Filed under: Floral Fridays, flower photography, Flowers, Inspirational, macro photography, Photography, postaday Tagged: Floral Friday, Flowers, inspirational, photography, postaday ]]> http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/floral-friday-3-8-13/feed/ 4 allthingsboys _K8A1142 _K8A1147 _K8A1156 http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/weekly-photo-challenge-lost-in-the-details/ http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/weekly-photo-challenge-lost-in-the-details/#comments Sat, 02 Mar 2013 01:01:02 +0000 allthingsboys http://allthingsboys.wordpress.com/?p=3969 Continue reading →]]> Having spent a few days of the last week scuba diving (it would have been the whole week had it not been for a rather violent illness that knocked me out on Wednesday) several creatures come to mind when thinking of Lost in the Details.  The first is called a Toad Fish.  He looks similar to a scorpion fish, highly camouflaged to protect him from predators.  All these “details” make it very difficult to see his features.

Toad Fish

Toad Fish

Many other creatures find hiding places in the details, like this eel:

Here is the cropped version:

I’ve been struggling with this for weeks now.  I’ve started several posts that I have discarded.  I have theories up the yingyang, philosophies that would astound Sophocles, and ideas that would curl most people’s hair.  But knowing if I have the right to tell what I think is as illusive as the fairy basslet fish I’ve been trying to photograph all week.

This conundrum has silenced my writing wit for the past several weeks.  It has broken my heart and left me on my knees begging God to wave a magic wand over the individual who has me in such straights.  No, it is not hubs nor my children.  It is my brother.

I’ve written letters to him I will probably never send.  I believe, rightly or wrongly I don’t know, that something happened to him when he was very young.  And it was irreparable.  A brilliant mind was shattered, and the soul that was left was plunged into a life of unimaginable misery.  I don’t know the complete truth, but would dearly love to hear it.  Maybe I’m  being a simpleton.  Maybe I’m the one with the problem, unable to believe that someone could stray so far down a horrific path without just cause.  I don’t know what to believe, and I am extremely short on answers and wisdom.  I only know that it is so painful to watch him suffer, even if it is his own doing.  It’s even more difficult to acknowledge that not only is it not up to me to save him, but understanding that even if it were, I could not.

And that leaves me with prayer.  For whatever happens, the answer will be in prayer.

Reblogged from faithfulnibbles:

Yesterday however, I received a delightful email from my mothers cousin.  He is my first cousin once removed, I believe, being the child of my grandfathers identical twin brother.  But he happens to be in possession of some of my grandfathers old photographs, and I cannot begin to describe the joy I felt in looking through them.

My grandfather was a wiley sort.  He was a North Dakota farm boy, and being an identical twin with a hankering for mischief, you can imagine what sorts of things he got up to.  There was the story about he and his twin at the age of 7 or so climbing up on top of the barn roof, and staying there all day while they watched everyone below searching the fields for them in an increased state of panic.  Such were the things of daily life.  But as he grew older, he decided he was not content to be a “farm boy,” and after a rather stout disagreement with his father, he packed his bags and hitched trains to the west coast where he bunked with his father’s sister–who happened to be a teacher–until he graduated high school–he was 16 when he left.

He made his way to Fairbanks Alaska, where he worked cutting roads with high pressure water hoses.  He unearthed two woolly mammoths doing this work, and stopped long enough to cut a portion of the pelt from each of them to bring back with him.

I don’t know where he got into photography along the way.  But there are many pictures that are simply amazing.  The one I’ve included in the post he obviously didn’t take, since he is the subject, but it is quite interesting all the same.  The other photos are of things around Alaska that he found interesting.  I guess that is how he ended up doing reconnaissance in WWII; his love of photography.  I am saddened by the accident of his death.  His plane crashed upon a coral landing strip on Bougainvilla Island in the South Pacific, and the details of the crash are stomach turning.  My mother was not even born yet.

But I feel like the love of photography somehow made it’s way to me, passed down by the Grace of God.

Last week, I posted about the challenge of keeping the squirrels off the bird feeder.  I pulled it into the center of the deck, and watched as they climbed the pole.  So, I took the soap dispenser out there and liberally coated the pole with dish soap.  This resulted in some hilarious antics, and I’m sad to say that I did not get any pictures, as we had company, and I couldn’t stand at the window and ignore the guests.  Not only the squirrels, but the birds found the pole too slippery and slidey to hold on to, and animal cirque du soleil was born.

The next day however, the soap dried, and the squirrels were at it again.  I’ve been to busy to do anything except give it a casual glance however, noting only that the bird seed feeder with the sunflower seed feed is almost empty.

Last night it snowed, and the birds flocked to the feeders this morning for a  hearty breakfast.  No squirrels to be seen, I guess they didn’t want to track snow back to their hideaways.

Reblogged from The Sacred Cave:

• 

In the months after Beth's death, we discussed the absurdity of our lives. I can't being to express the shockwaves that we still feel today as a result of her loss. It's not about 'working through it' or getting 'over it', it's just that your previous framework shatters with such a loss and you start living on a different scale, in a different realm and with a different perspective to those around you.

Read more… 643 more words

Reblogged from A Nine Pound Hammer....or a woman like you, either one of these will do:

You have one moment and it's all over in a blink of an eye. 

Your time is limited and the cycle of life is rapidly moving on.

So take your place and make your choices as you move through your moment of life.

Remember that holding on to what is good to you now, could be the reason things will never get better.

Read more… 4 more words