just one red paper clip

I just love blog surfing. You never know what you will see. Today as I frogleaped from a link in one blog to another and another I eventually ended up on someone's blog where they brought up this story. You have to love the ingenuity of this guy and what he was able to do. It is things like this that make me smile and enjoy life. I am not this creative but wish I could be.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/10/paper.clip.to.house.ap/index.html

Sunday morning at the Celery Farm

It was so beautiful this morning that I decided to head to the Celery Farm before church. I had not been there in a while and it felt so good to be back there, like coming home after being away for a long time. The swans swam over to greet me. I was sad to see there were only 3 young ones, I guess a turtle got the fourth one somewhere along the way. Dragonflies were going crazy all over the place and so I got a few shots of them. And then there was a beautiful butterfly hanging out just waiting to have his picture taken. It was great to see the people I have come to know and like and the beautiful preserve right here in Bergen County.




 

LansBaby play

I was able to spend a little time today playing with my lensBaby. I am becoming obsessed with it. Here are a few shots I got with it today.




 

Lensbaby

I got a new toy for my new toy today. I picked up my Lensbaby!! I cannot wait to really learn how to use this lens, the effect you can acheive with it are so cool. I picked it up right before MahJongg and so as soon as I could I put it on my camera and started playing. Not going to be as easy as I thought but thats OK, I love what it can do. Here are a couple of my first attempts with it.


 

Best sound

I got a phone call today from Shelby. She is in Ireland right now and we have not heard from her all week. I cannot describe the joy in my heart when I heard how happy she is. She is having the time of her life, not missing us at all. I couldn't ask for more. I asked her about baking Irish soda bread, part of their program today and she said it was cool but her favorite thing today was jumping into a big puddle of mud. Can you say happy as a pig? LOL She is so happy and that is all I can ask for. I love you Shelby and am missing you.

Bodies at the Seaport

Today Jay and I took Kyle and Meg to South Street Seaport to see the Bodies exhibit. If you haven't seen it and have no idea what this is click on the link to check it out http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/


First stop was a street performer. This is Jay's favorite thing when we are in the city. This guy was popping and miming at the same time, pretty cool.


They don't allow any photos to be taken in the exhibit so let me try to explain this ........ OK I can't. But imagine seeing each part of the human body seperate from every other part. I think the coolest was the circulatory system. These exhibits are all over the place and if you get the chance go to see it, it is so cool in a weird way.

From there we went accross the street to look at the boats and see the mall on the Harlem River. And then there was this wild contortionist performing. The guy totally freaks me out, it just isn't natural.
 

Quiet, Quiet House

Jay and I are getting to know what an empty nest feels like the past couple of days. Shelby left on Saturday for 3 weeks in the UK and Kyle has been working 6pm to 6am for Hackensack Hospital. So no lights on late at night, no doors slamming, no loud phone calls......jus tpeace and quiet. A little too peace and quiet. One thing about being childless for a couple of days is the ability to clean house. Shelby's room is now clear of junk and dirty laundry (Shelby if you are reading this from over there YOU OWE ME BIG TIME.) I had forgotten her carpet was green and I am not quite sure what clothes she has with her over there because I had to do around 8 loads, big loads, of laundry. How did a child who wears uniforms to school get to have so many clothes? But I miss having the kids around. I miss the noise, the junk and the dirty dishes. I am looking forward to Kyle's days off this week and and counting down the days until Shelby comes home.

Ali Edwards

It felt like Christmas today after the mail lady came.... I got two album kits from Ali Edwards in the mail!! What is even better is that I only ordered (well, Anat really ordered them for me) just a couple of days ago. So not only does Ali design the most amazing albums kits (and a whole lot of other things too,) but she also must run right out to the post office to get them out. I am having so much fun right now dreaming up what I will do with these kits. Christmas in July..It doesn't get better than that.

A few more pictures from the stone barns center

I had to take a ride up by the Stone Barns to pick up my book of photos from our class (It came out great) and so I headed over to the center to play with that new camera. Here are a few of the shots I got there.




 

First shots

Here are a few of the first photos I took with my new camera. There are Meg's eyes, Kyle's eyes and yes, Shelby's eyes. Kyle took my camera and turned the tables on me and those are my eyes..... how did they get so old?




 

Crossing over to the dark side

I have been a self admitted film snob, "No digital cameras for me," I would say with a sneer. Then last year I went with a small point and shoot digital, just for fun. If I wanted to take serious shots I would pull out my beautiful 35mm. I loved that camera (still do actually). As I started hanging out at the Celery Farm and spending a lot on pictures of geese, the idea of digital entered my brain. But it took my class at the Stone Barns Center and shelling out $100 a week to print images that would mostly end up in the garbage I started to really see the light. "Jay," I said, "I think I am ready to go into the world of full digital SLRs." I think the earth started shaking and there were some snowballs being thrown in Hades. I had already played with the idea a bit and so when I walked into Bergen County Camera- the best camera store ever- I had an idea of what I wanted. Paul spoke wisdom to me and told me I didn't have to go as far as I thought and showed me the D200 ( I was thinking I needed the DX2 or something like that.) Fast forward 4 months Here we are in July and Jay said to me Wednesday night that it was time (Can you hear the music playing?) So now I am the proud owner of a digital Nikon SLR. It would be more accurate to say I am the completely overwhelmed and intimidated owner of a Nikon SLR. I figure I have to live to 500 to figure out all the things I can do with this camera. I am starting slow and playing a bit. I told Paul I will start coming in mext week with a ton of questions and become a weekly fixture at the store. I went out today and took a ton of pictures with it and am loving the freedom of shooting all I want and then just deleting all the junk. 

21 years

This past Thursday it was 21 years that Jay and I got married. I remember the day like it was last week. It was soooo hot. Jay and I drove up together to Skylands Manor that morning- never being one to follow conventions. We put signs and balloons along the way to let people know they were on the right track. The caterers were so great and had put together a platter of fruit and bagels for all of us since we were getting dressed and ready there before the wedding. My friend from the hair salon got lost and arrived very late- I thought I was going to have to do my hair myself. Jay went out, borrowed a back pack blower and blew dry the lawn where we were to be married. He always wants to make things perfect. We had the photographer take our formal shots before the service- turns out it was a good choice since it was so hot that if we waited I would have looked like a wet bedraggled mess in all my photos. The service was so special, the pastor was a friend of Jay's and so everything was so personal. Afterwards we had a party, not a typical reception. Everyone had been told to bring shorts to change into and a lot of people took us up on it. Mark, Jay's best man was wearing bright red Bermuda shorts when he gave the toast. Now I know that the type of reception we had would not be for most people, and the sight of her groom wearing white shorts with his tux shirt tied over his belly and a napkin tied around his head would bother a lot of brides, but for me it is one of the images of Jay that I cherish from my wedding day. His energy, and joy was so evident then and it is now too. I think the best thing I can say about this man I married is that now, 21 years after the fact I still adore him. I know that I am truly blessed to have him in my life and to be able to feel the way I do about him. Bring on the next 21 years, I can't wait!!!

Gonna Go to Ghana

It has been almost 5 years since I have been to Africa. Every day since I got back I have prayed that I could return. It looks like the time is coming. If all goes as planned I will be heading to Ghana at the end of October for about two weeks. My friend Lisa's father in law is heading back to a little village he has been involved with and I am going to be going with him. He has helped to finance the building of a few buildings, one of them a school, and in November the village will be dedicating a new building and invited him to be there. The way things are working out is nothing short of miraculous. I will be able to meet up with someone our Sunday school has been praying for over the past few years. He is from Nigeria, was imprisoned in Egypt for being Christian, went back to Nigeria when he was released but had to leave the country as his family wanted to kill him for being Christian. He is now living in Ghanna, in Accura, which is where I will fly into and out of. I am also in contact now with a woman who is serving as a missionary in Accra too. It is amazing to me that two weeks ago I never thought about going to Ghana and now I not only have a photo project in a small village but I have two contacts there. I am looking forward to seeing how things progress with this. If you are given to prayer I will ask that you pray for me and that all will go according to God's will.

Something to do this weekend

Now Jay and I have a full weekend and can't join in on the bandwagon in California but for those of you who are free to head out there and join in. You have to love a country like ours where this can become a scheduled event. If you go make sure to send me some pictures

http://www.moonamtrak.org/