bird lineup

This photo reminds me of that song, I think it was on Sesame Street - "one of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong." If you look closely you'll see that all the other birds seem to be turned away from the white one. Is it just a coincidence that they look like they're all talking about him and wondering what in the world he's doing on THEIR lamppost? And right in the middle of it too, how dare he?

the beach at night

There's something magical about the beach - the softness of the sand, the rhythmic roar of the waves. And on a clear dark night with a full moon, the magic intensifies.

My grandmother had a house a half a block from the beach and hated sand - whenever we took a walk at night she's always ask if we went up to the beach. If the answer was yes, we'd have to take a shower outside before coming into the house - so the answer was always "no." This photo was taken in July, a few weeks after she passed away; but had it been any other summer it would have been on one of those walks when we "didn't go to the beach."

a tree falls in the forest

I don't know if anyone heard the sound when they fell, and I don't know just when it happened, but you can't escape the fact that these are some pretty awesome trees. This photo is from Vancouver, taken during the same trip when I took the cloud photo I posted a few days ago.

mountains and clouds

And now for some clouds in the mountains! This photo was taken on January 1, 2000 at Chamonix, France. The clouds were just spectacular and I stopped to take this photo. Then I put my camera away, grabbed my ski poles, and skied down that slope right into the clouds. I wish I could say I came out in one piece, but what I'll say instead is that when you ski on steep hills with moguls, it's really better if you can see well. At least I like to think that's what caused my fall. What I do know is that if you have to break your leg and need surgery on New Year's Day, Chamonix is a good place to do it - excellent doctors put me together almost as good as new. The week stay in the hospital would have been a little better had I taken French rather than Spanish in school. But all's well that ends well - I can still ski.

hills - something you don't see in Chicago

I take lots of photos from the car... here's another one, taken a few years ago on our way to see friends in North Carolina.

This photo was taken somewhere around the North Carolina/Virginia border. Another foggy morning, you can see it just starting to lift off the hills.

Don't get me wrong - I love living in the midwest, and especially love Chicago.  I've lived here almost exactly half of my life now.  But the FIRST half of my life was spend growing up in the mountains of West Virginia, then the hills of western Virginia. And no matter how long I live in the midwest, I don't think I'll ever be completely used to how unnaturally flat it is here.

sunset

Our latest trip to Indiana started before sunrise on Monday, and ended after sunset on Tuesday - this photo was also taken from the car window (again, while I was a passenger, not while I was driving).

sunrise

This is really yesterday's posting - I was too wiped out last night to post it.  This photo is from Monday morning's drive to IU; taken from the car window while driving down 65. (It's ok, I wasn't driving, photo taken from the passenger seat!)

I'm really not a morning person so when I'm forced to be up early I see all sorts of sights I'm not used to - like sunrises and spider webs in the early morning dew.  It's *almost* enough to make me want to wake up earlier, but maybe not quite.

more spider webs

Today has been a very long day - woke up at 4:30, on the road by 5:20 to come back to Bloomington. But the early start paid off - we stopped at Fair Oak Farms, a wonderful dairy on Route 65, and got there about 10 minutes before they opened. So we wandered around the grounds while waiting and found a few pretty incredible spider webs. Unlike the one last week in the woods at IU, this one was pretty easy to spot - it was glistening from the morning dew and fog which were just lifting.

I could have stayed all day taking photos - I got a few good ones but none that were quite as spectacular as what I saw when I was taking the photo.

rainy nights

I've noticed that so far all my posts are about nature. So I figured it was time to expand out to the man-made world, which also has some pretty incredible sights to behold. I walk past this plaza every night on my way home, that little blue sign just barely visible to the left of the statue is the entrance to my train. This was taken on a rainy grey day - but just as it was starting to get dark, the plaza came alive in the lights reflected by the wet pavement.

tree knot

I've always been fascinated with the knots in trees. Today while walking in the woods I saw this one which is in a dead tree branch. I particularly like the holes in it letting you see little bits of greenery from the forest behind.

it's clouds illusions i recall

In keeping with yesterday's theme (and because I still have the song in my head) here's a photo I took a few years ago in Vancouver of clouds reflected in a building.  What I love about this photo is how different the color of the sky is behind the building, how it shows off the blue sky peeking through the clouds on the face of the building.

What I also love about this photo is that it make me think of my friends in Vancouver.   Joanne and your wonderful family -  this photo makes me realize we haven't talked for too long.  And Jerome - I'm thinking about you as I look at this photo and hoping things are starting to turn around for you.

i've looked at clouds from three sides now...

Lately, I've been doing a lot of driving back and forth from Chicago to Bloomington Indiana. This particular drive, a few weeks ago, the clouds were big and puffy and filled the sky. And I noticed that I could see reflections of clouds in the mirror, in the window in the mirror, and in the sky all at the same time

ornamental grass

In the last few years I've been noticing more and more use of ornamental grasses in landscapes here in the midwest. You might think this photo was taken last week when I was on the prairie, but actually, no. I found these grasses in a planter at the Indiana University campus.

What incredible colors. Not only beautiful, this grass is also so soft to the touch. When I walk by I feel like I have to let it run through my fingers.

grapes

Every time we drive to Bloomington we stop at the Oliver Winery just outside of town. Besides having great wine they also have beautiful grounds. And this time of year, there's the added bonus of seeing the ripe grapes on the vines. I especially love the way the green grapes glow in the sunlight.

I have a confession - as I was walking away from the vines after taking this photo, I looked down on the ground and there was a whole bunch of grapes on the ground. I though it would be awful wasteful to leave them there. They were delicious.

butterflies

Butterflies are one of those great surprises - you're already enjoying a beautiful flower and then all of a sudden a butterfly flutters by and lands on the very flower you've been admiring. And how is it possible that something as thin and fragile as a butterfly wing can actually allow them to fly?

spider webs

I'm not such a big fan of spiders but I an totally in awe of their webs. How it it possible for them to be so intricate? Found this web in the woods on the Indiana University campus this morning. As I was standing there trying to figure out how I could get a photo, the sun hit it in just the perfect way to light it up.

flowers

It's one thing to stop and notice the beauty of a flower. But have you ever noticed how beautiful a flower can be even as it's losing its petals?  

This photo was taken this morning at the Wolf Road Prairie.   Trying to select just one photo to talk about was really difficult, the prairie is filled with such beauty. 

If these flowers were in a vase on your table, you'd be ready to throw them out.  But sitting there in the prairie I found them every bit as special as all those flowers still in bloom.  

baby bird

I first noticed this little guy while I was sitting on my patio. The first thing I saw was there was a LARGE amount of bird poop all over the chair next to me and on the ground. Also on the ground was a part of a bird's nest. Then I looked at the back of the chair, and there he was standing there, a little shaky and obviously scared to death. (the term scared sh*tless comes to mind.) I went inside so as not to scare him more. For the next few days, he managed to fly short distances but not high enough to get back into the tree. I kept the dog away from the backyard to try to give him some space. About two days later he was gone, hopefully back up to a new nest in my tree.

About this blog

The idea for starting this blog came from many places.

This blog is not about my son's illness, but his illness is certainly one of the reasons I started the blog.

This blog isn't about religion, although the idea of blessings is obviously a religious theme, and last week's discussion at a Shabbat morning service was one of the sparks that started me thinking about this.

Finally, this blog isn't about photography, although my current plan is to use photos as part of each post.

During many times in my life, I've keenly felt how incredibly blessed I am, how much I have, and how important it is to not take that for granted. And more recently I've unfortunately experienced many times when it's much harder to remember that.

Last week in Shabbat morning services, we discussed this theme in the weekly Torah portion, Eikev (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) - About how much we have, how easy it is to take it for granted, to feel entiteled to all that we have. My cantor remarked on one of her favorite phrases in the portion: "Remember, do not forget..." Deuteronomy 7:7.

This blog is my attempt to remember, to not forget, on a daily basis that even during the dark scary days, there is still so much to be thankful for, so many blessings. This blog is my way of pushing myself to search for at least one blessing each day.

And how, you might ask, does that relate at all to photography? Well, when I take a photograph, I see the subject of the photo differently. When I stop to frame a photo, it makes me think more about what I'm photographing, and makes me appreciate it in a more complete way. So my daily search for something to be thankful for will be done by either taking a photo or selecting a photo I've previously taken.

Finally, this blog isn't just for me. It's for all of you who read it as well - a chance for you to remember, to not forget, all the many many blessings in your lives. I hope you'll find inspiration in some of mine - if you do please leave me comments. And I hope you'll be motivated to start looking for the blessings in your life as well.