Don't I always have the choice to be fully attentive?
Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.
Showing posts with label Sweet Shot Tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sweet Shot Tuesday. Show all posts
Tuesday
Sweet Shot Tuesday::fully attentive...
Sweet Shot Tuesday::the mockingbird's testimony...
The Northern Mockingbird is the aviary world's Susan Boyle - with an amazing musical repertoire that makes up for his less than glamorous plumage. It's further confirmation that it's only with the heart {or ears?} that one can see rightly.
Sweet Shot Tuesday::Sittin' in the catbird seat...
Gray Catbird
Of all the birds that visit our Pollywog Creek backyard, the gray catbird has been one of the least frequent and one of the most difficult for me to photograph.
He's both shy and busy - twitching about and hopping from branch to branch before I can focus - but over the past two weeks, this one has been showing up often. Sittin' on the catbird seat, I suppose.
One morning over a week ago I was taking the photo that I posted for last week's Sweet Shot Tuesday, standing near the honeysuckle vine - the mockingbird's favorite hideway to guard the flame bush berries he's claimed as his own. When I turned around, the catbird below surprised both of us by emerging from the vine. He "mewed" his cat-like call, took one look at me before bobbing his tail and flying back to the thickets along the creek - his normal winter habitat.
Not only did he risk the mockingbird's ire by hiding in the honeysuckle vine, he returned later this week to munch on the flame bush berries, and I have the photographic evidence to prove it.
Yesterday there were two mockingbirds flying in and out of the honeysuckle vine. Nesting maybe? If that's the case, I doubt I'll be seeing much of the catbird again.
Sweet Shot Tuesday::Light...
Facebook friends will not be surprised by this photo. I posted it yesterday after Emily and I were greeted with this amazing picture.
It's been an unusually warm winter here in SW Florida. I was excited about this recent cold snap and the opportunity to try to photograph macros of the frost that was forecast for the morning, but I was disappointed when I woke up and discovered that it was ten degrees warmer than they had expected. There was no frost.
I didn't even bother to look outside because I was sure that there would be nothing unusual out there for me to photograph, but Emily needed me to move the truck so that she could get the car out of the garage and go to work. As we walked outside, we were stunned by the view.
As Emily took pictures with her phone, I moved the truck and hurried back inside to get my camera. To think that I almost missed this because I thought there'd be nothing to see.
As I brought the photos up on my computer, a passage in John 9, where Jesus healed the boy who had been blind from birth, came to mind, and I began to see more than just light and fog and smoke.
It's not the sun shining through a clear blue sky that creates the wow...it's the sun breaking through a layer of fog and smoke. As Jesus said, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him....As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
That's the wow - when Christ Light breaks through the smoke and fog in our lives that the "works of God" are clearly displayed to His glory.
Sweet Shot Tuesday::Trust...
My two year old granddaughter Addisyn is fearless. She loves for her daddy to toss her high up in the air, confident he'll catch her when she comes down.
It's a great picture of biblical trust, Kristin's mom, Trudy, tells me as we watch Addisyn delight in every toss.
It sure is, Trudy. Perfect.
Sweet Shot Tuesday::Through the Screen...
The bird population has been way down on Pollywog Creek this winter, and I suspect that our unseasonably warm weather is to blame. I've seen several male painted buntings, but no juveniles or females, and only a handful of goldfinches and warblers.
Most of the time, I'm inside the house when I see them, so many of the photos I've taken have been either through a window or the screen porch. Such was the case of my photo of this blue jay in the deciduous sweet gum tree taken last Friday.
It's not as obvious in this photo as it is in some of my other ones, but while the photo isn't as sharp as it would be without the screen filter, the screen adds a softness or texture to the photo that I like.
Sweet Shot Tuesday::Morning silhouettes...
I'm already running late for my appointment in the city when I discover that Emily has left her wallet in my car. I have no choice but to take the time to go into town where Emily works and give her the wallet before I head to the city in the opposite direction.
Instead of driving west along the river, I head east and into the rising sun, and though I know I'm running behind schedule, this scene along the river begs to be captured, and I am weak for such a wonder as this.
I park the car at the loading dock before crossing the bridge, get out and shoot a few photos, take the wallet to Emily in town, and arrive at my appointment in the city with time to spare.
God is so, so good to me.
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