An Amazing Profession

We know there are many professions out there that require education and training that many of us rely on, like doctors, lawyers, or professors. But there are many amazing jobs that require training and a skill set that many of us don’t have. Jobs that require you to stand on a platform hundreds of feet in the air to wash a window. This past week while I was in Georgia, I watched the tree trimming guys take down an 80’+ tall pine tree. A guy had spikes on his shoes as he climbed up the tall tree, then he had a belt around his waist to secure him to the tree.

I didn’t get the very top shots of him when he started but he dropped down about 10′ below each time before he cut.

After the tree was down, they cleaned up all the shavings, and then the crane truck came in to pick up the logs.

This shot gives you a good idea of how big this tree was. The piece he was trying to roll toward the crane had easily been 40′ up in the air. It was a big pine. It will make some good lumber.

I asked him if he knew how much each piece weighed and he said between 400 and 500 pounds. Knowing this information, it makes more sense of the damage these big trees make if they fall on your house. From inside the house, we could feel the pounding vibration each section made as it fell to the earth.

We need to remember to never look down on one person’s profession as inferior …could you do this? I couldn’t. I am grateful for all the tree trimmers, the window washers, the janitors, and all the professionals who clean up after the rest of us, and of course, the professions that take care of us like firefighters and police. They all deserve the same respect as those who keep our bodies alive, our teeth clean, and our children educated.

So treat each other with respect and kindness and let’s quit judging certain professions as more important than others. Maybe if we can do that, then kindness will be the norm instead of the surprise. There is no job that is not important…if it is not important then it is not needed.

FOTD, September 26, Azalea

While I was in Georgia, I took pictures of flowers still blooming in my brother’s year. He has a type of Azalea that blooms twice a year. So I was able to get pictures of the fall blooms.

They were so lovely but I also took pictures of other things blooming in his yard, mostly tiny blooms but in my book a flower is a flower is a flower. 😊

And of course, Roses are always beautiful to see.

Remember flowers bloom to share their beauty and kindness with us, so we should share our beauty and kindness with others. That was everybody gets to smile.

Always Be Kind!!

One Perspective on Life

Each person has their own perspective on how life moves through our lives but when we are faced with a dramatic shift in the perspective, we review life from yet a different perspective.

As many of you know, my brother has ALS, a most debilitating disease that steals your life one muscle at a time. So I drove again last week(12 plus hours one way) to see him since I know there is not a long time left. While I was there, there was a tree that had died that was being taken down. The analogy of that act I thought was ironic. Let me explain my weird thoughts.

The state of Georgia is home to various types of pine trees and some of these guys get huge. My brother lives in an older section of Atlanta with a beautiful home and grounds. His house was probably built in the 30s, so the trees are probably well over 100 years in age. The cluster of pine trees that held the dead tree were each well over 80 feet tall with a diameter of 4+ feet. The particular tree had disease which caused rot of that over time slowly killed it completely.

I felt the irony of the death of this tree, diseased from the inside, with my brother’s life. At one time they both stood strong sharing their life with the world.

We must never take any part of our lives for granted for we don’t know what disease, accident, or twist of life may change our perspective in how we view it.

And regardless of how we view life, we can ALWAYS…ALWAYS share kindness to help those who are in great need of that extra smile or kind word, maybe even a hug. Sometimes when we share kindness with others, a feeling of peace comes to us allowing us to reflect on the value and perspective of being kind.

CFFC, Autumn Colors

We are still in the last throws of summer so we are not seeing much color change yet. But I love the colors of Fall, so I am sharing some colors from last year. My neighborhood has a lot of yellow.

But the reds, ah, they are my favorite. They usually start first and we are just beginning to see a tiny bit of change. Here is a beauty from last year.

Each season has its life purpose and its remarkable beauty. They remind us of our own seasons of life and how we should embrace each season with its unique beauty, sharing that beauty with others…and to always be kind.

Sky After a Storm

Hammad Rais shares his clouds with Monday Sky, so I am jumping in on this challenge with the Saturday sky we had after a storm.

Looking out my sunroom window, just as the storm broke up and the sun started to set.

Then a little later…The clouds like to tell a beautiful story of relief relief after you have a storm. Some are more beautiful than others.

Remember to show the relief of kindness to someone who may be going through a storm. You may be the relief they desperately need.

FOTD, More Fun with Macros

Cee’s fun Flower of the Day challenge has really made me conscious of the fun you can have with macro photography. I am not an expert photographer, but I do enjoy playing with my camera.

As things begin to change for the season, you get some odd color changes and amazing details that only macro and close photography will show you.

This flower, normally a rich red, is fading for fall showing beautiful yellows and orange centers.

These cluster flowers I have shared before but you don’t really see the details except up close. look at the black center of each flower. This entire cluster is less than 1″ long.

I love the concept of flowers within flowers. The sunflower seeds are maturing and you can see the tiny yellow flower of each seed.

Here you see early sunflower seeds when the inner flowers are just being formed. They are primed with pollen for the bees to do their part.

Blue mouse ears, yellow eyes with pupil dots, a yellow smiling mouth, and two front legs.

Yes, my imagination gets out there sometimes with flower shapes, but this small weed flower of only two petals looks like a tiny big-eared mouse.

I end with two small cluster flowers that show some delicate beauty still to be had in the garden. There are so many different aspects of beauty in a garden…or even the side of the road in some cases. They are each a gift from God that He shares with us showing beauty and love. It is our response to slow down enough to appreciate each delicate one.

And as you slow down to enjoy, remember to share kindness as well. That has a beauty that is stronger and more lasting than any flower.

Nature Photo Challenger #28

Denzil Nature challenges us to share photos of wild animals. Being in the suburbs of a landlocked state in the middle of our country does not offer a vast variety but we do have some interesting personalities of those animals we do have.

For whatever reason, we seem to have a lot of rabbits around our church and we are not in the country – not that far from downtown, but this baby was precious.

I am sure he thought if he was very still I would not see him, but I did, all five inches of him.

The squirrels here, and probably everywhere, are very creative in getting to the bird feeder but this one was hanging by his toes, literally.

Since I am originally from south Georgia, we don’t see groundhogs there but here in Iowa, they are everywhere.

My house is just on the outside of a small national park so we see deer here in the city limits like you would see the neighbor’s dog. Here we have mom and babies.

I understand this last photo is not an animal but he is wild. I had to take his picture because he was so sassy. Sea birds are a common thing here because of the Mississippi River. They follow the tug boats that come here from the gulf.

Strutting around like he owns the place.

I remind you as always the value of kindness, even with wildlife. All of God’s creation should be dealt with kindly.

FOTD – September 12, Big

Cee’s Flower of the Day always has something new and colorful…I tend to be a broken record. But I dearly love sunflowers. This particular flower came up on its own. Last year when I cleaned out all of my spent sunflowers, I stacked them hear at the edge of the sidewalk so that I could take all of them with one haul to the trash. And all it takes is one little seed to create this 11′ beauty.

She has multiple limbs with multiple flowers growing on them. I counted 38 blooms ready to shout their beauty to the world. The leaves are huge checking in nearly 13″ across.

And her flowers shine brightly against today’s bright blue sky.

I have noticed that the varieties that have giant blooms usually only produce 1 bloom but then the varieties that have smaller blooms have many blooms. George, the sunflower at church (Yes, I name him because he got so many compliments), had 55 blooms. He was trying to make up for the seeds that the squirrels ate at planting.

I did not plant any of the sunflowers that came up in my yard. It was a very busy spring for me. But the birds made sure I was taken care of because the Goldfinches love these flowers.

As summer leaves us by turning into fall, we remember the beauty we have seen this past year with anticipation of next year. But each season carries a beauty of its own and we should remember to carry kindness into each season. Some need kindness more in the cooler seasons so try to always share your kindness wherever you go.

Kindness leaves others encouraged.

Let you Kindness fall in all the little spaces in between.

Fun with Macros

With photography, I am a poor amateur at best but I probably have more fun with it than some. This afternoon I saw how my only giant sunflower this year has drooped nearly in half from the weight of this huge bloom. So I was able to get up close and personal and see its tiny details.

The bloom is almost in the shape of a heart or maybe it’s just my odd way of looking at things. And it looks to have a flower inside the flower.

Nature is a complex entity and you will miss the beauty and “aww” moments if you don’t pay attention. This post is to kind of highlight some of the intricate details we miss if we don’t look hard enough. That is what I love about macros, they force you to see the tiny details.

For instance, we see the giant bloom of a sunflower but macro photography shows you that each seed that is forming in the huge bloom (this one is almost 11 inches across) also has a flower.

Since I was playing with my sunflower, I decided to macro photograph the tiny blooms in my yard that are still growing.

Except for this little beauty, all of these flowers are less than an inch in size. These spikes are about 1/2″ wide and about 3″ long. I also have this flower in pink. And sorry, I don’t remember what its name is. I tell myself I am going to remember the names of the flowers I plant…and then don’t.

These tiny beauties are Calibrachoa. I had several colors of these but these are the only two still blooming. All of them have bright yellow centers.

I think this flower is in the Coreopsis family but not sure. I love its dual color.

I don’t remember this flower’s name either but the cluster is less than an inch in size. That makes the individual flowers super tiny.

These are an old favorite as well, Dianthus. They come back each year so that is a bonus.

These are the only fall flowers I planted this year. Just been too busy. These are fall mums but are tiny for mums as they are just getting started.

I can’t close out the macros without showing my variegated Spider plant’s first baby. Too cute. This plant was a gift from a sweet lady at church.

I hope this post brought a smile to your face like flowers usually do. Smiles are a great way to show kindness, so smile often and be kind.

FOTD, September 7, Flowers Gone By

As fall seems to be finally coming in, we say goodbye to the abundance of color. Well, that is not true as fall colors are stupendous, but the many colors of flowers are fast approaching their winter nap.

As I was watching TV the other day, I saw this strange white thing floating in my slowly dying sunflowers so I went to investigate. What I found was an industrious spider had created a web from the evergreens to the drying sunflower blooms and the exploding dandelions of fall had met their match with the spider’s web.

When I looked at it again this morning, I saw that the spider was still growing its web and even more seedlings had been trapped. But it was an interesting and beautiful thing to see. All season have their beauty, you just have to change your perspective.

I saw some seedlings stick on a dying bloom and thought they were beautiful in their own way and thus was inspired to write a silly poem for them.

Dandelion

My arms reach out guiding me as I go

Sent up into the air where we don’t know

What is this destination of a life we show

When the wind just blows us to and froe

Next spring we awake from cold-hard ground

Coming up anew to our new home found

We show off our flower, it’s bright and round

And while it is beautiful, it makes not a sound

I close with a reminder to always be kind even when someone is not being kind to you. Your kindness will plant a seed that hopefully will grow into kindness as well.

All photographs are my own. Please do not use them in any form without written permission. Anita/Anitashope.com