Happy New Year!

Some friends sent this New Years/Shanah Tovah greeting to us today and I am passing it on to you. May this new year be one of joy, laughter, increase and blessings for you and your loved ones.

My husband...

I was doing a bit of sprucing up today and a picture we framed this summer caught my eye.

It's an original my uncle painted, one of three "test" paintings before he finished the commission he was working on. He was given this large Native American Indian pot, but because it was cracked it wasn't considered valuable. The painting has a vignette scene of Native American life hidden in the pot. I love the piece because it speaks to me about the unfinished life we're living. The brokenness of the pot speaks to me as well - even though it's broken, it is still beautiful and can still contain and tell the story of life.

What struck me about this painting today was that it was only one of the pieces we framed this summer. Most of what we framed were my photography pieces. I remembered Chris' patience as I learned about matting and colors at the frame shop. How he took me to different places to find just the right frames and then how he helped me to frame each piece once we found all the components. As I straightened the picture I was reminded of his great love for me, shown in a 1000 different ways, but most particularly at that moment in the way he has supported me and encouraged me as I have begun delving deeper into photography.

But yet, that is not the full story. He has shown me that encouragement in many ways and in many areas. I have the confidence that I can go out and try something, and succeed or fail, because I know I have his unconditional love and support.

I hope that you experience this level of unconditional love and support.

Blessings

Bad couple of days for the financials and Wall Street. But beyond it all, Chris and I know we are loved by God and that we love and support each other. So what now??? We regroup, reassess, roll up our sleeves and begin again. As Chris has pointed out, "we are truly blessed". We have friends who have had hip replacements, knee replacements, cancer, failed marriages, are facing bankruptcy and a myriad of other issues. We truly are blessed.
May you be surrounded by many blessings.

And so it begins...

Work on installing the new geothermal heat pump began today. Seems like it's taken forever to begin the installation process. In late April we went to Pocahontas Arkansas where Chris attended a 2 day training school for Techs on how to install this new system. It really is trick, but don't ask me the particulars, I leave that to the resident expert. What's important to me is that 1. we'll have heat, our old heat pump began going out late last winter, and 2. it's more cost effective. We had friends that put in a similar system and their heating bills were cut in half and they had a consistent temp in the house. In addition, our water heater is now obsolete as the system heats the water without having to pay extra.

Moo and Moose had a blast in all the dirt and Moo loved supervising and herding people and big machines around.

Summer recap...

So I wasn't so good at keeping up the blog over the summer. A lot has happened, and the days flew by. In August we spent a week in Telluride with some dear friends of ours. The highlight was spending time with them, talking, cooking and just hanging out. We took the time to visit Mesa Verde, a place I've always wanted to go.


Chris and I have talked and planned and prayed over our current, and new business plans. More than once.


We reconnected with a couple we met several years ago, had calls from a friend serving in Iraq, and are now planning for both to visit in October. We're planning a get together so our friends can meet our guests. We're contemplating a trip to Alaska with the couple before November.


We've been accepted into the culture of several bars in Monroe and Duvall and have made some great friends. We hope to introduce them to some of our friends.


I entered 3 art shows, participated in the Monroe art walk and entered a photo contest. Chris has been busy researching cameras, he wants to replace what I have with something "better".



I took several classes, began ballet, made progress in editing the mechanical translation of Exodus, and signed up for Fall classes.


We've planned for the future, and dreamed dreams that we wouldn't have considered several years ago. We've grown closer as we've had to discuss business, and recommitted ourselves to each other that boom or bust we are still one.


We've struggled in some places and situations we find ourselves in, but yet are committed to staying till it's time to go, all the while asking what do we need to learn and how can we grow. We don't want to delay our progress.


We've redecorated, gotten carried away with Hero's (and took some friends with us!), gotten over the "puppy" phase with Moo, and learned how independent a dalmation is, and done a great deal of reading, both for business and pleasure.


All in all I am happy, no, content with where I am. Where we are. As I said in yesterday's post, I'm learning to "be". To live in the moment, to enjoy where I'm at, what I'm doing and the company I am with.

To be or not to be....

Something has been seeping into my brain lately... all my life I have measured myself against the standard of "doing", of accomplishing. Recently, the concept of measuring myself with the standard of "being" rather than "doing" has taken hold. This new standard doesn't require always "being on", making decisions in a split second or always being in motion. This new standard demands a restful pose. Like a seed buried in the ground, on the surface, nothing seems to be happing. But deep underground, massive changes are happening. Some I am aware of, some, like this understanding come a bit at a time, and others are so far beyond my current understanding that I have no idea they are in motion or coming.

So what's next? I don't know. I only know that I need to listen to the new rhythm that has been moving within, to move when I need to move, to stay still when I need to stay still and to not do or accomplish based on my understanding or desires. My desire at the end of this season is for explosive and exponential growth. But yet, that that growth be not of my making or design.

Ballet...

I began ballet class yesterday, delayed by a week because of that Mac truck I tangled with.

This photo was one I took at a friends rehearsal last year. I am not "stepping up" to toe, just basic ballet.

I truly enjoyed myself, the positions and moves came back easily, but 35 years and body changes left me pleasantly sore today.

Our instructor choreographed our warm up into a dance we are learning. The music is Keb Mo's You don't have to shave your legs for me. Here's a You tube video of the song, were using the 4 minute studio version. I love the rhythm and "freedom" I sense in the instrumentals, then the words just wrap it up with a big happy bow. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIqScfjUEQA&feature=related

Of birds and butterflies...

On Monday, Chris drove me to the Woodland Park zoo. After being cooped up for several days I was getting antsy, but didn't have the energy to drive myself. Ever since the Flamingo ads appeared this summer I'd been wanting to go and photograph them. One of my fondest memories from our honeymoon is the "World Famous Marching Flamingos" at the Ardastra Gardens, Zoo & Conservation Center, Nassau, Bahamas (http://www.ardastra.com/).

Like many of our preconceived ideas, I was let down when I encountered the flamingos at the zoo. The flamingo's of my memory were a deep coral, the Chilean flamingos at the zoo are paler pink with their under feathers a brighter coral. But I tried not to hold that against them and enjoyed them anyway.

In addition, I had time to take in the butterflies and blossoms exhibit where I got some photos of butterflies. Enjoy this mini trip to these 2 exhibits....

BTW - a friend told me I hadn't posted the ribbons I won at the Fair. I have added that info to the Fair post.

A massage or a mac truck???

Somehow this went to drafts rather than posting... today you get a 2-fer. This was written Sept 8th...

Last Thursday I had a massage.

I went in ready for a nice relaxing, unwind, be pampered massage and came out relaxed, but a bit sore. It wasn't till the next morning that I realized just how sore I was. What was to have relaxed me ended up benching me. I had body flu like symptoms for 2 days and even today, 4 days later, can't breath through my nose and have very little voice. I've slept in hour long chunks, being woken by the pain or by a funny sound, which was me whimpering, moaning or making some other funny sound. And poor Chris! He has his sleep interrupted as well. I must say, I have several "nests" around the house where I have slept, depending on my breathing at the time. I have been reminded how pleasant it is to nap on the deck, listening to the wind move through the trees, the river ever so faintly in the background. I fall asleep quickly and deeply on the deck, only waking when I get too hot in the sun.

I can tell I'm getting better as my sense of humor, along with my energy, is returning. Lesson learned - be more specific requesting a fluff and buff vs a lymph draining massage!

The Evergreen State fair

It's been awhile since I've blogged... about the time I began thinking of doing so, my friend reminds me to get busy... thanks Rich.

Picked up my photos from the Evergreen Fair today. Here are the pics and the comments on each.


Long Beach Marina - 2nd place ribbon.
Technical (possible 15 points) 13
Focus 13
Printing 11
Balance/Contrast 13, no clean whites, leans to the blue tint
Design & Composition (possible 20 points) 17 enjoyable composition, horizon slightly tilted to the left
Over all comments (possible 15 points) 13

Ferry pilings - 3rd place ribbon.
Technical (possible 15 points) 13
Focus 13
Printing 12
Balance/Contrast 12 needs darker shadows or better contrast
Design & Composition (possible 20 points) 17
Over all comments (possible 15 points) 13

Glendalach gates - 2nd place ribbon.
Technical (possible 15 points) 14
Focus 13 good, might have moved focus forward abit
Printing 14
Balance/Contrast 13 Needs brighter highlights and some clean darks
Design & Composition (possible 20 points) 18 nice composition, very interesting
Over all comments (possible 15 points) 13