Macro Monday

"Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep."

~Carl Sandburg

For more Macro Monday join Lisa here.

If you would like to see the whole lily click the link in my sidebar for my photoblog. I've posted another shot there.

A Winter Scene in Sepia

We had snow again Monday night and Tuesday. A larger storm is on the way for the weekend and more snow is forecast. Unlike many of you I love the snow. Bread, milk, and eggs are in the fridge and the pantry and freezer are stocked. Light the fireplace!

This photo was taken turning into my driveway. It was snowing and very overcast. The original photo was almost monochrome and very washed out. I sharpened the original just a bit and converted it to sepia. Hope you enjoy.
For more Sepia Scenes please join Mary here.

Eyes for Ruby Tuesday

"There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. "

~Walt Streightiff

For more Ruby Tuesday join Mary here.

SOOC and Macro Monday

"Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven."
~Henry Ward Beecher

For more Straight Out of the Camera shots join Jan here.

For more Macro Monday join Lisa here.

Sycamore Leaves In Fall

Stars shining bright above you

Night breezes seem to whisper, I love you
Birds singing in the sycamore tree

Dream a little dream of me.

Say nighty-night and kiss me

Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me.

While I'm alone and blue as can be

Dream a little dream of me.

~Gus Kahn

Did you know "Dream a Little Dream of Me" was first recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra with vocal by Nelson on February 16, 1931?

For more Watery Wednesday click here.

Who's Opening That Present?

Or....where did Lily Go?

I'm still going through the almost 1000 images my daughter and I took at Christmas and of course the color red is pretty prominent. I couldn't resist sharing these of little Lily today. Most of you know she is a huge Elmo fan. Here she is with her Christmas Eve hat and package. You would think she couldn't see what she was doing.
A little different angle shows her curls and those little hands diligently trying to get inside the wrap.
For more Ruby Tuesday join Mary here.

SOOC Sunday and Macro Monday

"The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child."

~Joe Houldsworth

For more Straight Out of the Camera Sunday join Jan here.

My Dad

This is a photo of my Dad as a young boy. He is 15 years old as he sits on the old tree stump which would mean the original black and white photo was taken around 1941 or so. Dad grew up working hard on his family's farm and farms of others as well. This doesn't appear to be the old homeplace where he lived so I think it was taken on one of the farms where he often stayed and worked in his youth. With none of his five siblings in view I think it's fair to say this wasn't taken at home.
I like this picture of my Dad. It shows he was tall and lanky. He never lost that lush head of hair and it didn't turn gray until he was way up in age.
It will soon be fourteen years since my Dad passed away. It's hard to realize that many years have silently gone by. This coming Sunday the 17th would have been Dad's 84th birthday.

Love and miss you Dad.

For more Sepia Scenes join Mary here.

Watery Wednesday

Still cold, still snowing, but beginning to thaw........

(Be sure to click to enlarge)

For more Watery Wednesday click here.

Ruby Tuesday: Books

Last week Mary suggested we might post books for Ruby Tuesday this week. My Mom and I have collected old books for a long time. There is just something about them that makes you want to hold them and peruse the pages. Above are three that have a little bit of red in them. It's not a bright ruby red but rather a deep rich tone of almost burgandy. The one aspect that draws me to old books is often the graphics stamped into the bound covers as the one on top above. This book was copyrighted in 1885 and has the name of a young twelve year old girl inside. The green book with the American flag stamped on it has Mr. James H. Rhodes and October 10, 1917 written inside. The all red book is The Cloister and the Hearth, part one. It's a tale of the Middle Ages written before 1859. I've tried to capture the stamped feathers on the top left hand side of the cover.
Of course I have to include Ms. Lily with one of her new books she got for Christmas. Yes, it featured Elmo!

For more Ruby Tuesday visit Mary here.

A Mellow Yellow Birthday

Most of you know my Granddaughter celebrated her second birthday four days after Christmas. This is Ms. Lily sitting on her birthday present. For those of you who aren't familiar with today's upscale electronic toys for tots this is the Vtech Ride and Learn Giraffe Bike.

It encourages learning through five modes of active play and teaches letters, counting animals and objects while using a LCD screen. Lily loved it. The morning after her birthday with all her Christmas toys and birthday toys around her it was the first thing she went to.

That little face she is making is directed to her Mommy just out of my camera range. Her Mommy had asked her to look at her so she could take her picture. Lily is saying 'cheese' through clenched teeth.

Oh yes, that cute little pink dress with the slice of birthday cake and remnants of dinner was from Grandma who found the original thirty-six dollar dress for eight bucks and almost DIDN'T buy it. It was worth every dollar - don't you agree!

For more Mellow Yellow participants click here.

Watery Wednesday

"Silent icicles, Quietly shining to the quiet moon."

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

For those of you on Grandbaby pic watch this week: Little Lucy bathing in Grandma's sink.

For more Watery Wednesday click here.

Ruby Tuesday and Catching Up

My lovely daughter-in-law came Christmas day in her own Ruby slippers! Aren't they just gorgeous!!!!!
Hi everyone. Goodness sakes here it is January the 4th already and the days since Christmas and my last post are still somewhat of a blur. Our kids and grandkids were here for Christmas and then we followed them back to Virginia on their return home. My son and his wife left for a vacation in Cancun and we helped our daughter Cindy celebrate her 28th birthday on the 28th. On that day Hubs and I also celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. We met in college on a blind date and have been together ever since. Then on the 29th we celebrated little Lily's 2nd birthday. It seems like yesterday that she first entered our world.
We have arrived back home and our Christmas tree still needs taken down and there's a couple inches of snow and it's still snowing outside.
Christmas has come and gone but since I haven't been able to share pics from the day I hope you'll understand as I share these rubies with you.
This is little Miss Lucy on her first Christmas! I think she is just the cutest!!! She is sitting in what was my little red chair my grandfather gave me when I was a little girl.

A face to fall in love with!

The pillow in the big rocker was soft and furry to feel and very Ruby!

Lily really did not want to sit still so this was a quick shot with the chair.

Another quick shot when Lily was at least near Lucy!

When the dresses were off and the Elmo PJ's on Lily much preferred Mommy tickling her with furry red Elmo hands!

For more Ruby Tuesday visit Mary here.