Oh yes, I am a tree-hugger most definitely. 

I am very much in love with this tree, 

so you can expect to see it over and over again.

I promise it will always appear in a different light, or season. 

 This tree makes me want to read "The Giving Tree" one more time.

This tree and I haven't known each other long, 

but I am eager to see it in the spring, summer, and fall!

Out for a drive in the country last Friday,

looking for something, anything to photograph,

as I was all bundle up in my winter photography outfit,

(snowpants, black and ever so slimming,)

I ran across this gaggle of geese.

Of course I did not have the correct lens on, 

but they waited.

Then I didn't have my manual settings correctly set,

but they waited.

 I jumped out of the car to get this photo,

and they still waited.

As my car rolled away,

with it's forgotten e-brake not set,

and I ran cursing after it,

they gave up on me and took flight!

I know I know, you are all sick of the snow. Well I am not! 

I am loving all the opportunities to challenge myself to find 

beauty in the stark, harsh, bitter, cold, winter season.

I am quite surprised at how much beauty there is if you just look for it. 

This photo was taken at twilight, on the last sled run of the day.

"All horses deserve, at least once in their lives, to be loved by a little girl." -Unknown

Oh my! A teenager in the house!

It has finally happened! We have a teenager in our house! 

Here is some advice for us from those "in the know."

Pick your battles!-Mom

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. -Mom

Remember all the old people were once teenagers. -Dad
Live your life so that you will have the fewest regrets. -Dad
This too shall pass. -Aunt Tana
Call me anytime. -Aunt Tana

I believe there will be more words of wisdom to come, and both my teen and I will survive.
He and I have a huge support system of seasoned teen parents to lean on and run to.
Also, does anyone have a used copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Parenting a Teenager"?

Snow Bored? Never!

Sledding

by Judy Mahar

Sledding
and heading for spaces below,
Gliding
and sliding across the new snow,
Slicing,
an icing of white on the hill,
Leaning,
Careening, avoiding a spill.
Racing
to where the icy hill ends
A boy and his sled
become wintery friends.

Let them eat cake!

There is nothing wrong with today's teenager that twenty years won't cure. 
~Author Unknown


My son's birthday is coming up on Friday. He'll be 13. This weeks' blog posts will be dedicated to him. Yes, I will be showing off my kid this week! It's my right as his mom. And this is my blog after all.

Peter Rabbit?

Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.
Beatrix Potter

Most people, after one success, are so cringingly afraid of doing less well that they rub all the edge off their subsequent work.
Beatrix Potter


All outward forms of religion are almost useless, and are the causes of endless strife. . . . Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest.
Beatrix Potter
Journals 1881-1897

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were--Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.
Beatrix Potter
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, opening words

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

-Nelson Henderson

 

I roamed the countryside searching for answers to things I did not understand.  

~Leonardo da Vinci

Who doesn't love a sunset?

Who doesn't love a sunset? 

What a spectacular end to the day. 

The glow, the colors, the way it changes moment to moment.

I hear that sunrises are spectacular also, but I'm not a morning person.

I can look at my photos backward and pretend the sun is rising.

I'm guessing it's the same. 

One day I will have to get up early to prove my theory.

But not tomorrow.

Flying or Sledding?

Our first snow day of the year. 

My daughter has taken up snow boogie-ing with a gusto I've not seen in her before. 

No fear as she sleds, rather, flies down what is called Mad Dog Hill.

I could not be prouder of my gutsy, yet bossy, independant thinking, daughter.

My Mantis Model

This is the photo that re-energized my interest in photography.

 My Mantis. He was a great model for a few moments. 

A Warm Winter Day in the Midwest

It was a warm winter's day when I shot this leafless tree with it's shriveled berries. Midwestern weather is bipolar with it's ice storms in October and it's 68 degree days in December. Summer is the only season that you can predict, with it's one temperature, fry an egg on the side walk, hot!

Bridge of Friendship 

By Lina Santos

In the mutual respect of each existence, the pillar of a good friendship lives.
The respect, the change of ideas, the complicity, the flexibility, they make new pillars uniting themselves to be reborn, creating a bridge of magic light, that we can cross everyday.
Unlike the normal ones, the constant cross, doesn't consume her, it solidifies her!
I hope that after a lot of crossings, the light that comes from our Bridge of Friendship, wins a place in a corner of the sky, closer to all other bridges that are insistently, called "stars!"

My Bliss

Saw this little guy on a walk around the Overland Park Arboretum this week. 

He set my heart all aflutter!