Patience is a virtue . . .

 "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap

but by the seeds you plant."

- John Ciardi

Remember last week when I sat on the front porch all day, well I also read a little . . .

from a red, leather bound,

gold edged,

"year by year" book.

The inside cover reads . . . 

Miss Elsie Calvin

A Condensed comparative record

for five years, for recording

events most worthy of

remembrance

She hand wrote the date, June 12, 1928

Elsie was my grandmother.

She mostly wrote about a boy named Don, my grandfather (Poppy)

This five year diary is about their love story. I don't know exactly when they started dating, but on June 14, 1928 she wrote, "Today is graduation! Practiced all morning, got my watch came home got ready. I was so excited. Met Don afterward and we went to town to get something to eat then came home. Hazel, Claudia, Katie and Bernita were here all night. Don gave me a darling bracelet then he kissed me before my eyes. It was wonderful, first time since I began going with him! I'll never forget!!

{Kim Klassen Sybil}

This is a photo of my grandmother but it's not dated so I'm not sure how old she is here.

{Nancy's organic paper}

I feel so fortunate to be able to have some insight to her everyday life. I found out things like, she went to college and was not so happy about dissecting animals in her zoology class. That nearly every single Sunday without fail they had a date and that she really enjoyed making dresses for those dates. I can only wonder if in the photo of her, if she made that one? He told her that she looked pretty keen in all of her dresses and she wished she had a job so she could make more.

{Kim Klassen the veil and Edith}

 She sure was smitten with him, and knew for sure she didn't want anyone else. on September 19, 1932 she wrote, "Went for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. I thoroughly enjoyed it too. Gee five years is a long time to go with a fellow but somehow it doesn't seem that long and I haven't regretted a time that I have been with him. It would be as nice if he would only tell me that he loves me and that he wanted me to wait for him but he won't do that. He said he had to have something to offer me first but his love would be enough until he could offer the other. I can understand how he feels about it tho' but I do want him to tell me he loves me so badly. I love him and think I always will because I think 5 years is long enough for anyone to tell whether or not they love another person. He wants me to go out with other fellows for a while and be sure. I guess I'll have to do that before I'll convince him that he will always be the only one with me. I'd marry him tomorrow if he asked me & I wouldn't hesitate a minute. I just know that someday we will get married and I truly think that we can make a go of it. Seems like lately that is all I can think of, getting married and having a home, cooking and keeping house for Don and maybe having a little boy like Don to take care of. I know it will be quite a while before that happens but that doesn't keep me from planning and looking forward to it. He said that if I wanted to go on like this knowing he couldn't offer anything more that just himself for a while ....but if not I should say so, but I'd rather go on like we are now for year + year then to give him up. We both have quite a bit of each other now and guess we should be satisfied but oh, it is so hard sometimes.

 I can't believe after five years he hadn't told her that he loved her, clearly he did. What's up with that Poppy? I do remember them talking about dating for about ten years before they finally got married. His father died, leaving him head of the family and then with the depression his family moved into their garage and rented their house to get through it. So he didn't propose until he could support the both of them. 

I chose the quote I did because my grandmother was so very patient with this young man that she loved with all of her heart. She knew what was important and what she wanted and didn't judge her life by a harvest that couldn't be offered to her, but with patience watched those seeds grow into a bounty.

They were married for just over 40 years, and the seeds that they planted continue to produce a harvest today in love, and respect and in kindness and faith through their examples of the way they lived their lives.

A history that through this diary I can pass on to my children . . . 

I miss you both so much . . . 

Love, Kim

XO

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Tuesdays Around the World, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Tuesday Muse

The best layed plans . . .

Well, they just keep going to the dogs caterpillars, my plans that is.

It seems when you have this many there is a little more housekeeping to do, you know, 

that food has to go somewhere!!

I've gotten so, so low on milkweed that there are tiny fist fights and head butts going on to see who can hog the rest.

No, seriously, they are like toddlers fighting over a toy.

In fact, I would have had this all finished yesterday, but no I had to run and see if I could get some more milkweed and much to my dismay, they have none, nada, zilcho! May not get any for 3 more weeks.

3 MoRe wEEks!!

Do you sense a little panic in those 3 words, you should. I am!

I still have 6 more babies that will be growing fast this next week, and all I can say to the pathetic

plants I'm left with is . . . grow baby grow!

I've been trying to edit all my monarch photos, running up and down the stairs checking on things and wouldn't ya know, I left the enclosure open....yep, two rogue caterpillars on the loose. Searched under chairs, under the table, watching where I was walking....looking at the dog to see if he looked guilty. But, in his defense I'm pretty sure he wouldn't eat a caterpillar? Nope, just the new leather coaster.....with the Texas star in the middle and everything that we got at the rodeo.

But finally I found it. I left a 3 tiered glass stand in the dining room (where they are) on the floor, and there he or she was climbing up. I'll tell ya, this is more work than I had bargained for, but OH so worth it. In fact yesterday, I had an almost catastrophe, but I'll share that story later. It had a happy ending!

So be patient with me, I promise I'm going to get 'er done!

In all reality it may be a week before I start the series.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Love, Kim

XO

Sharing with Little things Thursday, Friday Photo Journal, Thursday Favorite Things

Finding Serendipity {1440}, Loves on Thursday

I just sat . . .

. . . on my front porch,

all day.

Yep, I made some coffee and went and sat on my front porch all day long.

ALL day, I'm not kidding you!

I listened to the mockingbirds sing, and argue a little with one another.

I watched a little mouse, scavenge for acorns that fell from my Oak tree.

I brought out my Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar and watched him eat Fennel.

I did bring my camera, of course, and took some pictures . . .

. . . but mostly I just relaxed.

And this is my little swallowtail caterpillar. He surely doesn't like to be bothered though. I'm excited to watch this one grow as he will look nothing like this before he pupates.

I have some African Daisies I haven't planted yet, so I brought them to the front porch for a little photo shoot . . . this was the evening light and it was just so gorgeous!

As you know, I really love a shallow depth of field, sometimes to where the subject is barely in focus. The above and below photos have no textures, just cropped.

On this one I used KimKlassenlove texture and one from Nancy at a Rural Journal NC_L131, both ever so subtly.

I guess I just needed a day, or maybe I need a week....to just chill after my boy has gone back to school full time and we're not running to the doctor several times a week. He is doing really well, but trying to catch up with a months worth of work when you are in High School is no easy feat for sure. And trying to get back in shape (read muscles) for Spring ball (football), (serenity now!). His inflammation markers are all continuing to trend downwards, I just hope that once we cut back on med's that his body will sustain back to normal inflammation markers or we will have to make decisions on a whole new class of drugs I'm not thrilled about....AT ALL!

If you follow me on instagram you know I'm now what my son calls a "Monarch Farmer", oh yes, I currently have 18 caterpillars, and 2 chrysalis, and have had 4 butterflies already eclose. I'm constantly on the run to the nursery for more milkweed...I'm going to go broke, haha! Check back soon, as I am going to start a series on this incredible adventure, I just have sooo many photos to go through and some videos to figure out...and a little relaxing still to do! ;)  In my defense though, I did clean some toilets yesterday!

Until then, Happy Tuesday my friends!

Love, Kim

XO

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Tuesdays Around the World, Tuesday Muse

and Sweet Shot Tuesday

The Secret Life . . .

. . . of bees

"Life is the flower for which love is the honey"

- Victor Hugo

I'm finally able to share some more of my fascination with bees...

I'm not sure when or how I became so fascinated with this aerodynamic wonder. Everything about them says little miracle to me and perhaps because they are such a highly organized society that operates in such a very intricate way or maybe because they are the only insect that produces food eaten by mankind.

I know a lot of people who are frightened by bees, and rightfully so if you are one of the unlucky ones who are allergic to them, but they are not aggressive by nature and won't sting unless provoked or protecting their hive from an intruder. I shot all these with my 40mm macro lens that requires you to be very very close to your subject and they have never been bothered by it. However, I would recommend NOT wearing a floral shirt of any kind while trying to get that close to them, just sayin' . . . they get a little confused!

I don't even know where to start, there are so many interesting things to share about the honey bee. I guess I could start out by giving kudos to the worker bees who are all female by the way, who do the majority of the work around the hive like, producing wax, making and cleaning the cells, feeding the larva and drones, and guarding the hive among other things, and when they reach 21 days old they get promoted to field bee and get to go out and gather pollen and nectar. The queen, well all she has to do is lay the eggs, and the drone who is male and stinger-less lives only to mate with the queen and then falls down dead...for real.

The bees wings beat at about 230 beats per second and they can fly about 15 miles per hour stopping by 50-100 flowers for pollen and nectar before taking it back to the hive. Their antennae are segmented and covered with sense cells which measure humidity and levels of carbon dioxide in the air.

Their compound eyes have thousands of tiny lenses and are covered with sensory hairs that detect wind speed. If you look really closely you can kind of see them in the photo above.

They actually have two pairs of wings which are hooked together, a stomach, a nectar pouch and a pollen basket which you can see above. This one happens to have been visiting flowers with purple pollen. Those back legs are wider at one spot with longer hairs that they comb the pollen through after mixing it with saliva and nectar.

All those feathery hairs that coat their body build up a static charge as they fly and when the bee lands on a flower the pollen can literally jump onto their body. 

They go through a complete metamorphosis from egg, to larva which eventually pupates into a bee.

A worker bee will live for only 6 weeks in the summer months, but if they happen to one of the last broods in the fall they will live through the winter. 

My hope is that the next time you see a bee, you might look at or think of them differently, as the miraculous creature that it is, with incredible mastery, that wasn't by mistake. 

Every day they journey out, not in search of a destination, but on a mission for the survival of each other.

Can you imagine that . . . for just a moment?

And think about this, for just a moment, that as an insect that pollinates about one third of the crops we eat, when they set out on their journey everyday, their purpose isn't just for their own survival, but it was designed for ours as well. 

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!!

Love, Kim

XO

P.S. - I would have had this done sooner today had I not found a green lynx spider I had to photograph! ha

P. S. S. - Bonnie has decided to put Photo Art Friday on hold until June, I will be waiting impatiently! ;)

Sharing with Little things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things,  

Friday Photo Journal,  Finding Serendipity {1440}

Celebrating . . . a walk

"Let every man praise the bridge that carries him over"

- English Proverb

The prompt for Texture Tuesday is celebrate, and there has been a lot of that in the last week.

My son has started back to school after being home for 4 weeks, although only half days by doctors orders right now, and not only was he happy to go back but his friends were glad to have him back as well. My daughter turned 18 and had her prom this past weekend and even though it was not in her comfort zone to wear one, she looked so beautiful in her dress!

I also had a minute to run out around sunset and take a little walk, boy I've missed these walks!

I celebrate this bridge, it has carried me more than just physically over water, but emotionally over troubles... 

I celebrate the wildflowers that show up along the way . . .

{KK sybil and daisy}

I celebrate being able to walk along a birding trail, that ends up here . . . 

I celebrate tiny lizards that will pause long enough for me to get 2 inches in front of them to snap their photo . . . 

I celebrate the nursery that runs along the trail  . . . 

. . . and all the beautiful flowers and vines, and that they don't mind I'm there ALL the time! ;)

{Love That Shot Naples, and KK Anna}

I celebrate stepping out of my box and trying new photography techniques. . . impressionistic painting

with my lens. More thoughts on stepping out of the box on my post here today at Focusing On Life.

(SOOC)

I celebrate the view from different perspectives . . .

And I celebrate the the sun and the beautiful light it gives at sunset.

I celebrate that we have such a wonderful Children's hospital, and Critical Care Center and am thankful for those who dedicate their lives to helping others. We will be there most of the afternoon for another infusion, and unfortunately I don't have a computer to take with me, but hings have started to settle back into some normalcy again, and I look forward to visiting you all to see what you have been up to!

I also celebrate and appreciate all of you!

Have a wonderful day,

Love, Kim

XO

sharing with Texture Tuesday, Tuesdays Around The World, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Tuesday Muse

In disguise . . .

{Kim Klassen Edith and Kirstin}

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."

-Author Unkown

Good morning all my wonderful friends! I have some good news . . . the bone marrow was normal...hallelujah!! The diagnosis stands at Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Rhuematoid Arthritis, now that's a mouth full. After starting steroids on Friday evening his inflammation markers have already begun to come down and after an IV steroid infusion yesterday I suspect it will fall even more!

I wanted to post this update really quickly for those of you who don't follow on instagram or are friends with me on facebook, and to say again how grateful I am to each and every one of you who have left me a comment and who have prayed for my son and my family. I know I have said this before, but words just really escape me for the kindness you have shown during this very difficult time.

People really are good, and God is great!

This photo is a teaser of what's to come. I have a bazillion photos just waiting for me to edit and organize to share with you....I have had the pleasure of watching from egg to butterfly the process of becoming, transforming and emerging. It has been a blessing for me, to be able to engage with nature like this in the last three weeks as it has allowed my mind a peaceful place to rest.

In fact, I'm literally running up and down the stairs as I type this, checking on one of my babies who is about to pupate any moment as I don't want to miss this!

Happy Tuesday, and until then....

Much love,
Kim XO


sharing with Texture Tuesday, Tuesdays Around the World, Sweet Shot Tuesday

Sometimes there are no words . . .

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When Images become inadequate,

I shall be content with silence."

- Ansel Adams

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Today is our appointment with the doctor.

Tomorrow he will have a bone marrow biopsy.

Kim xo

Photo Art Friday, Little things Thursday, 

Thank goodness for flowers . . .

{Kim Klassen texture Aurora in overlay}

"Flowers are those little colorful beacons of the sun from which we get sunshine when dark, somber skies blanket our thoughts." - Dodinsky

Thank goodness for flowers,

their beauty,

and their texture,

for their vibrant colors,

and the way they smell.

For watching them gently sway in the breeze,

for the way they make me feel,

for peace and contentment,

for helping me to forget the things I don't want to think,

if only for a moment.

Thank you Lord for the flowers. . .

I am so far behind on my photos, not taking them, but loading them to my computer and editing them. My bee photos,  a sunrise morning earlier last month, and my little adventure with some Monarch caterpillars! Oh my, is all I can say . . . like a little miracle, a birth of life, and I've witnessed it all at my kitchen table! I can't wait to share it all with you. But there are still more doctors appointments this week, with Thursday hopefully being the day we get a more definitive answer as to what is going on. I was so full of hope yesterday as he went back to school after missing two weeks, but came home with more fever. And after carrying and lifting his backpack all day and writing, he had a lot of trouble lifting a Styrofoam cup with two hands!

I don't know if I will be able to thank you all individually, so let me take that opportunity to say thank you for your support, good wishes, positive thoughts and prayers. This blogging community is really an incredible thing and I am so blessed to know all of you!!

Love, Kim

XO

sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Tuesdays Around the World,