photo fun

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you know I love taking pictures. This week I found a new place that gives photography tips as well as providing an opportunity to share photos.

Photo Desk, the Globe and Mail's online camera club, has a weekly photography feature and invitation for readers to submit photos on a given theme.

Last week the theme was Framing. A how-to article, Photographer's tip: How to add framing to your photos, explains the concept and gives some framing how-tos. The slide show below is a compilation of the 126 photos submitted on the theme (two of mine were included: the bridal party framed by the arches under one of Saskatoon's bridges, and the fisherman, framed by chain link). 

(If you want to see the photo captions, hover your mouse over the top of the slideshow frame and click on the "Show Info" button.)




This week the theme is Portraits.

The article Photographer's tip: How to shoot great portraits gives tips on taking portraits. The week's assignment and submission instructions are at the bottom of the article in case anyone is interested.

two

Love birds

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: EXERCISE (Bicycle, Swimming, Skiing, Martial Arts, Teams,...)

soldiering on (#853-860 of 1000 gifts)

"Persistence is not a long race; it is many short races one after another." - Walter Elliott

I am in the middle of a book edit. It's a scary time. I know, in my imagination, what I want to achieve. But sometimes it feels like I'll never get there.

My temptation is avoidance. The fridge beckons. So does the TV. I am fighting the urge to tidy my office. Sometimes I daydream lists of things I'll do when this is finished. I try to make the job less overwhelming by setting small goals. One chapter at a time. Just do it!

853. I am thankful that I cleared the deck of my life to have time to do this.

854. Spring is starting to show her lovely face.

Snowdrops

Pussy Willows

855. The fans have done their work and the house is dry.

856. A Valentine dinner with hubby at Galini's.


857. I left my editing seclusion on Wednesday morning to spend time with friends at Women By Design. So glad I did.

858. For some hours on Saturday I watched Whitney Huston's funeral. It was sad and beautiful and even uplifting—a huge testimony to the importance of faith in God and what's important in life.


859. Our church begins its annual month of missions emphasis each year with a flag parade. The photo below was yesterday. Love it!

A parade of flags starts our annual missions emphasis

860. Church + a walk by the river + lunch at Ricky's + curling (on TV) = a perfect Sunday in February.

Dragon Boat training on the Fraser River

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If  you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts,  please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts  on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on  how to join are here.

love

Morning cuddles

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: TWO (People, Animals, Flowers, Pillows, Candles, Buildings,...)

praise the Lord anyway (#841- 852 of 1000 gifts)

"Being positive in a positive situation is easy. Anyone can do that. But when we are positive in a negative situation it shows a genuine trust in God and a spiritual maturity that pleases and glorifies God" - Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind.

In the matter of about an hour last Wednesday the course of our lives—and house— took a different turn than we had ever planned or anticipated. It was around 2 p.m. and I was making coffee when I glanced out the window and noticed a wateriness to the back yard that was altogether not right.

I stepped onto the deck to check it out and the sound of angry water, like a swollen creek, put me on alert. I had heard this sound before. It brought me back to the early morning of February 21, 2009 when our unit got the brunt of a burst water main. Last time it was beside our townhouse building. This time it turned out to be directly under the utility room attached to our home.

I alerted my husband. He started calling people. I ran downstairs, but already black water was flowing onto the three-year-old laminate. In the hour that it took for the city to shut off the flow, our den, storage area, and much of the garage was inundated with biohazard water. Ugh!

Then I started counting my blessing:

841. We were warm and dry;

842. We had a big jug of Safeway water on hand for the hours our complex was waterless;

843. We were insured;

844. A restoration company was taking care of the mess;

845. I was so glad this hadn't happened two weeks earlier when we were away on holidays.

846. When my attitude threatened to slump, I came upon my own words, written for my devo blog and published Thursday morning—the morning after our watery encounter. The quote I had included from Joyce Meyer was especially meaningful:

"Practice being positive in each situation that arises. Even if whatever is taking place in your life at the moment is not so good, expect God to bring good out of it, as He has promised in His Word....


...Being positive in a positive situation is easy. Anyone can do that. But when we are positive in a negative situation it shows a genuine trust in God and a spiritual maturity that pleases and glorifies God" - Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind, pp. 38, 44.

Other blessings from the past two weeks:

847. My healthy, pain-free body, appreciated especially after seeing my friend, who broke her shoulder just before Christmas, ease into her jacket.

848. Raspberry chocolates. We got some for Christmas and have been working on them ever since (they are now gone *sigh*). There should be a law against such!

849. A sweetheart whose Valentine roses are opening beautifully on the kitchen table. Thanks honey! 

850. Walks in the fog on crisp mornings.

851. And walks on clear afternoons.

Looking across the Fraser River near Derby's Reach,  toward Maple Ridge.

852. Curling season has begun!

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If  you'd like to join me and many others collecting One Thousand Gifts,  please do. Some members of this gratefulness community post their gifts  on blogs, while others list them in private journals. Instructions on  how to join are here.