Simple Giift

Today Lenore surprised me when she returned from golfing with a simple gift. She presented me with a small stone that she had found while she was playing. It was a gift that meant a lot to me. I was really happy she went golfing as I encouraged her to go. There is no reason for two of us to be stuck at home! Right now I'm not in the best of shape as I'm slowly recovering from gall bladder surgery. I'm getting there but it's painful. It was the best gift she could have given me as it is symbolic of so much. The heart shaped stone was a little rough around the edges. So very much like our love and the things that we have gone through in our marriage with probably more to come. Most of it has been great by the way. I can't think of anyone better to be with on this journey of life than her. I love you, Lenore, always your husband, chris

Beauty in Chaos

This morning there are scattered showers with gray, cloudy skies and the wind is blowing. Wow, such a contrast to yesterday when I was over in the Sacramento Valley and it was sunny with temperatures well over 80 degrees. There was the heavenly scent of almond blossoms in the air. I spent this morning going through the rest of my images from the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. I picked out one unusual image to share today. A myriad of black branches criss - crossing the sunset sky. Everything is in chaos but there is beauty shining through. Hmmnnn... that sounds a lot like life. God's love shining through the darkness. May you have a great day, chris Image created with a Canon 7D anda Tamron 150-600mm lens at 600mm. Camera was braced on the cars window sill. AV mode, ISO 400, F 8.0 at 1/80th of a sec.

Beauty of Fall

This morning one of the flower heads in the yard caught my attention. It was so beautiful in the soft morning light. It had the perfection of beauty that is not perfect, not permanent, and is incomplete. Yet it was still very beautiful. So similar to the way God loves us. We are imperfect in our beauty and yet he loves us anyway. He is what makes us complete. Have a great Saturday, chris This image was created with a Canon 7D and a 100mm macro lens. On a Manfrotto 055 XPROB tripod with a Bogen 3055 ballhead. Camera settings used were AV mode, ISO 400, F 22.0 at 1/6 th of a sec.

In the Rut

This morning on my drive down the mountain into town I noticed a buck off to the side of the road with several does. I was about to drive on by when I noticed he was phlegming towards one of the does. Phlegming is the way that bucks determine if a doe is in estrus and ready to breed. They do this by sticking out their neck and head, curling their lip back and then opening their mouth wide and sucking in air. They suck the air in over their Jacob's Organ to see if there are any females are in season. This particular buck was swinging his head around from doe to doe. Just after I took this image he bolted after one of the does and took off in pursuit of her. She ran across the road and down a hill with him in pursuit. Love er lust is in the air. God bless, chris

"A Love Letter" or From the Binder in Progress

I pulled another idea from my binder for image ideas this morning. It's an image of a love letter from a fiance to his future wife. I wanted it to have an old formal romantic sort of feel to it. I'm making progress but it's not yet capturing all that I want it to be be. Maybe this could become the first of a progressive series sort of thing?

God's love and blessings to all,

chris