Light Theme: Pic #7

To be a carefree child...sitting in the summer grass...kissed by sunlight...blowing bubbles...flanked by cousins...is rich living.

Light Theme: Pic #6

Waterloo Park was our destination when Ken and I went on a bike ride earlier this Spring. I loved the way the sun that day highlighted last year's teasel plants leaning over the bank of the park's river.

Light Theme: Pic #5

A few years ago our family went to Buttermilk Falls Resort for a winter weekend getaway. The lamps that came on in a snowfall at twilight there reminded me of something straight out of the Chronicles of Narnia. With a name like Buttermilk and lamps like these, the place couldn't help but give us a warm and magical time.  

Light Theme: Pic #4

"The whole earth is full of His glory." Isaiah 6:3b As we heard in a message at church this morning, God's glory is His holiness gone public. Nature speaks of His glory in a myriad of ways, and I praise Him for that beauty and light of His holiness.                  

Light Theme: Pic #3

"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary." - Aaron Rose

Light Theme: Pic #2

I love the interesting angles and patterns in this sunset pic, taken at a restaurant near Lancaster, PA. It reminds me of a song (by Mary A. Lathbury) "Day is Dying in the West" - its word painting/picturesque descriptions such as "...while the night sets her evening lamps alight through all the sky."

Week #13 Theme: Light

Sunlight can take a dried-up, dead thing and turn it into gold. Sonlight can transform my dead and dry spirit into something rich and glowing with life.

Words Theme: Pic #7

This is one of my favorite things to do with words: play games involving them. And it's even more fun when the players are witty, wordy and wonderful relatives.

Words Theme: Pic #6

The high school students at Countryside School are involved in the daily cleaning of the facilities. I spotted this word of encouragement to fellow cleaners one day at school as I passed by the door of the cleaning closet.

Words Theme: Pic #5

Our college-attending daughter knows how to beautify words on her watercolor paintings. In other Kayleen-related news, we got to hear her first on-tour choir program yesterday morning. We made a quick family trip to Mount Pleasant, PA to see her and hear the FB students' lovely singing. (That choir knows how to beautify words with their music!)   

Words Theme: Pic #4

I rly can't add bttr wds 2 ths msg.

Words Theme: Pic #3

Here are some noteworthy words, as seen in an exhibit at the Canadian War Museum which we visited last year with CCS's high school students on their Ottawa class trip. The results of the letter-writing request/command in the quote seem like a win-win situation to me.

Words Theme: Pic #2

I've always liked this word art gift that came from Haiti. Mom & Dad Schrock bought the peace piece for us at some point during their two-year stint of mission work in Haiti under Christian Aid Ministries. As I understand, this Haitian metal sculpture is made from recycled oil drums. Lovely work - this handmade hammering.

Week #12 Theme: Words

When I saw this verse mural on the entry wall in one of the Camp Andrew buildings, I was at once drawn in by the artistry and message. Read the words and absorb their meaning, and just see if it doesn't add some dance to your day, too. 

Shadows Theme: Pic #7

I love doing things with my man, including going on an evening bike ride - when the sun turns us and our bikes into giant shadows. 

Shadows Theme: Pic #6

It seems like this photo should have a title such as one might come across in an art gallery - "Through Patio Glass", "Shadows on Kitchen Tile" or "Light Lines". Then again, maybe it would do just as well to say that it was an ordinary moment in my ordinary kitchen; an ordinary gift I wish to use to bring attention to an extra-ordinary Giver.

Shadows Theme: Pic #5

Today the spring sun shone out of a brilliant sky. On another blue-sky day months earlier, the orchard trees blossomed shadows instead of flowers. Each has its own beauty. 

Shadows Theme: Pic #4

To all the moms out there: Whether you feel that your work is clear and bright in the sunlight or obscure and blurry in the shadows, it is important. God sees. You matter. Happy Mother's Day!

Shadows Theme: Pic #3

It takes both light and dark to make a shadow pic...I like the mix in this one. The subject is an old barn along the RIM Trail in Waterloo.

Shadows Theme: Pic #2

On a sunny day in February: The birds must have been having a winter picnic on the shadow table in our back yard.

Week #11 Theme: Shadows

The afternoon sun shining through the steps on our back deck makes a fascinating illusion. It took me a bit to get my bearings in figuring out reality when I first saw the photo!

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #7

This is a pair of Mom's glasses. She must have worn them a long time and a long time ago - they are so bent at the hinges that I couldn't get a good shot of them just resting on the table. The teardrop style also gives a clue as to which era she got them in. She resisted going from her regular prescription lenses to bifocals when that switch became necessary. That's one thing I think of when I see Mom's glasses. Another is her love of reading. And I also think of her way of looking at the world - through the lenses of curiosity, wonder, and teachability. I'm grateful for the gift of her outlook on life.

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #6

Whenever I see a towel hanging like this, I have the biggest urge to go straighten it up. It could be that it is solely my perfectionistic nature kicking in, but I think it has at least somewhat to do with a little device in me called "My Mother's Voice". This device sometimes goes into replay mode, delivering phrases such as "Make your bed", "Pick up that item (book, toy, garment) off the floor", "Straighten up that towel". Rather than resist it, I listen as often as I can to a piece of Mom I carry with me, and give thanks for this inheritance.

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #5

Mom delighted in working with her hands. She knitted, crocheted, did crafts and sewed many a garment and blanket. She made this comforter from velour fabric scraps, so it is warm and cozy, as well as durable. And again, it stands out in the bright colors she loved. 

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #4

Mom had a fascination with the wind that I never did completely figure out. When I was a youngster and playing or working outside, the summer breezes could be quite stiff sometimes - to the point of annoyance to me. She'd be out in the same wind, and make some remark about the marvelous breeze, blissfully lifting up her arms as if she'd love to go flying along with it. Other times, we'd be all cozied inside the house and listening to the winter wind shrieking up a storm outside. Mom loved that sort of wind, too, if she didn't need to be out in it. She'd sometimes recite the beginning lines of Eugene Field's Night Wind poem: "Have you ever heard the wind go 'Yooooo'? 'Tis a pitiful sound to hear! It seems to chill you through and through With a strange and speechless fear..." Yes, Mom, thanks to your expressive spirit, I have!

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #3

Not only did Mom enjoy flowers in the wild; she also grew her domestic ones with great delight. The kinds I planted in my own flowerbed last year (pictured here) are all types of flowers she had in her gardens during my growing-up years. I don't go to near the work she did with hers, though...starting them from seed, collecting rain water to irrigate them and deadheading them faithfully...I didn't even coordinate the colors to my liking last year. I'm not sure that part would've mattered to her, since she was such an "all things bright and cheeryful" sort of person.

Remembering Mom-Eva Theme: Pic #2

Mom was a lover of nature. She passed along this interest to me through the hands-on activities she initiated with us children when I was young, and through her own passion in discovering God's creation. From her, I learned how to identify many of Wisconsin's spring flowers and numerous kinds of birds. She taught me that this flower is called bloodroot because of the reddish sap that oozes out of its stem like blood when you break it. That mottled leaf in the top left-hand corner of the pic belongs to a flower called adder's tongue; it's also known as trout lily (named thus for looking like the skin of a fish). How I would love to take a tramp through the spring woods with Mom again!  

Week #10 Theme: Remembering Mom-Eva

I have been thinking a lot about Mom-Eva this spring. One reason is that yesterday marked the twenty-second anniversary of her death. I miss her. Another reason is that I am now the age that Mom was when she passed away. Back then I knew she was young, but now I realize that she was very young! Somehow, I think that if she were to answer my questions about life right now, she would tell me to take stock, be grateful for what is, and go on to live in Christ joyfully and sacrificially every single day that I'm allowed here on this earth. (I will do that, Mom, in memory of you. Ok, you probably knew too, that saying it would make me cry.) And this week I will post pics of things that remind me of her. She was a wonderful cook. One of the mouth-watering comfort foods she made was poor man's steak. We were sort of poor when I was growing up, but when I would eat this kind of steak at her table surrounded by our family and/or friends, I felt rich.

Broken Theme: Pic #7

My brother-in-law knows how to do an impressive object lesson. During a devotional time for the littles at a family reunion last summer, he donned this "broken" shirt. It was one of the ways he illustrated the nature of dishonesty.

Broken Theme: Pic #6

On our Thailand trip a few years ago, we saw this proclamation at one of the many open air cafes beside the Phuket beach. We didn't patronize the bar, so we don't know what kind of English was spoken there, but I'm guessing the owner had some humor.

Broken Theme: Pic #5

This must be a first for me - to post two pics in one blog entry. Explanation: both had to be used to get the desired effect. When I saw the tabletop tulips in their broken, neglected state as depicted in the first photo, I was sure the bouquet was a goner. A few inches of water in the vase and a few hours worth of patience brought about the transformation of the bouquet as depicted in the second photo. I feel like there could be a spiritual application in this somewhere...