you will rise again

Usually during the Christmas season i take some time to read the Easter story.

yeah, you heard me.

if we didn't need the events of Easter we would never have needed the events at Christmas.

it's my way of reminding myself of that.

this is one song i absolutely love at Christmas.

simple lyrics.

strong, powerful lyrics.

Baby Jesus do you know you'll die for all our sins...

don't be afraid 

for in three days...

you will rise again...

you will rise again!

a.b.c.d.e.f.g....

new challenge.

not a 30 day.

not even an every day.

just a challenge.

to find all the letters of the alphabet.

not so easy.

have you tried looking for a B out there in the world?  

no need for order.

just find them all.

here's my first few:

and in case you weren't sure which letters you were looking at:

please tell me that i do not need to draw out the last one.

if i do you need another coffee.

or go back to school.

*all photos taken with Gertie.

edited in Adobe Photoshop

day 30

this is it.

the last day of my challenge.

same theme as the first day of the challenge:

self-portrait.

that's it.

challenge over.

kind of miss it.

a little.

next time i'll make sure dumb dog isn't wandering around behind me.

*all photos taken with Gertie. 

on a tripod..

with a timer.

day 29

day 29:
Black & White
I was in Toronto for the day of this challenge.
my dad and i went for a walk and i captured these photos.

this one i really like..
i actually pressed the shutter button and changed my mind about taking it.
obviously forgetting my finger was on the button.  this was the result.

day 28

day 28:

Flowers

not too many flowers around.

but when watering our plants i did spot this little bud.

on my walk that afternoon with the dog

*in the beautiful high winds*

i was able to find these little guys.

power may have been out for the day but it didn't stop me.

*all photos taken with Gertie

day 27

day 27:

Celebration

due to some delays in some of the challenge days it just happened that this one landed on Oct 31.

so here it is.

Halloween.

getting ready to go trick or treating.

our first house.

look it's Waldo x2! 

meeting up with friends to go around the neighborhood.

rainy evening, but such a good time.

*all photos taken with Gertie.

day 26

day 26:

CLOSE-UP

i only have one lens for my camera.
therefore my close-up is only as close as the lens allows.
one day i will get closer.

but for now:

yes, snow.  it didn't last long that day, but it still came.

i can only do basic sewing.

i know some extremely gifted artists who create beauty with a sewing machine.

i thought of them as i took this...please ignore the cobweb on my machine.

my boy placed the leaf on the pumpkin the day before, because it looked good there. 

even with it's life draining there is still a special beauty about it.

tree.  strength. gentle giant.  life. 

*all photos taken with Gertie

day 25

day 25:

Stranger

here's the deal.

i don't talk to strangers.

i thought, 

maybe,

 i could accomplish this challenge by asking some random person if i could take their picture.  

*obviously explaining what i was doing*

nope.

maybe one day.

so after gymnastics with my girl i headed to a trail in town.

it was a beautiful place..

i could sneak a pic, because it was so nice there, i could pretend they got in the way.

seriously.

that's was my plan.

so we parked at the end and headed to the trail.

there was a lady on the floating dock!  

perfect.

my girl asked 

"is she a stranger mommy?"

yes. yes she is.

before i could get down to the dock she turned around.

so i grabbed my camera and snapped this.

i didn't know why she turned around so abruptly.

maybe she knew my plan.

when we got down there i saw why.

there she is again.

that's my stranger photo challenge.

i'm a geek.

i know it.

*all photos taken with Gertie

day 24

ok, before i show the pics from day 24.

i am done my 30 days photo challenge.

the photo end of it.

i finished my first ever 30 day challenge in 34 days.

next time i'll try to get them done in the alloted 30.

my kids were just beginning to ask:

"what's today's challenge mom?"

they had begun to enjoy figuring out what i could get pictures of.  

i loved it.

i'll do another one for sure - but not just yet.

now, where was i?

day 24:

Animal

this is our beast.

my boy wanted me to take a photo of some of his animals

this is Lord Cliver.

he didn't want to have his photo taken. 

my husband tried holding him for me.

it didn't work out so well.

our cat is not declawed. 

*all photos taken with Gertie.

day 23

day 23:

PaTtErNs

saturday oct 26 i came down the stairs

"ok kids, you need to help me today.

the photo assignment is patterns.

you're going to need to help me find patterns."

i went up to get dressed and when i came back down this is what i found.

transformer. army. transformer. army....

fire. police. fire.

tow truck. motorcycle. repeat.

tool. car. tool. car...

lego. construction. lego. construction...

animal. truck. animal. truck...

they were so proud of their patterns.

i told them their pjs had patterns on them and they thought it was funny. 

i love this pattern.

it's a grate in our livingroom. 

*All photos taken with Gertie.

day 22

day 22:

Inspiration

these three inspire me daily.

*all photos taken with Gertie.

while they listened to 'Antshillvania' on record. 

day 21

day 21:

Faceless Self-Portrait

and just how does one go about that?

well, this is how i went about it.

wish i had my dreads for this pic.  

this is definitely me.. as often as possible.

Gertie is 'my precious'

braids.. spoon-ring..hat..

This is me.

*all photos taken with Gertie.