Humanity

We must teach our children to be survivors, to rise above the hate and distrust. To persevere when doors are slammed in their faces. To refuse to become a victim by accepting the ideals and views of the narrow minded bigots who would lump all men of any one race or social class together as superior or inferior, good or evil, privileged or repressed. Teach them to view their fellow man not through the clouded angry eyes of a victim but to see them individually through the eyes of reason and humanity. Only then will we experience the full joy in the complexity of humanity. These were my thoughts behind the creation of this art piece. 

 

Wishing all:

Peace & Prosperity

SIMC: Such Sweet Harmony

One of the joys in any city is the joy of listening to the local schools winter concert. Sure the kids are just learning but typically they work really hard and present the audience with a good program. This last week my granddaughters middle school orchestra had their winter concert and we were treated not only to the six and seventh grade concert but a mini rehearsal of the eight grades concert opening. 

Their orchestra only had one bass player and so four bass players from nearby high school agreed to join them in their concert. Two of which were former students of my granddaughter's middles school and the orchestra teacher laughingly told them "see I told you I would get you back".

The mini rehearsal was really awesome. The kids filed into the auditorium playing as they spread out in the isles around the audience. It really made me want to go watch their concert as well.

After the concert I quickly snapped this shot of my granddaughter who was in such a hurry to get back to the instrument room that I forgot to change the ISO on my camera. So to save the grainy and slightly fuzzy photo I applied a few artistic filters.

I had hoped to get out and about to share some of our city's sights this week but it was too cold and then this weekend I was just very lazy. 

Did you have a good weekend?

SIMC: Frozen Moments

Friday Morning I decided to brave the cold. My editor had told me of a shop owner down town that might possibly be a good source for information for a novel that I am working on, so I decided to do a bit of multi-tasking and take along my camera. Although I didn't last long outside the day was very productive. 

Today for For Sunday In My City I have a few shots of new sights in down town Sioux Falls. I never get tired of seeing and photographing the fantastic sculptures on display. Partially because every year the sculptures change so it is almost like going to an outdoor art gallery.

I was captivated by the details in this bronze sax's player. His marching band uniform was so intricate. I have to say though that one of my favorite things about this next shot is the shadows.

I have no idea why this shop created this interesting dress but I was so intrigued by the design and imaginative nature of the dress that I went into the shop and was immediately distracted by the many beautiful accessories they sell. The shop is new so I had never been inside before. They even had some very pretty clothing.

This next sculpture was so life like I almost wanted to wrap a warm coat around the sweet looking child.

Writing this post it occurred to me that as I ventured out into the freezing weather to capture a moment with my camera the moments I captured were also frozen moments captured and created by the sculptors.  

Linking up today with:

I Smiled

To wrap up the week I thought it would be nice to share a bit of the things that made me smile this week, so here goes.

Isn't this cute! Source

Although the fatigue persists, this week was very productive for me. By working in short spurts and resting in between I was able to get my current writing project ready for the first round of edits with my editor. I even managed to get a few blog posts up and get out for a half hour and take some photos.

A dear friend who knows how much I like fun little hats made me this cute slouch hat in my favorite color!

On one of the not so good days I decided I needed something to make me smile so I splurged on my favorite junk food combo.

Lexi came across this recipe for taco stuffed bell peppers on Facebook and of course we had to give it a try. YUMMMMM ... it was delicious!

My friend Jilly is the best ever. Whenever my fatigue is really bad and Lexi is at work Jilly helps me so much. Not only does she pick my grandchildren up from school but she even helps them with their homework. As you can image we all love her madly. I captured this precious moment yesterday as her and Bubba read his library book.

So how was your week? Tell me about it in a comment or leave a link to a post about it.

Common Ground

Through a lengthy project this photojournalist captured many connections between two seemingly unconnected families. 

Not only is his work amazing, but the message it imparts is very important.

To often we humans fixate on all our differences, when we should be looking for common ground.  

Artistically Important

With the loss of Music legend David Bowie I am reminded once again just how short our time is and the importance of spending that time wisely. 

I can't say I liked everything Bowie sang, but I did like a great deal of his music and am sorry to see him gone. A very talented man who I do believe achieved what he strived to do. 

Here are a few of my favorites songs he recorded:



I forgot to save the interview in which he made the quote I used for his tribute but here is a funny interview done in 2002.

Sun Dogs In My City

Sunday Sun Dogs In My City

source

The sun dogs came to grace our city yesterday. I do hope they come back today. I was taking my daughter to work when I spotted them and really wanted to capture the sight but I could not pull over and stop. If you would like to see photo's of our sun dogs check out this link, where viewers from around the area sent their photos into the local news station. The fourth photo in the series looks almost exactly like what I saw.

My friend Lori Gerads managed to capture this wonderful shot with her cell phone and a few more with her regular camera. She hasn't had a chance to share the ones she took with her camera yet but I am sure they will be amazing as she is a very good photographer. To check out her wonderful work Click Here.

 

I have to say it is very pretty out but Oh is it bitter cold! Last night the local news posted this advisory on their Facebook page.

Then when I got up this morning I checked the Weather Channel and this is what I saw

 At least it will be warming up a tiny bit throughout the day.

Whoever flipped that switch I hope the flip it back soon! I love Sioux Falls but every winter am reminded why I might be convinced to move south. LOL

Linking up with Sunday In My City for some sweet virtual travel. Think I will go find a warmer spot. 

To Be or Not To Be

To Be or Not To Be ... What?

I have a feeling that if you ask anyone 25 to 35 years old the answer will be 'an adult'. Sure there is much they love about being an adult but often it isn't what they had envisioned it to be. They have even coined a new word ... 'adulting'. Yes that is now the term being used to describe the everyday actions of a responsible adult. Typically this term is used when expressing ones frustration with adult life, but it is also used as a way to laugh at those same frustrations. As Shakespeare taught me, to enjoy life to the fullest we must be able to laugh at the tragedies as well as at the comedies, so I am embracing this new term.

Each time my oldest daughter says she is "So Over Adulting" I just laugh and reply join the group. And who hasn't uttered this next phrase?

After playing around with the idea, we decided to add a humorous 'Adulting Sucks' section to our gift shop and these are just two of the fun designs. We also asked around and came up with a couple fun list.

While I do sometimes wish to take a vacation from being an adult I am very glad that I choose the To Be, because who wants to be a child or worse yet a teenager again? So what do you choose, To be or Not to be?

Have you, or will you be embracing the term Adulting? If so stop on over and check out all the fun designs and products that we hope will make every adult smile about the frustrations of adulthood.

Click Here to check out our Adulting products

  

Creativity Is Back

This post will complete my posting of photos from 2015, next we'll be on to 2016! I just had to share these though. For Christmas my creative spirit kicked in and knowing my youngest granddaughter's half sisters were both getting My life Dolls for Christmas I decided to make them each outfits for their dolls. 

The youngest girl's favorite color is pink so her outfit had pink embellishments.

She was very happy with the gift and insisted her doll wear it right then and there. Then she claimed it was so pretty she was never taking it off the doll.... LOL

 The older girl's favorite color is purple. Smart girl! :)

She too loved the gift but unlike her sister she says her doll is only going to wear it on special occasions because she doesn't want the white lace to get stained or snagged. She really liked that the veiled mini top hat can be put on the doll or better yet she can wear it.

For my littlest granddaughter who turns two next month I made a traditional item that I have made for all my granddaughter when they were that age. A very soft and cuddly baby doll. My grandmother called it a Mami doll.

Little K's response was the best! Do you think she likes her doll?

My oldest granddaughter requested two mini top hats one for her Birthday which is the week before Christmas and one for Christmas. She wanted a black feather top hat and a red steampunk top hat.

She loved her hats but refused to let me take a picture of her. (so sad) But that is okay her baby sister was happy to model the steampunk hat and her mother's matching scarf for us. You can see how she looked here.

I was so glad to have my creative spirit back, how about you do you like to make things?

2015 in Review

As I sit to write this I am reminded just how easy it is to let the difficulties in life overshadow and block out the joys. Deciding on a title my mind immediately jumped to 'Goodbye and Good Riddance 2015'.  As I began to type that I thought hey wait 2015 wasn't all bad! Sure it was pretty rough but I there were some really good times too. So I figured the best way to remember those was to look through my photos from the year. I actually found quite a few very special moments. So for my review I will hit some of the Joys of my last year. 

Beautiful Sunsets

Silly Moments

Nature Walks

Special Days

Special Family Outings

Watching fireworks with my grand kids

Having all my grandchildren together for the first time

My son with his all his daughters for the first time

 Being there for my middle granddaughter's

first day of middle school

Decorating and hosting my first Halloween Party for the grand kids

Moving back home to Sioux Falls after being gone for three years

 

Looking back at the little moments of joy I realize that although it has been a tough year it really wasn't all that bad. My most memorable moment of the year has to be having all my grandchildren together for the first time. If you click the link there is a photo with all six grandchildren. So farewell 2015, thanks for the good times, now on to a new year with just as many if not more moments of joy! What was your most memorable moment of 2015? I would love to hear about it, so just drop me a line in the comments and share a bit about it or a link to a post where you tell about that moment.

 

Wishing all a very happy and prosperous 2016!