Looking both ways

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

2012 is rapidly drawing to a close. That dawned on me as I was looking back on my blog and realized that my 3rd blogging anniversary had flown right on by. What started off as an 'experiment' back in Dec. 2009 is now in its 4th year (and I realize that it's still in its infancy compared to some stalwarts). I'm no longer posting at the torrid pace of 2010 (a Project 365 year), but God's wonderful creation continues to inspire.

It's good to look back also to see where God's hand has guided, and conversely where we have decided we knew the way better. Looking back provides a good perspective on life if we have eyes to see. I'm reminded of these words:

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

And 'time' for each of us is different - some are given much, others relatively little (think of last week's event in Newtown, CT). Relative to eternity our time here is barely a dream, and who among us will be well-remembered in a couple of generations ?

And yet we may look forward with confidence:

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last,
And our eternal home.

Since we will be celebrating Christmas with family over the next week, it's unlikely I'll post during that time. [I'm still slowly visiting your blogs as our internet connection permits]. Thank you each and every one for your visits and kind words over this past year.

I wish all of you a Blessed Christmas.

(Day 301) Lawn ornaments and surprises

You may not remember, so I'll remind you, that we've had our share of rain here lately. And with the temperatures still up in the comfortable range (15-20C/60-68F) that means that the grass is still growing. I thought I'd done the last of the mowing, but the lawn looks like it should have another trim before settling down for the winter.

As I noticed the length of the grass I also saw a couple of lawn ornaments poking out from among the grass, and I thought I should capture them before they too got trimmed.

Oh, and my wife shocked me this morning when she handed me the camera and asked me to look at the images on it (I always delete images from the camera once I've downloaded them). Imagine my surprise when I saw some beautiful sunRISE photos she had made ! Early morning is not prime time for me so I miss the sunrise (unless I set the alarm, which is rare). I thought I'd share one with you. Maybe I should get her a DSLR for Christmas - better yet, give her mine and I can get a shiny new one ;-)

(60mm  f7.1  1/60 sec  ISO800)

(60mm  f7.1  1/13 sec  ISO100)

 I think my endless prattle about photography must be having a subliminal effect - she mentioned that she specifically went to the pond so she could get a reflection in the shot also !

(10-22mm  f4.5  1/60 sec  ISO400) 

(Day 43) From flora to 'flesh' ...

Muscle, that is, as in muscle car. We took a step back in time today to look at some great man-made machines. It was difficult to walk through the huge display of over 200 vintage muscle cars because it was difficult to focus with so much eye candy. So, before I sign off this blog for a couple of days before I get access to a computer again, I wanted to post a colourful photo of a couple of them.

(60mm f5 1/15 sec ISO400)

And do you remember when cars had really cool hood ornaments ?

(60mm f5.6 1/40 sec ISO800)

'T was the day before Christmas ...

... and I was looking at the tree and the ornaments on it, a lot of which have a special meaning or memory associated with them, and I found this one (see below - yes, I know it's another photo of an ornament), hidden a little on the side of the tree near the wall. It was given to me a few years ago by an elementary school student on my bus and it's a tribute to the many women and men who get up early every school day to ferry students to school and back home safely. I think most of them (if not all) have a guardian angel near their bus.

If you're a parent of a school-bused child, don't forget to say thank you to your child's driver.