Through the Window::Finale...

 

My 2011 through-the-window-photo-challenge has come to an end, and not a day too soon. It's not what I'd envisioned, but I've seen it through to the end and you'll likely not see it again. 

I'd hoped the challenge would be inspiring and motivating, and in some ways it was {for me} - just not how I'd expected.  

More than anything, I was humbled to realize how easy it is to take God's gifts for granted and to slip back into an attitude of ungratefulness - simply because the views outside my windows rarely change. 

Lord willing, you'll find me outside the windows from now on. {Can you see how August's lush green is slowly giving way to September's yellow?}  

Please come back tomorrow - I've got good things to share in my "weekend wanderings", but first won't you PLEASE click on over and visit my awesome friends Allie and Mary. They are sweethearts and graciously humored me to play along for the through-the-window grand finale. 

{Photos} 1,2,5 - through a bedroom window; 3,4 - through the car window on a recent trip to the east coast

Through the Window::Week Three...

My enthusiasm for the August TtW challenge this year has all but disappeared. There are just so many photos that can be taken through the few windows I have in my house without boring everyone, including me, and even on those rare occasions that I leave the house these days, I travel the same roads to one of the same two destinations: church and the doctor's office. (Now that's a thought worth a post of its own.)

So I reached back a ways and grabbed a photo taken through the car windshield in May on one of our trips through sugarcane fields and into the sunset and a thunderstorm. We're hoping to travel that same stretch of highway again tomorrow - maybe I'll have a current Tt{car}W photo for the last week of this year's challenge. (Won't we all be happy to move on to something else?)

Last week I overlooked TtW photos by one of my dearest friends, Allie. She has a fantastic post I know you will enjoy, so please click on over and tell her I sent you.

If I have overlooked your TtW photos, too, PLEASE point me in the right direction...and forgive me? I'm old, gray and crippled and this seems like as good a time to use that excuse as any.

Because of that trip down the same sugarcane highway we are hoping to take tomorrow, I won't be home to "talk" tomorrow, so I'll ask y'all today...what highways (literally or figuratively) are you traveling these days?

Weekends {are for} wanderings...AND Through the Window::Week Three...

Weekends {are for} Wanderings on Pollywog Creek 

...looking back and catching up

With writing assignments that need my finishing touches, wanderings today (both here on Pollywog Creek and outside with my camera) will be brief, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get out there and delight in the beauty and wonder in this last month of summer.

If I had to choose one word to describe this past week for me and those I love, I think it would be transition - a moving from one place to another. Not only is my health improving little by little, next week brings with it new challenges and opportunities that we began preparing for this week.

Tabby left for college and classes that begin Monday, Mason met his kindergarten teacher, Gavin and his mama shopped for preschool supplies, and Emily prepared for multiple changes in her schedule and routine that includes resuming her college studies, a new part-time job, and an internship with our U.S. congressman.

What was your week like? Do you have special plans for the weekend or the week ahead?

Through the Window Photo Challenge: I hope I didn't miss anyone, but I think that Mary was the only other person who participated this week. PLEASE let me know if I overlooked your photos, so I can enjoy them and post a link to you here.

Photos: Only the "doll baby" photo was not taken through a window, and all but the last photo (through the study window one morning earlier this week) were shot through the car window on a short trip Louis and I took to Lake Placid yesterday morning. More caracara photos are in a set here.

Through the Window::Week Two...

The three "through the window" photos I'm posting (late) from this week were all taken through the car window. I spent almost as much time sitting in the passenger seat of the car than I did any where else this week.

The first photo was taken early Sunday morning as we crossed the Caloosahatchee River on the Ft. Denaud Bridge. After not being able to go to church two weekends in a row, I was thrilled to feel well enough this past Sunday to at least try. It wasn't easy, but so worth it. I truly love the body of Christ.

The second photo represents the rains we encountered throughout the week. I don't know what it is about taking pictures of the sideview mirror that attracts me, but it does.

The last photo captures a portion of the dike around Lake Okeechobee between South Bay and Clewiston.

My friends Mary and Allie joined me in the fun this week and I can't wait for you to click on over to see their posts. I loved all of Mary's photos, but especially the last one, and Allie's post totally cracked me up.

Through the Window::Week One...

The "Through the Window" (TtW) photo challenge I created to keep me motivated and picking up the camera might not be appealing to the masses (understatement), but it could not have come at a better time for me - when a distraction from my current routine (more about that tomorrow, maybe) is most welcomed. 

My first TtW photo was taken on Monday, a rare day out of the house. While Emily ran into Old Navy, I sat outside in the air-conditioned car and took photos through the car window across the parking lot. I was instantly drawn to the bright greens, yelllows and rusty reds in the landscaping close to the car. When I shot across the hedge with a shallow depth of field, those lovely bokeh leaves in the trees were created in the distance.

The photo below compares the above photo with another one with a much less shallow depth of field.

Before we left town Monday morning I wasn't thinking clearly and brewed a full pot of vanilla nut coffee - with only enough time to drink one cup. I refrigerated the rest of the pot, and the cold vanilla nut coffee was perfect for making iced lattes the next day. The rose bud on the windowsill next to the mason jar mug had just been cut and is the same bloom in yesterday's post.

I'm not that pleased with the photo, looking east across the street to our neighbor's pasture, but the iced latte was delicious.

The two photos below were also taken on Monday while we were out of town running errands - the first one while Emily ran into Target and I (once again) stayed in the air-conditioned car in the parking lot. Stimulated by the various reflections on car and store-front windows and mirrored images, I amused myself by taking photos - hoping that no one reported me to the authorities for suspicious behavior. You never know these days. 

I've taken many side-mirror view photos over the years, and I'm always challenged to include the contrast between where I'm going with where I've been and reflections on the car windows without including me or other vehicles in the picture. The easiest way to keep other vehicles behind you out of the picture is to take the picture just after the road bends - like this one. 

Wednesday I took photos through a west-facing bedroom window that overlooks our backyard and toward the thickets along the creek beyond.  Mid-summer, the three tall sweet-gum trees in the backyard are thick with both spiny seed pods and bright green foliage. The first photo below was taken in the late afternoon, just before a thunderstorm. 

The two photos below - my lonely backyard swing and a sweet-gum tree - were taken through the same window as the photo above, but mid-morning with the sun coming up in the east and the trees casting shadows on the thickets in the background.

I've always preferred to shoot into the sun, like the photo above, rather than with the sun behind me. The challenge in doing that is to have enough light on the subject to avoid creating shadows and unintended silhouettes.

The last TtW photo for this week was taken yesterday morning through a north-facing window in the study. The soft "textured" look resulted from shooting through a screened window that slightly distorted the images. It was unintentional. 

Though I invited others to play along with me this month, I didn't expect anyone would. There are a gazillion photo challenges available with exposure and access to a multitude of talented and creative photographers that are much more appealing than mine. 

The majority of my photography friends are already involved in many of those challenges and I don't blame them for not joining the TtW challenge. You can imagine my delight when a few dear hearts did participate this week. 

Some of this week's participants added their photos to the {Through the Window Flickr Group}. Please take a look, say "hello" and enjoy all their contributions. There are a few TtW photos from my 2010 archives in that group, as well.

Two friends to Pollywog Creek, {Mary} and {Lisa}, posted their TtW photos on their blogs. I do hope you will click on over and read both of their wonderful blogs. 

My challenge next week includes getting the windows washed. I'm running out of windows here at the house that are clean enough to shoot through. I'm also hoping to be able to get out of the house more. There's only so many photos of all that's green outside my Pollywog Creek windows that I can post before everyone (including me) is bored silly.  

If I were to take a photo right now, it would look very much like the other photos I took through our house windows this week. It's a hot, bright, sunny and very green morning. I can also hear the mower in the distance, as Louis mows the fields and pasture.

I'd love to know what it's like outside your windows today. 

August Photo Challenge: Through the Window...

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm bringing back the "Through the Window" photo challenge I created a few summers ago.

It's no secret that I'm not fond of the heat and humidity of our deep south summers. I literally wilt, and though August's sparkling sunlight and lush greenery occasionally lure me out the door, I created a photo challenge that appeals to my "lets stay as cool as we can" bent and motivates me to keep picking up my camera.

The rules are simple:  photos (family-friendly, of course) can be taken through any window - house, car, fake, created by nature - what or where ever your creative bent takes you, as long as you can describe it as a window. All you need is a camera and a way to share your photo(s) with the rest of us - a blog, facebook, flickr, picassa, or email it to me and I'll post it for you.

Every Friday, I'll post my favorites - one from everyone who plays along that week - even if that's just me.

If you publish your photo(s) in a blog post, feel free to grab the "Through the Window" button to include in your post and invite your shutterbug friends to join us.

The link to the flickr group is here. Just drop me an email for an invite to the flickr group or if you have any questions at all.

Weekends {are for} wanderings...

Weekend Wanderings on Pollywog Creek 

~ with photos that didn't make the cut

This weekend brings an end to a week that was out of sync in many ways. It began with a lovely funeral (if funerals can be called lovely - and they certainly can be when we celebrate a life devoted to Jesus) for one of the sweetest and most godly women I've ever known. The hope of heaven changes everything, doesn't it?

It's also been a week of monster RA flares, a stomach virus (and more) that kept Emily from boarding that plane to Africa, and an almost trip to the ER (don't ask). I suppose that's a proper opening for a brief health update and then a move on to more interesting, and certainly more delightful, conversation.

Not sure where I left off, so I'll just start in the middle somewhere, and if there are gaps you can't fill and if you really want to know more, just drop me an email.

Back in the late spring, I was referred to a pulmonologist who tripled my prednisone dosage for two weeks in preparation for a high-density C-T scan. Though I dreaded having to start the prednisone weaning process all over again, the benefits of all that anti-inflammatory medication were wonderful.  With more energy and mobility than I had experienced in weeks, I felt like I was on a mini-vacation and could take on the world.

The C-T scan results were not as wonderful. The pulmonologist is fairly confident that I have auto-immune lung disease, however, an open lung biopsy is required for confirmation - and, thankfully, he does not recommend that at this time. What he did suggest is that we see how my lungs respond to the gradual weaning off prednisone (I still have a ways to go), and if my lungs don't flare in the interim, they'll do repeat studies, including another C-T scan in December. If my lungs flare before December, they'll proceed with the open-lung biopsy.

Unfortunately, methotrexate can cause pulmonary issues, so the rheumatologist took me off of it. Should my lungs flare, it would be difficult to determine if the cause was auto-immune lung disease, the methotrexate, or a combination of both. The methotrexate was replaced with imuran, which could take up to two months for positive effects to be measured. I've concluded that a combination of stopping the methotrexate (which was obviously working), combined with the lag in time for the imuran to work and the continued weaning off prednisone, has been the trigger to some of the worst RA flares yet. That encourages me that this is temporary and helps me focus on the positives.

The worst part? Moments outside for photo walks are few and far between these days, and even worse than that - I can't plan sleep-overs with the grand-littles like I really, really want. But it's temporary - I'm sure of it.

Before I move on from this brief (I tried) health update, I want to share a quote my lovely friend Amy (who knows what these days are like all too well) posted last week...

"Nothing shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble. We forget that every trial is a message from God and intended to do us good in the end. Trials make us think, wean us from the world, send us to the Bible, drive us to our knees. Health is a good thing. But sickness is better, if it leads us to God. Prosperity is a great mercy. But adversity is a greater one, if it brings us to Christ." ~ Ryle

Can I get a witness?

Today is Nick and Kristin's anniversary - and I forgot until I opened my copy of My Utmost for His Highest and read the reminder I'd written at the top of today's page. I forgot Casey and Jessi's anniversary in May. Look out Mike and Lizbeth - I'm on a roll. Don't be surprised if I forget y'all's anniversary next month. Maybe I should do like Louis did to me one year (men - *sigh*) and say "Happy Anniversary" now, in case I forget to do so later.

What I do remember is that Nick and Kristin were married two months and two days after Casey and Jessi were married in the summer of 2005, and Mike and Lizbeth were married five months minus one day after Emily was born in 1991. That bit of trivia should count for something, right?

Our former church used to plan a yearly "everyone's birthday party". We sat at tables that had been decorated for our birth months and celebrated everyone's birthday together. I think we should have a yearly celebration for everyone's anniversary, too. That would be sweet grace for those of us with poor memories like mine.

My "didn't make the cut" photos this week reveal my continued delight in both the flamebush, which has yet to attract hummingbirds, and the beautyberry berries ripening plum. The juvenile ibis hunting for grub worms in the wet grass illustrates the difficulty of photographing birds. Birds, like all wildlife, are not particularly cooperative photo subjects. I tried to move around them so I could get the light over my shoulder and onto their faces, but they would just move away and not let me circle around them.

I almost posted the tiny-yellow-caterpillar-crawling-along-the-barb-wire photo to illustrate the "Insignificant" post earlier this week. While it does reflect the feeling, it's not the sharpest photo. I only had my longest zoom lens (and no tripod) with me that day, and though I wasn't that far from the house, my joints were telling me I'd already wandered too far away.

A few summers ago, I hosted a "Through the Window" photo challenge. Because I wilt in the heat and humidity of our deep south summers, I created an inside photo challenge that appealed to my "lets stay as cool as we can" desires. I'm going to resurrect that challenge for the month of August. Anyone interested?  It can be any window - house, car, fake, created by nature - what or where ever your creative bent takes you, as long as you can describe it as a window. I'll post more information the last week of July. All you need is a camera and a way to share your photo(s) with the rest of us - a blog, facebook, flickr, picassa, email it to me and I'll post it for you, etc.

Finally, last weekend I mentioned two new books I hoped to discuss this weekend, but I let someone borrow one of them for the week and have not finished the other. Next weekend. I hope.

Some of my friends have told me how much they appreciate the brevity of my posts - my ability to communicate with photos and a few words. My sincerest apologies to these sweet souls whose friendships I do cherish, despite these weekend wandering posts in obvious defiance of such brevity.

My pastor has challenged us with a Bible reading plan that has had most of us in I John this week. I leave you today with these words from I John 3:1 (NIV)...

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!