Spring into…winter?

February 26, 2017February 28, 2017Leave a comment

It seems Mother Nature can’t make up her mind about what season this is supposed to be. We had a thunderstorm Friday that was quickly followed by a snowstorm, which meant my drive home from work was super interesting.

It also meant that my drive to work yesterday morning was super pretty.

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Luckily, the ice hadn’t yet melted when I went home, so I was able to shoot these beauties. But pictures don’t really do them justice – these trees, they were silver. And iridescent. It was such a beautiful day to be out!

Only in Iowa…

February 20, 20171 Comment

This week in weather:

Hope you’re having a great start to your week!

Sunday funday

February 19, 2017February 20, 2017Leave a comment

Gotta love having fun in the sun. That poor hammock, though…

How did you spend your weekend?

Transcribing memories

January 18, 20174 Comments

I saw this week’s Discover Challenge post about transcribingmemory about a day after I had discovered the site for myself. Being a huge fan of diaries, and having kept diaries of my own since I was eight, I knew this was a challenge I could have a lot of fun with. I may not be nearly as devoted to my diaries as I was before I had kids, but I do still write in them every now and then, and this challenge provided me with the kick in the pants I needed to sit down and read through some of my old, old, OLD writing once again.

I learned a few things from reading my old diaries, like…

A pop of color

January 16, 2017January 17, 20174 Comments

It’s a gray, gloomy day out there, so here’s a pop of color to brighten up your day:

Happy Monday!

Starry night

January 13, 2017January 17, 2017Leave a comment

For the most part, I love where I live. You don’t get views like this in a city:

That said, it needs to warm the heck up!

Frozen to the Core

December 9, 20168 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

A storm rages outside my window. It’s dark, and the freezing mix makes it hard to see. Amy sounds tinny, and far away, and not at all the way I remember her in this song. In my memory, she is warm and welcoming, close enough to touch yet larger than life.

Now, though, she is tiny. A tiny woman singing a tiny song through a tin can phone.

I’m alone, and lonely, and the darkness doesn’t help.

It’s the hap-happiest season of all…

The darkness wraps itself around me, but it does nothing to ward off the chill, cannot stop it from settling in my bones, from freezing my marrow. I freeze all the way to my core, and not even my expensive down coat with its heat-reflecting interior can warm me.

I’m alone, and lonely, and the darkness doesn’t help.

It’s the most wonderful time…

I crank the heater up to eleven and then, because I can’t hear her over the road noise and the heater, I turn Amy up, too. Only it’s not Amy singing anymore, it’s Josh, and Bing, and their once-silken voices now sound raspy and grating, so I turn the radio back down. The blast of hot air from my car’s dashboard vents sears my eyes and chaps my skin, but it can’t warm my soul, and the bright Christmas tunes can’t dispel the gloom.

I’m alone, and lonely, and the darkness doesn’t help.

Oh, the most wonderful time…of the year!

Things I like

November 5, 20165 Comments

I’m feeling a little less than inspired today, so here are some of my favorite things:

Fall leaves.
Crisp autumn nights cheering on my team.
Old cartoons.
Happy kitties.
Books I can get lost in.
Visits from old friends.
The sound of the corn dryers near my childhood home.
Office supply stores.
Silly puns.
Bad jokes.

If you made a list of some of your favorite things, what would be on it?

The Oaks

November 2, 20164 Comments

And now, a story in four little sentences:

A ring of gnarled oaks encircled an ancient house on a lonely hillside. Their tangled arms clawed the sky in supplication to the night, begging her to stay, to keep them hidden from the blinding brightness of the day. But when at last Dawn broke over the horizon, their leafy robes burst into flames, and they rained droplets of fire as the morning star watched from on high.

Afterward, when the sun had adjourned its heavenly travels and night fell once more, the trees wept in their lover’s cold embrace and wondered why, when the air turned crisp, she always let them burn.

Double

March 31, 2016March 31, 201610 Comments

For today’s challenge, I had a little bit of fun:

My younger two boys go everywhere together, and they’re so similar in size that I get asked all the time if they’re twins (they’re not). The first image is of my father-in-law exploring an auction with them. The second image is my husband exploring our new farm with the same two boys. I love that I was able to create two such similar photographs. These are two of my favorite pictures of my boys.

Do you have favorite candid shots of your family?