Different Eyes...photos by kim

I just love how everyone has a different eye for photography. There are so many talented photographers out there showing their stuff online and at craft fairs that it's a bit scary to me to even put out my photos for folks to peruse, let alone buy from me. Yikes!!

Our friend Don found a site online, http://photo.net/, that allows for photographers to show their works as well as be critiqued. I look at some of those photos and say, "No way, Jose!" Although I realize it would be a great experience to have others critique, particularly those who are more experienced and professionals, to look at your body of work and help you(me) to do better each time I take a new batch of photos.

So, I'm thinking about putting in a few photos just to see how I do.

It should be interesting.

I really look forward to our trips to Kenya and Vietnam so that I can take photos of these amazing places and people. So, hopefully by that time I will have vastly improved in my technique and eye for the unusual.

Thank Goodness For The Four Seasons...photos by kim

Though I would like to be living in Portland, Oregon or in Washington State, there is something about the seasons in Chico. We usually get all four of them and are typically able to enjoy all four of the seasons each year. But like anything, there may be changes in the weather pattern so some years we may skip Spring altogether and rush right in to Summer, which sucks. Or we may have a mild Winter and a long Spring. One just never knows. But typically we are fortunate to at least have a taste of all four seasons.

And since digital cameras are all the rage, and downloading them is immediate, it's silly not to be using it and enjoying what we do have in Chico. It's always easier to stay cooped up in one's house but then we can miss a lot of nature's floral and fauna that is contained in just Chico alone.

So, as you can see I am enjoying today's latest technology, as well as enjoying yet again a season of Chico.

So Much...photos by kim

I was only at One Mile the entire time I was shooting photos. There was so much to shoot in just that part of the park alone. I barely covered maybe a sixteenth of Bidwell Park!

Which is so amazing to think about how much land was held as open space for folks from all over to enjoy. And I am one of the lucky ones. I look forward to tracking other parts of the park and seeing what kind of goodies that I will see through the view finder.

There is so much out there to see that I often wonder what it would be like to be blind. I know Helen Keller and many more lived and continue to live such amazing and productive lives. But I wonder some times if I would be able recall such beauty before having gone blind. It seems like I would but then other senses would be highly enhanced due to the loss of one of the senses. So I wonder how I would do. Just a thought...

Bicycles...photos by kim

Today is just so beautiful in Chico. Though I would prefer it to be a bit colder and more crisp. But it's not and I needed to enjoy what we have. So I went to One Mile, in Bidwell Park, and took a bunch of photos.

I always have fun just enjoying the smells, the sounds and whatever catches my eyes.

Bicycles seemed to one of the themes while I was out and about. So hope you enjoy!

Just Two More Fall photos...by kim

I really enjoy using our digital camera but there are definite limitations to using one.

I love the 'instant' usage of the photos, though I really miss the handling of an actual photograph. But of course there are trade offs to everything.

Today, I thought I'd have more photos to take on my way to Los Molinos, to Michael's parent's house, but there really wasn't much to shoot, surprisingly. I guess if I had walked to Los Molinos, I may have found tons of things to shoot.

I took a few tree photos but they did not turn out at all. I was apparently moving so they were all blurry. Oh well. So I only got two other shots that did come out. But not as I would have liked them to. Bummer. I'm such a perfectionist that I hate to not have every shot come out fantastic. Woe is me...ho hum.

And More Fall Photos...Same Day As Previous Blog

More Fall Photos...by kim

These were taken the same days as a few blogs back.

No new photos as of yet.

But hopefully in the next few days.

Is It Hot In Here Or Is It Just Me...?

Aging yet still young

Asian and envied by many of same age

Straight as an arrow was my hair once but now curly as Shirley Temples'

Less firm are the ol' cantaloupes but still ripe as ever

I guess I'm truly getting old

The age of hot flashes have crashed upon my being and lifestyle

Gone are the days of being cozy and bundled up in a turtle neck shirt, a wool sweater, warm sweat pants, and fuzzy warm slippers.

Now it's 'layers' I have to remind myself daily.

A thin cotton shirt beneath a light weight sweatshirt, light weight pants and flip flops. No socks or shoes...too hot.

Uck! I never imagined going through this 'time' in my life at such an early age, 37.

I thought one was still considered young if one hadn't crossed the ol' forty 'finish line', Heh!

But unfortunately in my case it is not true.

I am in Hot Flash City and not enjoying the weather or the views.

I'm TOO YOUNG so I thought but medical science says I'm just right in the prime if one is to go through it before the mid-forties.

Ode to joy for me...

The Holidays Are Upon Us...

Well, the holidays are soon to be upon us and I am trying desperately to figure out what to do with birthday and Christmas gifts for this year.

It's not so much that I don't want to have to go and shop for others for 'things' that they may or may not like, but just the thought that those that I know in my life have plenty. It's as if we don't need another thing, to add to our other things and thus that is the perpetual cycle of the holidays.

I know I don't need a single thing more in my house, on my body or to use in my kitchen. Yet it so easy to get caught up in the merriment of it all and just begin grabbing things off the shelves, praying the person whom you're buying it for will find some use for it, somehow.

And then I get thinking about making creative things for friends and family and realize that there is just not enough wall space for all those things I have made nor find that those things I have made on the walls of those that I have given them to. So, it's seems rather useless to mass produce when little room is available for the adorning of my creative piece or the lack of interest in the piece that took a long time to create.

So, my dilemma is real and I need to get on it before the holidays have passed me by.
I keep having these nightmares, truly, about not having bought all of the gifts for the people in my family, and finding that the day we head up to my parents, is the day that we are doing the presents. Yikes!!! Luckily it is only a dream...whew!

So, to make or not to make that is my dilemma.

I actually like shopping for gifts for people, as I think I am a pretty good gift giver of what others taste are like. But I know there have been some years that it was just grab and go because I hadn't a clue or the gift ideas were out of my giving range.

I'd rather just get together for several meals with friends and families and have a few days of celebration and just being together without all of the gift giving involved.

It sure would make life easier and I think much more enjoyable in the long run.

I have no clue what I'm doing this year...Ho Hum...

Fear of Death....

Last night, I had awoken to use the bathroom and then returned to my warm and cozy bed, next to my hubby.

But as I lay there I thought I kept hearing noises of some sort. I wasn't sure.

You see, I am deaf in one ear and have only a certain percentage hearing in the 'good' ear. So I am not on equal footing when it comes to hearing things creeping in the night.

I tend to sleep on my 'good' ear most of the time, I guess mainly because that side is the most comfortable to sleep on.

But there are times I will intentionally sleep on my bad ear so that I can hear what's going on or what I think is something not good.

What I have determined, last night, is that I am not afraid of death or of dying per se. But because my hearing is not on equal standing, I think I tend to 'hear' things that are not there. I know this to be true because there have been times I've asked my hubby if the phone is ringing or what was that noise in the distance or what was that noise period. Most of the time it was nothing. So of course that is quite annoying but unfortunately the way things are in my hearing world.

I finally determined that my fear in terms of death is really about dying a horrible and savagely beatened death. Usually being an intruder who enters our home while we are asleep. But to die in a car accident or in a plane doesn't disturb me like a death by the hands of an intruder, a killer.

I don't know why this is exactly except to say that if I had better hearing. I guess I would hope to be able to detect the intruder before they had a chance to get to us.

So, unfortunately, there are some nights that it takes me some time to get back to sleep, especially once I think I've heard something.

I prayed and closed my eyes to take us whenever and however. We will have lived our lives as best as we could with the time we've had. What more could we ask for. I also prayed that in death, if by the hands of a killer, that we would be taken together.

Wind, Rain, Storm...poem by kim

Wind, whistle away, whistle away, say the swaying trees. We bend, we dance, we stir with passion for the coming rains.

You, wind are the drums that keep the rhythm of the storms to be.

Rain, come down, come down, says the ground below. We await the quenching of our thirst for you, and for the nutrients you provide so abundantly.

You, rain are the pounding of feet dancing around a ring of fire.

Clouds full of moisture, you are the towers that spring forth the water from your silos.

Thunder and lightening, you are the friends who are the life of the storm. You bring excitement, fear, and a beautiful show that can be seen and heard from miles away.

I'm in awe of how all of these instruments come together to create beautiful music from time to time.

I never tire of their company nor of the rich and beautiful gifts in which they each bring with them.

How lucky am I to enjoy the show and applaud the creator who provides the stage for such a production.

Women Thou Art Worthy Beyond...poem by kim

Women thou art worthy beyond the very words of man.

Your beauty is greater and deeper and more precious than what the eye can behold.

In jesus you are free from the coverings, the masks, the burqas that enclose your framed body, your existence.

The men of the world have been taught evil, have been given examples that are not worthy of women's attention.

Women thou art more beautiful in spirit and in worth than the sun which rises each day.

Women you have been misfed horrendous information and given examples by which men have been force-fed themselves.

It is not completely their fault. It is also the work of the devil.

But this excuses no one of their behavior, never-the-less their way of thinking, without given the freedom of choice, in which jesus did that very thing.

Women thou art smarter than you give credit of yourselves.

Women you must trust yourselves, your hearts, your inner voice that reminds you of who you truly are and not what others make of you.

The men of this world will be just that...Men of this world.

As they know nothing else...Or rather choose to know nothing else.

Remember the work of the devil is prevalent in the minds of men.

Their thoughts and eyes have been tainted with lust, with open beauty, with pornography of every kind.

Who can blame them for their actions, but themselves.

But unfortunately, who is the one that must be restricted of one's behavior, one's god-given physical frame, covered from head to toe of any existence at all.

Women.

Women thou art worthy beyond the days of end and the stars that light the night like a candle lit in a darkened room.

Your beauty shall always stand firm in jesus but let no other man take from you the person that you are made to be.

Yourselves.

Oh, women you are given permission to take off those head coverings, the masked facade, the heavily weighted burqa that allows no room for personal contact nor personal existence.

Be free to exist under jesus with all the powers that has been given, and all the freedom that you could ever know.

Be not like men and do as they have done to another, to you.

Take the higher road and meet jesus and all those whom he has placed in your path. who acknowledge you as a being, a beauty, filled with thoughts and feelings and great intelligence.

Be not like men and women who choose the lower road of no integrity and real spirit nor power to encourage and lift one's fellow being.

Women thou art worthy and greater beyond...Words.

A Celebration Indeed...

Oh man, it's so strange to have been in Student Ministry and see that those 'kids' that you spent a lot of time and life with are getting older, more mature and even marrying or having their own children. And it's only been a few years since we stepped down. Yikes! Time is a flyin'!!

But we were so thrilled to be able to make Tyson's wedding. It was wonderful to see him so happy, so enveloped with those who truly love him and that he found the perfect woman for him. And she for him.

We both did not want to miss this date for the world. We've always had a wonderful relationship with Tyson. And Michael, well, he has known Tyson since he was just five years old. Michael was going to Chico State and he was attending Esplanade Baptist at the time, now called Church on the Esplanade, but with pretty much the same families who were very involved with the college ministry of that time. So, Michael remembers Tyson when he was five though Tyson doesn't remember that time in history. Oh, to be so young and naive.

I am so glad that this photo turned out so well and it will always hold wonderful memories for us through the years. And Tyson, being just so Tyson, took the time to thank us, truly, for making his wedding, knowing we were back and forth with the Fundraiser for Bola Moyo. And since we know Tyson so well, we knew he really meant it fully.

Thank you Tyson for your love for us and we are thrilled for your new chapter in life with Monica.

We love you and miss you!