Thursday, August 27, 2009

Light

The light of the evening sun changes things.
Ordinary becomes extraordinary,
everyday becomes special,
and plain becomes intriguing.
Some extraordinary, special, and intriguing places in Augusta as the sun makes its descent.

(Mayors Fishing Hole)

(Business in Olde Town)

(Calhoun Expressway)

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Seeing

"Some people,
in order to discover God, read books.
But there is a great book:
the very appearance of created things.
Look above you!
Look below you!
Read it.
God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink.
Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made.
Can you ask for a louder voice than that?"
(St. Augustine)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

In Bloom

Cotton.
A plant that has shaped and defined the South. A plant inextricably linked with the fortunes of mankind. A plant that has impacted, for good or bad, many lives. And a plant still grown today--real living history.

The flower blossoms creamy white and then changes to yellow, then pink and finally red.

The boll, starting tight and green, follows the bloom.
As the fibers inside the boll ripen and expand, the boll turns brown and the white fibers burst their bounds.



Wednesday, August 12, 2009

In Bloom


Twenty! Years!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

In Bloom

This globe artichoke was not harvested and allowed to burst into a captivating sea anemone-like blossom. Captured while at Stone Mountain's Plantation and Gardens.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Sunshine

For some time now the clouds have been thinning.
This week the sun burst triumphantly through the puffs and wisps scattering them to the four corners like marbles spilled out of a bag onto a hardwood floor. The gale that has been scudding across our lives for the past nine years is our finances. Last April it became hurricane magnitude and threatened to engulf us—making us question ourselves and God. The pressure to “put our children back in school” and take myself off to the hospital to nurse others for a paycheck reached dizzying proportions. As the winds swirled round and round, and the rain pounded us we couldn't see anything but the monsoon we were in—nothing was clear. But God put a deep conviction in our hearts that He has a plan to prosper us and not to harm us—a plan to give us a hope and a future. When we focused on Him, like Him, we could rest securely and soundly in the midst of the tempest.
I have stayed home with my family.
The storm has not disappeared but the clouds have been breaking and when the rays of sunshine shoot through like pure gold, we see clearly. But like Peter, if we do not keep our eyes on Him we sink and angry waters overtake us. He has provided numerous creative opportunities that have supplanted our income which have also enriched our family life---a regular writing assignment, photography assignments, interest in my artwork, and this week three of my photographs published in a national magazine (World, page 75!). A tangible reminder of the plans he has for us.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Seeing

As with the commander of an army,
or the leader of any enterprise, so is it with the mistress of a house. Her spirit will be seen through the whole establishment; and just in proportion as she performs her duties intelligently and thoroughly, so will her domestics follow in her path. Of all those acquirements, which more particularly belong to the feminine character, there are none which take a higher rank, in our estimation, than such as enter into a knowledge of household duties; for on these are perpetually dependent the happiness, comfort, and well-being of a family.
(Mrs. Isabella Beeton,The Book of Household Management, 1859)