The storm chaser

When we were teenagers, my brother Michael became obsessed with storms and weather. He would record weather data at home and send it in to local news stations. He would happily bound out the door at the first sign of threatening weather. Today's thunder and clouds approaching reminded me of his enthusiasm for severe weather and how he would chase the storms every chance he had. I am not that brave however! I huddled partially under the garage waiting for maybe a lightning strike picture, but alas, the chicken that I am, (not to mention the copious amounts of metal that surrounded me), I ducked inside!

No comments necessary

Today's post is in a word...HORRIBLE! But I came down with a bad cold and am not feeling quite creatively attuned. This is my Harry Potter closet. If you know the book, then you know that Harry spend the first ten years of his life in the closet under the stairs. I was pleased to discover that I have a Harry Potter closet. It's actually quite roomy and definitely makes me think of the magic of Harry Potter.

Heaven is a day with family

Best of luck to Jonny as he goes tomorrow to Advanced Infantry Training in N.C. See you in about a month little brother!

I'll be praying for your safety.

When all is said and done, no one will remember the beginning or the end. It's the middle that counts the most!

My namesake

The name of my blog is the phoenix dreamer, a name I thought of back in September. Imagine my surprise when this morning as I was leaving the house, I looked in the sky only to see my namesake floating majestically in the morning light!
By the time I got my camera, the head of th phoenix had somewhat dissapated, so I did doctor up the head a little bit.

Going for a dip

UPDATE: I think I have solved my non enlarging problem and am working on the last week's posts. Feel free to check them out again and left clicking should allow you to enlarge!

A few days ago, a fellow blogger posted a beautiful picture of her pool with a cloudy blue sky, just perfect for a dip! Trish, this is truly perfect! In contrast, here is my pool:

I'm already taking steps to fix this :) Hopefully within the next week or so, it will be vacuumed, cleaned and more suitable for swimming. In the meantime, it is a swamp and I'm pretty sure there are creatures living in it that have not been discovered by mankind!

Thursday's assignment: diagonals

I was definitely struggling for a photo today, but as I pulled in the driveway, I saw two huge puff balls in the field of tall weeds. The wind was blowing them in a horizontal direction! That counts right? I applied sepia, warmth, and glow to this picture and it's not great, but I think it fits the bill. Enlarging does not seem to be working right now...sorry!

P/S School is out:)

When in doubt...

...photograph the first thing you see in the morning!

Amazing

I can't believe I actually took these pictures today...I like them that much! Let me know what you think. The morning grass is especially beautiful to me as the spots are water drops out of focus.

This little guy I saw as I pulled in tonight. He was a great model for a good 3 minutes before he bounded off!

Sun kissed

I want to come up with a poem for this picture, but my mind is too warped right now to think straight. Maybe in a few days.

A Marine's work is never done!

Spent today with Jonny and the family, celebrating both Father's Day and the return of our soldier! After church, Jonny began packing his military equipment in the proper way as seen here: I missed him in his khaki camos so I made him hold this up for me to take a picture. I also got one of him and mom together. We got to look at his code of conduct book which includes things he has to take care of even while on leave. We also saw some of his rifle range records which were really cool and of course, he talks and talks about all the stuff he learned and went through. At one inspection, he got in trouble for a nose hair. At another, his lips weren't closed tightly enough. And the Crucible definitely sounds like the worst. Of course, he doesn't give too many details but as far as I can tell, he definitely made the most of his time at bootcamp. He will leave a week from tomorrow for N.C. and advanced infantry training for 21 days.

An almost mama cow

Mike and I spied this cow early morning and waited for a little while to see what would happen. Poor thing! She looks like she is ready to collapse!

Just in case

First, go down below and see the amazing picture of my brother who graduates as a Marine today:) I posted it last night!

Just in case I don't make it back from the airport tonight in time, I'm posting these pictures from this morning. The second one has a soften filter on it to give it a warm glow.

How can I resist?

Just got this via facebook a few minutes ago....tell me I am not the proudest big sister in the entire world!
(P/S today's post is down below)

Happy and Sad~ Phil's Assignment

It's as if this assignment were just for me, Phil! This picture isn't a very good one, BUT it represents what makes me happy and sad at the moment:

Happy and extremely proud of my brother Jonathan for becoming a Marine and giving of himself to serve this country. Very sad that I can not be there for his big day tomorrow. But I will wear this shirt and think of him every moment! AND I get to pick him up from the airport :)

End of the year trip

The end of the year trip to Pine lake was a success. The kids were well behaved and had a great time. Here are a couple of my favorites from the day:

Kitchen ceiling

Finally having gotten some of the clutter out of the kitchen, I stopped to admire the hand hewn beams of the ceiling today. Not feeling too much that photography today, just a bit tired is all!

The moon

This shot was actually this morning and the original was a dimly lit blue sky, but I found the image more captivating if I turned up the contrast to make the sky dark.

Then I combined the moon with the leaves I took yesterday for a leafy moon...different effect!

The waiting game

After church, Bri, Mom, John and I went home immediately...there was a chance that Jonathan might be able to call today and let us know that he made it through the Crucible, the grilling 50 hour climax to bootcamp and was officially a Marine. We waited by the phone...

Watched the clock...

But the call didn't come. Not to worry, there's probably just a long line at the phones:) In the mean time, a nap on the lawn was definitely a good option. Sorry these images are rotated. Can't seem to get them the way I want them...just tilt your head:) Proud of myself for the getting the spider pick below. I'm petrified of them. Granted...Steve's lens makes this guy look huge, but he was nearly as small as a piece of lint!

4:01 PM: Bri gets the call...Jonny is now a Marine! It's a short call but at least it is official! A Marine in the family...can't wait to see him:)

Bri, the mule whisperer

Today was a great opportunity to celebrate a dear friend's 50th birthday party. I took many pictures, but these were certainly among the best. These friends own a few mules, horses and cows. The prettiest of these by far is Pete, who also happens to be the biggest and most docile. As Brianna told me a little about them all, she and I lovingly petted them. These two shots are precious, at least to me. I like how I can't really see Bri's face, but her actions show her care and like if not love for Pete. Obviously Pete appreciated the attention. Bri said she wondered what these huge animals were thinking as they stood and seemed to stare into space. It is interesting to think about! What does Pete think about?

For someone who is hurting

Hold on
Don't let go
the world needs you
and I value who you are
every cloud will melt away
every scar will heal
until that time
Hold on

Broken but beatiful

This assignment actually came to me several weeks ago, but I had to wait my turn patiently. Randomly one day I was considering how people can be broken and yet still be beautiful. People can have nothing and yet still shine brightly in this world. People can suffer, and yet beauty comes from that suffering and inspires us to keep going when we don't think we can. But then I realized that many things in the world are broken but beautiful as objects. That is where the photo assignment came into play. Luckily, I have just moved into an old farmhouse where nearly everything is broken and beautiful:) Just kidding, it's actually in great shape. Here's what I found for the assignment:

Life of a teacher

A healthy snack

But not for me! Actually my bunnies love this clover. So after I get the mail, at the end of the driveway, I stop and grab some fresh clover for them usually at night. They can't get enough!

For Mike...Two suns?!?

I know you are getting sick of my clouds and sun from the window, but how could I resist when each morning I'm showered with such beauty. Today though, something interesting happened. I took the pictures this morning, but noticed as I viewed them for the first time this afternoon that it appears as though there are TWO SUNS!!! Can you see? (enlarge if you can!)

Wow, I wonder...is it simply any optical illusion? Is it the clouds refracting light? Is it a flying saucer? What exactly did I capture here? Another dimension? Unusual. These images are unedited! They are for Mike: I wanted to prove to you that I can be a photographer as well as an artist:) So am I a photographer today? :)

Mike's suggestion for my earlier Sunday post

(See Sunday's actual post before reading!)

Mike has very strong opinions on what photography is and I keep telling him he needs to get a camera soon! Anyway, he really likes a more natural photo, not all this digital playing around. So I used the natural picture this time and just added filter to the reflection part. The result is different from my earlier picture from today, less Monet-esque and more real and I think it just as much if not more!

Please tell me what you think!

Okay, this is definitely one of those pictures that I totally love and I want your honest opinions on. I woke up around six and came downstairs only to find this beautiful picture of the light streaming through the clouds. Unfortunately I didn't look at how dusty my lens was when I took it. This is the first shot unedited!

I spent some time editing, cloning and getting rid of the dusty marks as well as adding a filter to disguise my ineptitude (is that a word?) at photography, resulting in this image:

Then I decided I still wasn't happy! I wanted to create a lake reflection of these clouds instead of the same old foreground of the trees, my driveway, and 67. Boy this was taking me a while! I worked hard on it and finally got what I mostly wanted:

Now don't be afraid of hurting my feelings....really give your honest thoughts on the lake reflection. Now that I know how to do it, I can change the way the "water" looks. Let loose!