An Awesome View of Life

Hope. Today was a busy sewing day for me.  While I sew I listen to music which quiets my mind.  I do some of my best thinking while I sew.  Maybe I should sew all the time?  ha! Lately it seems I am encountering more and more negative people.  Doomsday kind of people.  The kind that nothing seems right for them.  They only see the bad in the world.  And the more they find wrong the more that seems wrong to them. I wanted today's photo to show hope.  There is goodness, happiness, health, wealth and abundance in the world.  But you do have to seek it.  The quote below was posted on a friend's Facebook page this afternoon.  It says exactly what I had been thinking while sewing. "You will notice that those who speak most of prosperity, have it.  Those who speak most of health have it.  Those who speak most of sickness, have it.  Those who speak most of poverty, have it.  It is Law.  It can b...

Cracked. Ice. See what a walk in the cold can do for a bit of creative photography?  Quick walk along the Mississippi River this afternoon.  Quick because it was cold and windy and I forgot my hat at home.  

Staging. It truly must be time to go on an adventure.  This is a very poorly staged photo shoot.  And an even worse subject matter.  ha!  But I'm okay with it.  Hey, I'd love to be a bit more creative but its just not there right now.  I'm sure all of you are hoping I get my groove back very soon.  (:  

Can you hear... the ocean waves?  This is a black and white shot of one of my many bowls of sea shells.  I love the lighting/shadowing in this photo. I seriously need to get out of this house even for an hour or two to get some outdoor photos.  I don't think I've left the house since Sunday!  Hmmm...

The early days. This poster is on the side of the fridge in the basement. This is one of the first local bodybuilding competitions Cherry Bombs sponsored. I still love Kevin Levrone.  And love that my logo is on the poster just above Zubaz.  My start in the industry was making my own version of "Zubaz-like" pants.  1999!  It seems like a really long time ago.

Two of... my favorite things.  Books and family photos. So very, very creative but time seems to get away from me.  And without any sunshine I have no drive to go anywhere to take pictures.

In a row. Canoes all in a row ready for spring.  We are half way through winter so not long.  (:

Strange Reflections. Would you guess this is the reflection of a car window and its rear rim?  Well, that's exactly what this is.  Love what a bit of sunshine does for picture taking. 

Through the looking glass... An afternoon in the city with my daughters is always good.  While they were getting their hair done I wandered around taking photos.  But when I got back to the hair salon these glass pieces caught my eye. I love the fact you can see the school that is across the street in the background of this photo. I also love the layers of glass from the glass piece on the table top, to the spoon holder, to the coffee cups, to the colorful glasses.  The sunlight and the reflections on everything just add to the visual pleasantness.  (:

Creatively.  Strange.  This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I got started but I LOVE the end results.  The black and white version and the blue version are my favorites but I really couldn't decide which one to post so I posted all SIX versions of my awesome creation.  (: After I uploaded these photos I told my hubby he was married to one very strange but very creative woman!  He just di d his usual chuckle and shook his head at my photos.   Fun! Fun! Fun! ha! Selective. Red. Selective. Yellow.   Selective. Green. Selective. Blue. Full. Color.

Over the river. Seriously.  I need to come up with a plan for photo ideas.  If I have a plan it makes taking a photo a day so much easier.  I want to be back to where I was with this early last year.  Creative, strange but something new EVERY day. I did have a plan for today but with a very sick grandbaby here today I just never got it done.  

A visit from heaven. This isn't the best photo.  I was watching the bird feeders this morning with my granddaughter when this beautiful guy stopped by to have breakfast. So while holding her with one arm I took a few one handed shots.  I read recently that cardinals are our loved ones in heaven visiting us.   

Dad? A perfect day for ice fishing, IF you like that kind of thing.  (: Curious what son is saying/asking Dad? This is on Lake Cenaiko in the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park.  Pretty day at the park.

Me and my shadows. It was almost 40° here in Minnesota today.  Since everyone in our house is feeling much better the ladies of the house went for a walk in the snow and sunshine.   For some reason my darling daughters were walking single file behind me.  I caught our shadows out of the corner of my eye and had to have this photo. It was great to get out and get some fresh air and some very fun photos.  I'm tired again now but very refreshed.  (:

Lunch! This is one of my favorite places to stop for lunch with my darling daughters.  These are the Fish Tacos!  Yum!

Minna-So-tah Hotdish. Call this what you want goulash, casserole or whatever - this is a good old Minnesota hotdish.  After being sick for an eternity (I know it wasn't but it was MY illness after all) this wonderful HOTDISH sounded perfect for dinner tonight. While I was browning the hamburger and onions the smell reminded me of my Grandma Engel.  I even have the correct pan for my HOTDISH just a smaller version than Grandma's.  Funny how smells can have such good memories. (:

Oh nuts! Best I could do today.  Busy day of redoing the website.  Very productive and semi-creative day.  

What's your favorite flavor? This one is wintergreen.  But my favorite is the red ones.  Either comment here or on Facebook your favorite flavor. And I thought I had finally taken a photo without the shadow of my camera in it.  Can I blame it on blurry eyes?  ha!

A bit of lemon and honey.

Warm thoughts... Today I actually took photos.  But like my cold ridden head they were all blurry and a bit strange.  Not worthy of even a head shake.  (:   With another night of sub-zero temperatures I decided to share a bit of hope for warmer days. Day 4 of this virus crap.  Doctor says its not the flu so plenty of fluids and even more rest. I've been pretty pathetic with this cold but tomorrow will be a better day.

Seeing spots? Oh wait that looks like my jammies.  Apparently I haven't lost my sense of humor while having the flu.  This is about how bad my vision is because of the headache I have.  Off to bed soon.  Hoping to feel better and funnier in the morning. (:

In search of a better day... This is yesterday's photo.  I had it picked out but just didn't have the strength to get it posted.  My youngest daughter and I have been hit extremely hard with the stomach flu.  I've only been out of bed here and there for a few hours today.  Keia hasn't been out of bed yet.  Here's to a better day tomorrow!   

A Red Green M&M's Moment Finally the last of the Christmas candy.  I found this bag of M&M's in the pantry.  Of course I couldn't resist the Red Green moment of these candies. ha!  This photo made me laugh even before I got the camera out.  

Just a bit. Of wind. After light snow ALL day long we now have 28 mph winds causing it to feel like -14 degrees.  I think my attempt to capture the wind in a photo was fairly successful.  (: Stay warm all.

Deception This beautiful sunshine caused the snow to melt and drip off our roof this afternoon.  However the temperature was maybe zero today with wind chills cold enough to close schools for the day.

Charged. The contractor who installed our DirecTV left this behind.  Thought it might make an interesting photo. We need some warmer weather so I can get out of here to take photos.  Or I need to step up to the challenge and create some awesome photo shoots around the house.  Hmmm...

Ying and Yang? My new Kindle's new cover.  Love it.

The fire is so delightful. Its not snowing out but the weather is very frightful.  It is currently -4 and I'm not going to look to see what the current windchill is.  All I know is it is very, very cold out there. Stay warm!

  Church Records Found As most of you know researching my family history is a passion of mine.  I've had these two documents for awhile now and finally took the time to photograph them.  They are extremely fragile and this is the only way I know to preserve them. The above record is missing the gold seal on the bottom of the document. The top one is the marriage record of my paternal grandparents, Carl Albert Engel and Mabel Florence Winters.  They married on February 3rd, 1926.  Their witnesses were her brother and his sister who would marry each other in 1929. Below is my paternal grandfather's confirmation record from 1912.  This record is in German. This document verifies his date of birth, January 10, 1898.  I also have a photo of my grandfather taken on his confirmation day.

Double Vision Another photo from last night's excellent adventure.  I took a photo of the IDS tower from all four corners of the building.  This one had my back to the east and since the sun had already set the building was the darkest from this angle.  The reflected building is the Wells Fargo building which is across the street.  

Dressed in Holiday Style Tonight's excellent adventure took my daughters and I around one block in downtown Minneapolis.  We circled the IDS Tower.  This shot is looking east down Nicollet Avenue. So grateful for the warmer weather and NO wind on Nicollet Avenue.  But I did rush most of my shots because it still wasn't all that warm.  This is something I will try again this summer.