Sunday, October 26, 2008

A Day at the Lake

The sun was shining and my laundry was done.

"Hey, wanna come up to the lake for an hour this afternoon?" I asked each of my young'ins.

They were very clear with their answers.

No.

I made a few calls to see if any friends had the afternoon free, but most everyone was doing something with their families.

I need to find needy friends who are part of dysfunctional families.



Anyway, I went by myself.

And stopped often along the way.



This was taken at the boat launch.

Some day I'm going to get brave and say to folks like these, "Hi. I'm taking a photography class and need to play with apeture settings. Would you mind if I took some pics of you and your kids playing in the leaves? I'll gladly send them to you ... they'll probably turn out good..."



But I don't have the courage to do that yet, so I take pics when the subjects aren't looking. This mom had a huge camera of her own, (probably a Nikon) around her neck. She had set up a spot and was trying to get a gaggle of kids to sit in that spot and pose for her one at a time. They weren't cooperating. She should work at Sear's portrait studio.



Seeing these (and other) moms with their kids made me lonely for the days when I used to do our annual family portrait at Cultus. I should have a walkman. Listening to myself think is not a good thing. Everytime I caught myself in a negative thought, I'd kick myself. (Well, not literally. Because really? I don't think it's possible to kick oneself.)


There was a happy family in this parking lot... lots of laughter and leaning. The mom was about my age and about my size and her husband was holding her hand. That always amazes me. That a man would publicly show affection to a woman who is not a 20 year old size 5'er. Their teenaged children were with them.


I was overcome with jealousy.

And then kicked myself.







I just talked to my mom. Her and dad were at South Delta Baptist's church's thingy last night. It was almost three hours of worshipping and singing old time hymns and gospel songs with an old time quartet and a choir and some musicians. She said, "We sang and sang and clapped and it was so wonderful. And at one point there was a soloist who sang 'The King is Coming" and the roof almost came off the building it was unbelievable. I had Hildegard on one side of me with tears streaming down her face, and dad on the other. And he was crying too. Big sobby tears. I've never seen anything like it. He just kept saying how good the music was.

.

This from our past. Songs we had grown up on. We knew them all. And we all sang and the songs all had meaning and I think heaven is going to be like that."

.

As she's talking to me, I've got tears bubbling out of my eyes.

Creationfest is like that for me.

The Passion concert was like that for me.

.

And I'm so thankful that my mom and dad got to experience the awesomeness of worshipping with friends and talented musicians. Honestly and truly, there is nothing like it. And that my dad was moved by it? Just confirms my belief that worship music bypasses our brains and touches a place in our hearts that can't normally be reached. I love that my dad was affected by it. I love that he showed emotion. I wish I had been there.

.

Instead, I was at Northview last night and they have talented musicians. And we even sang the two main songs that the Passion concert emphasized. But it feels different if you don't have your best friends crying their heads off beside you.



Are you wondering how my appointment on Saturday morning went? Thanks to SO SO many of you who were praying for me through that hour.


The publisher (Hi, Larry!) was very clear about the steps a writer needs to take in order for a publishing company to consider investing in their work. There are about 10 of them. I haven't even started that journey yet. Having a blog is part of the first step. Getting 5,000 readers would complete that step. And then there are 9 more big things to do.


:)

So, yeah, if God wants me to write a book, He'll need to be clear on that. Until I hear from Him, I'll keep on raising my kids, living and blogging about my life, and maybe if I get the time/courage, I'll submit my thoughts to a magazine or two.


Thanks, again, Carson for arranging the meeting. And thank you, Larry, for taking the time to meet me. It was another great out-of-the-comfort-zone experience for me.




More strangers I was dying to photograph below.



Anyone want their pictures taken next weekend? If the weather is nice, and there still are leaves on the trees, I'd love to have some willing participants...

Vanessa? Do you and Stuart want some engagement photos taken?

Jason? Do you and Vanessa want some engagement photos taken?

(I know that's confusing. Two Vanessas. Both engaged. Both living in Greendale. Both related to me.)


And then, as I was standing at the end of the neighbour's dock, these two fellows came kyaking by:





"Excuse me? Is that a digital camera?" the one closest to me asks.

"Yep."

"Do you have email?"

"Uh huh."

"Can you take a picture of me and my buddy and then email it to me?"


Mister, those are like magic words to someone with a camera.


So, I took some pictures.




And it was good.



Just look at those colors in the background.

If he wanted pictures of their faces, well, then, ooops.




I took about 20 shots in 30 seconds.





Then I went for a stroll up the path beside the creek. And gave Big Foot and bears a passing thought. But trusted that I would be safe.



Three things I'm thankful for:





1. Color. God knew what He was doing when He invented colours.



2. Crunchy leaves. I love kicking my way through them.



3. Cream Cheese Icing. SOOOoooo good on Two Bite Brownies.






5 comments:

Tricia said...

See, if I lived closer I could have gone to the lake with you.

Anonymous said...

Would you like to take pictures this weekend of me & my sisters? They're coming out from the prairies to spend 2 days with me and I thought it would be nice to have some good pictures -- just contemplating who I could ask when I read your blog.
Lois

shelaine said...

I'd like to confess to Mr. Publisher Sir that I'm one of the 5000 readers er.. stalkers. I rarely "come out" cos well, that would defeat the purpose of stalking. But Jane, know that you do in fact bless many people by the chronicles of your life. The very transparency, humour, and beauty you see in life itself.

Katherine said...

WOW! great pictures!!! are they all taken at the lake??

Christine Lindsay said...

You're an awesome photographer, but I still think you're a great writer, and God uses you all the time. LOVE to ya.