I Heart the Best Conversations...

"A heart that loves is always young." ~ Greek Proverb

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I Heart Faces is having another photo challenge. So, of course I want to play. 

This weeks theme is  “Best Face Photo from March 2011.” 

I love this photo of my brother George and his 19 month old granddaughter Aubrey. To me, only the "Best Faces"  show love. That's what I see when I look at this picture. 

& I Worry. . .

Stephen took and passed the drivers permit test last week. 

This really makes me worry. 

Now we have two teenage drivers in the house

Yeah!!!! I said TWO!  

Did I tell you everytime Stephen gets into the car. . . He falls asleep.

 Yeah! He falls asleep . . .So now,  I really worry. . .


Playing alone with the Communal Global Blog

Fourteen In Black & White

She is 14 today. . .Fourteen

Anyway I write them out, the numbers mean the same. . . She is growing up.

Being a part of her life is a thrill for me.

I see the light of the world shining on this girl. And, I think . . . the future looks bright. 

Playing along with: Lisa's Long Road to China & Back



Seven Clown Circus 

Getting Her Nana Home

Well! She had enough! 

Her bags were packed for weeks. She was finally on her way. At long last the time had come to see Nana . . .who had escaped to the Sunny Side.

"The Sunny Side" is where the oranges grow,

the skies are always blue, and the ocean is knocking at your back door: 

Jensen Beach, Florida! 

Don't think for one minute this trip was ALL fun and games. 

She WAS on a mission: 

One . . . To bring Nana back home to South Carolina. 

Two . . .To bring Nana back home to South Carolina.

AND 

 Three . . . Mary Elizabeth wanted to make sure her dear Nana was okay after a fall off of a stability ball and an exercise nightmare. 

And here is another thing . . . Day two of our mother's trip: The word is Nurse Auntie had to rush up to Nana's apartment to assist in a sliced foot incident. This was due to an  attack made by shattered glass that cut the top of Nana's foot rather badly. 

All this made us wonder. . . Is this place safe? 

We did our best to make due in this breathtaking land: 

We woke to the sun peeking over the water, warming our sleepy faces every morning . . . like clock work.  

We saw cousin Beth and her son Micheal. We learned it is not only good to know a nurse, it is good to know a pharmacist when you need one too.  

As Micheal fished, his mom saved the day by assisting with the medications our mother was taking for the pain from "the" fall. 

We went for long walks and suffered through these glorious warm days with the wind blowing through our hair and the smell of the ocean tickling our senses. 

 

On their way home, my sister Margaret and her boys who had also been visiting, stopped by our Father's old stomping grounds  Kennedy Space Center. Margaret wanted to make sure things were still running smoothly and the final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery would be off on time. 

This was a good thing too, those of us that stayed behind wanted to see a rocket in the sky once again. 

The feeling of watching the rocket take off brought back so many warms memories of years gone past. I could feel our Father's spirit soring as high as the rocket that was launched. 

It was good to back again in this place that we loved,

 to feel the sand on our finger tips again, 

and watch the sun sink into the bay as it whispered it's good night. 

To some of us . . .the best part of going to Florida was not playing in the salt water and feeling the warmth of the sun on our back; 

 It was going home and making sure EVERYONE was where they need to be. 

Joining in on the Communal Global Blog 
and 
Life with My 3 Boybarians

Guess Where We Have Been?

Advice ~ and then she snapped

Since we are on the subject of improving photography skills, I thought I would give the meme  and then, she {snapped} a shot today. 

In this meme we are to give advice about photography. Now remember, I am not one to give advice often. I know my photography skill needs much improvement. To be totally honest about advice, there are many days I don't want to hear it at all. But you see, the advice I have for the many novices out there, like me, is not my advice at all. So I figure, today, it might be okay. 

So listen up and pay attention! 

First tip of the day: 

Comes from my cousin Anne. She has a delicious little blog she calls Simply Sweeter. She not only takes great photos, her cookies, cakes and fudge are just to die for. 

Anne's word exaclty: "Sometimes your photos are blurry." 

I remember being stunned. I remember saying " Blurry? They are? Really?  She gave me many tips that day like: using your continuous button when shooting the kids, using the intelligent face button detection and lighting and boy did we talk about lighting.  

The tips were very helpful. But, there was one thing she said to me that really blew me away. 

You ready for this one? She said: "Have you had your eyes tested lately? " WHAT!?! Well, she says "Your pictures are blurry." 

So, I had my eyes tested and yes, I need glasses. I even had the prescription filled. But, there are times I just don't feel like wearing them.

Then there was that day Liz and I were at the park. 

Elizabeth and I met friends of ours, Ellie and her daughter Tia. You may know them from the blog Shine. Her photos are just beautiful! Ellie knows a lot about cameras and I think she is a real photographer. She was asking me questions like "What is the aperture in your camera set on?" 

My response was an very intelligent  ~ "Huuuu. . .?" She goes on to explain sometimes my photos are just to bright and I can adjust the settings. "Oh!" I say. . . "adjust the settings." Just so I didn't appear stupid, I pretending I knew exactly what she was talking about.   She then started throwing questions at me like: What settings are you on? What speed are you on?  What this? What that? 

She made me dizzy. The only response I could come up with was. . .What???? And then she says . . ."You know, Lisa, you really should read the manual to your camera." 


"Woooo! Okay what a minute.....What??? "Read the manual to my camera??? Uhhhh?" That will help??? I mean, I have seen people read manuals. I live with people who read manuals all the time. . . But. . .mmmm, I wonder where it is?  

I went home and searched. . .I found the manual I had in French. I even found the manual I had in Spanish. It's to bad too because, I can't read either one of those  languages. 

Weeks went by. Finally I went to the internet to find a manual for my camera in the only language I know. 

So here's Ellie's Second Tip of the Day: 

Read your manual. 

I guess when it comes right down to it, I do have photography advice. . .Are you ready for this? Do not throw out the manual that is written in your language.  They are so much easier to read that way. 

I Heart Her Face. . .

In the attempt to improve my camera skill. . .Or . . . The lack of my camera skill.  I thought I would play the i heart faces weekly photo challenge:

This week a face and a heart was required for the picture. I have been reading directions and instructions and watching tutorials on how to take a nice photo in hopes to improve. Is my skill better? I don't know. I'm more confused then ever. Maybe that shouldn't matter, I'll tell you this. . .Mary Elizabeth sure loved it when I drew the lipstick heart on her face. You would think the child has been modeling her whole life.  She was so excited it was hard to keep her still just for a few seconds. When I went to wash her face she was stunned and she asked if she could leave it there forever.  When I told her we had to wash it off she said. . ."BUT! I want to show Nana. . .She will love my face with a heart on it."