Not Much To Say...

Not much to say tonight- fighting the ever oppressive cold/flu bug. I just wanted to get an architectural photo in. I haven't posted one in quite a while.
 This is the state capitol building in Jefferson City, Mo. I've got to say, I am in awe every time I see it! The work that must have went into a building of it's magnificence is awe inspiring to say the least.
 I'm not going to go into all the different types of architecture in the world. I'd love to see them all. I won't go into how one style is better than another or one particular region's buildings are greater than another's. Or how a certain architect or even a sculptor's works has made his country the envy of architects around the world because well, for one, I don't want to seem any more ignorant than I might already and like I said, I haven't got much to say tonight...

I'm Not Falling For It...

Well the warm weather has brought out some early crocuses (or is it crocii?) Nope it's crocuses or just crocus - I just looked it up. However you want to say it, they're here a tad too soon. Sorry to say it but spring has not sprung, not yet anyway. I'm afraid that there is going to be a lot of  spring sprunging in the next few days and then all of a sudden the realization that winter is still here will fall upon us again like a giant frozen snowball!
 March is just a few days away and that will mean the official springing of the aforementioned spring season but most of us have seen a good dumping of snow in the month of  March and some of us have even seen it in April.
 So I'm not counting my spring flowers just yet. I am not falling for it! I'm too ready for it to get here so I'll not be the one to put on my shorts and go to Lowe's to buy planting soil and a variety of flowers to put out only to get a slap in the face by mother nature's north winds. So for now, I'll play it safe. My winter clothes are staying right where they are and my gloves and boots are right by the door to the garage where they always are-every winter...

A Lifetime of Memories...

A couple of years ago my mom began to have trouble with her legs. That is to say, she began losing strength in them. As far as any of her doctors can tell us it's due to spinal stenosis. Without looking it up I believe that I'm correct in translating that to a narrowing of the openings in the vertebrae causing pressure on the spinal cord.
 My mother has basically been on her own for almost thirty years so you can imagine how it has affected her. She can no longer drive herself anywhere so although all of her children take turns bringing her dinner to her, doing her grocery shopping and taking her to her doctors' appointments she gets no real joy from any of that. Sadly, so many times we are in such a hurry that it seems that we neglect to do the important part and that's just spend time with her. Don't get me wrong - I'm not placing blame because I'm as guilty as anyone. You've read about my constant hurries here and there. I've complained about it more than once. Never any time... never.
 So Saturday I decided pick her up and just go for a drive. I tried to take her to places that I knew she hadn't been in years. Not so much in town as places in the countryside,somewhere away from it all. Somewhere that I like to think is maybe a little closer to God. So we drove. We drove wherever the road took us and although it was only for about three hours she talked and I listened to a lifetime of memories.
 I'm sure by the look on her face as I later left her house that it was an afternoon that maybe gave her a measure of joy that she hadn't had in a while. I hope so. Don't get me wrong. I'm not patting myself on the back for doing something that I should have done long before this but I believe that we'll be taking drives a little more often. After all, there are a whole lot of spots in the road in a lifetime of memories...

And Then All At Once...

 Well, I feel like I missed out on a lot of photo opportunities with this last snowfall ( I guess snowfall is putting it lightly ). Anyway, I just didn't get the chances I would have liked to to go out and get in the woods. I would have to say though that even if I wasn't working fourteen hour days I probably couldn't have gotten in and out of the places that I would have liked to go. And if I even wanted to give it a try I really couldn't have because our four wheel drive vehicle is in the shop getting new head gaskets, strut mounts and brake booster. I'm also getting a  water pump and a tune up just because. Thank goodness for tax refunds.
  All of that aside the snow has gone and the temps are soaring near seventy degrees! I'm sure that this will be short lived and everything will be back to winter soon enough. Some time back I started noticing how fast the years were passing. It seemed that winters dragged and summers flew by and then all at once another year had gone. But in the last two or three years it seems like even the winters are flying by. Now, I won't complain about that but I'm pretty sure too that it won't mean that the summers will slow down and last forever. I tend to lean towards a personal heaven for those of us that are blessed enough to go and maybe that's what my heaven will be like - orange sunsets with warm breezes blowing fields of waste high grasses and the sound of cicadas, tree frogs and the occasional night bird singing out it's last song for the day- only to be followed by orange sunrises with warm breezes blowing tree blooms spreading their fragrances across the land and the songs of a hundred song birds singing good morning - day after day after day...

Change Can Be Good

 This weekend we took a well deserved trip to Branson for a couple of days and nights to just get away and relax. This past week I've put in a couple of twelve hour days and a couple of fourteen hour days and I was plain old beat. The limousine business generates a lot of sales from the shows and the big one in Vegas is Monday so that always means a big last minute rush to get things done. Not really sure why it turns out that way- the show is on the same date every year but yet that seems to be the modus operandi of most of the manufacturers that I know of. If you've followed this for very long you'll know that Brenda babysits. That's probably all I need to say about that.
 Anyway, back to Branson. Branson has gotten the reputation of Hillbilly USA and really I guess, in a lot of ways their chamber of commerce seems to want it that way. Can you say tourism? But actually Branson is a very diverse town. This photo was taken at the Branson Landing, a riverfront conglomeration of retail stores, restaurants and well, more retail stores. I'm no expert on the area by any means and I've only been a couple of times in the last couple of years. Although we hit a lot of the stores I mostly followed Brenda around and just turned where she turned. It's a husband thing I guess.
 But this weekend I got the opportunity to go back after dark and do a little photography around the fountains. The whole Branson Landing thing is pretty new. Finished in May of 2006 ( or at least that was the grand opening ) it's become a major attraction of the area.
 I remember "back in the day" when I used to go down to waterfront and just watch the boats go by. Some days I would be lucky to see twenty people on the shore. Although I'm all about the days of yesteryear and the simple life I guess that this is a good thing. I believe that change for the most part, can be good - whether we want it to be or not...

Look To Your Own Backyard...

 Well, the Superbowl kept me from getting home at a decent time last night. Actually, it wasn't necessarily the Superbowl but the Superbowl party at my brother's house.  So I just decided to postpone this post until tonight. As it turns out it looks like I'll be working a few late nights this week so I'll just show you this photo of  blizzard left overs. Unfortunately the blizzard was just a tease for me more than anything. I thought of several places that I wanted to go to shoot but none of those places were accessible to me (or anything else for that matter) so I did the best that I could with what I had and that being my backyard and immediate surroundings. I believe that there is a saying that goes something to the effect of  "...look to your own backyard first...". I don't know it in entirety unfortunately but I like what it implies. So, not wanting to make this a long essay I'll just leave you with that.

Make It Through Safely...

 I guess that I need a T-shirt that says "I survived the blizzard of 2011!" Holy moly what a snow storm this has been huh? Don't get me wrong- I don't say that lightly. We were blessed to be able to have had our electricity stay on and really no ice to speak of. There are hundreds of thousands across the U.S. right now that are doing their best to try and stay warm as the temperatures drop well below zero.
 That really gives me an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Here in southwest Missouri back in 2007 we had an ice storm that left our household without power for nine days.There is no way I'll ever forget laying in bed that night without any lights or heat listening to the sound of limb after limb creaking and snapping and falling with a great whooosh! All but a couple landed in the yard with a thud, leaving what looked like grenade holes( yeah, I know -that's quite an exaggeration but hey...). The couple that didn't land in the yard managed to cave in our patio awning but fortunately the house itself was spared.We made it for those nine days and the moment the power came back on it was nothing short of jubilation!
 We knew then and we know now that God had spared us any real hardships during those nine days and I pray for those in the middle of this storm to be able to hold on and that they will make it through safely...