Still here!

Don’t want anyone to take over this domain. Too many memories. Posting to keep it active! Peace out.

Still Living by the Creek!

I haven’t abandoned this blog; not totally, anyway. I’ve been busy with life.. by the creek. Photography, which was a hobby when I started blogging, is my job now. I have wonderful clients and thoroughly enjoy it, but by the time I’m done with edits, I usually don’t want to sit and blog. I’ll try to come back here and post more frequently that I have been; words are still as important to me as photos.

The Creativity Project :: December 2013 :: “Holiday Traditions”

My amazingly creative friend Becky Adams and her friends Scarlett and Maddy started a cooperative blogging group called “The Creativity Project” a little over a year ago in order to stay creative in the midst of pursuing photography as a business. It operates as a blogging “circle”; each person links to another blogger’s page in the group. Wherever you start, if you click to the next blog, you will eventually make your way around the circle and read everybody’s blog on the monthly theme. I am very excited and honored to be asked to join in; this month, once you’ve read my blog on “Holiday Traditions”, you’ll move on to Jersey Journal by DTB Photography and read Dan Beeler’s take on the theme. He’ll link you to the next blog and so on; I hope you’re able to make it all the way around the circle.

I started thinking about the theme, Holiday Traditions, and I realized that I’ve gone far enough down the road of life to understand that nothing ever stays the same. Even if you live in a small town, marry someone from that town, and stay there your entire life, there will be changes. Maybe you have a “Big Mama” and “PawPaw”, the family matriarch and patriarch, and they host family Christmas each year. Big Mama cooks a turkey, a ham, 8 different vegetables (casseroles, of course, with cream sauces and bread crumbs and LOTS of butter), 4 different breads, and an entire sideboard of desserts.

PawPaw goes out into the woods and cuts down the biggest, prettiest tree and brings it back for all of the grand kids to decorate (with strings of popcorn and cranberries and a load of ornaments that have been around for years).  There are special decorations that are ALWAYS there, and you grow up secure in the belief that Christmas will always be just like that. Except that one day, Big Mama and PawPaw can no longer cook and cut trees and host the family. And even further down the road, one day there will be empty chairs where they once sat at the table, carving meat and encouraging you to take just ONE more helping of sweet potatoes. Maybe one of their children’s family will take up the spatula and chain saw and keep things going exactly as they’ve always been, but then again, maybe not. Maybe your traditions will simply become nothing more than memories, and you’ll have to carve out new traditions.  Maybe you’ll move, get married, get divorced, have kids, see them grow up and move out. Maybe one day YOU will be Big Mama or PawPaw.  So, how do you maintain traditions for a lifetime? Is that even possible?

I grew up with one set of grandparents (and the grandmother was actually my step-grandmother, although she always treated me as if I was her own grandchild). My father’s parents died long before I was born, and my mother’s mother died when I was 2. But my grandfather (Gran) and his wife (Nanny) always hosted us for Christmas dinner. Nanny was THAT cook; the one with so many food options that your eyes bugged out and you just knew that you wouldn’t need to eat for the rest of your life. They were able to stay active and host us all the way through my teen years, and I feel very blessed to have had that continuity.  Once I graduated from college and got married, tradition was thrown out the window and I just began to “wing it”. Each season of life brought new experiences, and it seems that very few years have been the same. At nearly 40, I had our son Adam, and we had to settle in and try to create some memories for our boy. Even so, life kept getting in the way. My father died before Adam was born, so I needed to visit my mom in Tennessee, but I wanted my boy to have Christmas morning at his home. My husband’s mother died in 2005, and things changed in how we celebrated on his side. For the past few years, there was a bit of a routine in how and with whom we celebrated, but in August of this year, my father in law passed away at age 94.

And so, things change again. I’ve begun to realize that the BEST thing that I can do is to document, through photos (and blogging, if I can get myself back into the routine of it) so that my boy will have backup for his childhood memories. This post from my old blog is a good example of how I can help him to remember the good times (I had that blog printed into a blog book, just to make sure that I didn’t lose all of those memories).   I will keep the elf, the quilt, the ceramic Christmas tree, and I’ll pass them on to my boy. But I have to understand that he may marry someone who has traditions of her own; I hope that they will work together to blend them, but some of the things that meant so much to us may simply get packed up or even thrown away. The best tradition to pass on is  to enjoy life at each stage; to understand that while each season looks different, the one thing that will tie it all together is love. Whether you say “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Hanukkah”, “Happy Kwanzaa”,  or celebrate any other winter holiday traditions, do all that you do with great love and you’ll create wonderful memories.

The Creativity Project: Faceless Photos

There’s a group called “The Creativity Project” that I’ve found through my sweetest friend in the world, Beckalicious Becky Adams (who blogs at THE best blogspot in the world, Life With Kaishon. They have a monthly theme, and they send readers from blog to blog to read each post. It’s a VERY cool idea. I didn’t make it into this month’s circle, but I decided to do a blog about the theme, anyway. It’s “Faceless Photos”, and I really love that theme. I wish I took more faceless photos; they oftentimes capture the essence of a person or situation even more than a photo with a face. Instead of trying to interpret an expression, you actually SEE what it is that is happening. Here are the photos that I would have chosen from if I were going to play along. Which one would I have picked?  I don’t know… how about you?

I am still here!

Decided that I better put SOMETHING here to let WordPress know that I haven’t totally abandoned my site! Too many posts from the past; I would be heartbroken to lose everything. And who knows.. maybe I’ll start blogging again.

Joy

Open your arms wide to the love of Christ during this holy season…

The Sad Tale of IB

Once upon a miracle time, there was a boy named IB. He was, by all appearances, a sweet, innocent, angelic boy. See?

Just look at that precious smile. Angel, right? What nobody knew was that behind that angelic countenance lay the mind of a brilliant criminal. IB built a profitable business in the trade of black market elbutts. While his sweet mother was slaving over a computer blogging and his metrosexual father was at the spa, getting yet another mani/pedi, IB would sneak out to the barn and conduct business:

His plan seemed foolproof. There was nobody to hear his nefarious schemes but the horses. What he didn’t realize, though, was that JB, the horse in stall #3, was the great, great grandson of Mr. Ed:

When the Feds got wind of the stinky black market trading, they quietly tried to locate a reliable witness. When they stumbled upon JB, they couldn’t believe their good luck. All it took to make him roll over was the promise of a lifetime of premium oats, bran mash, and sweet alfalfa. Soon, it was all over. IB didn’t know what hit him til it was too late:

His broken-hearted parents visit him every chance they get at the pen. And JB? Well, he thinks he got the last laugh:

But IB comes up for parole in six months, and Obama just legalized the sale of horsemeat for human consumption. JB, you better watch your back, buddy…. ;

For more “Tales of Itty Bit”, check out this post at Once Upon a Miracle, in the comments section. You might even come up with one of your own….that giveaway is pretty darn sweet!

Winter has arrived

Brrr.  Wind chill this morning was, I think, about 6 degrees.  AND it was the first day back to school for the boy, so we had to actually get up and out in it.  Blessings: a) not much traffic because Cobb Country schools are still out on break, which was really nice, and b) we have central heat in the house, a great heater in the van (and seat warmers…woot!) and closets full of warm clothes. Many are not so fortunate.  I need to remember that.

Cornhole faces–Silly Holiday Photos

I’m not good at capturing silly photos. We have a small family, and I guess we’re boring. Or I’m scared of payback. Or something. Anyway, I Heart Faces has a “Silly Holiday Photos” theme this week (no judging or winners picked.. just show your silly pics), and I just don’t have much at all. Well, except for this little collage that I put together of my dear hubby playing cornhole on Christmas Eve with the fam. I couldn’t stop myself from snapping his face whenever he tossed, and when I showed him the photos later, he laughed SO hard! Do you get bonus points for silly faces? If so, he won by a landslide!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some really funny, silly, belly-laugh-out-loud photos, head to I Heart Faces and check out the other entries.  At the very least, go check out my friend Becky’s post; it almost made me spew coffee out my nose!  And here’s to 2012; may it be filled with beautiful photos and belly laughs!

Bring it on, 2012!

We’ve had a great Christmas break (sad that it’s almost over, though).  We went to Asheville, NC and visited the Biltmore for their Candlelight Christmas:

And we stayed at the Grove Park Inn:

We really enjoyed touring the Biltmore grounds and the conservatory:

And we stopped at Tallulah Gorge, where I spotted these beauties:

We also visited my mom in Nashville:

(I really love that shot!)

and we found the American Picker’s Antique Archaeology store in downtown Nashville:

(which made my boy very happy!)

The weather has, for the most part, been beautiful:

And we enjoyed all that Christmas had to offer:

(including a new Xbox which has only been used once… ??? I know, crazy, right?)

We brought in the New Year with fireworks:

and a toast:

And we’ll finish off the day with a few traditional favorites:

(along with pork chops.. yum!)

Resolutions? My biggest ones are to be “in the moment” more. To stop trying to see EVERYTHING through the lens and simply “be there” to enjoy. To be kinder. To read my Bible daily. To MOVE more. How about you? Are you ready for the New Year? I hope it’s your best year yet… Happy New Year!