Red on gray

Vibrant beauty thriving in the midst of thorns.

Refuge

Psalm 62:1-2

My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

 

Before the Big Snow

I took this while waiting for the ‘Big Snow’ to begin.  I liked the texture of the fire hydrant in contrast with the snow.

Looking Down a Street on a Snowy Evening

Macro shots

I got a Pentax K-x for Christmas.  It’s going to take me a while to really learn how to use it.   I went back to the Canon PowerShot today to get this shot of a pile of  sewing pins.   The kit lens on the Pentax just doesn’t allow for it.

This is as close as I can get with the Pentax.  I still like the shot.  It’s just not as close as I sometimes like to get.

January Sunset

First sunset of the new year.
Glorious.
This one was SOOC.  God’s paintbrush at its best.

 

Come see what others are capturing at:

Happy New Year

A new year.
A blank canvas.
What will you choose to put on it?
Your choice of colors.
Your choice of medium.
Each brushstroke adds to the final design.

Psalm 113:3

 

I’m sharing this with:

Post-Christmas Relaxation

Time to kick back and put your feet up – new socks and all!

I took this while snuggling with my little one on the couch last night.  I am enjoying the comparative calm that is settling over us as we move past all of the activity connected to Christmas.

 

Wrapped Gifts

Today’s Simple Pleasure is wrapped gifts.
Why?
Because every gift wrapped now means one less thing I will be wrapping at midnight on Christmas Eve!

Also, the presents above were wrapped for me by some very eager helpers. Watching gifts get wrapped while I work on something else is another simple pleasure in itself!

Come take a look at some other Simple Pleasures at Dayle’s site:

The Calm of Creating.

In a departure from his norm, my husband decided we needed a Christmas craft to do over Thanksgiving break.  He’s not an artsy-craftsy sort of person.  But, he saw some frosted and clear balls at Hobby Lobby and decided that we needed to decorate them.

He got some glass stain, and glass paints.  The kids added some puffy craft paint, and we all set off to work.  We had family visiting, so everyone got into the spirit and started decorating.

It was fun to see people getting so absorbed in their creations.  It really was quite relaxing to sit and swirl paint in our little ball ornaments, pondering, and experimenting with different effects.  Even the non-crafty folks were taking this very seriously.  It was fun to see the variety in our end results.

Homemade Frosting

 

Today, my daughter helped me make white cupcakes.  Later, we made strawberry frosting from scratch.  That doesn’t happen often in our house.  Frosting out of a can is the norm.  

 Making it ourselves takes more time and involves doing more dishes.
I prefer zero time and no mess.

But, memories are sometimes born in the messes.    And time is only ours for the moment.
Today, I chose homemade frosting.

 

Bokeh

 

Darcy, at Life with My 3 Boybarians, teaches regular people like me how to use their cameras.  This week she taught us about ‘bokeh’.   My Canon Power Shot wouldn’t let me turn the aperture any lower than 2.8, so I had to find other ways of getting the light to blur. 

This was a spindle from a beaded snowflake ornament with the tree lights in the background.

Here is a favorite nativity ornament:

 

Visit Darcy’s site for her Holiday Bokeh Party, and see what others were able to do with their cameras.

Season of Light

I am enjoying the sights of the season right now.
We simplified our decorations, putting up only the tree, stockings and mantle wreath.  Christmas shopping is almost done and the pace is slower than normal. 
Nice.

Time

It was 1:25, and I was all alone.  Time.  To.  Myself.  The kids had gone to a neighbor’s house for a birthday party, and I was gifted with quiet.  I turned off the radio, finished up my mopping, and then picked up my Bible to sit down and read.  I savored it.

Most days, I don’t get a large segment of time all to myself.  But, I can still choose to use small moments to breathe and reflect.  Life happens so quickly these days, it can be hard to hear yourself think.   Those quiet moments do so much to refill me and realign my perspective. 

‘Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Psalm 90:12