Showing posts with label Scene and Story. Show all posts

Scene and Story: A Bare Light Bulb


Scene and Story crept up on me.  Better late....!

Earlier in October we were given the chance to visit my husband's old high school through his sister in law who works at the school.  It was so much fun to see where he went to school!  Only a few rooms of the school are in use now.  Most of the rooms are either used for storage of physical things or for holding memories. 

This closet really caught my attention.  Not updated at all as some of the other rooms had been.  A bare light bulb lighting the narrow space.   

It's always interesting to me, what gets left behind.  Pretty sure none of this will be used in the current active classrooms.

"What now?" hangs in the air.  Much like the bare bulb.

I'm linking up with Scene and Story here.


September: Scene and Story


Hello October!
I switch from loving it to feeling emotional about it.  Fall affects me oddly. How about you?

Once again I'm linking up with Sarah for Scene and Story.  Although I have many favorite photos from this past month of still lifes and Claire's Senior pictures, this is a favorite with a good story.

Claire was a candidate for Homecoming this past Friday and the older kids were able to come home for it. :)  Lauren brought our oldest granddaughter too and it was her first football game so everything was exciting for her.  Then when her aunt got a flower she was thrilled to hold it!

Claire was so afraid she would trip in her high heels or sink in to the field as they had to walk across while the spiel of their high school career was read.  No tripping and no sinking I'm happy to report!

Of course after the very brief coronation we had to take photos.   Will, is wearing my first husband, Jim's, coat that was gifted to him by the school 20 years ago as he used to be the unofficial football team Doctor.  He took the coat a couple of years ago when he went to college and loves it.  I love seeing him wear it especially here on the football field.

I can't say I'm a fan of Homecoming coronations. I believe it to be unnecessary stress and stirs up unhealthy competitive feelings in our high school students. Thankfully, Claire just kind of slides with it all.  But, I am a big fan of school spirit and of seeing the gifts that came from where you grew up.

~happy fall to you all~


Scene and Story: Aunt BonBon Dresses Up


Here it is September and I see it's time for another Scene and Story hosted by Sarah and Leon.

This was just a quick photo taken after we had celebrated our second granddaughter turning 2.  She received some dress up shoes as a gift so of course the dressing up followed.  Aunt BonBon, as the grands call my daughter Bonnie, was joining in.  The photo is busy, poor lighting, etc. but that is part of the story.  Their house was busy and everyone was enjoying themselves. If you look in the back you can get a glimpse of the other Grandma giving our youngest granddaughter a bottle. My son in law was showing her the photo book they had just made from their trip to Germany. 

fun~busy~loud

Pictures of the "things" and the "goings on" are as important as the group shots and individual poses I think and we often overlook taking those.

Because dress up is so fun: here and here are a couple of older posts on the same subject. My heart got all fuzzy revisiting them. :)

~have a great week~

Scene and Story: July


The morning was cold and the bride was nervous.
The groom finished chores and went in to his parents' home to take a bath, and put on his one and only suit.
The pastor was jolly and welcomed the guests to the wedding.

:::::

The children came with cries and giggles.
The rains came.
The droughts came.
The children grew and the son came home one morning and took a bath.  Then put on his one and only suit.
The morning was warm and the bride was excited.

:::::

The day was cloudy and grey and the husband's heart was heavy.
The grandsons carried the casket out to the cemetery across the dirt road.
The great grandchilden played near the iron gate.
The pastor was peaceful and full of hope.

:::::

The afternoon was hot.
The woman with a camera stopped and peaked in the door gasping at what once was.
Children were baptised here.  People were wed here.  Souls were prayed for here.
She didn't let the ruin instill depair but enjoyed the beauty of the decay.
Because she knows the word is alive and still  full of hope.

:::::


:::::

I've wanted to stop at this abandoned church forever.   A few weeks ago, it finally happened. :) 


Scene and Story


It was Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day and I went out to the cemetery to pick up a live plant my Mother in Law had left at Jim's grave.  This is a yearly tradition.  She leaves a plant for a few days with the instructions for me to go pick it up and hang it in our yard later.

♦•♦

The cemetery is mostly quiet, but filled with the evidence of many visitors over the holiday weekend.

As I approach the small path to turn my car onto, I see a tall thin bearded man watering a grave site with a watering can that has a large sprinkling head.  I presume that there is newly seeded grass on the site and that the loss has been fairly recent as there is no headstone, just a number of artificial posies pushed in the ground where a stone would set,  the new grass evidence, and it's in the new addition of the cemetery. Just a couple of years ago, corn grew where his loved one is now buried.  He stand just across the path and about 25 feet North of my destination.  His long beard and hair are graying, About 50 percent salt and 50 percent pepper I'd say.  It's had to remember exactly because I didn't want to look too long.  You know, can't stare and all.  Except my mind was staring.  Staring at the thought of loss.  Wishing there was something I could call out to him that would be profound.  Hopeful.  Encouraging.  Even though I have no idea who he is, it's like he represented all who have recently lost someone.

But, I have nothing to say.   Not one word would come to me.

We exchanged looks briefly when I went to the back of my car.  After I tidied up the flower situation at Jim's headstone, I thought I'd take a picture.  Maybe I'd text it to the kids.  It's been a long time since I've done that and my oldest hasn't been able to come out here in awhile.

I walked to get back in the car, and realized he was looking my way.  I gave him a nod. 

As I took a quick look at the pictures I took, I once again realized that the real words of hope come from our Savior.  Which is why I put them on the headstone.  I knew I wanted the headstone to not just be a monument to Jim, but to be a monument of hope.

♦•♦

I'm joining Sarah at Paisley Rain Boots for this month's Scene and Story


Cat Hurdles


It was a quick decision for which photo I would chose for Scene and Story with Sarah this month.
As I previewed the photos we took, I laughed. "Cat Hurdles!"  and the girls giggled.

Our dance recital was last weekend and as the girls are getting older, getting them ready is easier, so
we had some time to take some pictures before the first recital. (The recital has two showings on Saturday)

It went something like this:

"Hey, let's see if I can get you two while jumping in the air. Run across the cement and jump as high as you can."
"Like this?"
*shutter click* *shutter click* *shutter click*
"Yeah, but do it again.  I need to change my settings."  
"Now, again and run the other way."
*shutter click**shutter click**shutter click*
"CAT get out of there!"
"*pant*"
"Again and try to jump right there about by the crack."
*shutter click**shutter click**shutter click*
"CAT, move!"
"Just keep going back and forth so I can get a better one."
*shutter click**shutter click**shutter click*
"*pant*pant*"
...and on it went...




I did finally get one with both of them mostly in the air.  Sans the cat.

Have a great week!

The Sky Was Magnificent


And it was windy.  Boy, was it windy.  Right chilly too.

The day of my Mom's funeral.  The cemetery is just across the section from the little church that I grew up attending and where Mom was a lifetime member.  After the cemetery service we came back to the church basement for cookies and coffee.  As I got out of the car, I grabbed my phone to get a picture of the view of the cemetery a mile away from the church.  I wanted to remember the sky.  As I got to the open field I met my son in law who had the same idea, his phone in hand.

The photo doesn't do the sky justice, but it sparks my memory of it.  The blue tent that just minutes earlier we had been sitting under is now down as they caretaker disassembles it.  Before it blows into the next county.  People were standing holding the poles to stabilize it during the brief service at the grave side.

Southwest corner of the cemetery.  We've of course been there before. The headstone already in place from when my Dad died.

If I would have driven just a quarter mile to the East I could have stood on the farm where I grew up and could have also taken a photo of the cemetery across the section.

Sometimes the huge world seems small.

I'm joining with Sarah again this month for Scene and Story.  

Scene and Story


Last month we helped my son in law celebrate his 30th birthday.  My daughter had bought some sparkler candles to put on his cake. Just my daughter lighting them wasn't going very well and pretty soon there were four candle lighters!  

Then we sat and watched the little candles sparkle and fitz about---really pretty fun. :)

When going through the pictures I just loved all the "story" going on here.  There are parts of my son in law's parents in view, Bonnie's hands and phone, and my granddaughter hoping to have a piece of cake on her plate soon.  Normally, these are all the things you would avoid in a photo or crop out if you could, but what is going on in the periphery is certainly part of the story here.

I am joining Sarah again this month for her Scene and Story link up party.

Scene and Story


I used to devour the Sunday paper.  I looked forward to it being delivered to our front door. Hearing the thud it made as it hit the porch was so satisfying.  Knowing all that information and entertainment was just waiting beyond the door.

 But, then the thud came later and later and was tainted with the sound of the too fast approaching car on the lane followed by the swishing of gravel as the car pulled away in a rush to move on to the next house.  It was actually dangerous to our neighborhood to continue to get the paper.  So we cancelled our subscription. This was years ago and I had by then stopped following the news and was rarely reading the paper so I didn't miss it much and felt much relief to no longer worry that someone would get hit in the delivery process.  

Now, when our second oldest daughter is home we almost always stop for a newspaper on the way home from Mass.  The little girls have found the comics and my 11 year old discovered the sports section and Husker Football coverage this past fall.  She was amazed!  We heard a WHOA!  one Sunday when she found all the articles about the game!  I had no idea we had been holding out on her, ha!

Two weeks ago after they were grabbing the sections they wanted to look at, my daughter, Bonnie suggested a picture and asked me to take it with her phone.  It was entertaining watching them get posed. Then I grabbed my camera to take a couple of shots also.  She posted it to her Instagram account with the caption: 

The family that reads together, "literate-ly" stays together

This is how we amuse ourselves. :)

Linking up with Paisley Rain Boots and Scene and Story: you can read more about it on her blog.

Scene and Story


A moment captured.

This photo was taken by my son after our granddaughter Edie's baptism. Because I'm the "picture taker", I'm usually not in many pictures.  My son grabbed my camera while I was cuddling with her and he took a few.   We were in the back of the church surrounded by modern stained glass windows and next to a huge marble baptismal font. My oldest and the mother to this sweet little one is the one looking on. During this time Edie's two older sisters were running around being entertained by other grandparents and their aunts.

I really loved the moment that he captured, but it was slightly blurred.  Not his fault, the lighting was low and I had the camera set to a fairly slow shutter speed. I struggled with focus in my shots too.
I never would have edited this picture this way if it weren't for trying to save it and what a wonderful gift that was. I love it this way more than if it would have been true to the setting.  The faded effect freezes the moment in time.

So, I didn't actually take this picture, but I did do the editing. :)  

I'm linking up with Sarah at Paisley Rain Boots this week (and hopefully, all year!) with her blog link up of Scene and Story: a place to share a favorite picture from the last month and the story that goes along with it.

Technically, it was taken at the end of November and not in the last month...but gosh, it's hard to follow rules. 
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