An Awesome View of Life

Last week Miss Mara had a sleepover at Mimi's house.  She wanted to make the biggest EVER pile of leaves.  This is the end result.  And I do believe someone is hiding in that VERY large pile of leaves. Love this little girl child with all that I am.   

  Today's creative prompt from @52prompts on Instagram.  Follow her and create something fun each day.

  If you have followed my blog at all in the past you already know I love cemeteries.  This one is on my way to and from visiting my Dad.  I wish I had stopped on my way to visit him because the light was so much better.  I love the church, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, that this cemetery belongs to. 

  Each day on Instagram @52Prompts posts a prompt for creating a drawing, painting, story, poem or whatever you choose to create.  I have decided to use the prompts as a daily photo challenge.

  This morning I had a dream that I was having a wonderful conversation with my Mom.  She passed away 40 years ago at the age of 46.  The only part I remember of the conversation was me showing her my silver hairs.  (It's been months since I have had any highlights).  She told me to be grateful that I have lived long enough to have silver hairs.  That really put life into perspective.  I don't mind my silver hairs and I don't mind that I will be 64 in a few weeks.  Here's to making the most of the rest of my life.  May there be love, peace, hope, laughter and most of all creating.   And as I type this, my camera batteries are charging.  (:

Today's adventure in the Uptown area of Minneapolis.  This was found inside Calhoun Square.  And there is a cooking school in this mall as well.  I might have to look into that.  I'm taking a bunch of art classes this fall so maybe I can take some cooking classes this winter.  Hmmm...

This past Friday the 13th was spent with my brother in our hometown of New Ulm, MN.  We were a bit early for our planned adventure so added a flight of sour beers at The Starkellar.  This is a pretty cool place. This was our planned stop.  Happy Hour on the Deck at The Grand Center for the Arts and Culture.  Mr. Lee Weber was amazing.  Love the atmosphere here at The Grand. My goal is to get the City of New Ulm to convert some of the empty storefronts in the downtown area into some kind of fun hotel.  It would be so wonderful to be able to take advantage of the amazing music scene downtown New Ulm has going on and not have to either drive home or to the other end of town to one of the few hotels in town.  I would have to imagine the downtown bars would like to see the same thing?

On August 18th I was lucky enough to have these wonderful people attend The Woodstock Festival at The Grand Center for Arts &Culture in New Ulm, MN. Above are my daughters, below are my daughters and my brother.  I do believe a good time was had by all. Some of the other hippies and festivities.  Thank you to Anne for all of her hard work. The music was amazing.  Above is Steve Vonderharr, Kit Kildahl, and Josh Gravelin. Above and below The Organic Cowboys Another great band.   Scott Sparlin, Tony Berg, Terry Sveine,  Bruce Melzer and Lee Weber This was a great day of great music.  We met so many wonderful, inspiring people.

Today was a day of getting outside at least for a short while.  This morning I realized that my leg muscles were getting a tad out of shape since my surgery so I went walking in my backyard.  I'm too chicken to walk on the street with the snow and ice.  I can't afford to fall and hurt anything right now. I found so many fun things to photograph while walking in circles. This is the inside of this weird glass birdfeeder that is hanging close to the fence.  You can actually see the lattice fencing.  And a great amount of dirt and such inside the feeder.

A day of remembering.  Good times and bad times.  This was a good time.  This photo made me smile.  "And the trim is still green!" 

This is the staircase in the lighthouse at Ponce Inlet. This was the second lighthouse we climbed in one afternoon and for some reason, I suffered from some "fear of heights" while climbing this one.  I had to have my husband hold my elbow while I reached over the railing to take this photo to help keep me grounded. This is one of my favorite photos I've ever taken.  

This photo was taken at Merritt Island Nature Center.  I took this photo and thought it might look better without the green leaf over the flower.  Unfortunately, when I tried to move the leaf out of the way one flower petal fell off.  I didn't take another photo. When I uploaded my vacation photos this is what I had.  Perfection just the way it was. I love the ant.  I love the pollen all over the leaf I tried to get rid of. Note to self:  don't try to stage nature photos.

Black and white. I like doing this photography thing in black and white. This might be prettier in color but I like how abstract it looks in black and white.  But I am bit weird.  ha! Can you tell what this is?

While my house is being sided I had to put my glass animals in a bit safer place.  But it looks like Mama piggy got a bit out of sorts? Below is a photo of what they looked like before she started messing with the others.   And yes I know how very strange I am.  But I truly believe that is a good thing.  No question about it.

Just poked the camera out the door and snapped.  This is what I got.  Love it! Retaining wall, a bit of lattice and deck joists.  Oh, and a bamboo windchime.  That I love!

Just a few shots out of the basement door during the snow this morning.  I'm still only shooting black and white.  It seems to be a fitting challenge for me. What I see through my lens has been extremely interesting. Today, I realized I  missed taking photos. There isn't a very good reason as to why I quit but I'm working on some challenges to keep me challenged. But I can't wait until it is warm enough for this to be back in the lake.  Enough of this crazy snow.

One road would take me back the way I came. One road would take me home. One road would take me in circles. One road would take me the farthest.

Lake houses and ice houses.  

Life is difficult right now so I took a walk out to the middle of the lake to clear my head.  And to take some photos. Even in black and white, the setting sun is gorgeous. While out in the middle of the lake I realized I can walk on water. (:  Which means I CAN do anything.