The Heron

Mark and I have taken up hiking Sunday afternoons.  We beg the kids to come with us and set off to the North Carolina Mountains.

On one of our adventures last weekend we saw this Heron bathing himself in the marsh. Because when I grow up I want to be a highly skilled photographer; I snuck between the trees and snapped. 

 Then I blew it!  I was so excited I actually captured this photo - I squealed Ya!!!  and scared him away.  

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 Our World Tuesday

Just hanging out with A. J.

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Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother :: Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day  :: ABC Wednesday :: 


Favorite Photo Friday

~ Perfect Memories ~

My fondest, earliest memories are of the water. . . in the water. . . under the water.

 

 

SWIMMING!!!

 

with my eyes wide open . . . feeling the water move me

 

 while I glided through - weightless pretending to be a Mermaid.

 

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Unknown Mami 

Ni Hao Y'all

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These photos were taken with a disposable water proof  Fuji camera ~ the day was partly cloudy to mostly sunny and perfect! ~ the first photo:  I added black and white -  I  then added a little of the  color back to the photo - the second and last photos are completely unedited

 

the Wand & the Hands that created it

Stevie Wonder's it again.

 

He bought himself a lathe a few weeks ago: with a little carving here and there the things he is creating with it are simply. . . magical.  If your a Harry Potter fan you may recognize this wand. It's Luna Lovegood's.

 

This son of mine continue to amaze me as I mull over that age old Nature Nurture question. These things just seem to come naturally to him.  I think this gift he possess is in his blood.  

 

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 In the Studio :: Unknown Mami Sunday's in My City

Come and Gone

 

It's Stevie Wonder's Birthday today. 

 

 

He is 18! 

 

18!!!

 

I can't help but think of that country song by Carrie Underwood. . ."18 years have come and gone. For Mama they flew by. But for me they drug on and on."   Then I have to laugh at myself  because,  I know he would hate that I have a country song linked to a post that has anything to do with him.  But, what's a Blogger-Momma to do when the words just fit?  

 

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THIS OR THAT THURSDAY :: Fabulous Photo Friday :: Favorite Photo Friday :: Photo Friday



Just so you know

 

We have a first grader in the house.

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 Our World Tuesday::

 

What's Colorado got?

What's in the news this week. . . this month? 

James has left us for bigger bluer skies. He has moved to Colorado. Colorado Y'all! Colorado? What's in Colorado that we don't have? Sure they have all of James friends, mountains, blue skies and snow. Boy! do they have snow. . . and now Colorado has our James. 

So you know what happened?  

The Best Nana Ever threw a party.  We lived it up! We had a great time. We showered James with presents and sent him on his way.  I took loads of great pictures. I even up loaded them to my computer. 

Then something really terrible happened. It was even worse then James moving to Colorado. 

My computer crashed and I lost everything. I couldn't play with my blogging friends, check email, edit pictures or do anything computerish. I know! How sad. . RIGHT?! I miss all those beautiful pictures I took at the party. . . 

Oh! Yeah. . . and I miss that kid James - that kid I watched grow up. 

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Friday Fragment,  Favorite Photo Friday,

An update on Aubrey

Hey!  I want to thank everyone for all the prayers and well wishes for Aubrey.  Y'all are truly the best! and . . . She is doing better. 

~ as we say in the South at times like these ~ 

"PRAISE THE LORD!" 

This is the scoop as of today: Aubrey is out of ICU and is eating and drinking on her own now. Even though this baby girl of ours is still on dialyses, the doctors feel her kidneys should start to function within a couple of days.  We are told her stay in the hospital will be a long one but . . .for now. . . her doctors say she seems to be out of danger.   A BIG Yay!!!!!!


again ~ Let's keep praying and I'll keep you posted.


xoxo. . . Lisa

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Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all

Playing along with Ni hao Y'all ~  this photo was taken with natural light on a Fujifilm S1000 and then edited in black & white

She's very Sick. . . very sick

You remember Aubrey don't you? She is my nieces baby. 

George's Granddaughter.  

Aubrey is sick. Very sick! So sick that when her mother called 911 for help - 911 called for help and had this sweet little child airlifted from her home to the hospital. 

From what I know today: her kidneys have shut down and she is on dialyses.

If your the praying kind - pray for her.  

I'll keep you posted, 

xoxo. . . Lisa

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Friday Fragment,  Favorite Photo Friday,   In the Studio

6 now

She turned six yesterday

and now she calls me mother. 

She tells me: "That's what big girls should call their mothers when they love them very much." 

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Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all

About this photo:  It was taken only with the light of the candle. I brighten it just a little bit and tried to get rid of the granny look but couldn't., Even though it's not what I would have wished for I like the photo anyway because of the joy on her face. 

Long Time no Post

Did you know it was 108 degrees in Simpsonville last weekend? 

108! ! ! 

Man it has been hot! 

I know, it's been a long time since my last post, and my music REALLY needs an overhaul. BUT . . . I read some where that one should never work on a blog in the pool.  I think the article said: it would be best to take a camera and leave your computer at home.     You never know, you might miss a cool shot! 

Happy Fourth Y'all! 

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Our World Tuesday  :: Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::  In the Studio

An Early Flight

I know this picture is terrible. It's just not good at all: the lighting, that I couldn't get right, the angle, even Stephen's hair is a mess. But, it is my favorite photo of the week. 

 ~ My little boys ~ 

Looking at them makes me happy I held them as much as I did. I believe in waking a sleeping baby just to hold them. After all, they grow up so fast and what's a few hours of lost sleep when the years just fly bye. 

 Anyway ~ Matthew, Stephen, Liz and I jumped in the car early Tuesday morning,  at 3:45 a.m., to beat it down to Atlanta so these guys could meet an 8 o'clock plane. 

We had to be at the airport by 7. 

Long story short ~ They went to Michigan to an Acton Institute conference for a week long study of religion, liberty and economics. 

It all makes me wonder. . . Who are these kids. . . and how in the world did they  become so fantastic get so boring!!!  

NOT!!!

Until Next time. . . 

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 Our World Tuesday  ::My 3 Boybarians 

ALL Y'all

Hey, Y'all ~ even ALL Y'all ~ 

That's what we say in the South when we want everyone to know the news and we don't want to leave anyone out: 

He did it again. 

He's on the Dean's list again this semester.  I'm just so proud of him I had to tell all y'all the good news.   

The South

The South 

/thə ' sau'th/, noun 

The place where. . .1.) Tea and accents are sweeter  2.) Summer starts in April.   3.) Macaroni and Cheese is a vegetable 4.) Front porches are wide and words are long.  5.) Pecan Pie is a staple  6.)  Y'all is the proper noun. 7.) Chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy. 8.) Everything is Darlin'  &  9.) Someone's heart is always being blessed. 

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Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all

Playing along with Ni hao Y'all ~  this photo was taken with natural light on a Fujifilm S1000

bubbles & halter tops

Nothing says summer like . . .

bubbles and halter tops. 

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Friday Fragment, Favorite Photo Friday 

Under a cloudy sky. . .

I think I told you last week that I am reading this book on photography and light. I told you I read how the human eye looks toward the brightest part of a picture. 

and we all agreed that was true. 

So the past few weeks I have been concentrating on light and the direction of the sun. Infact whenever I see that something is light up by the sun, I grab my camera and take a picture of it. 

This week I read you could minimize sun flares by cupping your hand  around the lens to shade the sun from flaring into your photograph.  But, most of the time I like the sun flares ~ so I leave them. 

 I also learned . . .when clouds roll in and 

  the sky turns dark in one area and bright in the other

 that is the time to point your camera to the things on the ground.  You just may discover birds have made a home in the your  front yard. 

AND 

Your flowers look great under a cloudy sky because there aren't any shadows from the sun.


and if . . .


the sky gets really nasty -

 it may just be a great time to shot the sky it's self.  

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Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all

Playing along with Ni hao Y'all ~ all of these photos are unedited and taken with natural light on a Fujifilm S1000

a boy and his Tadpoles

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Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day:: ABC Wednesday

Sneaky Light

I have been reading this book of photography that talks about light. The book says the human eye naturally looks towards the part of a picture that has the most light.  

Well, this makes sense to me. 

So yesterday when I was picking flowers in front of my house, Liz put them in her bike basket.  The bike just happened to be in a lot of sunlight and looked so pretty sitting there. Like any good blogger/photographer wanna be, I grabbed my camera and took several shots of this pretty little scene.   

But! here's the thing!!! 

I can't tell if these pictures are any good or not because SOMEONE . . .by that I mean my teenage kids . . sneak on the computer late at night . . . They turn the computer light way down so their dad and I can't see they are up.  

Sneaking! 

You know, it's not that I mind the sneaking so much. I kind of expect that. . .the thing I mind is they don't seem to be smart enough to turn the computer light back to a normal light.  

~ Then we might never know. ~ 

 AND The most frustrating part is: I don't know how to adjust the light on the computer and they won't show me. Because of course, they were never up turning down the light in the first place. 

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Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day:: :Wordless Wednesday but with Words  :ABC Wednesday

It's Finished!

Remember when I told you Stevie Wonder was making a bench for me? 

I told you how he cut trees down in our woods, stripped the bark and designed this bench all on his own.   He worked on it . . .well. . . forever! 

You remember don't you ? 

I told you how big this bench was and how it would comfortably fit Stephen's 6'5" frame. 

and then. . .We laughed and decided we should call it "the Paul Bunyan" bench.  


So we did! 

Well. . . It's finished! and it's just wonderful! You have to come over and try it out. 

I'll make coffee. 

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Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all

Playing along with Ni Hao Y'all ~ the first photo is unedited. I had my camera set on "natural light". 

Black and White. . .& RED

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: Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::  live and love . . .out loud::Wordless Wednesday but with Words  :: ABC Wednesda