Celebrating 4 Years of Blogging

Some of the highlights lately...

This past February 17 was the 4th anniversary of Kingdom Jewels and this is post 1334. When I look back to first post, I remember having no idea where it would lead, but soon it became a photo blog. I love having a place to share my photography and even more, I love meeting people from all over. Thanks for the comments, it's fun hearing from you!!!

Of Icicles and Exercise

We are in the depths of the cold and snow this winter, and regretfully, I have given up my 9 year practice of walking 2 miles per day outside (almost every day). It has been a gradual giving up over the past year with knee trouble and anemia to contribute to the cause and also a general desire not to fall on the icy pavement. Thankfully, in the past month, I've found an indoor walking routine which I've been doing, new excercise pants and all!

Check it out here (parts 1 & 2): Walking

Sunshine on My Loveseat Makes Me Happy

It was so good to see the sun come out this past weekend.
The dust was also looking alive and well.

Happy Ground Hog's Day!!!

January Thaw

I love it when we get a reprieve from the cold snowy bitter harsh winter. Today, we are thawing out a bit.



I used this opportunity as I always do to clean and hose out the garage of the oily gray slush that collects on the floor. So not worthy of a picture! I took a nice long walk instead and found this with my camera.



And when I zoom in it looks like a painting.


I feel better now!

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The Joy of the Sea

All photos, OBX, June 2009
May Monday come to you like the joy of the sea coming home to shore!

Waves

Grilling Greatness

This past Thursday evening while the Queen Mother & Dad were in town, we went over to our church fundraiser at BD Mongolian Grill. John and Cathy spent some time as "Guest Grillers" stir-frying up the suppers of the guests. MCC was able to keep all of the money in the tip jar as well as $1 for each reservation. We had such a fun time with everyone there!

His-n-Her Volvo Station Wagons

It was just last fall when John bought his Volvo station wagon and it has been such a fun, fun car to have around.



We have been jokingly dreaming for a long time of the day when we would be done with the mini-van stage of life. We've been driving one for 15 years! Well, the day finally arrived and I didn't cut my ear off to see the van go.

A River

Here we are on a Sunday night watching A River Runs Through It for the Umpteenth time. I thought of the river pix I took a few weeks ago. This weekend was featuring beautiful fall colours in Michigan, but dreary weather, so I didn't get out for new pix. So sad.

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy." -Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Going Nuts!

The almonds that call out my name every day at 5pm

Usually, I'm so hungry I can hardly make it to supper. This is the time of day when I eat my "5 daily almonds" to get some vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, fibre and monounsaturated fat. Except, I usually end up eating at least 10. Today, I expanded their pleasure by taking a photograph. Mmmm-mmm.

Swinging

My nieces Yara & Annelies are up visiting from Venezuela. We thought we would give them a taste of the American life so we brought them to Swing Dancing in downtown GR:

Bridget and her friends Jessica, Jon (& Eric) showed them the moves. I wasn't supposed to be anywhere near with my camera, but I cannot NOT take pictures.

They also did some line dancing. It's so much fun to watch!

And no public place would be complete without the statue guys!

The Funnest Game in the Whole World

Ping and Pong play the funnest game in the whole world!

Last Friday, I received a call from my friend Cathy who was so excited to tell me that she had finally gotten a pool ping pong game!!! And it happened to work out perfectly for me to come over and help her break it in. We couldn't believe how much fun it was to play and we documented the occasion with her "Golden Girl" camera, a 1.5 MP beauty that is over 5 years old, since I had forgotten mine. It captured a great memory for us, so that was a good thing.

Down by the River

I haven't posted much from last Saturday's photoshoot yet. I loved how Deirdre described the event. It truly was great fun! We ended up going to a river which I loved - it's such a great metaphor for life. I took a few shots which showed the movement of the river.

This shot shows the movement of the geese:



I wanted them to hold their heads still a minute but they wouldn't cooperate. Finally, I managed to get this one:



They did this with their heads for a split second too:



I did a zoom technique and got this photo which makes me think of the Garden of Eden, kind of dreamy:



I think this one shows a bit of a silky flatness:



And I couldn't get enough of the green reflections in the water:


I'm looking forward to our next outing!

Life in the Fast Lane

Jewels in a 1953 MG

Last week one evening, I was downtown taking senior pictures for the daughter of a friend and we happened upon this car. The owner let us use it for a prop and I had to take a turn too.

Saturday Night "Shooting"

One of the highlights for sure of last weekend was our invitation to Paul and Deirdre's house in East Grand Rapids. Paul made one of his specialties, Pan Roasted Rack of Lamb with Rosemary and Honey and wild rice, and it was amazing!  We had a salad with homemade dressing that I remember had lemon in it. The night was so, so fun with good conversation, laughter, great wine, and my fave, mint chip ice cream.  To quote D,"Every night should that much fun."

What could make it more fun?  Well a photoshoot in the living room, of course. Here's Deirdre's Nikon version of the shoot which looks so awesome, almost as if she used white backdrops. These are some of the pix I took:

"1000 Welcomes"

A Bird Party

So in honor of Leo's tenth birthday, we got him a bird feeder. Not really, but that was sort of the sequence of events around here. I approved of the one with the nice copper look for its photogenic properties. Last Saturday, John & I very carefully picked a birdseed with a nice mix not knowing what we might see in our backyard.



In less than 24 hours, we had a regular finch resort in our backyard. I was watching them nest up in the tree, knock seed to the ground and fly up & down from the ground to the tree to the feeder. It went on like this for days. I thought this would be the extent of it for the summer.

Woohoo, finches.

Tuesday afternoon, in the midst of a drizzle, I happened to go over to the window and with Bridget as my witness, I saw a bluejay, 2 cardinals, a robin, a mourning dove, a sparrow, a red-winged blackbird, a goldfinch. I didn't even know I knew the names of that many birds! It felt like this must be every bird I knew! Pure excitement! Birds living in harmony! I was so excited that I screamed! They all flew away. I later identified 2 more of the birds I saw in that cacophony as a black-caped chickadee and a brown headed cowbird and who knows what else I'm forgetting. And furthermore, they finished all of the birdseed in that brand new birdfeeder.

Missed the shot of the bluejay.

Ok, now in all seriousness, I went to pick up Maria from school and told her about my day. I came home and walked over to the window again, excited about what I might see, and wouldn't you know it? A duck!

I wouldn't be surprised to see a penguin at this point. I do hope to get better bird photos with my tripod, different lenses and a brighter day at some point. It will be fun, I promise.