Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, sweet Friends!  The Oregon Coast is one of my favorite places to visit--though we do not have dolphins as you see in this drawing, we often see whales blowing bushy streams of mist into the air, as they frolic in the waves of the sea.

The reference for this piece is my youngest sister Leigh--a lovely woman--as beautiful inside as she is on the outside.

Blessings and peace to everyone--May this New Year be one filled with joy, laughter and beauty.

Happy New Year! -Paint Party Friday

Happy New Year dear Friends.  The coming year is like a package filled with unexpected blessing, laughter, pain and all sorts of memories.  I am thankful for this new year with it's well spring of surprises.

God bless you, dear ones and happy Paint Party Friday!

Icy Lace

The cold beauty of our first winter snow is especially lovely as you see it here--captured in the icy lace of the curly willow trees near our home.

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A few hours after I shot this photo, the silver thaw began in earnest, covering everything with nearly an inch of ice.

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We heard burdened trees and branches breaking, popping and crashing all around us. One big oak tree lost a huge limb, which fell onto a nearby home, crushing down through the roof into the room below. Thank God no one was hurt.

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I had a bad fall myself. I accidentally stepped onto an invisible patch of ice on the cement steps of our front porch. I have been very sore since I fell, but that doesn't matter as much as the fact that my beloved camera broke. I would appreciate your prayers. It is silly, but when the camera broke, I felt like I had lost a part of myself.

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Next week, I will see how much it will cost to either fix or replace my camera. Though truthfully, right now we cannot afford to do either.

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However, though I grieve over the loss of my camera, I am also grateful for the wonderful photos I was able to shoot before I broke it. I haven't looked at all of the pictures I took yet. In fact, the photo you see here is one of the first I've seen--I am so excited to discover what other imaginative images I was able to catch.

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The truth is, if one looks hard enough, even when bad things happen, there is always something for which to be thankful.

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Happy New Year, and God bless you dear friends.