They Walk Among Us

We feel blessed to be able to live in a rural setting. No city hustle and bustle here. We are pretty much surrounded by woods through which we've maintained a trail where our dogs can run freely as we walk along with them.

We've often wondered what sort of wildlife might be found out here. A year ago I received a couple of trail cams which I installed to help answer our curiosity. Over the months, as I took the camera cards out to see what was captured on them, we saw a variety of wildlife - coyotes, skunks, raccoons, deer, etc - as well as people and dogs.

Then as I reviewed one of the cards recently, I got a large surprise, captured on one of the cams only 200 yards behind the house ... have a look:

Although we've lived here for 15 years, and we'd heard rumours of sightings in the area, this was our first actual evidence of their presence. We do pay a little more attention on our daily walks now !

Too Close for Comfort !

I've been AWOL (or MIA) for the past 10 months and I have a raft of excuses for not being active here - but I won't list any. I have wrestled with those good intentions of posting once again, and I finally landed here. It was not due to stepping back from photography - I have many folders of 'unprocessed film' that need to see the light of day (for me anyway).

Late on an evening about 3 weeks ago when I was in Florida, I heard the distant rumble of thunder - not at all an unusual event at that time of year. As I heard continued rumbling I thought I'd step out to see if there was a photographic opportunity. Indeed, the sky was being continually lit up but it appeared that the storm was quite some way off (based on the time between lightning and thunder).

I would normally use a tripod to photograph lightning but had left it behind up north. With the camera braced against my chest, and with breath held, I managed to get a few shots of the spectacular light show:

I continued to shoot while also counting seconds between flashes and peals of thunder and figured that with at least 12 seconds between them, the storm was still at a distance. That theory clearly was disproved when the very next flash lit up my surroundings so brilliantly that I thought it had removed me from this world. I could literally feel the electricity in the air. Upon realizing that I could still move, I hastily retreated inside on what I will admit were shaky legs. Since I had the shutter open when the flash occurred I can share my near-death experience:

The exposure times were similar in all 3 shots but obviously the flash proximity and intensity was not. Lesson learned (I think) for next time.

Photography at 60mph

I don't know about you, but I hate it when a fleeting moment presents itself that I want to capture so I can freeze it and keep it from being fleeting only.

Unfortunately those moments sometimes occur when I'm behind the wheel. Fortunately, sometimes I have the camera right there beside me.

Now you also have to understand that I don't have a death wish, either for myself or those I'm sharing the road with. So I do exercise caution under these circumstances.

But I also enjoy reliving the moments at a later time - moments that otherwise would have been lost.

Have you ever indulged ?

The Trees of the Field ...

"You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands."
(Isaiah 55:12)

Well, metaphorically speaking, the trees were doing just that when I stepped out into the creation early one morning a few weeks ago. I was up before the dawn to capture a sunrise in one of my favourite places. Since I hadn't calculated the time of the sun's appearance very well, I arrived in almost pitch darkness. 'Sunrise' was a bad news/good news story - the early morning mist was so thick that the sun was unable to break through for several hours. However, it was easy to experience the peace Isaiah wrote about (above) as I wandered about in silence.

I'm only now coming back to processing my raw photos of that morning (I will post some misty scenes at another time). It was not by happenstance that I 'discovered' another area on my way home, although a road closure forced me there. I happily scrambled through brush and over rocks with Keera (see Jan. post) to see scenes like this:

And only a few days before, we experienced the joy of grandchildren (another gift of God) as they experienced the joy of riding in the rumble seat of a car from a bygone era:

If you're not familiar with Isaiah 55, take 3 minutes to read it here - it's an open invitation to peace and joy for all.

Did You Hear THAT ?

Yes, that WHOOSH was time flying by ! Even I can't believe that almost 10 months have flown by since I last posted here.

This will likely be my shortest post (I won't say ever, for who can predict ...), but I did want to drop by to tell you that (most of) my 'spare' time has been consumed by my work on behalf of Finding Them Homes (see www.findingthemhomes.com).

I also want to mention that my plan is to be at least a monthly presence here since I've been able to do some photography in the remainder of my 'spare' time and will try to post a sample here occasionally.

Not sure if any followers remain out there but if so, hello, and hope to hear from you.

Oh, did I happen to mention that I was also able to fill a long-time dream of acquiring a vintage automobile - a 1930 Model A - shown here in front of my son's business office.

Back with more soon.