Greetings! Long time, no write!
Announcing my new website. New look, new photos, more new stuff coming. Check it out!
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
June 8, 2011 - Photo of the day
I do closed captioning for a local church - which is normally due to be completed and emailed by 5 pm on Tuesdays. Today, however, it went much later...9:30 pm.
You see, I had a day of unexpected interruptions. I view 'unexpected interruptions' as tests sent by God to see if I have my priorities straight. I have had to take this test many times because I'm a slow-learner when it comes to time and priorities management.
What I have learned is while meeting deadlines and getting things done is extremely important - they are always trumped by people in need. I mean real need, not someone who just wants to 'hang out.' Of course, knowing the difference takes discernment - something else that gets tested frequently.
I'm grateful for the gifts of discernment and the ability to comfort people. I'm also grateful for the mercy shown to me when I'm late meeting a deadline!
Blessings!
Vicki
Photo of the Daze.....
I know, I know, no photo of the day for June 3, 4, 5, and 6.....well I hope these make up for it.
I had the unusual opportunity (this past Saturday) to photograph a local landmark - the Arcade. Unusual because the landmark has been closed to the public for more than 10 years. It rarely has been open at all to the public in that time frame. The local historical society and the current owner opened it because they are hoping to restore it to it's original 1902 glory and need community support.
The building is large and sprawls over almost an entire city block. It is several floors tall, and has a majestic facade. It also has a large rotunda with a glass dome.
But we didn't enter through the majestic facade, we entered through a narrow doorway into a stairwell off a side street.
We left the bright sunshine of June 2011 and walked into the dark, damp, dimly lit, early 1900's. It was ripe with the smell of old hard wood floors, dust, and damp. For me, it was amazing.
When I was a little girl and later as a teenager, I used to visit the Arcade. During those years the Arcade was just a big, old, dirty building; the rotunda crammed with vendor stalls. The skylights in the dome had been painted over during WWII for security purposes; and there was so much crammed onto the main floor, I don't remember knowing there was a dome let alone looking up at it. There were apartments and offices I never saw either. I do remember the soda fountain where you could get something called a phosphate (a forerunner of modern soda pop).
Anyway, I was thrilled to get to see and photograph the offices; as well as the rotunda which had been abandoned during a Christmas season in the 1990's when the previous owners went bankrupt and just up and left with the Christmas decorations still in place. To their credit, they had restored the dome and the rotunda to some of its former glory.
So Saturday was a very special day. My grand daughter was with me. She was also taking photos - of a place she had never seen. She wandered behind me into dusty offices with broken windows, snapping away.
Then we turned a corner, walked through a doorway, and there she was - the rotunda. My grand daughter let out an audible gasp. "Now, THIS is why we came," I whispered. "It is so beautiful, it makes me want to cry," she responded. "Me too." I said.
Later I was thinking about our experience that day at the Arcade, and it came to me that just as I had known that hidden deep behind that mighty facade, and the crumbling outer rooms - in the inner most part of the Arcade there existed a spectacular place of breathtaking beauty...that God had known exactly that same thing about me.
That inside my facade of a tough, angry, proud, rebellious young woman; beyond my inner 'rooms' covered with broken dreams, and the dust of crumbling hopes - in the inner most part of me was a hidden place of great potential and awesome beauty.
I'm so glad He saw it, and came after me - and began the restoration process years ago; the moment I gave Him the 'key' to my Arcade.
I am still a "work in progress" and am, by no means, finished - but I am so much better than before!
I pray you will allow Him access to your secret places - your hidden places of awesome beauty - so He can restore you and share your beauty with the world.
Blessings!
Vicki
I had the unusual opportunity (this past Saturday) to photograph a local landmark - the Arcade. Unusual because the landmark has been closed to the public for more than 10 years. It rarely has been open at all to the public in that time frame. The local historical society and the current owner opened it because they are hoping to restore it to it's original 1902 glory and need community support.
The building is large and sprawls over almost an entire city block. It is several floors tall, and has a majestic facade. It also has a large rotunda with a glass dome.We left the bright sunshine of June 2011 and walked into the dark, damp, dimly lit, early 1900's. It was ripe with the smell of old hard wood floors, dust, and damp. For me, it was amazing.
When I was a little girl and later as a teenager, I used to visit the Arcade. During those years the Arcade was just a big, old, dirty building; the rotunda crammed with vendor stalls. The skylights in the dome had been painted over during WWII for security purposes; and there was so much crammed onto the main floor, I don't remember knowing there was a dome let alone looking up at it. There were apartments and offices I never saw either. I do remember the soda fountain where you could get something called a phosphate (a forerunner of modern soda pop).
Anyway, I was thrilled to get to see and photograph the offices; as well as the rotunda which had been abandoned during a Christmas season in the 1990's when the previous owners went bankrupt and just up and left with the Christmas decorations still in place. To their credit, they had restored the dome and the rotunda to some of its former glory.
So Saturday was a very special day. My grand daughter was with me. She was also taking photos - of a place she had never seen. She wandered behind me into dusty offices with broken windows, snapping away.
Then we turned a corner, walked through a doorway, and there she was - the rotunda. My grand daughter let out an audible gasp. "Now, THIS is why we came," I whispered. "It is so beautiful, it makes me want to cry," she responded. "Me too." I said.
Later I was thinking about our experience that day at the Arcade, and it came to me that just as I had known that hidden deep behind that mighty facade, and the crumbling outer rooms - in the inner most part of the Arcade there existed a spectacular place of breathtaking beauty...that God had known exactly that same thing about me.
That inside my facade of a tough, angry, proud, rebellious young woman; beyond my inner 'rooms' covered with broken dreams, and the dust of crumbling hopes - in the inner most part of me was a hidden place of great potential and awesome beauty.
I'm so glad He saw it, and came after me - and began the restoration process years ago; the moment I gave Him the 'key' to my Arcade.
I am still a "work in progress" and am, by no means, finished - but I am so much better than before!
I pray you will allow Him access to your secret places - your hidden places of awesome beauty - so He can restore you and share your beauty with the world.
Blessings!
Vicki
Friday, June 3, 2011
June 2, 2011 - Photo of the Day
I've been meditating on the power of words. What I say.
The Bible says, "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he," (Proverbs 23:7) and "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34).
What that says to me, is that eventually (unless you never speak...take a vow of silence for your entire life...etc.) the REAL you is going to come out in what you say. Maybe not in front of the minister, or our boss, or someone else we hold in high regard....but it will come out. Most likely with those whom we love and who are supposed to love us.
Our society has become less civil in our speech in general. Words that were never spoken when I was a child...in front of a child....are yelled out car windows, across lawns, at regular intervals. What does that say about what is in our collective hearts? "You mother #*!=#!" Think about it.
I know what my mouth can do (and has done). And it isn't always pretty....
My prayer has become that of the psalmist: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)
Blessings!
Vicki
Thursday, June 2, 2011
June 1, 2011 - Photo of the Day
Here is my first "Photo of the Day" - a macro shot of a small shrub in my backyard.
While weeding my flower bed, I noticed that as I pulled the weeds out from around the established "good" plants; that the "good plants" held their ground (staying deeply rooted in the ground) because they were mature plants.
Then the scriptures in Matthew chapter 13 came to my mind about the farmer who had sowed good wheat seed in his fields one day, only to find that 'an enemy' had sown weeds in his fields at night. The farmer instructs the workers to leave the weeds until both the weeds and the wheat are fully grown and mature and then pull out the weeds. He tells them if they try to pull the weeds too soon, the wheat plants will come up with the weeds. Once all is established, the weeds will come out and the wheat will stay in.
May we all establish our roots down deep - so when the pulling starts, we won't be uprooted!
Blessings!
Vicki
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