Solitude

Some view solitude as a punishment, something that is not pleasant or desirable. Some view solitude as peaceful, calming and inviting.

Solitude is what you make of it; it can vary depending on the day, the hour or where you are in your life.

Wherever you are in your life, I hope that any solitude you find along the path creates a peaceful calmness, is enlightening and enriching to your spirit.

Wishing everyone a very Happy, peaceful Easter.

Every road leads back to thoughts of You

Post processing includes slight desturation, orange color pop.

This particular expression, to me, expresses deep thoughts and thinking of someone special.

But, who knows what could actually be going through this young, beautiful girl's mind.

The youth of today definitely have a much different world to grow up in compared to previous generations. Peer pressure is magnified ten fold.

The fact that these kids keep a good head on their shoulders and stay true to themselves is beautiful and gives hope.

Heartbeat of Mass Transportation

Joel (my husband) works for BNSF railroad, so this image is dedicated to him and all of the hard work he and others do to keep the railroad moving each day. The railroad is a major artery in the movement of goods throughout the country and without it many things we take for granted each day would come to a slow crawl.

In processing this image, I combined sepia and color to create the dark glowing color to the metal.

Brown Eyes

Such a cutie, so sweet and quiet too. Her brown eyes are amazing. Her family came from out of state for their family session. The family was awesome and the session was great!

Natural Beauty

This little girl was a guest at a recent wedding I photographed. She has the most beautiful eyes, and look at those curls! Complete natural beauty; she is going to be gorgeous as she grows.
She was intrigued with the camera. So photogenic, wouldn't it be nice if we all were that way! :-)

Jazzy

Meet Jazzy. She is my baby. Almost two years old, and attached to me at the hip like their is no tomorrow. Sometimes I feel bad when I leave her at home. She loves to go on road trips, ride around and leave her nose prints on my windows. :-) What a joy to clean that off every day. hehehe If I am gone too long, she honestly starts to gets depressed. But, when I come home she 'talks' to me (not barking, but more of an actual talking sound!) and welcomes me home like I am a long lost friend. She is awesome. The best dog I have ever had. Oh, and she hugs people too. She comes up to you, puts her head on your shoulder or into your chest and pushes. And if you don't hug her tight enough, she puts her paw on you to hold you. (Like a person would with an arm) She is so loving; I am amazed by her selflessness every day. Each day she reminds me how to be patient, kind and show unconditional love.
I don't believe in reincarnation, but if I did, I would say her and I were sisters in a past life. Whether I was the dog, or she was the human, lol, we would have been sisters.

I'll leave the porchlight on...

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I always leave my porchlight on. The guiding light for friends who are in need of someone to talk to, someone to listen or just otherwise in need of a friend. You may not need it today, maybe not even tomorrow. But, when the time comes and you ever do need that extra support, extra ear or just some coffee or hot chocolate, the porchlight will be on.

This is actually the porchlight in the back of the house. So, I guess it should be plural. The porchlights are on. Now, you won't be able to come to the backdoor. Fence; locked gates; big dogs; and maybe, just maybe if you are in the backyard you will scare me and I may have to call the police and tell them a stranger is lurking. So, please remember the front porchlight is for you! But...you get my meaning.

Everyone should always leave the porchlight on for friends and family so they can find their way home or find their way to a friend.

Minimalism

This is the bottom of a windchime, hanging all alone. It is on the inside of a screen porch, so it doesn't even get the pleasure of really chiming. I often wonder if it feels sad and alone - - - on the inside looking out with no interaction. The same as humans can often times feel.

Dakota

This is Dakota, our yellow lab. He is such a handsome young man. He is 2 years old and the clown of the house. I just love him to pieces.

I changed the images in lightroom and gave them an old school, vintage type look. The process made the head appear to be burned out a bit, but that's ok with me; I like the old school look and his pretty eyes are still shining. :-)

I have nothing; Only time, promise!

Well, I can't believe it. I was super busy all day and evening. Have only had a few moments this past half hour to stop and take a breath. So, alas, I have image today worthy of a blog. LOL. I took a few quick shots of things...hate them all...they bore me to pieces...they would bore you more.

So, I am pulling from my files. I promise this will be the only time in the entire year I do this. Pinky swear! And since I have to do this, and it will be my only time, I might as well make it worthwhile and post two images that were taken on the same day, same subject.

These two images are lilies that grow in our back yard in the summer. They are the most beautiful colorful flowers, and they get super tall. I am talking over 4 feet. Crazy tall. Maybe these images will break that darn Alberta Clipper that is hitting us and a very large portion of the country for the next few days. I have had enough of the cold weather. You know you are getting older when you decide you don't like snow anymore. lol. As a kid, its so fun. Young adult, snow is still ok, can be fun, don't mind it. Get into your 30's and beyond, and it just starts to piss you off. :-)

Stay warm everyone! And for those of you in warm climates right now...send some of that warmth and sunshine our way. We would love it if you would share. :-D

Whatcha looking at?

Had passed by the same field a couple times; the cows were all huddled up, waiting on the winter storm that was heading in. You don't need a weatherman to tell you what the day is going to be like. Just watch the animals, they will tell you. (Anyone who lives near livestock knows what I am talking about) A few of them kept looking at us like we were crazy, this one in particular. So, I decided that she deserved to have her picture taken; sort of a payment for disturbing them. lol.

Gave this one a nostalgic look, antiqued it a bit and vignette for an aged look. Living in Nebraska, I guess you just get used to all the cattle and don't really think much of them. There is probably as many cattle in the state as their is people. :-)

I don't mind. It's a great place to live.

Books of the trade...

I was doing some re-arranging and cleaning today and decided to move some of my photography books to a different bookshelf. You know, you really don't realize just how MANY books you really have purchased and read involving one subject until you want to move them. Here is a very small portion of my 'light' reading. Get it? 'Light'? Photography? Oh come on, you know that was funny. lol, hahaha

I know, that was a lame attempt at a play on words. But you have to admit, it made you laugh. Even if you were laughing at how dorky I am, you still laughed. And laughing is good for the soul. :-)

Everyone has a vice...

Ah, the smell of fresh espresso; the sounds of the steam machines heating up the 1/2 and 1/2, the slight hint of chocoloate, and of course the whip cream. I have just entered...the breve zone.

Yes, I admit it. I am a coffee junkie. A lover of the beans. And my absolute favorite is a Mocha Breve with extra shot, no foam with whip. A little taste of heaven.

Out of the blue...

I was at a loss today as to what to create an image of. Usually it just comes to me sometime throughout the day; I will be going about my business and then I just see a subject or a scene and know that is what I will create. Not today. All day long I have been doing this and that, running errands, watching the bowl game and nothing...

Then, I go out to the garage to simply put something in the fridge out there, when low and behold I look over and see my husband's drill bits just sitting on the workbench. Begging for 15 minutes of fame. So, I took them inside, lit them with a strobe and blue gel, and voila...my photo for the day.

Proof that I sometimes over think things and should just let things happen as they may...Happy Thursday everyone!

Where are you, Mr. Sun?

So, yes it is winter, and yes I should expect it to be cold, cloudy and gray out. But I just want to see the sun for one day...the entire day. Is that too much to ask? :-) This guy sits out on one of our back decks, calling to Mr. Sun and requesting an appearance. Not today, it was cloudy and cold all day. But, other than a dozen flurries that tried to act all big and bad, it wasn't a bad day. High in the mid 30's. No snow, no ice so all is good in Nebraska. hehe

Don't let the image fool you. It appears to have sun shining on it from the right, but that was my flash, off camera and set to the side to give dimension. Maybe tomorrow Mr. Sun will grace us with his warmth. And then again...maybe not...after all...it is winter.

Words of wisdom

I really enjoy reading words of wisdom and quotes by the Dalia Lama. This is one of the pages from a book he has written. The passage is not from today's reading, but it has a powerful message that I wanted to share. More words of wisdom from him:

Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. Dalai Lama

Winter Sunset

One of the awesome things about winter is the sunrises and sunsets. The colors are simply amazing. It may be cold, windy and otherwise uncomfortable to be in, but you can't deny the beauty of a winter sunrise or sunset.

This was the sunset that mother nature blessed us with. A cup of coffee (or the occasional hot chocolate, yummy) and this view...who could complain about ending their day this way?!

Glass Refraction

This is part of a hanging windchime that we have on our back deck. It has many glass droplets that hang and swing in the wind. I have never understood why they don't break when they clang together on windy days. Good thing they don't I guess!

While cleaning it today, I was intrigued by the reflections it was displaying. Isn't it interesting to see that the glass acts not only as a mirror, but does so in a similar manner as our cameras see? Everything is upside down in the reflection. Well, I thought it was interesting anyway...lol. But then again, I am easily entertained.

:-D

Foggy Morning

The weather sure changed within the last few hours. It was a fairly decent day yesterday temperature wise, but today...not so lucky. We are in a freezing rain advisory and winter storm warning. Ick. The temp has slowly dropped all day, and now the wind is blowing and the misty rain is falling.

We had some things to do this morning, so made it a 'road trip' day out of it. Love road tripping!

These trees caught my eye, love the contrast of the winter grass color, the fog and the trees.

I love Red

Red is my favorite color. And I love anything that has a rusty look. So, put the two together, and I definitely love it!

This is an ornament that I bought from Pier One a few years ago. I have it in a few different colors, but love the red one, against one of our doors that is red. :-) When I looked up and saw it today, it made me smile, and I know it will be a good day.