I am thankful for having a camera, a computer, editing software and for Cory and the photographica community.

On Sunday morning, November 5, 2006, I give thanks for :

A Glorious

new day,

my sight,

food on my table, (cream cheese omelet prepared by chef Pablo Joan-say)

and the B train to bountiful endless opportunity.  

Many of us take our health for granted.  I know I do.  My family and I have had our share of down times, but overall have been very fortunate.

Many years ago, I found a way to share my blessings.  I became a regular blood donor.  My O- blood was in great demand.  Usually anyone, regardless of blood type, can use O- blood if necessary.  About 6 years ago, the director of the local blood bank approached me.  He had noticed that in addition to being O-, my blood was also negative for Cytomegalovirus or CMV.  As I understand it, CMV is a virus that most adults have been exposed to at some point in their life.  It may not even make you sick, or you won’t recognize it because it resembles many other illnesses.  Once you are exposed, you carry that CMV in your blood.   For most healthy people, CMV is not a problem.  For a young child or premature baby, it can be fatal.  Our local blood bank tries to schedule at least one CMV- donor daily to meet the blood needs of those babies.  One pint of my high test, O-, CMV- blood could help 4-5 of those babies at a time without regard to their blood type.  WOW!  

It doesn’t hurt.  I have huge, easy to see and use veins.  I fill the bag quickly.  It only takes about an hour total from my day.  I am now participating in a program that will allow me to give 2 units of red blood cells every 112 days.  The blood bank keeps only the red blood cells and returns the rest of the stuff to me.   Now I can help 8-10 babies every 4 months.  What an opportunity!  I gave my first ALYX donation on Thursday.

I want to share the experience with you.  We used my right arm this time, so the photos were not easy to take.  They got quite a kick out of watching me try to focus and snap!  

Giving Back

I know many people can’t give for various reasons.  It is not my intention to make anyone feel bad, but I would like to encourage anyone that can to GIVE.  If you need more information, let me know or contact your local blood bank.  Also, a ton of information is available online.

Thanks for letting me stand on the soap box this morning and share with you.

It was probably 1 1/2 years ago I first stumbled on this site....I was all excited...after lurking for a couple days I dedided I would give it a try and post a couple of my favorite shots.....I created the story...uploaded a couple shots and waited to hear back what everyone thought....well it didn't load...the story showed up with no pics...I was so embarrased I didn't come back for quite some time...after about 6 months I thought I would try again since the remarks people left were so encouraging.  KayN said something like "don't give up we hope to see more"....and a few others also encoraged me to keep trying....Austinspace...I think Bugaboo...Robin....well it's been eight months later and I have literately posted at least 3 shots almost everyday....and all of your remarks have brought many smiles to my face....encouraged me and inspired me....so for all the votes....all the comments...all of your help....and all of your post....I just want to say a heart felt Thank you! to all of you.....

MOJO

After two plus weeks of heavy, non-stop rain we were given a small window of relief this evening.....seems small enough...but for this we are thankful.
Between the storms

  bucharest 12 nov 2 bucharest 12 nov 9 bucharest 12 nov 3 bucharest 12 nov 2 bucharest 12 nov 4 These are a few moments that i have captured today; good and bad

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S  t  y  l  e!

O.K.This may be my second entry for giving thanks. I am just hoping that some of you get to see the same thing I did this evening In Virginia. If you don't like the weather here our motto is wait 30 minutes. Enjoy.Rappahannock Rainbow

I wish that the end of every day yeilded the beauty that I was beholden today. It just appeared in the sky in the middle of the tornadoe warnings and rubbish washing up in the yard. The beauty just made me wish I would have figured out how to use panoramic prior to the rainbow over the Rappahannock River this evening

There is so much to be thankful for, friends and family, a warm place to sleep, this great country.  So I will be on the selfish side and say I am thankful for my job.  It may be boring (in this profession, boring is good), but it it puts food on the table giving me a a healthy life (the doctor says about 20 pounds too healthy).  It gives me a chance to go to strange locals to seek out exotic beauty and strange animals.  But most important, I am thankful for my co-conspirator in life, MRSQ.

 

 

Photography without eyes must be like trying to breath without air. I am most thankful for sight and vision to be able to appreciate god's creation.After the fall Suspended Holeshot Victims on
  May you all catch an eyefull today.

Monday night I went to a nursing home with my red hat group - Ladies of Grace- and we played bingo with the residents there.  I took some pictures and some of the ladies were so surprised that they could see their pictures right away.  We each had a few ladies that we helped.  This is the lady that I helped and although she couldn't move very well she was really very sharp mentally.  Dorothy  This lady was one that I had a conversation with  - she was such a serious player, but had a charming smile as you can see from the thumbnail. Serious Play We had so much fun with these senior citizens and I think that they could have played for a lot longer than what we stayed.  They loved wearing the red hats. It was a good experience.  

Some of you have seen this shot and some know the story behind it. I have had a hard time deciding whether or not to share it. Candice helped me decide by choosing Giving Thanks as the challenge. I am so thankful for each day we are given. To breath the air, to love and to live. We need to do so with gusto everyday!fate This shot was taken on my way over the Cascade Mountains a couple weekends ago. Just the kids and me. We left early, lots of time to stop for photo ops. Have always wanted to get a shot of Odell Lake with the sun coming up & glowing on Diamond Peak. The sun didn't cooperate & the bushes were in the way. So I wasn't too happy with the picture. Wasn't what I had in mind. We were there for about 4 or 5 minutes.  We headed up the pass again. We came around a curve not too far ahead and there was a horrible accident. We were probably only 4 or 5 minutes after the collision. Two people were killed and another two hospitalized in critical condition. One of the men killed use to work with my husband. He leaves behind a wife, twin daughters and a young son. The twin daughters are two of my eight year old sons best friends. As emotional as these last weeks have been for us, it pales compared to what the families are going through. It makes me step back and hold my family tighter and try to love and smile and laugh as much as I can each day.  Bless you all this holiday season.

And just to lighten things up a bit, the antics of my pets.shadow play

This was actually taken a couple years ago with a 2 MP Fuji.  I ran across it tonight while looking for something else.  With Veterans Day just past and this week's challenge I though it was appropriate to post.

Korean War Memorial

These are from the archives but I had to pull them out today. Thanks to all our soldiers past, present and future!

Veteran 1

Veteran 2

Veteran 3

Veteran 4

Veteran 5

Veteran 6  

Veteran 7

morning

Aura of Motherhood Tender moments listening to little sister Getting a "kick" Tenderness Colored Pencil of mom and daughter
There is a certain aura around a pregnant woman that just glows, I suppose that is why people will tell you "you just seem to glow".
In the second photo, it is my grandson listening to his little sister inside mom's tummy.
The third photo, my daughter-in-law was laughing at how hard the baby was kicking, saying she should go out for Soccer.
In this fourth photo, I tried to capture the love and tenderness between a mother and all of her children.
The last photo is a clolored pencil effect of my granddaughter and her mom.
By the way, this is so special because this is a step-mother and daughter relationship.
I guess you could also say this is one for the "Giving Thanks" section.
We give thanks for life and the love and protection a mother and father provide for their children.

This morning it actually looked just like this....too bad the tower was right in the way....

1

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Here's a thanks to general contractors that throw away usable stuff!
I need some help and I hope there' a few good computer folks out there. I saved a Sensormatic control system from certain death, but the computer has the most promise. Themotherboard
is a AMD 486(am486 DE2-66V8TGC). Thepower supply is not a "drop in" but custom to this application. There are a bunch ofconnectors on back of cabinet  I want to bring it back up for a "homework machine" for some kids(oldest 11). Any help would be appreciated.