The final day

Here is my post for today and I may not be able to post until Tuesday since my internet is not going to be connected there until Tuesday. Sorry I have not commented on anyone's stuff; I'll try to do it on Monday:) Hope you all had a great weekend!

Early morning

I have to take some time to post early this morning because I don't know if I will have internet access for the next couple of days. :( Plus I have to leave for a meeting at 7:30 and then I will be moving some more, hopefully finishing for the most part tonight.

Lots of ugly brown boxes around, but also, lots of empty spaces:

You should see the other guy!

Would you believe I single handedly saved an entire department store full of people by fighting off ninja terrorists using dental floss and my bare hands? Or how about I rescued a school bus full of kids from a gigantic sink hole filled with lava by letting them walk across my face? OR that I pulled a baby carriage out of the way of a burning Mack truck all while holding a glass of water and not spilling a drop?

Okay, I confess...while packing, a heavy door to a window seat had a rumble with my nose:) Thing is, I had no better ideas for a picture so that is what you get. If you can't laugh at yourself, then there is something wrong with you!!! Although I must say that I like my eyes in this one...seriousness combined with tired makes for an interesting color!

Forgotten dreams

As I frantically pack and load and clean etc. etc., I saw this jar that I have had for a while. I've been doing research and work for school about the Underground Railroad. Seeing this jar made me think not about my own forgotten dreams, but about the dreams of slaves from the 1800's. Did they once have little jars of their own, money they scraped and saved while dreaming of freedom? Did they lay awake after a hard day's work, harder than I have ever known, and dream of rest and peace and release? My dreams seem insignificant in the light of what others have suffered.

"I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it. It looked from every star, smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind and moved in every storm."

~Frederick Douglass, speaking of freedom~

Fruit...sort of

Before the computer and the ipod there was another Apple that people sort of went a little crazy for. Apple records was a record company started by The Beatles in 1968. This company signed a few well known artists and some not so well known. The Plastic Ono Band, formed by John and Yoko, included Eric Clapton, two former Beatles (George Harrison and Ringo Starr), future Yes drummer Alan White, members of Delaney and Bonnie, and The Who's drummer Keith Moon just to name a few.

Moving involves me getting these records sold and out of my way so here are two apples with familiar and enduring messages:

Tiiiiiiiiired!

My last day of vacation was spent cleaning the new house. I had brought the camera along, but nothing really struck me and as the day went by, I wanted nothing more than a hot meal, a warm bath and a good book:) So here is my little mystery tree (see my post from a few weeks back), still growing and leaning towards the window. What do you think of my composition? The slant of the curtain, the other plants in the background...is it okay?

Memorial Day 2009

This year, memorial day seems a little more special. I guess that's because my younger brother Jonathan is training to become a Marine. As I read his letters and think about what he is enduring, it causes me to think about what others have endured in order to protect those they love!

Taking a moment contemplating the day:

A fellow MVP-er caught in the act...can you see who it is?

I'll bet you didn't have an experimental aircraft with smoke at your parade today! My mom is AWESOME!

One of my students gives me a minature horse cart ride to cap off the day!

We are family

The annual family reunion was once again a success with about 50 people attending. These are mostly my grandfather's family from Vermont, New Hampshire, and places around the state. It was also the first time Breanna, Jonny's fiance and Mike, my boyfriend came. We spent a pleasant day talking to family members, reading Jonny's latest letters, eating great food and exploring the nearby treasures of Glen. The biggest of which is my grandfather's huge barn in the town square. Here, I photograph treasures that Mike, Bri and I found!

Other pictures: The amish cows grazing in my grandfather's field, Mike and I examining some extremely old gravestones in the nearby cemetary:

And my favorite, I LOVE THIS PICTURE, Madilyn (my cousin's daughter) looking out of the cracked door of the old barn.

Fields of white

Another busy day ends with fields of white puffballs. This time I layed right down with them and enjoyed a quiet moment:)

Long day

When someone you love hurts, you hurt too. You wish you could help them and make them feel better. Today was a long and busy day getting ready for the Brooks BBQ and also waiting for 5 hours while Mike had surgery on his elbow. While these pictures are no masterpieces, they do display where my heart and mind have been all day long.

Ice and a teddy bear cures all!

Thursday assignment: Windows

"All the windows of my heart I open to the day"

And boy, what a hectic day it was. Even now, I have about 20 minutes to eat, wash up from walk, run to the dollar store and then meet at the Glen Store for potato scrubbing. Tomorrow is the annual Brooks BBQ and it's going to be a busy couple of days. On top of that, Mike ruptured a bicep tendon and has to have surgery tomorrow, Pastor Tim's father passed away and I don't know if he will be able to do the service Sunday, Family reunion, moving etc. etc. etc. I had an idea for my photo tonight, but not the time to make it happen. So here is a window that I'm not looking out of, but rather accepting the presence and warmth of the light from the window. And shadows...of course there have to be shadows:)

Steps in the forest

Where did these steps used to lead? If I climb them now, will I be magically transported to the past? Or will I enter another world, a safer brighter place?

You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,

and I smile, and am silent, and even my soul remains quiets;

it lives in the other world which no one owns.

A gift

Sometimes you have a day where you have great plans and things to accomplish...but you get tired! I was going to go for a walk, maybe go to a softball game, pack some more. But after my rough afternoon at school, I was suddenly hit with mental and physical fatigue. That's why these lilacs were such a blessing to me. Mike picked them for me and they really helped me feel a bit more relaxed. A nice gift for a hectic day!

A warning or an invitation?

Walked 3.5 miles today and passed several places where I saw photo ops. but I really just liked this one the best. It's on one side of the Well's house where the vines on the fence have finally begun to sprout life again. But if I hadn't told you where it was, maybe you would let your imagination run wild and create a story to go along with the pictures!

Hands again

"Today...I see beautiful"

The above quote was spoken by Tammy Trent at our women's conference in Schenectady today. And today, I did see beautiful...all around me. The faces and smiles of old friends and new ones, all in one common place for one common purpose...to praise our Savior and to learn more about His ways for our lives! I shouldn't be so amazed when God does something wonderful, but here is another example. We had an extra ticket so my mom brough it along to give to someone who might need it. We walked to the front door to wait and right there was a woman named Beth. She had wanted to come to the conference but it wasn't in her budget. She said, God if you wake me up early tomorrow, I will go and see if I can somehow get a ticket. God woke her up and so she headed to the conference, even considering making a payment plan with the church to cover the $35. But God provided her with our free ticket. He's incredible! She was a lovely young woman who spent the day with us. Here, she took a group shot right after we met:

Then I got a feet picture (I am represented by the empty flip flop!)

All in all, it was a great and joyous day!

Treasures on a trail

Being outside on a day like today is probably the best thing in world for a soul! Taking my daily walk with Mike, I went a different way than normal and discovered the remains of some old buildings ( maybe a mill?) The beauty of nature was all around us: Mushrooms growing precariously on a mishapen root, A fallen tree trunk with contours and twists that looked somewhat akin to faces,

Then came the ruins of old pipes, parts of a building maybe? and signs that yes, once there were people nearby.

Being outside on a day like today is probably the best thing in the world for a soul, at least one like mine!

My back up for this assignment

My originial plan was really cool, but I also knew that the weather might not hold out. And sure enough, it didn't! So here is a picture of car parts today. Steve came in the other morning frantically wanting my drawing skills (which by the way are non-existent!) I can draw trees and stick people, that's about it. But I summoned my superhero abilities and was able to draw this masterpiece for his classroom. Can you guess by the back end what kind of car this is supposed to be:)

Puffballs and dreams

Too many meetings to go to this week. Do I walk my 3 miles or take more time on pictures? Well, my pictures the last two days HAVE been wretched...I suppose I can skip walking for one night! Saw these puffballs on the lawn while looking for an enthralling picture. I remember Trish's lone dandalion from the other day and also Dewitt Jones's Extraordinary Visions DVD and his "next right answer". He waited too long to photograph a field of spring dandalions and returned to find only puffballs. But he was not deterred. He ended up lying on the ground and taking a picture of a puffball with the sunlight streaming through its delicate seeds. Here are my puffballs, no Dewitt Jones, but still beautiful to me. Little reminders that the days are passing into summer and my school frustrations are coming to a close.

My mortal enemies

Within these frosty little bottles are my mortal enemies. Little soldiers that singularly torment me. Bits and pieces of all of the many things I am allergic to. Cats, weeds of all sorts, at least three types of trees, several types of food, you name it. Every two weeks, I'm injected with these little vials of liquid so that I can become stronger. It has taken me three years to get up to maintenance level which means I am now injecting the strongest doses possible. What does that mean? It means I can be outside now without having an asthma attack. It means I can pet a cat without suffering mortal agony. It means life and freedom and above all, it means I can take a deep breath! How grateful I am for my mortal enemies!

2 Corinthians 12:10 (New International Version)
10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.