Snowy boots

It was a good day.

Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids,


while my husband and I got our boots full of snow.

Together.

I love him, even if he buys grapefruit when I ask for oranges.

A purpose

There is a little army waiting quietly in my attic.


Canning jars are patient like that. They sit forever, have a very exciting couple of hours, and then sit some more.

These particular jars (a ridiculous number of them) sat for years and years with food in them. Boxes and boxes of them. Really, you have no idea.

Someone who loves me very much disposed of the contents, cleaned them all up, and hand delivered them to their new home here. THAT was not an easy task.

For better or worse, I will never want for canning jars.

Oh cool! A green one!


Are you as easily distracted as I am?


I have a stash of seeds waiting patiently too. Very soon, some of them are going to begin the journey towards their purpose.

That is where the destiny of canning jars and garden vegetables collides.

Well, not literally. I hope.

Hopeful

Us humans, we are such limited creatures.

We see what our eyes can see. We see what we think is there to be seen. We see what we are supposed to see.

The moon was huge as it rose the other night. As in, one glance out the window took my breath away. It was a full moon, and low in the sky the atmosphere warped the sunlight bouncing off it, which made it look even more enormous and impressive.

To my eyes (perpetually wearing corrective lenses because I honestly can't see anything on my own) the moon looked something like this.


Beautiful. Red. Slowly rising through wispy clouds.

Yet, there is more. So much more.

Open your eyes, open them wide.

You still can't see everything.

There is so much in this world we cannot see, so much we don't understand. Mysteries of life and death are confusing, and the world beyond this one we can only wonder at.

We are small. We get scared.

We want to see and know, and we try to understand.

Oh, do we try. And we fail.

But I have hope because I believe there is One who is bigger than me. A God that knows and sees and understands all there is. And He is. And He cares for me.

Even though I am small.

God is.


I believe in what I cannot see. Believing gives me hope.

That is not a sunrise... or a sunset.

That is the same full moon rising in the black night. (long exposure)

The moon looked nothing like that to my eyes.

But then, I cannot see.

So I put my hope in Him.



You Capture - "Hopeful"

I Heart Faces - "Hilarious Outtakes"

There is some seriously funny stuff going on over at the I Heart Faces "Hilarious Outtakes" challenge.

Just think, a challenge based not on talent, but lack thereof! Finally, I feel like I am really qualified to play along.

Ahem.

Here is my disastrous attempt at a Christmas card photo of my kids this year.

Overexposed. Shutter speed too long and aperture too wide. But hey, I had little more than a month's experience venturing off full-automatic.

At least I tried!

And my kids?











Life as usual here at our place.

Sigh.

You Capture - Shapes

Shapes.

Honestly, Beth. Way too easy.

Shapes, shapes, shapes.

I had ideas for You Capture running through my head yesterday when the phone rang, and a neighbor's dinner invitation made me smile.

My excitement quickly turned to horror upon realizing I had a smeared shape of toothpaste on my shirt and several shapes of baby cereal in my hair. I did not have the shape of deodorant under my armpits, and in fact, it had been several days since I showered.

My one pair of jeans that actually fits has sprouted an interesting shaped hole in the knee sometime that morning.

(Stay with me folks, I do actually have a photo and believe me we're getting there.)

But then I looked at my boys, and they were happy and busy coloring shapes with dry erase markers and an educational wipe-off book. Suddenly, I realized there was a chance (however slight) that in the next fifteen minutes they might not kill each other.

So I threw caution to the wind, told the boys to play nicely, and jumped in the tub with the baby.

When I heard the boys giggling, I was fairly certain they were using their markers to decorate our white cat with strange and unusual shapes.

But oh well, instead of checking on them, I grabbed my camera.


And for goodness sake, I do believe that is some sort of a shape in her hand. Yes, it is. It is a seal, and just like you and me, a seal does also have a shape.

Unbelievable. I got a shower, and my You Capture photo.

Mission accomplished.

My job is done here.

I Heart Faces - "Hands-On Fun"

This photo is one I took two years ago with our old Point & Shoot, the first summer we were here on the farm. Chasing after frogs and snakes is one of our favorite summer activities, and the boys still talk about the day they caught a 'Smooth Green Snake'.

Yes, we looked it up.

It was the best snake ever!


I am dreaming of those long summer days...


Visit I Heart Faces to see some absolutely amazing entries in the "Hands-On Fun" photo challenge.

Four things

We are exactly twenty-six days now (if I counted right), from the official start of Spring.

Out here on the frozen prairie, the Vernal Equinox really doesn't have any useful meaning. Chances are equally good that we might be slogging through ankle deep mud or digging out from another fifteen inches of snow, or (the most likely option) pumping flood water out of our basement (much to my oldest boy's pipe/hose/pump obsessed delight).

I have four things for you today, all vaguely related to our changing (sooner or later) seasons. Good thing February is a short month, I don't think I could endure it much longer.

1. Lately I've had an overwhelming urge to shovel out the chicken coop. Either that means Spring is nearly upon us (as all responsible chicken caretakers know, you clean out the coop twice a year, Spring and Fall) OR else it means the poo is piled up so high in there that... well, nevermind. Don't worry, I'm not going to show you a picture of that. Do you want some eggs?

2. I was very surprised to find a half-inch long vegetable growing in my house.

I did actually measure it. One half inch, and such a cute little baby! Can you find it?


It's like the winter garden version of 'Where's Waldo?', only a whole lot more fun don't you think?

Now, if that doesn't make you want to fondle your heirloom seeds and fire up your grow lights, nothing will.

Couldn't find it?

Here is the handicap version 'find-the-surprise-veggie' photo. No excuses, that cutie is centered and backlit in this one.


Just to please my mother, I think I'll call him Jose. Jose Jalapeno (on a steek, Mom, on a steek).

3. It is taking an extreme amount of self-control to keep from grabbing my stash of seeds and making a huge potting soil mess in my kitchen. I know it's too early yet. My garden swamp won't be dried out until the end of May, if I'm lucky.

Good thing I have lots of chocolate in the house.

I'll be OK. Thanks for asking.

Jose Jalapeno will satisfy my desire to watch something green grow, and give me strength.

4. Our house seems really short, and so do our trees. That's what happens when you have this much snow.

I'm not sure what that has to do with the arrival of Spring, but this is my blog and I'll write whatever I want.

The end.