I think I'll keep the Sunday tradition

 Earth must atone for the blood of that man.

So, here's the thing . . .

I'm not lovin' this blog.  I think perhaps it's boring.  Plus, it has had the opposite effect of what I wanted.  I really do see beauty everywhere I go so I thought it would be good to try and capture it.  But I have found that in trying to do so, it ruins it a bit for me.  Maybe that's dumb but there you go.

It's just that putting up a photo so I can say I did isn't working so I am going to change it up a bit.  I'll try and post sort of regularly, but only if I have something to show or say--that's how most people do it anyway.

And, truth be told, I saw hundreds of beautiful things today--things I'll never be able to get a picture of.  It used to be that when Rob talked on the phone to Tristan he would leave the room.  But now that they are engaged, he'll often times stay and I get to see a certain look on his face that I've never seen before--it is absolutely adorable and it makes ME so happy that he's so happy.  

Then there's Andy's beard.  Yes there's a bit of chagrin there--he is, after all, a BYU employee, but his beard looks just like Mark's did all those years ago.  He has that same swirl on the edge of his jaw near his ear and it's this great redish color but there's no real way to capture it.  

And tonight I found myself sitting and looking down at Berkeley who was sitting on the bath mat holding her "all clean" baby boy all snuggled up in a towel--talk about Madonna and child--it was breathtaking.  Such a natural everyday occurrence, but the scene was exceptional--I was flooded with the realization of her mother-ness.  Of how she loves and cares for Claudy--how it has begun to change her in really beautiful ways.  You haven't seen Berkeley smile until you've see her smiling at that baby.

When I went out to change the water on the lawn at dusk, I saw my walkway--it is beautiful.  I tried to capture the view that makes me so happy when I see it, but I couldn't quite get it.  That's when I started feeling frustrated about this blog--thinking that I could post only one photo and knowing that the photos I was taking were telling a bit of a story but that I'd have to choose one--then on my way back in the house something else caught my eye and I figured I'd have to bail on the walkway photos, because the thing that charmed me was a small bit of ivy that has suddenly emerged right by the front door and the evening sun was illuminating it just so.  Again, beautiful.

Then Cody went out and picked the peas for me.  There he was sitting in the pea patch suggesting I tell all the Knells on  the email list to come and pick them because there are MILLIONS of them and it's hard to get them picked before they are too old.  

Everything that grows in a garden is beautiful.  I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to take a picture of my peas and tomato plants--to me they are stunning.

Then I went to change the water again and this time I saw the blue spruce and it was this great color -- summer and Christmas at the same time.  

Then I noticed how the sun was on the cottonwood leaves and how you could even see the fuzzy stuff and that even though it is trashing up the neighborhood but good, it's still pretty in the sunlight.

Then I saw the ivy on the trunk--I love ivy.  Period.

Then I saw the walkway from a different angle on the way into the house and that's when I changed my mind about the blog--I wanted you to see all of it.  How some flowers are in bloom

and some are on their way--kind of like a gangly pre-teen--beautiful yes but not quite there yet.

Oh, and last night I saw this . . .

(Mark's on a scout campout.)

loveyoubye

My favorite view in all the world

Standing on the porch at Eric and Monette's cabin.

My Bad

So we went to Family Night and I thought I'd be home in plenty of time but I wasn't.  As I was falling asleep I remembered the blog.  Grrrrrrrr . . .
AND I am going out of town tonight and I probably won't be able to post anything today or tomorrow--although I'll try.

So to make up for it, and since Kari asked, here's a link to the wedding photos I have been talking about.  Keep in mind, I took lots of pictures and there is a lot of repetition due to experiments in settings.  You have been warned. 

http://toomanyphotos2.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

Cheers!

Pieta

Gone all day AGAIN today

But here's the evening sky.

Gone all day today

Saw lots of great things, but no time to stop.  Here are some flowers from Lauren's wedding . . .

loveyoubye.

A change of heart

So there was a beautiful sunset tonight and I thought I'd just drive to the lake and see if I could get a nice shot of it.  (I did.)  But then on my way home this caught my eye.  And since this blog is about what catches my eye, I am posting it instead.
Here's the thing:  I didn't used to like crosses.  They used to be sort of jarring for me.  Not sure why.  But over the years and through so many museums with Mark, I began to soften and to feel the reverence of the artist in trying to portray something so important.  I don't know . . .  It's hard to explain.
And there's also a scripture that runs through my mind occasionally and I looked it up just now and was pleased to find that it comes from 2 Nephi 9--the last place Hal had marked in his scriptures before his double vision made it impossible to read.

But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever. 

But I didn't have my camera with me. . .

So I saw something beautiful today but I was unprepared--no camera.  I meant to take it with me, but I forgot.  I was headed to BYU and the weather was all blustery and the mountains--oh my--how I love the mountains, were just gorgeous.  They are all green right now and green mountains with snow on them are just about as good as it gets.  But alas, no photo--maybe tomorrow.  So once again I'll post a photo from my Box Elder County Adventures . . .

Do you pull on the thin thing-y or the thick one?

Because you get the pretty way or the practical way . . .

Finished

My Princess crown for Girl's Camp.

Set Apart

So, in order to set this day apart I want to post some of my favorite religious art. 

Wow.

I took 200 photos, and I had several favorites, and you'll wish you could see this amazing dress up close, and the flowers were the most beautiful I have ever seen, but I liked this one.  One photo.  To represent an entire wedding.  Impossible.

Quick! Before Midnight.

I had a busy day today and didn't take any pictures.  Hate that that happened.  But I have a backup plan.  I had a great weekend a few weeks back and took TONS of photos that I'd like to post here, so I figured that if ever I didn't take a new photo, I could use one of those--since they are "fresh"  More about these later I have to get this posted in 6 minutes . . .

Bliss

 

Yeah, I'm having a ball . . .

Middle Child

I was born in the middle of a big family.  A wonderful blessing that came along with that is that ALL my kids were born in the middle of all the (50!) grandchildren.  So now that my kids are starting to have kids, all those kids will be born in the middle of an even bigger pack of kids.  Oh, and they are all beautiful :)

This is going to be harder than I thought.

So I went out and took photos this morning and I had several I liked. Oh well. There was a great close up of the top of the antique chairs of Mark's grandma's that look a lot like the chairs in the Celestial Room of the St. George Temple, there was one of the fresh raindrops on the peonies (probably too sentimental) and a really cool one of thorns that had great "bokeh" going on in the background (I learned about bokeh here.) But I have been injured several time by said thorns and I am mad at them so even though it's probably the best photo I took today, I am not giving it any attention--pretty is as pretty does.
So that leaves this photo--I don't know, I just liked it. Also, the bokeh tells the story--old/new, dead/alive, coming/going. Should I name each photo? If so, this would have the boring, but explanatory name of Daffodils and Delphiniums.
okaybye

PS  I think it looks better big--seeing it on the blog is nothing to write home about.

First day of new blog . . . but

. . . I'm using one of my old blogs because I have so many to keep track of. The other day several of my darling (and talented and creative) nieces challenged me to get back to blogging and taking pictures of things. So this is my new project--to find something beautiful every day and post it here. We'll see how it goes. My rule is that I can only post one photo a day (like my favorite website Bing.) But I usually take several photos of the same thing so I'll have to learn to be discriminating and my other rule is that I have to do it EVERY day and I can't use a photo I've already taken. Hummmmm . . . this could be boring for you, but I digress.

I'm not sure if I'll have narrative--probably not, but today's photo is a blossom from my garden of only peas (why plant anything else?) and I hope to show how a blossom slowly turns into a pea pod so stay tuned . . .