Mission

Today I have two farewells to go to! It still boggles my mind that I'm this age and at this point in my life. Soon enough I'll be heading out there into the mission field too!

Lazy Saturday

Late afternoon sunlight. Fresh flowers. Bliss.

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My dad has these ancestors that are Jewish, right? Well, Jewish people hang these little things call mezuzahs next to their doors. Inside are little passages from the Torah. The Jews kiss their hand and then touch the mezuzah when they walk into their home, that way they are always being reminded about God and the blessings in their lives. Well, my mom got these fancy mezuzahs for my dad for his birthday. We aren't Jewish. No sir. But we figure that it is fun to embrace our heritage, and to be more well rounded and knowledgable. We thought about putting the Title of Liberty in them to have more of a personal meaning, but didn't. At any rate, one hangs at the front (photo 3), and the other the back (photos 1 & 2). They are awesome.

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At Home

The succulent (photo 1) still hasn't opened up very much. I'll catch it when it does. I think it will be kind of amazing. Other than that, I still seek out interesting material in my backyard.

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Burned

Aren't the yellow tips on this palm weird? Apparently it's like a sunburn, and it can take years for the palm to either lose that limb or fix itself. It used to sit in our backyard under our giant mesquite tree in almost complete shade. Well, it got moved to the front yard and it got a little more sun. There you have it. Oh, and the weeping juniper. It's awful weepy. Extra weepy. Fingers crossed it'll make it, because they're cool plants!

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Shades of Gray

I used to love black and white. I did a project in high school all about nature - my group used black and white photographs to show the simplicity and beauty in nature. It was amazing. Later, I got over the grayness thing, and focused on color. After those sepia photos a few days ago I was wondering what black and white would be like again. I love it. I'm definitely thinking about taking more photos in black and white!

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Whiteness

I was looking through my photos, and I don't have very many of white flowers. I was inspired to find something good looking and white (besides myself, that is). And voila! The forever favorite iceland poppy.

Dampening

Today I wished I lived in Washington. I loved the rain and clouds. To have that perpetually sounds really amazing. I could have done without the wind, but if that is a side effect, so be it. Sadly it is no longer raining, but I'll cherish the puddles and dampness for as long as I can.

Nifty Pt. 2

My mom has been a knitting fiend lately. She's still making hats for the less fortunate so they are less cold during the winter. Well, she wanted to have a big batch of homemade hats to take to a shelter. It took a little while longer to get a big batch ready, so we'll probably deliver them next winter, since the weather is already warming up. Anyway, the mom told a bunch of ladies at church about her project and several of them donated old yarn they weren't going to use. Our house is full of yarn! And hats (about 20 of them, to be exact)! See here for the one I worked on. :)

Wash Up

The rain came in and made everything lovely. I'm all cleaned up, the earth is all cleaned up, the river on the west side is all cleaned up... I love the rain.

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Shades of... Brown

I don't really use sepia often, but the late-afternoon light complimented it so well that I really got into it. I think it adds some interest to the photographs. It definitely mixes up the color photos I've been taking ever since I got this camera. The reason I started taking color photos is because I think it's a greater challenge to get a really excellent photo in color. Whether that's true or not, these photos made me happy.

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Amazed

We've had this succulent for a while. I've always thought it's super cool! Well, I go on outside today, and it has all of these neat little flower buds! Sweet right? I'm going to try really hard to remember to photograph them when they all open. Nature is freaking amazing.

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Awakening

The yard is really in full swing right now. The sweet peas are making there way up. There are even two that have bloomed, but they weren't very exciting, so I didn't photograph them. Anyway, things are nice. It's a great distraction from the homework that is building up. Haha.

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Rockin' the Ponytail

The ponytail palm is one bizarre but awesome plant. I really love them.

Fruitless

Lovely

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. I'm a pretty low maintenance guy most of the time. So low maintenance in fact that for Valentine's Day, I got a bag of delicious Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate with Raspberry Squares and some balloons. Let me tell you, they are freaking awesome! And that's all I need! Just a tip out there for lady friends, food makes any guy swoon... just bear that in mind.

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Niceness

Today was nice for several reasons. Taking photographs that I like always helps!

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Crops

Blast it all. I haven't once cropped a photo for the blog. I really try hard to make a photograph perfect without editing it. I do occasionally bump up the contrast to make the color more interesting, but if the framing isn't just right, I don't usually fix it. And, in all reality, I've trained myself to work on the framing while I take the shot so that cropping is unnecessary. Well... today that all changes. This was all I could even muster as I got home and realized I hadn't taken one artistic picture all day long. And because I couldn't see the screen when I took it, I had to crop it. But that's life, and the wonders of a computer. Oh, and for some reason of another, I think Converse really are the most interesting shoes. I think it's because of how classic they are, but also because of how simple they are.

Where's the Bathroom?

There is a wall at work that is probably 8 feet high made entirely out of these glass squares! It doesn't look outside or anything, which would be super cool. Instead, it disguises the restrooms on the other side of it. Haha.

Droplets

The rain was so dang cool today. I used an umbrella!