Photo Art Friday . . . Embrace

"Our task, must be to free ourselves . . . 

by widening our circle of compassion to embrace

all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."

-Albert Einstein 

Bonnie gave us the word embrace as our challenge this month and oh the many

ways I could interpret this word . . . but I limited it to two photos.

When I hear the word embrace, my first thought . . . is life.

Wrapping your arms around it, taking it all in with your eyes, your whole being.

Life happens everyday all around us. This we know, yet we still miss so much of it.

  

And the older I get, well,  the more I want to know,

the more I want to see . . .  the more I want to find.

I want to notice everything . . . and embrace it all!

That's why I love my camera. Not just because it helps me to "see", 

but because it allows me to record these embraced moments.

One of my Queen butterflies embracing its new life.

This next photo I chose is one from a recent varsity football game. Before every game our players make

their way to the end of the field and they all take a knee and bow their heads. No matter how many times

I photograph a scene like this I'm drawn to it over and over again. This never gets old.

He was the last one to get up . . . he was completely embracing the moment.

And, so was I.

Take a moment to embrace all the other art work hung in Bonnie's art gallery here.

Embrace your day,

Love, Kim

Join me -----> here for my Friday Random Five

"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" . . .

. . . he's going to ask you for a glass of milk.

And well, if you take a girl to the sunrise,

she's probably going to want to spend some time at the beach.

We couldn't have ordered a more beautiful sunrise . . .

 But, while this was happening . . .

So was this . . . right behind and to the side of us!

It started to gradually creep around this way.

And then the wind picked up, all the while the sun is still putting on a show.

We quickly made our way up the stairs, I took one shot, and put my camera inside my shirt.

The sand was blowing everywhere, I even had it in my ears!

Yep, it was time for plan "B".

So if you take a girl to the sunrise, and she can't spend time on the beach,

she would love for you to take her to breakfast to ride out the storm . . . even though the storm won. 

1. My daughter had to contact a specialist for a paper she has to write . . . she called me!

Yes, she interviewed me on how to raise Monarchs, I felt important!

2. A lot of rain this week, it's cramping my photo taking. And while I have been known to go out with

my umbrella and my camera, the umbrella would not have helped in the sideways rain this week.

3.. I started a Facebook page last week - Clear Springs Chargers Football by Kim - for all the photos I take

at the football games, both my son's and the varsity. They just sit on my hard drive anyway, why not liberate and share them. Of course there are only two games left, and my son's game is looking really sketchy with

100% chance of rain and thunderstorms for today.

4. If our game does get cancelled, there will be some disappointed kids, because I will have to do some

tricks since I did not buy any treats! Please don't egg my house....

5. If you buy a new hard drive for your computer (much like if you give a mouse a cookie) because it sounds like it going to blow up or take off , your 10 year old printer will then decide it no longer wants to play nice. It now prints blue as pink . . . it's not pretty . . . Houston we have a problem! 

6. Well, I was already to publish this post this morning when I had to come back and add one more thing.

Ever have one of those Ah Ha moments that turned into a Carrie Underwood, "Oh No What Have You Done" moments. And I don't mean the drinking too much and getting married kind, but the realization

at midnight that you left the enclosure that you put the 4 1/2 inch Tersa Sphinx moth caterpillar in, open. Yep, I have a huge caterpillar roaming my house looking for leaf litter to pupate in...and although he may find

some dust bunnies, he is not going to find leaf litter or a pile of dirt to bury himself in. I was on my hands and knees until well after 1 am this morning looking for it with a flashlight trying to channel my inner caterpillar. Dang, I'm so sorry buddy!

*UPDATE: You'll never guess who I found crawling on my kitchen floor this morning,

heading towards the back door! My heart is happy, and I'm sure he is too!

Anyone have printer suggestions, reasonably priced is key here, that they really like?

* I also took the plunge and started a Facebook page for Picking Poppies which you can find here:

https://facebook.com/pickingpoppies, I would love to see you there!

Have a great weekend, and try to stay dry!

Love, Kim

My Photo Art Friday post is ----> here

Linking with Little Things Thursday, Random Five, Friday Photo Journal

The trail opened back up . . .

"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail.

Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for."

- Louis L'Amour

Just follow the light, to the beginning of the trail.

The early bird fisherman catches the fish, and a beautiful sunrise at the same time.

The beginning of the trail, where your husband energizes for the day's trailblazing.

It's been some time since I've been on this trail....construction...(they say it was flood control)...

I've missed the the light here.

And these trees . . . they remind me how small I am.

I found this ONE dragonfly, where I usually see dozens and dozens. The construction consisted of tearing down very old mature trees, marsh, bushes, homes for wildlife, the very spot the dragonflies would pose for me . . . they destroyed hundreds upon hundreds of feet of pines, oaks, the home of the King Fisher's, the place I usually could find fall color. They did this in the name of money for some rich dude who needed fill dirt, and they sucked the fun right out of my trail. I cried all the way back to my car.

Order up . . . bird + bokeh = lots of happy! 

This was still here. Do you remember the red iron bridge. . . they moved it over 100 feet but . . .  the bird feeder, AND my swing are missing!

But then, sigh, I found this on the other side of that wooden foot bridge. More beautiful light and bokeh.

The small bokeh in this image is original, and then I took a photo of more (just) bokeh and

added it on top the the flowers for more dreaminess.

And now for some random . . . 

1. This morning I made my coffee with our Keurig coffee maker . . . that was free.

My daughters friend won it at graduation and didn't want it and just gave it to her.

Well, she is not a coffee drinker and although you can make hot chocolate with it too, she decided

it wasn't something she wanted to take with her to college.

2. But . . . I made coffee in the Keurig with the adaptor that allows you to use your own coffee.

I did the math. . . An average 10 cup Keurig pack for about $12 costs 1.20 per cup.

My coffee, freshly ground as I need it, is $9.99/lb. and I can get about 37 cups of coffee in the one pound.

That makes the Keurig coffee cups 4.5 times more expensive.

And then for more fun I figured out that my coffee, drinking on average 2 cups per day would last me

3.7 times longer, costs me only $3.78/week vs $16.80/week. That means I could go to Starbuck's and order 2 specialty coffee's and still have money left over.

3. Remember the Tersa Sphinx caterpillars from last week, both of those big ones have made a little magic and pupated! Now we wait.

I put some soil in the bottom of the container with some leaf litter and shredded paper towels

and they made these cute little nests, for a lack of a better word.

This one I was able to lift with out disturbing it too much. As the time gets closer

(takes about 2-3 weeks) I will remove the paper towels and most of the dirt and put a stick

inside so that they have something to dry their wings on.

4. Today, I'm going to take the plunge and order all my supplies . . . for making wearable art jewelry using my photos. And then . . . get really busy sawing, cutting, hammering, riveting . . . yep it's gonna sound like

Santa's workshop around here.

5. I went to sleep last night and when I woke up it was morning! Well, what I mean is,

that I didn't wake up in between and slept all the way through. THAT doesn't happen very often, and I seriously can't remember the last time. I feel like a new person! 

TGIF a day early my friends, have a stellar weekend!

Love, Kim

linking with Little Things Thursday, Random Five, Friday Finds, Friday Photo Journal

If you kill a spider . . .

(KK traverse in overlay)

"Our egos tell us we're the only ones that have an kind of feelings. We're the only ones with a

relationship. We're the only ones with family. You know, I think that if you kill a spider, there is a

relationship that you're ruining. There's a conversation going on outside with the other spiders. 

'Did you hear about Chris?....Killed yeah....Sneaker. And now Stephanie has nine hundred babies

to raise all alone. Well, she's got her legs full I'll tell you that right now. Chris was so kind, wouldn't

hurt a fly. It's just been tough for them lately. They just lost their web last week. Those humans think

they're so smart. Let them try shooting silk out of their butt and see what they can make.'"

You know, I never know for sure what I'm going to share with you here, and especially lately.

Not because I'm not out with my camera, but because I AM out with my camera.

I am so behind in sharing some of my happenings and things I find, that when I go to my hard drive

it is so overwhelming. I'm still trying to catch up editing ALL these images as it seems I take them faster

that I can edit.

I might have an obsession....

It could be worse, right . . I could be charging my card at a department store rather than on my camera, at the nursery, the sunrise, the beach, my garden . . . 

(You are welcome honey)

Gosh, I sure hope he is keeping track and that my points are adding up.

Anyway, I was looking for a quote and came across this one that had me laughing out loud,

and well, I sure do have me some spidy web photos.

I can only imagine the things they are saying about me and my spray bottle!

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Love, Kim

linking with Texture Tuesday, Tuesday Muse, Tuesday Around the World, Sweet Shot Tuesday