Photo 365 #103: Architecture

November 18, 20142 Comments

I’m lucky to work in a town full of wonderful old Victorian houses. There are two of them within a couple of blocks of my office, and they’re just gorgeous (there might actually be a couple others), despite the massive hailstorm that hit the area five years ago. But I’m not at work today, so I can’t take a picture of either of them decked out in their snowy glory.

I have a few pictures of a beautiful church I saw this summer, but I was shooting on the fly and most of the pictures came out either blurry or crooked. Then I thought of all the pictures I have of our house, both our old one and our new one, but they’re really nothing special (the pictures, that is, not the houses). Straight-on shots of one, a few different angles on the other as we were painting it this summer, but nothing great. Still, they got me thinking…

Photo 365 #101

November 16, 2014November 17, 2014Leave a comment

We had our first significant snowfall this weekend, and as a result, we didn’t go anywhere for most of the weekend (the lone exception being a trip to the store this morning for some milk). I was quite happy to stay inside because it was brutally cold outside (though it wasn’t a whole lot better inside), and yesterday the roads were quite slick.

Miss Tadpole is concentrating awfully hard. 🙂

That blur just above the blue robot is his head flying off. 🙂

Instead, we stayed inside and played with the newfangled Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots that Bubbles got last year for Christmas. It was certainly an entertaining way to spend the afternoon, and the boys loved watching Bubbles and Miss Tadpole pop each other’s heads off. 🙂

How did you spend your weekend?

Photo 365 #99: Mystery

November 14, 2014Leave a comment

Tiny Bubbles was nothing if not curious.

tinybubbles

These days, it’s Cricket and especially Thumper who like to go exploring in places they shouldn’t.

Photo Friday: Pride

November 14, 2014Leave a comment

One team. One dream.

That’s what you’d see if you drove past my neighbors’ house. They – and many other people in our area – have a sign in their yard with those words scrawled in blue and silver marker. And for all the Rebel fans out there, that dream is only one game away from becoming reality.

I don’t normally get worked up about sports, but when it comes to my home school district, well, that’s different. I’ve spent the last twelve years bouncing between the two (big) towns in our school district. I grew up in one, I moved to the other. Moved back to my hometown, then moved back to my adopted hometown. I am a proud Rebel.

Our football team made the state playoffs this year. We played the first two playoff games at home and won big, then traveled last week for the quarterfinals, where we won again. Today we played at the UNI Dome in the semi-finals and won. The team we played today? We beat them 43-0 back in September. The win today wasn’t nearly as big, but it was a win, and we haven’t been to the finals in ten years.

Stand up! Be proud! Say your name! Out loud! WE ARE THE REBELS!

Prior to that, it had been decades since we were in the finals. Our school district as it is now didn’t even exist then.

So to say I’m proud of our boys in blue today is something of an understatement. I am beyond thrilled that we’re in the finals. I’m already praying for another win, because one of the teams we may face is undefeated (we’re not). Go big blue!

The picture above is from last night’s pep rally (sadly, I couldn’t go to today’s game, though Seymour took the kids, who I’m sure are ecstatic). I think the caption says all that needs saying. 😀

Okay, I lied. I’m going to leave you with the lyrics to our school song, because it’s going to be running through my head all day now. And if I can find a link to a clip of our band playing it, I’ll share that, too.

School Song by Gerald Ramsey

We are the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels,
As proud as we can be!
Gladbrook-Reinbeck Rebels,
Fighting for victory!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Win that mighty battle,
That is our Rebel cry,
It’s on to fight!
Win!
Victory’s ours,
As we lift that banner high!

Go Rebels!

Photo 365 #97: The natural world

November 12, 20149 Comments

Living in a rural area is nothing if not fantastic for capturing wonderful moments in the life cycle of nature. As evidenced by my deep and abiding love for skyscapes, I’ve got no shortage of inspiration for nature-based images. And since it’s hard for me to choose just one, here are several!

Beautiful…and treacherous.

Our yard is littered with pine cones.

“Come into my chamber,” said the spider to the fly.

Just another beautiful summer day.

Tasty harvest. 🙂

This is completely unacceptable at this point in the year.

These are only a handful of the nearly two thousand pictures I’ve taken of the world around me this year alone. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place.

Photo Friday: Minimalist

November 7, 20143 Comments

IMG_20131205_112005 I checked my calendar this morning and realized that – horror of horrors! – Charnele and I are out of prompts for our Photo Friday feature.

Whoops.

But then I saw that this week’s photo challenge is all about minimalism, and guess what? I just happen to have something that fits the bill. It’s a picture of the frozen condensation on my bathroom window one morning last winter. Sadly, I awoke to find condensation on the inside of the windows in our new house this morning, and it’s not even that cold yet (although we did finally break down and turn on the heat yesterday).

I hate to think what it’ll be like in another month or so when winter is in full swing.

Photo 365 #92: Solitude

November 7, 20142 Comments

solitary Living in the country can be a lonely thing, which is why I was initially worried about living out in the middle of nowhere again (okay, I had other concerns, too, but isolation was a biggie). This fence post (and the barbed wire wrapped around it) marks the end of our yard and the beginning of the field next door.

It’s a solitary place, our little farm, but I find it relaxing, and peaceful. Sometimes a little solitude is all you really need to soothe your inner demons and gain perspective on things.

Photo 365 #91: Bliss

November 6, 2014November 7, 20143 Comments

Happy farm boy is happy. 🙂

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Seymour as happy as he was when we moved to our farm in the spring. He’s been looking for an acreage since we got married and now, five years later, he’s finally got one.

I was less interested in moving to the country than he was, but it’s been a lot different than my last experience of country life. I feel much more relaxed than I did in town, even though things like getting the kids to piano lessons were much easier when we lived in town.

Still, he gave town a try for me, so now I’m giving the country a try for him. Because that’s what you do. And no matter where you go or what you do, it’s who is beside you that counts. 🙂

Photo 365 #88: Home

November 3, 20144 Comments

Today is the first day of the Photography 101 course on WordPress, and I’m really looking forward to participating. There are supposed to be a bunch of tips and tricks, and frankly, I can use all the photography tips and tricks I can get. There are also different themes, and today’s theme is all about home.

For me, home is more than just a place to rest your rump. Home is where your story begins, and stories are all about people. I can’t imagine home, whether in town or in the country or even on the moon, without these crazies with whom I share space: