Tag: Photography

Photo 365 #102: A pop of color

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Over the summer, we had a potted impatien out in front of our office.  It was a lovely thing, and when the temps turned colder, we brought it inside.  But sitting just inside the door as it was proved detrimental to its health, and it withered.

One of my coworkers brought it inside and set it near the window in our coat room.  She’s got a much greener thumb than I have, and decided to try nursing it back to health.

winterbloom

Last week, we noticed a bloom.  A couple days later, there was another one.  This morning, I counted four or five, and those are just on the side of the plant I can see – the side facing the window appears to have a few more blooms on it.

Now that we’ve got a bit of snow on the ground, it’s a treat to see something so bright and different amid the white.

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #101

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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?

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #100

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Last night was Miracle on Main, my hometown’s annual Christmas kickoff.  Among other activities, they had a whole room set aside for Santa to see visitors:

santa

Thumper didn’t say a whole lot, but that was okay, because Cricket did all the talking for him. 🙂  It was quite possibly the most adorable Santa encounter I’ve ever witnessed (at least with my kids).

Do your kids like going to see Santa?  Or do they scream in terror at the sight of him?

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo Friday: Pride

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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!

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!

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #98: Warmth

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I used to go to a lot of horseshoe tournaments.  My ex-husband played in as many tournaments as he could get to (still does), which meant I spent the summer baking in the heat at tournaments all over the state.  It was a lot of fun, if you don’t mind the heat and the humidity, and sometimes I miss going.  It was fun sitting around chatting with the other horseshoe wives (the ones who didn’t also pitch), and sometimes I’d go exploring whichever town we happened to be in.

The tournaments that were probably the most fun were at the state fair.  They hosted tournaments everyday, with the state championships on the weekends.  The horseshoe courts there used to be in a high-traffic area right across from the nicest bathrooms on the fairgrounds and close to food, so it was about as perfect a location as you can get.

One Last Conversation on the Courts

But eventually, the fair board decided something else should occupy the space next to Little Hands on the Farm, something more farm-related than an old farmers’ game, and the horseshoe courts were relocated, making way for an animal nursery.  It’s a very nice nursery, but I do miss the courts being centrally located.

As we were leaving the fairgrounds after the last tournament at the old courts, I snapped this picture of the scoreboards.  The way they were all out there in the middle, I had the feeling they were a bunch of old friends, standing around discussing all they’d seen in the past ten days: all the ringers, the near-misses, the celebrations and heartbreaks.  Despite its bittersweet quality, this is one of my favorite pictures ever; it just feels so dynamic, as if the scoreboards had really come to life.

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #97: The natural world

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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.

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #96: Landmark

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I pass this barn every day on my commute. Something about it stirs my soul; it just seems so forlorn sitting there among the weeds and dilapidated old farm equipment.

image

It’s a landmark for me because it means I’ve nearly reached my destination, that safety and friends are just a few more miles down the road. It’s strange how such a sad old building can convey such comfort.

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Photo 365 #95: Connect

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Connection in a digital world.  It’s an interesting concept, isn’t it?  All the social networks urge you to connect with others, though how deep that connection really is really varies.  For me, connection is about emotion, how those “friends” on Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and all those other places make me feel on a visceral level.  I’m happy to say that those friends most often make me feel a wonderful sense of community, that I’m part of something larger than myself.  So many of those friends help celebrate highs and sympathize with lows, and it’s hard to imagine life without them.

connection

I almost posted this image last week…

Photo 365 #94: Crossed lines

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It’s been almost a week since the elections here in the U.S. and I’m still upset.  I’m not upset that my candidate lost (even though he did), or that two more years of Congressional gridlock are likely in store.  What has me so upset is political action, believe it or not, action like this:

politics

This is a flyer I received somewhere around the first of the month.  I actually received it twice, presumably because I have more than one child, but that’s no the point.  It looks legit, right?  I didn’t notice the return address till after I’d opened it and started reading.

This flyer didn’t come from my local county health agency.  

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