiness, for this week's Texture Tuesday I've been thinking about happiness and what truly makes me happy.  As I looked at a bouquet of flowers given to me by two wonderful friends I noticed a little daisy, a little older than the rest of the bunch and starting to show it's age.  This little daisy was close to the other bunch, but a little bit off by itself. It reminded me of growing older and sometimes not being part of the younger world that surrounds us.  Looking at the daisies, my mind started to think about plucking the petals off and saying he loves me, he loves me not, then I thought about my husband of 36 years and I realized he is my happiness because he loves me, he loves me.  It doesn't really matter how old I get, how tattered I look or how droopy my petals are, he still loves me.

This photo has two layers of Kim Klassen's Canvasback applied to it.  If you hover over it with the mouse you should see the before and after.  Happy Valentine's Day to you all and I hope everyone finds someone or something that brings you true happiness.

Spring for $3.99

The weather in Alberta the past week, to put it mildly has been frightful.  The temperatures have been averaging around -25C ( -13F ) with wind chills down to -40C ( -40F ).  It's looking better for the upcoming week but it's now starting to snow.  While picking up a pizza for supper last night, the grocery store had bundles of tulips for $3.99.  I don't get a lot of flowers in the garden until May when we make a trip to the greenhouse to pick up bedding plants, so I thought $3.99 was a pretty cheap price to bring a little bit of spring into the house.  The tulips haven't started to open yet so they should be good for a few days of daily shots.  All photos have been edited in Photoshop and NIK Color Efex 4 with a layer of Kim Klassen's textures added.

Texture Tuesday - The Cyclamen

This week's challenge for Texture Tuesday is to use a layer of Kim Klassen's texture Embrace. I used it last week for landscape photo's as I love the texture and depth it gave to the skies. This week I tried it on a photo of a Cyclamen to give the background a little more interest.  I used 2 layers of Embrace followed by a layer of Sweettart.

Here's a screen shot of the layers in CS5

Here's a few more, because it's hard to stop at one flower shot.

Anthuriums at The Enjoy Centre

Images Alberta Camera Club held an outing yesterday at the Enjoy Centre in St. Albert. This outing was one of the major reasons I joined the club. An opportunity to go into a greenhouse with a tripod and shoot flowers and giftware for the day, a little bit of heaven for me. Joining the club has turned out to be so much more, but I did enjoy the day. My favorite exotic flower has always been the Anthurium and to my delight Hole's had these, begging to be shot. I now only realize that I treated these as I would have shooting a flower in nature, touching nothing and trying to maneuver the camera to get the shots I wanted. If I were in the greenhouse to buy a plant I would have touched all the pots and moved the flowers to get the one I wanted. I'm sure I missed a lot of different colors and shapes but, oh well, next year.