They grow up so fast…

I have known this lovely lady since she was at the tender age of five. She used to draw pictures of me-usually sitting atop her favorite animal-a horse. For some reason, I always had a really big head in her pictures….maybe she was on to something.

But now, she is graduating from high school and has on more than one occasion reaffirmed that I am old.
Of course she’s joking, because I’m obviously not old.
I gently remind her that I am just older than she is-which means that I am wiser than she is.

 

She was a pretty easy subject to shoot-which made my photography day.

 

I love when my subjects can be easily directed, have no skin flaws, and laugh at all my stupid jokes.
This was my favorite shot of her, because it was so her.

 

She could then turn on a dime and be super serious and pensive. She was good at the pensive shots.

 

Mom, Dad, and the little lady were happy with the outcome of our last minute photo shoot.
Now, if only I could get her to draw me one more of those big-headed pictures of myself, sitting atop a horse. My fridge has been bare for awhile and it would make my day.
Hint, hint, little lady. Hint, hint.

Due to High Demand-More Pretties for your Ocular Senses

I got a lot of flack for my post, “Pretties for your Ocular Senses“. There were comments on my site, facebook and twitter asking for more photos-saying there has to be more. You people can be so demanding.
And I love it.

So, to appease you and to fluff my own feathers, I would like to share some more “Pretties”. The sky was a dark gray this day, deepening the green of the fern. I fell in love all over again with God and His creativity in making over 12,000 different types of ferns. That’s a lot of ferns.

 

Slow down your shutter speed and what do you get? Smooth, almost frozen in time waterfalls.

 

This little guy greeted us to our hotel room and came home with me. He now hangs out in one of our guest bathroom’s tub.

 

I will leave you with this beauty of a hydrangea. Can you handle this being the end? I know if you can’t, I’ll hear about it. And, I am looking forward to it.

It’s Obviously Thanksgiving

For those of you strapped to your computers, stranded out of town, lacking a family, or could use a break from your family or are just bored to tears as the men watch football-here is your rest. Land here on this page, brew some tea, grab a fuzzy blanket and let me tell you a little story that most of you may not know.

It’s a story about a normal girl (me) that came from a not-so-normal family. They tried their best to make me not-so-normal, too. But they did not succeed. I am the only normal one left.

Here’s proof as to what I am talking about. I was diligently setting up my camera for our annual lame Thanksgiving photo op. Diligently asking myself, do I use flash or will that be too harsh? Will dad squint his eyes? Will Biceps ham it up?

Yes, on all accounts. This photo stinks. Let’s try again.

Biceps receives a positive reaction from the crowd. This only encourages him, folks. Let’s try it again.

Dad thinks we need to move whatever this was. I am loosing them. Let’s try it again.

Now is the time for baby brother and Biceps to have a conversation. Now, right now. What is so important? “Which was better, Duck Hunt or Spy Hunter?”. Yes, very important.
And, so once more we try.

Ah, getting there. I even made it into the photo before the self-timer went off. But, bleck. I am shadowing Biceps terribly. Try again.

But, this seems so boring. So, not us. Forget it, I give up. I am just as weird as the rest of my family. I will admit it! I too am not-so-normal. Let’s just have fun, instead.

I didn’t stand a chance in my normal world.

And so this is where my story ends. I tried, really tried hard to be normal. But, like so many things in life-the sins of the father….

Happy Thanksgiving. From my weird family to yours.

The Latest Couple

I have a column called Together in Tulsa in the regional Oklahoma paper, “This Land Press”-which is both online and in print.

Writing this column is really the coolest job.

I get to invite strangers into my home, ask them all sorts of probing questions, dress them up in weird costumes and then photograph the incident. Later, when they’re gone, I sit around in my jammies and sip on a glass of red wine while I sort out all the information in order to write a story about them.

And, I get paid to do this.

So, here’s the latest couple that I wrote about, Aaron and Jessica.
 

And there’s plenty more where that came from. But, I’ll let you in on a secret. I do have my favorite couples. Here are a couple of my favorites couples, coupled:

Jeff and Amber Whitlatch

And Stephen and Esther Hill.

If you have a few or more than a few minutes, read Together in Tulsa-I recommend sipping a glass of wine and wearing jammies as you do so.