stars and stripes forever

 

Happy Memorial Day!

I couldn’t help but think of this verse when I was working on my Scripture & a Snapshot contribution for the week. I mean, what’s more joyful than violets? And yet what could be harder than growing out of a vertical brick surface?! Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. These flowers must have patience up a storm. I could learn something from them.

I made a trip to the cemetery in town to see the amazing annual array of flags, always erected on Memorial Day weekend to honor our veterans. I always feel like someone should be singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” when I see them. (I solve that by singing it to myself.)


(In the background above: Goldendale’s grain towers.)

God bless America!

eye to eye

 

One of my favorite things about photography is capturing images from interesting angles—giving a perspective that’s unique from what the average person can see from atop a five or six foot frame.

The quest for these angles can lead to some rather strange positions. For example, most people don’t lay face down on a rain-puddled sidewalk like I felt compelled to do when I saw these cheerful little faces peeping up from the cracks between the bricks at my dear friend Suze’s house. (Suze—the pictures were well worth the wet!)

The most remarkable of these little buggers was a lonely threesome growing a little way off… out of the vertical brickwork on the front steps!

I got back on the ground to take some “portraits” of the newest furballs of the kitty family at my house (although I must say that carpet is slightly more comfortable than a sidewalk!). Meet Lizzy’s daughters. (Forewarning: my six-year-old sister picked the names. Enough said.)

“Spotty”

(Linking the above photo to this week’s Little Somethings photo challenge.) The general consensus is that Spotty is the cutest. :) She’s also quite a pudgy little thing.

“Ewok”

Okay, so I kind of helped Amy on this name. She originally named this kitten Darth Vader because of the facial markings, but we decided she looks more like an ewok from the moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi.

“Diana”

Not really sure where that name came from. Maybe it had to do with all the Royal Wedding talk?

Anyway, now you’ve met the Three Little Kittens. Only these don’t cry from losing their mittens—they cry when they lose their mommy. :)

beautiful days

 

I wish I could show you today in such a way that you could actually feel it. Photos and words can give you an image of beauty, but they often can’t speak to your senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch unless you have prior direct experience to draw from. Especially since I’m not John Keats.

But if you’ve ever smelled warm May air, heavy with the scents of lilac and tulip and fresh-cut grass…

… and if you’ve ever seen billowy clouds crawl slothfully across a hazy blue sky…

… and ever heard the springtime silence, broken only by the rustling of new leaves and the buzzing of bumblebees…

… then you should be able to imagine this beautiful Goldendale day very well. :)



I’m linking this next photo to Carlotta’s photo challenge. Her theme is green… my favorite!

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I admit that I should have been doing something more productive than creating mist-storms and photographing the results this afternoon. Something like homework, or preparing the presentation I have to do… tomorrow. (I’m not usually much of a procrastinator… but this one got away from me.)

But beautiful days are not for homework, in my opinion.

They’re for drinking up the sunshine, consuming the beauty, seeking the glorious little details, breathing the warmth after a long, cold, wet winter.

It probably isn’t wise, but sometimes I let days like this erase all the other worries and stresses from my mind for a couple of hours, while I cram my memory card with hundreds of pictures.

But chances are, tonight’s homework and tomorrow’s presentation probably won’t have a very high standing in my memory a year from now, or even next week, for all I know. Tranquility is a wonderful thing, and goodness knows it’s hard enough to come by (especially for me!), so enjoy it while it lasts, eh?

How great is our God.