Sunday Morning Musings

Enjoying the peacefulness of a quiet, beautiful Sunday morning.

The house is clean.

We are going on a family picnic after church.

We got through the week. It was a hard week and a good week at the same time.

I'm thankful for God's protection, and His answer to desperate prayers. And for His timing. I got stranded by the road with a flat tire this week. I shouldn't have had any cell phone reception but I did. The flat tire happened after I had already driven three hours to my house.

I'm thankful for my mom-in-law, who is willing to drop everything and come to my rescue. She's done it twice now.

I am thankful for my miracle baby. Everything has been going well and "he" is healthy and active.

I am looking forward to the church service today, just because.

It's summer time. I love summer.

This summer is going to be full and busy, but that is just fine with me.

My man is off work tomorrow. We are wanting to go do something fun together. It might involve a canoe and water.

My man spent a large portion of his day yesterday getting me compost for my garden and flower beds. I'm thankful he indulges my hobbies and interests, even if he doesn't particularly care to do it himself.
Blessings to you all this coming week.

Two Years Ago Today....

Pictures from Anniversary Trip

Hi Folks,
             These coming humble photos are from our recent anniversary trip. I would say more about the trip but I don't think I am going to. I will say this, it was very relaxing and worth it.        
             To start things off, I thought I would begin with a series of shots of a particular rock on the beach. I can't decide which one I like better. By the way Gabe, I did try f8 vs f22 at a very wide angle and there is a difference. For the rest of you, it is lingo for aperture values on cameras. It is the equivalent to the iris in your eye. 

The complicated version, I like it, but I think it has to many distractions.

This is the simple version, which I like better. Your eyes are drawn to the tip of the rock and the clouds, which is what I wanted.

Maybe some one will like this version.

My wife and I still are not sure what kind of a tree or bush this blossom is from. 

I just pulled up and snapped. I didn't spend much time with this one. I kind of wish I had spent more time. My wife liked it though so here it is. 

Long exposure made the waves blur.

Just the setting sun and some driftwood.

I laid down in wait for a really big splash on that rock. Which didn't happen like I wanted it to. 

That is all for now!! 

Oh, maybe you would like to see the updated Picture of the Week.

Never Thought I'd do This....

...but I guess you can't say never in this world. I'd heard stories of ladies doing dumb stuff when they were pregnant, and how their brains disappeared and all that. Well I always figured it was just a story, that they were just using their pregnancy as an excuse. I'm finding out differently, pregnancy brain is for real folks.
   Yesterday I pulled the all time classic. We were getting ready to leave the house for the day, and I walked out to the car. I deposited my stuff in the back, and then happened to glance at my feet (yup, you know where this is going). On one foot was a sandal, on the other, a slip on shoe (I was wearing socks, so I didn't feel the difference between the two). My husband stood there and cackled at me. Arrgh! If it's this bad now, what are the next four months going to be like?!

I've been told that I should post again. Yes, well, I'm not sure there is anything terribly new or different in my life. It's really unseasonably cold right now. I mean like, we had snow on Fri. Yeah, really, we did!!! And since we turned our furnace off for the season, the house is rather chilled (one of our two electric heaters gave up the ghost). So I figure if I sit on the couch wrapped in my fuzzy and blog, at least I can keep from feeling guilty over the state of my house, which is a disarray of laundry and unpacking. I can also put off trying to figure out a snack for kids club tonight (if anyone has good,kid-friendly snack ideas that don't take a lot of time to make, please leave your suggestions!).

We went on a weekend retreat to the South Shore of Lake Superior. We got a really neat cabin, one of the best we've had yet. It had a huge backyard that ended at the lake shore, and you couldn't see any other cabins around it. Oh and the best part was that had a real fireplace that burned real wood. We had a fire going all weekend. I told Clark I wanted to take that fireplace home with me (it would feel good today!!). So anyway, we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We were close to Porcupine Mountains State Park, so we did some hiking as well. My husband thought I was crazy for some of the stuff I hiked. Like a half mile hike up a mountain, ending with a 40 ft. observation tower. I took it slow and easy and sat when we came to a bench, and everything is fine and dandy I think.  I think there will be pictures posted on Picasa of our weekend at some point in the future.

It was good to get away and relax. I realized how busy we've been in the last six weeks this weekend. Since the beginning of April, we've been at our church every other Sunday. I feel like I only know half or less of what's going happening in other peoples lives. Maybe life will slow down for a month or so. Ha! Fat chance! Clark asked me last night if there is a way that life can be lived "like we did this weekend, not sitting around doing nothing, just have a relaxed mindset".
I went to garage sales with my mom the other weekend, and got a nice lot of baby things. The only thing I need yet is a crib. I've decided that part of being a mom is worrying about our kids. Pretty much from before they are born until one of us dies I suppose. I know I worry about my baby, and I see other moms worrying about their children at all ages and stages of life. (BTW, I'm not using worry in a bad way here, I'm not sure what the better wording would be. Concern maybe? And I do think that we as moms can legitimately "worry" about our children as long as we don't obsess over it.)
So anyway, that's a little of what's going on in our lives right now. I planted garden two weeks ago or so (when it was warm!), and now I'm wondering if I should have listened to my intuition and Grandma Graber's wisdom. We'll see I suppose. It appears that my established perennials survived the snow and frost last weekend, so I am hoping for the best. And my pansies survived the winter and are coming back, which has really surprised me. The same with the sage. I doubt from the looks of the weather forecast that I will be digging in dirt much this week.
And now my husband and his mom are conniving to get me up to her house for the afternoon and eve., because my man cares about me and thinks I should be in a warmer location. So I shall finish my laundry, eat a lunch, shower and wash my hair, mix up cookie dough, then take my scrap booking and spend the afternoon with mom and the girls. See you all later.
Edited to add: Here is the link to a few pictures from the weekend.

New Page

Hi all,
I added a page to post those photos that are good, mediocre, or just plain bad. Followed by a brief commentary on the photo. I also have the EXIF data with them so you can critique that also. I didn't want to post it on the normal blog because I am worried that those of you who don't care for such things will be bored and stop visiting. It does say photo of the week. Whether or not it will be every week or 7 times a week, I don't know. I just thought it made a good title. Anyway take a look and if you find it boring you don't have to visit that page.

Till later!!