A Season for Everything

There is something just magical about springtime and summer. Sure, you could say it's all about the rebirth of plants, flowers, and the stirring of hibernating animals. I share the excitement of seeing the first squirrel running about, the first flower bloom (I take photos of all these things!) and the sounds of the world awaking. It doesn't matter if it's the sound of birds singing again or children playing or dogs barking, the dead silence of winter breaking gives my spirit and creative nature new hope.
With warmer weather we look forward to all the chances to play again. I like to play in the dirt, and make my garden grow and feed my family. I look forward to each stage of the gardening season, from crocus to tomatoes! Plans to attend festivals, car shows, parades, anything we put off because the weather keeps us inside, become reality again. But the true reality is the work behind making those plans successful. For the garden to even think about holding my tomatoes and squash, the ground has to be tilled, fertilized and mulched. It's backbreaking work, but it's always worth it! This spring we had the added work of cleaning up what the ice storm ripped apart in our yard, but nature was still chugging along. These daffodils bloomed as soon as the debris uncovered them!

As a family we are experiencing all the normal things of life. In just a few short months we have seen the set backs of a job layoff, the joys of prom night and graduation, the thrill of putting a new engine in a car and hear it roar back to life, and the bitter sweetness of taking our two sailors to the airport, then see another son joining the service as well. But these things get recorded in family history as an image or just in our memories, and we keep on, moving on, because we know life is a mixed bag, and there are many great things coming, not just bad.

Car show season is going into high gear. One of our sailors is sailing the high seas, physically, but his heart is home behind the driver's wheel of his '73 Charger. We keep that spirit alive for him by taking care of his car, driving it, and taking it to car shows. The work of washing, waxing and vacuuming the car is not so fun, but just as the work in the garden has it's rewards, so does the work in the driveway! In March Eric came home for a few weeks and he wanted to work on his car. He had dreams of making it more powerful, and as a family we helped him make those dreams come true. It is a real family project, memories and work combined!

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My calendar is filling up, and time is becoming more accounted for, which means I can't write too much this time. This weekend alone we hope to fix the transmission in an old farm truck we bought to fix up and drive, and also attend a local festival, which I'm sure will result in new images to share. The county fair starts this week, and I have things to get ready to enter for that on top of everything else.
I have been learning to develop my own black and while film, so I have some film just anxious to be exposed this weekend and throughout the summer. I have taken TTV photography an extra step and am shooting video through the viewfinder. I hope to capture the spirit and fun of the festival this weekend with that. I have other photographic experiments going on as well, and hope the results are worth sharing soon.
Here is a video I did from a car show in Somerset a couple months ago using my new ttv rig:



Enjoy Your summer....it won't last long!

Citrus

Citrus
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

Winter is dragging it's feet this year, everyone I know seems to be more than ready for spring to begin. We all long for warmer days so we can bask in the sun, shed some extra layers and stop shivering! Even the cats just keep looking for a warmer place to spend their days and nights!
Sometimes the only way to get through a tough season is to start thinking about things that give you warm thoughts. For me, I have starting planting seeds for my summer garden. I have tomatoes and herb seedlings coming up already, seed catalogs are starting to arrive, and more have been ordered.
A challenge in the Macro Monday group in Flickr spurred me to find something to fit the weekly theme, "From the Fridge". It's always fun to see what other people come up with for the same theme, but it seems that my fruity entry is also helping others think warm thoughts as well.
We had just been to the grocery store and I stocked up on a few citrus fruits in hopes of making a real nice pitcher of Sangria. That evening was just warm enough for hubby to throw some burgers on the grill, while I sliced fruit and took photos. The the whole combination of burgers and wine combined with a bowl of homemade salsa and chips, was nicely reminiscent of a summer day.
The saying goes that it's always darkest before the dawn. This year we are hoping that it's coldest before spring. We just don't know how many more storms and arctic cold waves we can endure!
So here is a photo to help everyone out there hold on just a little bit longer. Spring is just around the corner, and soon I'll be posting photos of crocus and daffodils again!

Our Turn

Our Turn
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

FINALLY!
between 4-5 pm Saturday we got power back! What a relief!

cable guy

cable guy
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

The only thing that could make our day any better than having the sun come out and shine was to see workers show up and reconnect us to the modern world. Our cable company actually got here before the power company did!
Progress!!

Icy branches

Icy branches
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

against a blue sky, the sun making the ice look more like glass. Already you can see where some has melted and fallen off this tree.

Saturday the sun came out and ice began melting and falling off of everything. The new danger of going outside was staying away from anything that could drop a chunk of ice. It was falling off tree branches, power lines, and roof tops.

It was too pretty out to stay inside. Photos were the excuse to go out. The warm sun was the reason to stay out.

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

The sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds for most of the morning. When it came out, it made the ice sparkle like jewels. It's so strange to think of something so destructive in such a way, but remember all the turmoil and pressure a diamond has to endure to become a priceless gem.
We hear that adversity builds character. If that's true then we will have some real characters walking in our midst around here! I know my story is not so dramatic or special, compared to that of others.
I mostly just wanted to blog this to make it easier to share with friends and family. I also hope that it might help someone realize how important is it to be prepared for emergencies. There may be some who read it who are simply curious about what it was like. That's fine. I am a curious person, and I believe curiosity leads to learning.
To be honest, I want to finish this. I want to post the photos I want to post, say the things I feel like saying and try to get this whole ordeal behind me and move on. And it was an ordeal, it was traumatic in it's own way. It made us put life on hold for a few days, it made us stop and think about things that we don't often think about.
I was glad I had the camera to not only document the event, but to capture some of the beauty in it's midst. I honestly know what to take pictures of now. That was quite a distraction from what has become ordinary and mundane.
One thing that a person must remember when going through something trying (I remember telling myself the same thing while in labor with each of my children)., "it won't last forever". Yes, it's more difficult when you don't know when it's going to end. But knowing it will end, is sometimes all the hope you get.

Crews

Crews
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

More signs of Hope.
I was walking the dog Saturday morning and looking at how the sun danced with the ice, when I saw several trucks roll up the street and turn up the street behind us. So Ollie and I walked up a bit to see where they were going. They were gathering behind the factory there, probably getting ready to put in another long day.