Legacy of Flowers

It's never occured to me before, but today the simplest question today provoked some great thought and introspection on my part. 'Why are irises your favorite flower? Why not tulips or something else?'


















-- Well, why are they? I started to answer before I really understood the importance of what I was saying. 'Well they're just so beautiful, so full of color, and my grandma has always had them.' That last part there, 'my grandma has always had them', there's something important in that. I've never felt sentimental about flowers, though I've always enjoyed them. But this really hit home. I love them so because they remind me of my grandma. And the more I talked about it freely and really verbalized why I love them so, I heard myself explaining a very important part of why I am who I am - Legacy. My grandma dug up flowers, irises, from her own yard and brought them to mine: a tender and loving gesture in and of itself. She shared flowers from her own yard to beautify mine. Then I remembered that my grandma dug up flowers from her own mother's yard, my great grandma, and has moved them with her everywhere she has lived. Then, she shared them with me. While the flowers that I have him yard may not have come directly from my great grandma's yard, the legacy is there. My flowers came from the flowers that came from my great grandma's yard. That sharing of flowers and the sharing of the joy of flowers and the beauty that they add to our homes is a truly beautiful legacy, and quite frankly I'm feeling rather sentimental about it. I'm truly grateful to be a part of such a warm and wonderful home-making legacy.























Me, my grandma (Vicki), and my great grandma (Orpha), December 25th, 1985.

Eight legs of beautiful.


Country Chimes.


A look of love... in 2 different directions.

Moving through me.

God.. Is.. Good! I have felt the spirit move through me today in a way that I have been missing. He has been there the whole time, but my head has been everywhere else. He lifts me up, He comforts me, He nurishes me, He carries me forward. He is in every beautiful gesture, every priceless memory, every true love, every hope, every laugh, every need that is met. God is Good All of the time!



I have been so blessed in my life. It seems like I can reach back in my memory and find that so many people have come into my life to teach me something about myself, to show me something in the world that He wanted me to see. I have been so blessed to have close friends of such diverse backgrounds. I have been blessed for every bump in the road that has shown me His love and His glory, for He loves me every second of every day.



Lord, help me to learn from every situation. Help me to see your glory all around me. Help me to be perceptive to your will, and help me to feel your spirit moving through me. Lord, help us, all of us, to treat each other with kindness, respect, and love. Help us to always say 'thank you', 'I love you', and 'I'm sorry' to the people in our lives. And please help us to keep ourselves and each other safe and happy and healthy.



God is Good! I pray that He always moves through me in the way that He has today.

Here's a pixel for the books: This is one that I over exposed to get these vibrant colors. Completely unfinished and unedited, this is one of my favorite pieces I've ever captured.



















This one is of cut reeds in winter - one of my favorite shots





















Lastly, one of my Grandmother's flowers - I fell in love with the deep grape color in this shot:




So long for now, readers. I shall return with more pixels for your viewing pleasure - Currently, I'm working on a colored glass series that is sure to please the eye! I've yet to finish 'fire fight' but I'm hopeful <3

Ipod Infatuation.

I did it. I broke down and bought an ipod. I cared so little about ipods that I don't even know which letter to capitalize. I loved my Zune, and I know that the Z is what gets capitalized because it's a proper name of an item, and it follows traditional grammatical rules. Not the iPod, Ipod, IpOd? In any case, I bought one. A big one, an expensive one, and a shiny one. It should come in the mail on Monday. I'm dying to touch it now. (that's what she said.)

It's ugly and grey in Indiana today, and all I really want to do is curl up on the couch and load a crap ton of media onto my new toy. Well, secretly I want to go take pictures as well, but I'm running a little short on inspiration. Oh, what I would give for a sky full of bright clouds and a box of crayons.

Even spell check doesn't know the correct capitilazation of ipod.

Click. Click. Resume.

It's resume time: time to begin again. For everyone else, the first of the year starts, well, at the 1st of the year. For me, it starts somewhere around mid February or early March. I'm a procrastinator, I suppose.

I've got a thousand tiny projects going, and I'm feeling the need to really focus some energy into production. I've started to embroider, and I love it dearly. I am also trying to go back to school, and taking up photography again. I suppose one of two things must be true: I either lack the focus to really commit time and effort to one project, or I have enough creative energy to apply to every project, and simply haven't figured out how to do it yet.


My lady bought me a fantastic new camera, and I think that beautiful things are yet to come.

In the meantime, here are some things to think about:

Gigantic bottle of lotion.

Buffalo.

Murphy Moo.

Lick it, Australia.

Otherwise entitled, Birth Control

Went out for First Friday with Stip on Friday night and had an absolute blast. Went to a couple galleries, nommed on some free food, and enjoyed some wonderful company.

We learned a few lessons that night:

1) The people who charge the most for their art have the best food. Nachos, gushers, red vine, gingerbread cookies. Hells to the ye-ah.

2) Always check in advance to see if there is a Pimps and Hoes theme that you don't know about. We saw a guy in a full length fur coat, and another guy with a fur collar on his coat that was popped. We also saw a girl in white fur gogo boots, a grey skirt, and a silver sequined tank top. Well, it was either a girl or a tranny in training. In either case, we clearly missed the memo on the Pimps and Hoes theme for the art gallery.

3) I'm not cool enough because I didn't buy your multicolored hair bracelets.

4) I'm cooler than you because I didn't buy your ugly, god-forsaken multicolored hair bracelets.

5) Studios sometimes aren't so much a place to sell art as they are a cool high school party that you weren't invited to. More than once we walked into a room and were clearly intruding on some secret cult proceedings because everyone stopped talking.

I had an absolute blast. I've been putting off going for awhile, but I can't imagine anyone I'd rather have gone with than Stip. Also, I bought Frankincense and Myrrh soap, eeek!

Huzzah for awesome friends and First Friday!