Tea and Tales

It’s at least 27 degrees Celsius out there, muggy, damp, with a promise of rain and thunder in the air and yet here I sit with a cup tea. DECAF chai tea, no less. I don’t like decaffeinated tea…but I have to drink as those three tea bags were what came along with the box of chai tea samplers; far the holiday chai is by far my favorite…Don’t ask me what it was that persuaded me to make a cup of tea at such an odd time of day, as it’s only half an hour to supper time. I guess it’s just one of the impulse actions with no logical explanation to be found afterwards for doing them. But I do love tea enough to be able to make a cup of tea on a hot, muggy day and feel completely normal doing it. :-)

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Recently, I came upon a gothic suspense novel entitled The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Okay, I know of people who’s “favorite books” lists are long, elaborate affairs with many books of different kinds, but I’ve never been one to do that. For me, a book has to make such a great impact on me before it makes into this list…most prominently, when finishing such a book, I have the feeling that I will reread it if I haven’t done so already. Why is this such an important detail? Because I NEVER reread books…I feel that are just too many books out there just waiting to be cracked open and devoured, for me to spend time rereading a book. HOWEVER, once in blue moon, there comes along a book, that after I’ve read the last sentence and closed the book with regret, I find myself thinking “this is one that I want to read again in the future.” THAT is a book the gets into my “favorite books” list. Currently, there are three books on this list: I Never Promised You A Rose Garden by Joanne Greenburg (which I’ve read twice), An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina and Tom Zoellner, and now recently added: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
To explain why I love(d) this novel so much, here’s an excerpt from the inside flap of the back cover: “The Thirteenth Tale is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reading in all of us, a return to the rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children.” The book is so full of beautiful, challenging, enchanting descriptions and language, but what I did love the most, is that it put into words a love for reading that the character, Margaret Lea, had in a way that I never could myself. I could relate to Margaret as she mused and told of her love of the classics and of old novels and the like. And it wasn’t just about reading, but about the telling of stories as well. The novel, the stories it held, rang such a chord in me that I did think upon finishing, “I’ll be reading this again.” It’s a beautiful novel, challenging, with twists so unexpected and satisfying. So definitely worth rereading.
Not reading for the delicate though. It’s dark at times, and hard, and doesn’t spare any words or details.

So. Upon finishing it, I had to be up a book that promised to be amusing, and if not that at least lighter then The Thirteenth Tale. I tried Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and that might have given me what I was looking, but it simply didn’t last with me. It was a joke…and it might have captivated me and I think with an inkling of regret that I didn’t finish because I think that it might have been interesting, but I never make it a habit to force myself to read a book. Why didn’t I stick with it and just try to finish it at least? If I find myself picking up a book with a heavy hand, then I know it’s not meant to be in my hand and if I might be blunt, I’ve no interest in reading about the crude, dirty, brash lives of circus performers and workers. And if the eff word is used more then once, then I make no excuses for such a book.

So, I went for Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. That did the trick. I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions- it’s brilliantly written.

I love books.

"Crazy, yet perfect."

The past week (from last Tuesday to this one) was one of the most amazing times of my life. Seriously. Am I writing this in the afterglow of it all or what? Must be it. I was at a wedding. Here's where you think: "well, no wonder..." Bah, that's all stereotypical. Lol! But it definitely was a magical time. I spent the Tuesday evening to Saturday morning in my home colony...getting caught up with the lives of my sister and her family.

Photo pause:

The one on the right is Kate and the the other is Soreeyah, both my nieces. My heart is now forever infused with their contagious laughter. That sounds so cliched, I know it does, but it's true. The feeling that I felt when looking into bright blue eyes filled to the brim with mirth and a complete and utter contentment with life was indescribable. If there was a way that I could capture that look in me forever, then I would pay millions for it. In photos maybe? Memories? What really helps me remember is not that I see the look itself in my mind, but instead I remember the feeling it gave me.
Also, there's just something about little girl's feet in tiny, dirty, orange crocs...


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Then there was spending quality time with my heartfriends- that's something that was very much a highlight of the entire trip. Living 700 miles away from three of my best friends is no easy thing at times. And the four days that I spent with them did not go by without some crazy things happening that's for sure! There were those blessed moments when maybe we were so thankful afterward that there was no camera around! I mean, still, how would one capture almost driving the Gator into the ditch and turning it over on it's side while taking a very sharp turn because the one operating the vehicle wants to drive straight, but she changed her mind at the last minute and still accidentally yanked the steering wheel in the wrong direction, thus nearly causing a calamity while zipping around the colony roads a mile from the colony. Whew!! Not such a good idea to even talk about that, eh?

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But the weekend definitely made the entire week as special as it was. Let me just clarify one thing first. I hate weddings, or any other mass gathering of people in one place, most of the time with a good percentage of whom I do not know at all. So. I attended this wedding with a sinking feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach and deep misgivings of having even traveled the long road to get to it it the first place. Can you guess the inevitable outcome? I couldn't have been wronger! I can honestly not think of one time where I didn't enjoy it. I got to know some amazing people pretty well, and laughed a LOT, and chomped down on more olives then I've had during the entire year. Yeah, it's that tiny detail that makes it all worthwhile. Lol! There's just something about those Hutterite weddings...I wish I weren't too lazy to explain every detail of the line of events leading up and including the wedding.

Basically, it was a "three couple wedding". There were two brothers marrying two sisters, and there was one cousin that married a girl from another colony near Winnipeg. Just to point something out- it's a very rare occurrence where two brothers marry two sisters and on the same day as well....That just sounded weird. The two brothers, each married their own bride, who happened to be sisters, and the wedding ceremony was on the same day...better? Maybe.

The agenda of entertainment for the wedding celebration after dinner, around three, was extremely good, though a tad long. But it featured a good variety of performances including a shadow play performed by the youth of that colony. And that basically portrayed certain aspects of the couples' relationships: how they met, how they proposed, etc. etc. It was very funny and very well acted. There is some incredible talent to found in the area amongst the colonies. Also there was the song "Another Soldier Down" sung by two little boys. These two got applauded, and that did NOT happen for any other performance. But their singing was noting short of phenomenal. So earnest, and clear. You could see that even at their young age they were very serious about being up their on stage.

Lots of socializing...singing...walking around...getting muddy at the banks of the river...

Talk about crazy, yet so perfect. Crazy, yet perfect. Maybe that's the phrase to perfectly and crazily describe the week. "Crazy, yet perfect." Who said perfection couldn't be crazy?

Anyway...

Must I leave so soon? I have work that needs to be caught up on. But believe you me, I think you might here more about this, as well as maybe more photos as I slowly go through them and get them organized.

Maybe I'll snap back to normal soon, but I don't know about that.

The fine line between the ordinary snapshot and art...

One last short post before I go a-travelin' tomorrow; the last before at least next Tuesday. Heading to Manitoba for the wedding...a couple of days earlier before the rest of the youth. :-)

Following are the photos are talked about in my last post- of the old farm we visited. I'll be sharing a few of my favorites.

{wind swept}


{once loved}


{what it comes to eventually}


{fire gone out}


{cold inside}


{forsaken}


{passing prohibited}



{genuine john deere}


{duty done}


{fenced in, but not kept out}



I could just keep on posting, and I think of regret the photos that I'm not able to share, but...I have to get packing done and it does take forever to upload the photos. The farm, I think, will definitely become a favorite place for photography adventures, if I get the chance to be taken there more, that is. But the thing is, is that if I were to share also the unedited photos you might not recognize it as it being the same place. I know many photographers who shudder at the thought of editing their photos, and others who completely shun the thought, but for me, it's the best part. It's the tiny tweak (or large one) that draws that fine line between the ordinary snapshot and art. And I'm not saying that what I've just shared is art- far from- but instead of settling for the ordinary, I hope to broaden my horizons, go out my comfort zone, to create something that will have an impact. Boy, do I ever think I have a long way to go, but somehow I think that it will be a journey that's rewarding and very much worth it. And I make this all sound like it's some great adventure into the unknowns, and for me it is, rather, in a way just that. I've always fostered an appreciation for photography and when I started dappling in it a year ago and then left it lying after awhile, I always knew subconsciously that I would find my way back to it. And I here I am.

I really ought to get some packing done. How I loathe that.

Till next time...

I really ought to nail up an "under construction" sign somewhere on this blog. I simply am not content with how it looks now, and am still searching around for a template that I might like instead. Lol! It's gone through some pretty crazy looks the last couple of days. But...it will come together eventually.

Yesterday I realized that there was a "pet peeve" out there that I didn't realize I had. I absolutely loathe it when it happens as follows: going out to snap a few photos with another person's camera, and afterward thinking there might be some photos with potential, and getting to viewing them on the computer, and they have a huge, yellow, date blazed across the bottom!! Arggh!! It's happened before, so you'd almost think I'd remember to check before going off on adventures and trekking around on strange, forsaken farms filled with strange, forsaken things to snap photos of. That's exactly what happened yesterday- went with my parents and bro. to an old farm aways away from the colony, and got some fairly workable photos, and they all have that stupid date. For some I'll be able to fix it, but...I'm still working on editing them, so hopefully I'll be able to share a couple soon.

Seriously, I can be such a blabbermouth sometimes. I want to keep it inside but then it's like there's someone standing in me and pushing words out of my mouth, and before I know it I've disposed of information that I did NOT want to. It's so frustrating at times.
And oft times it's even in front of others that most likely shouldn't have known about it! Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but most of the time we don't get a chance to explain. If there was one wish that I'd wanted granted to me that would it: to have a chance to explain afterward. But maybe then if that would be the case, we wouldn't realize the impact of our mistakes so much, and just keep repeating them cause we'd know we'd have the chance to explain.

Well, I ought to get back to doing what I was doing before I was distracted by the thought that I ought to update this blog even though nobody reads it anyway.

Till next time...

Creating For Bouille

Recently I've had the pleasure to become the part of the mini-Creative Team of this talented designer, Our first "assignment"? Use the following template to create a layout.

This awesome template is available for download on Bouille's blog

Here's the layout I created with it:

{Credits: Fei-fei's Stuff- Ray Of light Paper Pack; Scrapmalin.com- My Little Garden; Jopke Designs- You Touch My World}

It was really fun to work with- the layout just seemed to come together on it's own!

Now on to other things- playing around with my camera yesterday and blogging about it afterward really got me thinking about photography. It seems to be bubbling through my blood again. What I'd really love to do is take a long, unhurried trek around the colony, and just go crazy clicking that special button on my camera. It's been too long since I took the time to look at the world and her treasures through the lens of the Clunker. And it's not just about taking a million pictures of strange and wonderful things, at least I'll have a chance to to walk with God, and get back in touch with peaceful stillness and the chirping of the birds, and the rustle of the wind through trees. The crazily spinning life really pulls one away from that.

Till next time...

Lament of the Camera and The Fellowship

It's been rough around here lately and I'm feeling somewhat beaten up and "down in the dumps" right about now...so, I'm just going to chatter on about my day so far. Spent the morning with my niece and nephew. And I finally got around to snapping some photos of them on the cute little bench that Jon finished. Out of 145, there are maaaybe ten that will be worth maybe printing. And even those will have to "touched up", so to speak. It's especially hard to get a decent photo of Kaylee- she simply doesn't sit still!! Aah, but it would be even easier to photograph them if I had a decent camera. That's what I tell myself anyway. :-) What I wouldn't give for a Canon or Nikon! Right now my equipment consists of a clunker Fujifilm Finepix Z10fd. And though I would make good use of better model, I simply can't justify borrowing money right now to pay for one.

I've gotten lost in the world of The Fellowship lately (J.R.R. Tolkien, but I'm sure you knew that :-)) I signed out the first one from the library and it's been lying around up till now and the other day I picked it up and finally got to reading it. It starts out slow, but after Bilbo's birthday party, it simply escalates from there. It's such a spell-binding story, pardon the pun. But what has me really enthralled is the quaint language which the characters use. Like one of the hobbits (such fascinating creatures those are!) exclaiming indignantly "Some people!" THAT is so close to home, a common "saying" often used in my childhood home.
One thing I also appreciate is the clever, subtle humor that is woven into the story here and there. There's many a time when I have to chuckle at the events and the things being said.
I've thought that many people would maybe be bored after a while by the long descriptions of the country side, and of the hobbit family trees, of the homes in which they reside, of the various creatures to be found, but Tolkien spins a wondrous tale, and you'll come upon a long description of the path which Frodo and his faithful companion travels, fret not. Soon, you'll come to know every bush, every pattern in the trunks of the ancient trees, of the very way the sunshine filters through the tree leaves. It's simply...magical. And I can't wait to finish the first one, and delve even more into the perilous journeys that are sure to follow in the other novels.

Well, have I rambled on enough?

Till next time then...

Elastic bands, and things of the like.

Today I'm definitely ready to link my little 13 month old nephew with an elastic band. You know how when you stretch an elastic band as far as it will go- then you let go? The elastic band then snaps right back to it's original shape. K...I have been experiencing something like that aaall morning. For example, my nephew is standing and batting at the leaves of one of his mom's house plants. I tell him three times that "no, that's wrong- don't so that." Upon which he doesn't listen, so I stand up and remove him from the spot of temptation physically. Upon which he snaps right back to original spot, and was batting away at the leaves faster then I could blink my eyes. And this happened several times at different locations around the house. The whole catch is that when back the second (or third time)doing what he shouldn't he looks up with such a sweet, charming smile. SIGH!! It's tough, I tell ya. :-) I honestly wonder if my storehouse of love for those little tykes could ever run out. Hm. Run out!? It just seems to be steadily growing!

Here's a layout I made of one of my nieces when she was but a wee baby.

{Credits: Circled Template: Fei-fei's Stuff; Outdoor Activities: WaterLO Project; In The Snowflake World: WaterLo Project; Come Back: Droopette; Grunge Star Overlay: Kristen Aaagard}


It frustrates me sometimes that I know so little about Photoshop. Well, not exactly Photoshop itself, but how to use the gorgeous kits that I've collected to their full effect. And most of the time the things that I come up with just seem...inadequate. It's definitely something I have to work on!

Till later...