Local Talent

Mary and I drove to the neighboring town tonight for a bit of local entertainment.   The elementary and junior high students performed their many talents - plenty of music, dancing, singing, and acting.  Lovely.

These photos were the first opportunity in this type of venue that I've used the manual settings without the flash.   Not too bad, huh? 

(NOTE:  I was sitting up very straight; Mary wouldn't let me stand up to take pictures. 
Too embarrassing for her.   *sigh*   Are mothers ever loosed from their older daughters' scorning?   I'll say that my boys are much less uptight about my 'craziness.')

I loved this little girl.  She was part of three (I think) different acts and was poised and dramatic.  And also beautiful.

This is my cute friend Aaron who is a pro-videographer.  He was maybe 20 feet away from me, and I was turned around in my chair, playing with my settings.  I didn't know he was watching me, couldn't see him well in the dark, and wasn't wearing my glasses.  I wonder what he would think if he knew that his picture is on this post.   I will have to tell his equally-cute little wife.  She's a young, fantastic pro-photographer who takes the BEST baby pictures in the world.

Mary and I left at intermission, much to her chagrin.  I was hungry and tired from doing a lot of nothing all day. 

Well, actually, this morning Mary and I ran to Beall's to look for a black jacket, to the hardward store where I knew they don't sell black jackets, and to Wal-Mart where I found a black jacket, and then attended a wedding shower this afternoon for our friend Starla where I didn't wear the black jacket after all. 

Isn't she absolutely gorgeous?! 

Thanks for letting me experiment on you with my camera.  I'm learning, slowly but surely.  It's an awful lot of fun.  I welcome any and all comments for camera education.  Thanks.

An episode of Chuck is on, so I guess I'll join Mary and Rick for another fun-filled Saturday evening figuring out yet another hilarious murder mystery.

See y'all in the funny papers.

How Much More Does He Care For Us

I received this in my email.   It is just as it was written.

Love, Sorrow, and Swallows

"Here a female mate is injured and the condition is soon fatal.

She was hit by a car as she swooped low across the road."

"Here he brought her food and attended to her with love and compassion."

"He brought her food again but was shocked to find her dead."

"He tried to move her - a rarely-seen effort for swallows."

"Aware that his sweetheart is dead and will never come back to him again,

he cries with adoring love."

"He stood beside her, saddened at her death. 

Finally aware that she would never return to him,

he stood beside her body with sadness and sorrow."

"Millions of people cried after seeing these photos in America,

Europe, Australia, and even India.

The photographer sold these pictures for a nominal fee

to the most famous newspaper in France.

All copies of that edition were sold out on the day these pictures were published."

"The Bible says God knows when a sparrow falls.

How much more He cares for us."

Little Girl at the Park

The air was a little nippage in the mid-40s yesterday, but Kid #5 Mary and I shoveled, raked, dragged limbs, transplanted, and weeded the spearmint and bulb beds. 

She hustled up a little friend as seen in yesterday's post.  A young lizard.  Have you ever seen a baby lizard?

Notice the ENORMOUS talons on this creature, Debbie!   Scary!  *faint*

Mary loves the huge Six Flags rollercoasters and the bunge line that swings over the fair crowds and, notably, the Royal Gorge in Colorado.  Anything daring like that, she's game.

But, to reach out and grab a small, moving lizard is a huge feat for her.   I was such the proud mother!   Up until she was 15, if she saw a spider or roach in the house, she would scream in fear and trepidation and beg one of us to handle the eight- or six-legged problem.  She's finally brave enough to grab a shoe and *bang* whatever it is, plus it helps to have pest control come every three months.

On our lunch break to Taco Bell for soft tacos, we opted to eat at the city park which has been a hangout of ours for years.  We've had manya homeschool picnics and play days there.  I do wish the maintenance of this park was better by our city.  It could be a beautiful park.  But, as we say, I digress.

After eating, Mary said, "Mom, I have to do something."  And off she flies to make her own obstacle course and relive some memories.

My little girl at the park.  Still the dareangel at 17!  And now, she has faced her fears, and the little creatures phobia has vanished.  Bless her heart.

See you in the funny papers.

Wordless Wednesdays

The Old Movie Theatre

I was probably eight years old, thereabouts, and lived in a tiny town in northeast Texas.  
Mom would allow me to walk, by myself, several blocks to the Saturday matinee.  No worries.

Before the movie, which cost about $.15, I would take my little nickel into the grocery store and load up with Sugar Babies and cinnamon jaw breakers to eat during the feature.   Anybody remember Sugar Babies?

Don't remember the name (like I really should) of the movie, but I do remember a town being taken over by small frogs, and then the frogs grew larger...and larger...  That was the kind of movie that terrorized people back in the mid-sixties.  Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds was as scary as it got.  *shiver*

When I was 10, The Sound of Music thrilled my very soul.  That prim and proper 
children would sing their way through bad weather, a new nanny/stepmother, and escape the Nazis by singing a good-bye song was so cool.  As a kid, I thought anything could be accomplished by singing.  'Debbie, where are you going?'   Me singing:  'I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...'

At thirteen, my first kiss from a boyfriend was in a movie house.  A bunch of us kids met at the show to watch Romeo and Juliet.  Right in the middle of the movie, he just leaned over and smacked me square in the kisser.  I just sat there, stunned, and wished he'd never done that.  We were close to the front, and I was just embarrassed.  Yuck.  I didn't like him after that, but apparently he liked it so much that he tried to do it again and again, and I had to keep fighting him off.  But, I liked the movie and the English-ness of it, what I could see of it.

Sometime in that era, my parents actually had a date to see the close-to-X-rated Dr. Zhivago.   Oooo, so sexy, it was.   The ratings were different then, and I couldn't see it.  Since, I've rented the movie a few times, and it's one of my favorites. 

On one of our first dates when I was 17, Rick and I went to the drive-in to see Poseidon Adventure.  Anything, anywhere with him!  I was excited to go to the drive-in, because all I knew was that the drive-in was make-out city.  Actually, we got so engrossed with the movie, we forgot to make-out.  PA was just one of those movies.  I still remember Shelley Winters swimming her size 16 body with a rope in her teeth through the water in the sinking ship to save all the people on board.  Oh the thrill and excitement! 

The rest is movie history.   Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Billy Jack, ET... 

Sorry to say that I cannot give you any history of this particular theatre.  I only know that my family wishes it were alive again.  The nearest old movie house in operation in this area is Daingerfield's where the movies show for $1.50 admission.  What a bargain!

Quiz time!
1.  What is the first movie you remember?
2.  Which movie is your favorite?
3.  What is the scariest movie you've ever seen?
4.  Where did you see your first movie?
5.  What movie would you recommend, and why?

See you in the funny papers.

Rear-ending

A few posts back, I wrote a small paragraph about Kid #4 Sam having a little accident on a Dallas freeway.

I am so very thankful that he was not hurt, but I don't like that his ride is down for the count.  Rick and I drove to Dallas on Saturday to check on Sam and the car.  On our way to the U-Haul which is about three miles, maybe, from his school, he showed Rick and me where he catches the bus to go to his job at On the Border.  Just a simple corner stop with no weather shed.  The first day, he arrived late after waiting at another bus stop, only to wait for fifty minutes longer in the cold rain.  No umbrella.  No shed.  Just stood on the corner in the rain.  Waiting.

If you know anything about Dallas, you know that the Oak Cliff section of Dallas is sleazy, dangerous, loud.  If you are from Oak Cliff, dear reader, my apologies; you may have another perspective, but the one I know by reputation is not so great.  Just hangin' thirty minutes in the U-Haul parking lot was scary.

That being said, Sam walks about a mile to catch the bus that goes downtown Dallas.  Rain, shine, sleet, or snow, Sam walks.  As a mother, it bothers me that he's walking on a busy street in a rough neighborhood.  As a mother, I, too, know this will build much character in him, prayerfully without mishap.  As a mother, I also know this will be a story he will tell his children and grandchildren some day if the Lord tarries:  "Kids, I walked a whole mile, uphill both ways in a foot of snow everyday, to catch the bus to go to work and get back to the dorm." 

I've learned over the years to make my way past emotions of the stressful events in life.  Emotions are wonderful ways God enables us humans to feel life, but sometimes they get in the way of making practical and wise decisions.  After proper decisions are made, then I cry and feel the blessing of emotions. 

Remember when several of us talked earlier in the year about perspective?  Emotions get in the way of perspective.  To push away from emotional reactions, initially, requires great effort, but it gets easier with practice.  With some prior practice, my perspective today became this:  "Sam, what will we do now? PRAY! God knew this would happen; let's just trust Him to do His provision. He already has an answer to this problem. Sam, while you are walking and riding the bus, pray. You never know ahead of time how God will use you on your route. I'll be praying for you, son. I love you."

I love the way The Message/Remix tells Jeremiah 29:11-14:  "I know what I am doing.  I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I'll listen.  When you come looking for Me, you'll find me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding Me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."  God's Decree.  "I'll turn things around for you...You can count on it."

I have to commit Sam into God's hands, else I would rent a space in the dorm parking lot, live in the backseat of my 11-year-old Suburban, and be his own personal chauffeur.  Yeah, how cool would that be!  'Hey, somebody's grandmother is out there.'

See you in the funny papers.

Weekend Beauty

This weekend's weather was somewhat anomical, if that's a word.   A Texas anomaly, which really, I suppose, isn't that highly unusual.  In Texas.   The colors, textures, new spring blooms, and change-by-the-minute atmosphere are good indicators that spring is on our doorstep with its first gentle knock.  I was grateful for this 'gentle' knock; not all knocks around here are pleasant.

Warm sunshine and blue skies...

Quiet, tall forests...

The native holly tree amongst the pines...

 Spits of rain and cool, foggy air...

A sweet little birdy home ready for occupants...

The first little yellow daffodils smiling

through last fall's leaves...

Don't they make you happy?

*smile*

The stillness and beauty of the pond...

I love the textures and colors of this picture below.

And my true love who will not be happy

about me posting his picture... 

(But I love this picture!  I love the shape of his ear and the color of his hair. 

And he looks good in blue.  Don't you think?)

All the above pictures were taken by yours truly

 between three and six o'clock in the afternoon

with a Nikon D3000 and DX AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm lens.

I will be sharing my anomacle... anomalicy... anomalytical... anomahistocephalic... weekend with you later.  Until then, see you in the funny papers.

*smile*

Things Passed Down

Me?  I've never been a super materialistic person.  I do love books and good music and junk jewelry and old pictures; my husband would say I like shoes, but, no, just to go shoe shopping, that's not me. 

The things I really like are passed to me from my husband, children, relatives, and friends.
Like my new swing.  Rick bought the swing online from here.   (If this word is not highlighted, click on the word 'here.')

In the last few years, my mom has been on a quilting spree and has made dozens of quilts for her children and grandchildren.

My granny quilted this nine-patch probably back in the 1950's, I'm guessing.  (It's a good day to air out the quilts!)

This picture was given to us as a Christmas present from Cyndy and Joey.  I like this description of faith.

Salt glass is from Rick's grandmother via my mother-in-law, and the chicken and rooster sat on my grandmother's kitchen shelf all my life.  Mom says that she was very young when she gave them to Grandmother as a gift.

Tell me about some things in your life that you particularly like.   Whatever it is, I promised, I won't laugh.  :)

Have a very wonderful day!
  

  

Beautiful People

I attended a ribbon cutting ceremony today, and I snapped a few shots of the crowd. 

Beautiful People

Beautiful everyday people.