Photography Bucket List

Bucket lists.  Everyone has one whether they know it or not.  Maybe you have a meticulous, footnoted, mile-long checklist extensively detailing the adventures you plan to embark, the people you hope to meet, and the "big things" you plan to accomplish.  Or perhaps - if you're at all like me - you've never penned more than a few words on the occasional post-it note.  Chances are, most of your dreams are written solely in the pages of your imagination.  Maybe you'd even prefer to keep it that way.  But sometimes...articulating those dreams can get you one step closer to achieving them.

Ever since receiving my first digital camera in junior-high, I've been in love with photography.  In recent years however, my poor little camera has been sitting by its lonesome in my closet.  So in this case, I've created a subject-specific bucket list: a 2015 photography bucket list.  Every two months I hope to initiate a photography project!  Feel free to join me if you like! 

January/February: A to Z Macro
March/April: A Day in the Life
May/June: Alien Object
July/August: Scavenger Hunt
September/October: Fairy Tale
November/December: Floor Scenes

More details to come on each project.  For now I just wanted to give you an overview.  When you've been absent from the blogging world for as long as I have sometimes what you need is a motivating project (or two or three or six...) to light your fire.

You can see my letter "A" photograph for the first project above.  Original, right?

As a side note, the photo quality on my blog is not the best, so please feel free to click on my photos - this will take you to a better version on Flickr.

Thanks for reading!    

Here's the Plan...

Welcome back!  Since I just couldn't bear to keep you in suspense for another second, here it is: my second post of 2015!  Not especially momentous, but rather a milestone in my book. 

My "game plan" for this year is a tad ambitious since balancing school, work, and family life is often a challenge.  Juggling lessons, anyone?

Anyhow, here's my "subject-to-change-blog-outline:"

~ post 2-3 times per week
~ hopefully monday and/or wednesday plus friday or saturday (not quite sure which as of yet)
~ monday: sneak peek!...see progress on my photography bucket list (stay tuned for later post)
~ wednesday: something inspirational, humorous, or just plain encouraging
~ friday [saturday]: another photo bucket installment, or perhaps a peep into my life ;)

Hopefully I'll have my first sneak peek up tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping in again! 

Fresh

In years gone by when my siblings and I would finish our homework by one o'clock and spend our afternoons entertaining ourselves in the backyard or watching reruns of our favorite TV shows, the concept of busy was practically foreign.  Perhaps in the midst of some game or activity would we have claimed to be "too busy" to load the dishwasher or set our beds, but certainly that wasn't legitimate "busy-ness."  As a rule, our lives, as those of most American children, were carefree.  Even in the later elementary school grades, "busyness" was a mere acquaintance to me.  This acquaintance however is cunning, catching up to you when you least expect, subsequently becoming a rather unwelcome house-guest...who just will not leave. 

Jam-packed, with more than a little chaos, this past year has most definitely been busy. 

This new year, however, is fresh.  Time to pluck the deadheads.  Make way for new blooms!  As much as I wish it were easy to create new habits - be it organizational endeavors, creative aspirations, or the effort to spend more purposeful time with the Lord - the fact is that change is hard.  I recently read a book entitled Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard.  I won't spoil it for you in case you'd like to read it for yourself, but this quote is particularly encouraging when true, lasting change seems distant: "Big changes can start with very small steps.  Small changes tend to snowball.  But this is not the same as saying that change is easy."  

Although not all change is good, more often than not, our lives truly need some sort of transformation, and however small, genuine effort is required.  A sunflower won't grow if a seed is never planted.  A sunflower won't grow if the seed is never watered or the ground surrounding it is never weeded.  And a sunflower won't grow if the tending is only for a season...if the tender suddenly stops caring.   

So...all that roaming back and forth and back and forth across the page is simply to express my hope that this year will be different other than its final digit.  Rejuvenating my tired, old blog is just one item on my long list.  Regardless of whether I post every day, several times a month, or once every two years, I hope that you will come back and visit!

The important thing to remember, however, is that ultimate change is brought about by our Creator. 

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Here's to a wondrous - and surprising - 2015! :)

Another Year

To my chagrin, relief, and great amazement, another year has whizzed by.  Faster than the speed of light, it would seem.  2012 brimmed with business.  A whirlwind of business.  At the moment it's a bit quieter around here, but the busy cycle will begin again soon, to be sure.  I'm just thankful for the little time I have to relax.  The white blanket enveloping the ground is lovely to observe...from inside a warm house.  Getting back to my blog, for however short a time that may be (who knows if you'll see another post again in the near future!) has been enjoyable. Though there are countless things this past year that I wistfully wish I could have accomplished, or even begun, I'm thankful to God for the things I did accomplish, and the time, whether large or small, He gives to do more.  My camera's abode, for example, has long been the shelf, and I hope to dust it off a bit more this year than last.  Before I sign off, I thought this would be a good verse to share in lieu of this new year:  

Deuteronomy 31:8 ~ "The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed." 

Happy 2013! 

Some More Poetry - "Moon"

For this post, I have written a Tanka, which, in Japanese means "short poem."  In the book, Rip the Page!, the author presents a format for writing a Tanka:

Line 1: Name an object from nature (moon, mountain, sun, river, tree, cloud...).
Line 2: Choose 3 words that describe your object.
Line 3: What does you object do? or how does your object move?
Line 4: Where is your object in time and space?  Be as specific as you can.
Line 5: What do you have that your object doesn't have: no  ______, no  ______, no  ______.

Moon

moon
shimmering, glowing, ethereal
casts its misty rays of silver upon the sleepy lands and restless seas
a pearly white marble suspended in a world of darkness
no heart, no mind, no time even to soak up the sunshine

A tanka by a little sparc