The story of Busy & Content

Billy was busy
building a castle for me.
I'm turret content.

From my Picasa Web Album: Snow Daze

The Weekend Words Challenge is a meme created and curated by TheOddMix. The object is to either apply the words to your weekend photography or apply your photography skills to capture the weekend words. You will be surprised what happens when you hold just a couple of words in the back of your mind and bring your camera up to your eye. But then sometimes it doesn't click until you sit down and browse through your shots. Sometimes it's a combo deal.

NO! It is not required to generate a haiku poem, also. That's just my current frame of mind.

Anyone can participate. The words for the weekend are available by Friday and often sooner. And technically it's a Monday Meme.

TheOddMix's Weekend Words for last weekend were gracious and steadfast. I thought it was very excellent timing. There's a certain graveyard that I have been wanting to go photograph.

Well the weekend came and went and Monday was my absolute last chance for me to photograph this graveyard with any snow around the stones. I knew if I didn't get myself over there first thing in the morning, that there'd be a whole lot of mudding going on. And besides, it would still be timely for the Weekend Words.

This particular graveyard is in distress and I have to be careful getting in and out. The point of entry is concealed from even the most astute observer and it's at the top of a little incline. When I was going in, I thought, "I'd better be very careful coming back out this is going to be still very slick." -- it was basically ice capped -- don't ya know ... yeah ...

It soon became obvious to me that

God's gracious nature,
abounding in benefits,
does not also include

restricting nature
from proving our mark upon earth
is far from steadfast.

A few expedition notes:

• Do not wear a sweater into a bramble patch.
• When removing said sweater in order to extract yourself from the middle of the bramble patch, do expect the brambles to attach themselves to your skin.
• Immediately upon removal of said sweater expect to hear the buzz of the first mosquito of spring ... even if it is the first day that the temp is above 45 degrees.
• Do not wear a french braid int the middle of the brambles.
• Do take your dog so you can crouch low and follow her lead out of the brambles.
• Do know that even in the winter, poison ivy is one of the dominate ivies taking over the graveyard -- immediately return home to the shower and laundry.

And finally you should know that

God's gracious nature,
abounding in benefits,
does not also include

restricting nature
from proving our foot upon earth
is far from steadfast.

Mmm yeah ... remember the ice on the hill? I didn't. Yes. I still have a small headache. But I walk, talk, and the camera's okay.

My headache is NOT Not Not helped at all by the fact that on Tuesday Adobe Flash 9 ATE ATE ATE my Photoshop 4. No that's not Photoshop Elements 4 ... that's Photoshop 4. I'm angry. So. I will be learning Gimp.

AND today Picasa Web Albums became my personal online album of choice, definite. Why? Unlimited albums. Free. So if you click the link, there are a few more pics there.

I have had these photos stashed away inside my camera since the Valentines Snow Daze. I took them all standing at my living room window. They fit the Weekend Words (for this Past Weekend), View and Conceal, in an interesting way.

Enjoy!

Oh! Wait! With this set of images if you click on one of them, it will take you to my collection over at Flick'r. There are more photos there.

Ok, now, Enjoy!

My living room windows give me quite an amazing view ...

Looking down into The Great Swamp

Even the birds knew it was time to stock up!

But it's equally amazing when the view gives clues to what the trees are prone to conceal.

Mr. Falcon

Mr.&Mrs. Cardinal (I presume)
You really will want to click and go see them in my Flick'r photos.

The story of a photography blessing for which I am very thankful ... ok and maybe a little more ...

The weekend words from TheOddMix were Thankful and Blessing. I'm going to admit that I went into a food coma and didn't actually take fresh images. Which probably breaks the rules ... but ... I only have 3000 images already so I wasn't worried about being short on supply.

I did get all mushy and nostalgic for a time when we were able to with our families ... for the holidays so ... I went looking through those old images. Since I value my life ... I chose none that held the images of family members -- save one particular person -- my husband.

He was the one who decided I had to have a camera. He was the one who orchestrated the selection and rounding up of the money ... and he was the one who had to break down and tell me early what my Christmas gift was so that I wouldn't buy a cheepie off of ebay.

So ... Thankful was my 19th image and Blessing was my 410-ish image. The snow was from 2000 ... the last time Dallas saw any decent amounts of just snow. Usually they do ice.

Oh yeah the little more ... I'm just plain blessed all the time to have Billy for my husband and I am very Thankful that God sent Billy along on his borrowed stead (aka car), in his beat-up, rusty, but still highly effective armor. Well that's his version of the story ... I thought the armor was gleaming.