Life: Through the Lens

   It has happened...our book is published and the hard work was well worth it.  Amazon is now carrying the book, and it will be on Kindle as well as with select book sellers soon.   I Was There...The First Christmas.  It sounds like a series, doesn't it?  Well, we shall see.  Right now a rest is in order as it seems as if this has consumed us for years.   Oh!  It has!  Though the stories in this book are written by a number of contributors, it feels as if we've written them, too.  We have woven a big picture with all the little pieces, and the product is a lovely study book for the Advent season.   We knew there wouldn't be many photographs in this book, so what you see here is what you will see in the book.  This stain-glass star is meaningful to me, as it comes from broken stained glass windows in our church.  It is truly a guiding star - for this book as well as for me.   And t...

Thankful this Sunday morning of Thanksgiving weekend for the joy of seeing our book come it's full circle.  Not available quite yet, the final proof is approved and it's gone to press.  Three years in the making, this book is a collection of stories by people around the country who have written from the perspective of someone who might have been part of the original Christmas drama which unfolded so very long ago.  The cover photograph was taken on our journey to Ghana two years ago - a fitting photo from an area of the world resembling that of our writing.  There is minimal photography inside this book, though a very meaningful photo does adorn the lead page to each section.  More story to come on this:). Set up in a Bible Study format, each section matches the themes of the Advent season.  Three stories in each section, study questions at the end of each section, and 12 different perspectives all blend to give you another way to explore the "re...

No Matter Your Tradition, From parades To Football To a hearty meal, Enjoy your time with Friends and Family this weekend.   And please... take time to be Thankful.   Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours.   ~ Sandy and Daryl ~ 

The passage of time amazes me, does it you?  One day I'm starting a new job, and the next it's Thanksgiving.  Where have the last 4 months gone?   There hasn't been a lot of picture-taking time, and that's a little frustrating.  But I am always recording "moments" which capture my soul and imagination.  Sky-watching does that for me, and I hope it does for you.  As the seasons change, and the sky displays it's various splendors, I continue to grow my file of splendid moments. Enjoy!  

For some reason this is not a term I was familiar with - leaf peeper.   Have you heard of it? It's absolutely perfect. Off to the Upper Peninsula we went.  I do think that the new job has taken it's toll a bit, so it was important to spend some quality time away from home, and the pressures of work.  I do love the job, don't get me wrong.  But it has changed our lifestyle a lot, and not always for the better.  So...bags packed, (with a little help), camera equipment loaded, cats overfed for the weekend, we took off Friday afternoon for St. Ignace.  The drive up north was increasingly gorgeous (one of my favorite words), but twilight comes early.   By the time we got up there and settled, it was time to get some much needed shut-eye, ready for the visual banquet we would experience the next couple of days.  When morning dawned, the view from our window showed a glorious sunrise over Mackinac Island.  Perfect start to t...

Seul Choix Lighthouse, near Manistique, MI   A blog I follow, Meri's Musings , runs a Thursday's Theme - "Share the Joy Thursday."  I have not participated until today, not because I don't have any Joy in my life, Thursday or otherwise, but because I haven't taken the time to carve that purposeful post out of my day.  Until now. A lot of things bring me JOY - the arrival of a new grandchild (by Thursday next week, I hear!), time in nature, sharing a joke with my husband (or a tear) - so for today I chose something that always makes me smile and go "Ah ha!"  That is finding a picture within a picture. On our annual summer excursion with the St. Johns Camera Club we explored an area of the Upper Peninsula which we hadn't spent much time in before. The ruins themselves were fascinating, a story of another time in our Michigan history, when the Great Lakes were used for business purposes.  Port cities and lighthouses are abundant. ...

Its’ been a long, dry spell.   My creative juices have all been spent on a job transition, one which went from part time to full time…and very long days.   So the end of the day comes and there just isn’t much I want to do other than sew or sit quietly with my husband, and decompress from a long day. Yet there is always something lacking when I do that.   The need to create is very strong in me.   And even as I sit watching TV, or in the car on a drive with my husband, I think about taking pictures, about writing, about travel…and I sure wish I had a camera with me all the time.   Of course, you’re supposed to have one with you all the time.   Everyone tells you that.   And I have loads of good intentions along that line.   But…there I am.   Quite often without a camera. On my drive to work each morning I do a lot of “looking.”   As I cross over the river I look at the reeds where a family of swans has been hiding all summ...