house of the rising sun

In response to Friday Reflections bonus prompt: What did I enjoy this week? Check out Reflections from a Redhead, and reflections from me for more about this wonderful blog link up...

This much I know is true...

When I can't get my writing brain going, photos or art speak for me:

Seeing the rising sun immediately brought music to mind:

Sometimes, words aren't necessary.

...life is good. -cat
i am @jonesbabie on twitter

the shell game

Today's NaBlopomo prompt is "filter me this". I took this shot of some shells I collected walking on the beach in Jacksonville, Florida recently. This shot was edited on my iPhone with the Photoshop Express app, and also using the Snapseed and Camera+ apps. I love pushing the outside of the envelope with apps. There are many interesting results that are serendipitous by nature, but I am also learning to recognize how to produce certain results purposely. The best advice I can give is learn the basic functions of the apps you are using, then start tweaking them. It will  be fun as well as educational. :)

where is your nose and lip?

my missing nose and lip

I love photography and technology.  They are my addiction.  Put that together with my iPhone and the myriad apps out there, and you have a recipe for disaster.  Or a family joke.  For me, today, it's the latter.

My sister Vicky loves to tease me about my photo edits.  Especially when I take a selfie and tweak it.  It's all in good fun, and we always have a laugh about it.  One thing my sisters and I can do is take a poke in fun.

Today I am poking her.  Her latest comment about this photo I posted to Facebook was: "where's your nose and upper lip?"

 Obviously it's in edit limbo.  But I got to tweaking some of her Facebook photos and decided to return the favor and put hers in the same place mine went. :)

 So, here's to you my favorite middle sister.  Your beauty shines through it all, because it radiates from your heart.

where's your nose and lip?

vix and dooj

...nothing compares to sisters. ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

a day of good karma and wonder

Simply put...

1. Today I found out my 35,000 photos were recovered (among other files...about 280 GB of data!).
2. Yesterday I was able to stand like a tree.  (Well, like half a tree...I fell on the second half of the tree pose.)

My yoga instructor was so impressed she stopped leading and applauded me.

Do I tell her that I spent hours trying to center myself and balance?

Noooo...let her think it was a sudden happening.


...life is so very good. ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

her grammy's girl

Two photos say it all...Maddie came to the house today and wouldn't leave until I got home from work and she got to see me.  She met me at the car and had to beat the dogs off to get to me for a hug.  I got these shots while she was going through some old clothes, and a couple tacky wigs that Wretch brought to be taken to Goodwill...although why anyone but Maddie would want those wigs is beyond me...

Ahh...she is my heart...and such a clown...

brocade angel wings

maddie channeling katie perry 

...life is so very sweet. ~cath
find me @jonesbabie on Twitter

caught between worlds

This month I will revisit some of my favorite posts.  Since I have accumulated more than 300+ posts now, these are buried kinda deep.  I decided they were worth a repeat.  Today I am sharing one of my favorite photo captures of all time, first posted on 12/20/2010.  I hope you enjoy it.

~cath xo

I am @jonesbabie on Twitter

sundown

winter moon

Tonight as I arrived home I saw the moon in the east and the setting sun when I looked west.  It was such a dichotomy, yet so yin and yang, that I rushed for Big Girl when I reached the house to try to capture just a few shots before the sun disappeared.


night before the winter solstice




lunar jewel



moonrise





When I am shooting photos of the sky, I always feel a bit pressured to try to capture it.  At the same time I feel a need to absorb it, to soak it up and sear it on my brain.  Each sunset, each moonrise is so unique, and I know as I look at it and shoot the photos, there will never be another one like it. 

la luna



I still remember a spring evening years ago, when we were in south Alabama on the Alabama river, fishing.  We had finished for the day, and had returned to our hotel and were going to the restaurant next door to eat dinner.  I looked up, and stopped walking.  I just stood there staring for long minutes at the deepest azure sky I had ever looked at in my life.  Lighter near the horizon, where the sun had just set, it deepened as I looked upward toward the first evening stars twinkling in the sky.  Not a cloud marred the perfect velvety texture of the expanse above me.  I knew then that I was looking at something created by a being much greater than I.

night dawns

Tonight I had many of the same emotions rushing through me.  Maddie and Duncan had joined me outside and were playing in the last bit of daylight left as I stood and looked.  I looked left, then right, several times.  I felt caught between two worlds, one passing from existence, and one being created as I watched.  I was awed and silent.  After several photos, I just stood silently, thanking God I had been allowed to really see, to be present in the moment.



Life's moments happen constantly.  Whether you choose to be in the moment, to experience what is around you, is up to you.  All you have to do is open your eyes.

Heaven surrounds you.

halo of trees





















secret sister moments

 They rush to the window when they hear a commotion.  Leaping onto the couch, they pull back the blinds and peer out.  The dogs clown on the front porch, begging for their attention with goofy barks and funny faces.  They watch the dogs, laughing together as the youngest attempts to capture the clowning on camera.  They laugh and talk, oblivious to the world.  Caught in a moment of laughter and secret sister smiles.

I watch them and for a moment, if I blink and imagine, they are small girls again, the youngest following the eldest's lead, miming her big sister's actions, because big sisters know best.  I am lost for a moment in my reverie, watching them.  Seeing them not as women, but as my little girls.  I want to save this moment, this memory, and grab my camera and start taking photos.  They don't notice me at first, and I smile as I watch them.

The moment is sweet, and lasts for just a few brief minutes, then they notice me, and holler, turning in unison to make faces at me for capturing them with their hair mussed up, and in their sleep wrinkled tee shirts and fleece pants.  "Oh MOM!" they shout, but it is too late.

The sweet moment is mine, captured for me to look at and remember.

Such is the stuff of my life.  Moments of sweetness dispersed among my daily routine.

~cath xo
Twitter @jonesbabie