Vision

I read this today: “We are all just plagiarists of a real artist, and her name is Mother Nature”.

It needs modification, I think: “We are all just plagiarists of a real artist, and His Name is God”.

Inspired by others who have taken some amazing HDR or High Dynamic Range Imaging photographs, I’ve decided to jump in and try my hand at this. Below are some photos I shot this morning. Comments and critical analysis are welcome.

Telephone Pole

St. Andrew’s Orthodox Church - Arlington, WA

St. Andrew’s Orthodox Church - Arlington, WA

Bridge on Highway 530 - Arlington, WA

Bridge on Highway 530 - Arlington, WA

An encouraging bumper sticker I saw today.

I found this picture of an older gentleman taken during the 1890’s over on Virginia Tech’s image archive website. The person himself has no meaning to me, however I was just struck with “something” about this photograph. Full length portraiture is not as common nowadays. Our family has a similar looking image of my great-uncle as a young man. So stoic, quiet, peaceful and meditative. Maybe I’ll try to recreate something like this on my next portrait shoot.

I went for a walk today and came across this sign.

I figured some shots from 4 years ago down in Colorado would be good to use in testing out the Simple-Viewer photo gallery plugin.

This winter has felt unusually rainy in my experience, though that’s to be expected here in the Pacific Northwet. Today though, the sun is out in all its glory and I am loving it!

I wonder if the sun was shining when Eliza Hewitt penned the following words:

Sunshine In My Soul

There is sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky,
For Jesus is my Light.

Refrain
O there’s sunshine, blessed sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is music in my soul today,
A carol to my King,
And Jesus, listening, can hear
The songs I cannot sing.

There is springtime in my soul today,
For, when the Lord is near,
The dove of peace sings in my heart,
The flowers of grace appear.

There is gladness in my soul today,
And hope and praise and love,
For blessings which He gives me now,
For joys “laid up” above.

I rode the ferry to Whidbey Island today.  It was my first time on a ferry in over ten years, so it was pretty unusual.  Here are some photos I took on the ferry.  I take photos with my cell phone these days, which is why the quality is on the low side.

 

God allowed us the privilege of little Elijah’s brief stay here on earth. It was only a moment, so short, yet what an impact his tiny life has had on our church and our lives. We grieve because of his abscence, yet we know that his current experience is so much better. No more feeding tubes, no more respirators, no more struggling to breathe and cling to fragile human life. We look forward in anticipation to that glad reunion day, when God will wipe all tears from our eyes.

Elijah Appel’s funeral will be held at 10:00am, Wednesday February 21st 2007, at the Peace Lutheran Church in Silvana, WA. Here are directions from the I-5:

1. Take exit 208 (Silvana/Arlington)
2. Turn West towards Silvana on the Pioneer Hwy.
3. Drive through Silvana.
4. At the far end of Silvana, take a left at Larson Rd.
5. The church building can be seen immediately on the right.

Well, our move will be underway, beginning at 7am Wednesday, when we will be picking up one of those old orange and white trucks that are so commonly seen along various intersates with the hood propped open. (Hopefully we won’t have that kind of an adventure.) Hey, if you have any hints, tips or interesting moving stories of your own, feel free to comment. Until next time…