Happy New Year...and warmest wishes!

May your year ahead hold promises bright and may your heart be filled with hope...

Snowflakes...breathtaking designs...miracles of beauty

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty ; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind" Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley 1925

Snowflakes in their unaltered style and form are little design miracles...they take my breath away. I have a feeling that they fascinated Mr. Wilson Bentley as well. Click on his name above to read more on this man who studied these amazing crystal sculptures.

Click here to visit a site where you can make your own digi-snowflakes. You can add a message and send them to someone if you wish. They get kind of addictive if you are going for perfection though! Fun for kids too...

I meant to add that the photo below is of the last few crab apples on our tree. I digitally enhanced the tint/saturation to make it more bold. Then adjusted the contrast and finally added two masks over the top. I rather like how it turned out...reminds me of the olden days somehow.

Hugs to all!!!

To live life...

"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else"~ Emily Dickinson

last nights storm...reminding me of a child's temper tantrum

When I went to bed last night, there were only a few of the most delicate, feathery snowflakes sprinkled overhead.



During the night a storm blew in awakening me from my slumber.



It tapped and rattled at the windows, whining loudly through the trees. It howled most of the night, reminding me of a child's' temper tantrum, demanding my attention.



I pulled my blankets up around my ears trying to stifle the petition of the storm. Knowing the storm was not getting any sympathy from me, it eventually quieted down and subsided its lobbying for attention and finished the night in silence.



As I awoke this morning, I peeked from behind the blinds not knowing what to expect from all the commotion of last nights child-like temper display.

The storm lay in sweet repose at my feet, and I, as if the proud Mom, just stood and grinned proudly at the beauty.

Falling temp.'s = beautiful Autumn colors...

My son and I were in Portland this past weekend on the campus of OHSU/Doernbecker Children's Hospital getting some further testing done on his kidneys. We had quite a bit of time between procedures, so I snapped a few shots of some gorgeous Autumn colors.

Of course, I can not leave well enough alone and had to "tweak" some of my photos...I added in a little blue hue for a touch of whimsy.

Meet Willow...our new rescue puppy

We have a new addition to our household and her name is Willow...She is part Golden and part Brittany.

We found her while searching for a rescue pup through Petfinder.

We flew her all the way from a Texas Foster home with the American Brittany rescue society. The kids and I had to travel to Portland PDX to pick her up in 110* weather... but she is definately worth it! Such a darling girl! She is about 9 1/2 weeks old and learning some basic commands already...like you get too close to the cat and your nose will sting for a while!LOL...too cute!

You might have noticed that I also used the Orchid photo one more time...having such a good time with it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Orchids in July...

Thank you dear friends for inquiring on where I have been lately and if I have been creating...the truth of the matter is that most of my time has been spent at the flower shop creating bouquets and moving into our new home in June. I have tried to capture a few flowers to tweak on the computer just to keep the 'ole creative juices flowing...and this image of an orchid gave my muse just the right inspiration to be bold and playful!!!

Hope you enjoy!