Downtown San Antonio

Posted on July 1, 2014 by April

Photos taken with great care, then edited, then forgotten for two years. That’s the story behind these shots and many, many others.

A couple years ago, Bubba and I went to visit San Antonio and Austin Texas. It was our second trip to southern Texas. Apparently we like to visit places twice just to make sure we like them. Anyways, San Antonio was nice the first time around, the second time around the traffic got to us, and we didn’t stay in a very peaceful part of town, so that may have had something to do with the less than relaxing visit. Particularly the traffic on I-35 between San Antonio and Austin. I couldn’t imagine making that commute everyday. But we still enjoyed our trip and took a ridiculous amount of photos. As always…

We’ll start with one of my favorite spots in San Antonio, downtown. I love the old buildings in downtown San An, there’s something special about the artistic touches put into architecture from days long gone….

While in the area we got to visit the Texas State Capitol building, the missions on the mission trail, and lots of other touristy sites. Since it’s nearly been two years since our visit, I’ve forgotten a lot of the details. All the more reason to label photos better I suppose. And maybe blog about them sooner.

Anywho…Happy Tuesday all!

Plans to take over the world

Posted on June 9, 2014 by April

Funny how we make plans, plans that include so many awesome things…but it’s so much easier to sit on the couch and pretend you never made those plans. I don’t really know where that thought was taking me, just that my plans don’t seem to be working out. No big plans, I don’t intend on taking over the world or anything (and then suddenly I had the urge to youtube the Pinky and Brain theme song. In all it’s awesome early 90’s glory. You’re welcome!)…like I was saying no plans to take over the world, just small things like, throw out the food that is proving Darwinism true, or any host of other household chores that may or may not be evolving into new life forms.

Making plans is the easy part, following through with those plans, now that’s when it gets tricky. Maybe I’ll just sit here on the couch a little longer and contemplate my plans some more…contemplating is the first step to follow through isn’t it?

Thought Moth

Posted on May 21, 2014 by April

Today marks 4 years of blogging. The first 3 years were fun and full of wonder, I was even Freshly Pressed (see here and here) ! But this year the magic seems to be petering out. To put out a post has become tedious, and daunting. And it’s not from lack of content, I’ve got plenty of ideas, plenty of photos that need editing and shared, plenty of words (in fact my hubby would probably prefer I share those words on here rather than rattling on about paint colors, yarn categories, or Doctor Who during the basketball game) . I just can’t seem to settle my thoughts down enough on one topic to get something posted. Those thoughts just keep flitting around in my little head like those annoying moths that knock around on porch lights during the summer. Once I feel like I’ve grasped one, I look between my clasped fingers and see that the thought has escaped to join the others to flit around the porch light again. It’s frustrating, and annoying…

All of this reminds of the words of Oswald Chambers in reference to Matthew 6:26-28:

Look at the birds of the air . . . . Consider the lilies of the field . . .

Here’s what Oswald had to say about it:

“Our heavenly Father knows our circumstances, and if we will stay focused on Him, instead of our circumstances, we will grow spiritually— just as “the lilies of the field.”

I take from that, focus on our heavenly Father instead of those annoying moths that keep escaping my reach, because our Father is always within reach. And if I stay focused on Him, then the right thought moth will come along.

Anyways, all this to say, it’s my blogs 4th birthday, and even though I’ve kind of been ignoring her the past few months, I’m glad she exists.

To celebrate here’s some daffodils in a mason jar!

Happy almost Friday Eve everyone!

Boring little life

Posted on May 16, 2014 by April

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve blogged in 2014. Actually, it wouldn’t even take a whole hand to count the whole two times I’ve shared something over here on my bloggy home. Honestly, there really hasn’t been a whole lot of exciting stuff to share lately, just boring life stuff; dishes, dog walks, and work. I’m pretty sure there were a few marathon Netflix sessions in there too, but mainly chores and work. It sounds depressing, but really it’s not. I love my little life, and I’m glad things are quiet. There have been times in my life when I craved this sort of quietness, and I’m thankful to be living a quiet life now.

In January I finally broke down and got a smart phone. I’d been resistant to the trend for so many years, but the convenience of always having internet at my fingertips was what won me over. There’s nothing like being able to sneak on Pinterest when ever I want. But what really won me over, was the ability to have a fairly decent camera within reach all the time. A camera phone will never replace a good camera, at least for me it won’t, but it sure is nice to be able to flip this bad boy out of my back pocket whenever I want to capture those boring moments. So, here are a few shots I caught of my boring quiet, dusty little life….

The dogs go their separate ways on a walk. This makes it difficult when walking them solo…

A quiet morning, sick in bed. But all is well, I have company.

Impatient puppies while I take pictures of the morning mountain…

Behind those clouds are the Sandias

Waiting on burgers…impatiently waiting on burgers.

I have so many more pictures…but I won’t bore you with them. It just felt like it was time to jump into the blogging game again, since I’ve only posted twice in 2014! Really, I can’t believe I’ve only posted twice this year, it just seems wrong. Maybe this pointless post will wet my blogging palate again, and I can get back to documenting all those boring little moments of life.

Also, I’m on instagram! You can follow me @ yellowdogblackdog. I’m still learning how it works, and haven’t really posted much on there either. Apparently, I’ve seen the need to become an audience member of this newfangled thing called the in-ter-net.

JOY

Posted on February 28, 2014 by April

I started writing this post January 30th, here we are on the last day of February and it’s still not posted. In fact, I haven’t even touched this poor little neglected blog since the second to the last day of January. Odd, how life works. Guess I needed time away from being an active participant of the interwebs for a while. There comes a time when you just need to take a seat and spend some time in the audience.

Anyways, on with the show…

Many bloggers have what they call a word of the year, a word that they will focus on throughout the year. And they will usually write an inspirational post about that word, and how it will be somewhat life altering. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

I on the other hand, don’t write posts with the intent of altering lives…as I selfishly indicated in this post, I write for myself. But, if any of these random words I have strung together here do touch someone else in a special way (and yes, I know what that sounded like.) then great. But in the end, these posts are for myself, to look back on. And with that in mind, and to be a trend follower in a way, I’ve chosen a word to think about as I muddle through the path set before me. And to remind myself what this path is really all about:

I will seek joy in the small things, joy in the big things, joy in the happy things, joy in the sad things, joy in anger, joy in tribulations, and yes…I will even seek joy while I’m scraping last nights dinner off the dishes I was too lazy to do the night before. And, I don’t only want to be a joy seeker, I want to be a joy giver, a joy bringer, I want to be the Santa Claus of joy!

Actually, that can’t happen because Christ already has that title, but I want to be as close to the Santa Claus of joy as I can possibly be. If there were one of those carnival strong man games that measured how full of joy you are, and there were a Jesus level, I’d want to be at that level. I want to be so full of Christ-like joy I ooze it onto those I encounter.

I pledge to myself, to avoid those things that I have allowed to take my joy, and if they are unavoidable, I will try to find joy in those situations. I’ll be honest, I’ve sort of failed at this lately. With some annoying health issues cropping up the past couple months I’ve found it hard to be joyful, and even harder to spread joy. Instead, I’ve been spreading the grump, it’s like a horrible infectious disease that eats away at it’s carrier and can easily rub off on those nearby. But, that’s gonna change because I can hear those bells…the Santa Claus of eternal joy is always near by all I have to do is listen.

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2013 by April

Merry Christmas to all residents of blog world!

I hope you are all eating lots of pie, opening lots of presents, and more importantly, remembering why we get to eat lots of pie and open lots of presents…

¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:11-14

Shoot Happy: Sandia Mountains in the Fall

Posted on October 23, 2013 by April

October is a month dedicated to all things nifty about the 50 mm lens, I’ve vowed to post most days this month and talk about a particular shot or a series of shots I’ve taken with my nifty fifty. You can read the series from the beginning here. Having said that, today’s picture was taken a couple years ago, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t taken with a nifty fifty, but I loved the shot so much I had to share it.

This sort of embodies fall scenery in the mountainous desert. Those are the Sandia Mountains, contrasted against a group of Cottonwoods. I love the golden leaves against the purple mountains. I complain about living in the desert and not having lots of trees to marvel at in the fall, but this sight sort of makes up for it. So, long as I don’t dwell on the fact that winter time is just around the corner. I’m definitely not a winter time girl. Give me spring and summer blooms any day over cold snowy days.

Shoot Happy: Siesta

Posted on October 21, 2013 by April

So, I blogged for 7 days straight last week, didn’t think that could happen, but low and behold it did. Let’s see if we can keep up with the schedule this week. Although, so far, I’m not doing so well, it’s currently as I write this post, it 11:40 on Sunday night, So, I’ve already missed the first day of this 7 day week. You see, I’m sneaky and like to schedule these posts to publish the morning after I’ve written them, so technically this post will be Monday’s post, which would be the second day of the week, since I’m using 7 day weeks that start on Sunday. Confused yet, me too, I think I need to lie down.

Oh, and by the way, this post is part of a 31 day series I’m taking part in. I’ve vowed to shoot ,or at least post some photos, I’ve shot using my nifty 50mm lens over the month of October. You can start reading the series here.

I had planned on writing a long detailed post, but when I sat down to write it, it just didn’t sing to me, ya know what i mean? The whole weekend has kind of been like that, big plans to do lots of stuff. But then…netflix. Or in the case of this weekend…naptime. Bubba, the dogs and I just sort of slept our weekend away. Nothing got done, aside from the dishes, laundry, and the floors, because come on, I live with dogs, you can’t just skip a swiftering or swiffering, whatever the verb tense would be to swifter. But ya know what, I wouldn’t change it, sometimes a quiet weekend is the best kind of weekend. There’s nothing like curling up in your favorite napping spot and taking a little siesta.

Or throwing icy stares at the unfortunate soul who had the nerve to wake you from your blissful slumber.

Love you too Annie-Dog!

Shoot Happy: Rejoice and be glad

Posted on October 19, 2013 by April

So, yesterday was national no beard day and national cupcake day, I’m a little more excited about the latter, but I do like a clean shaven man. There’s something about a beard that makes me wonder what their hiding behind there, plus there’s all the food that gets stuck in them…..Anyways…this post isn’t about beards and cupcakes, although riveting as both those topics may be, I’m here to continue on with my 31 days series about the nifty fifty, or the 50mm lens. You can start reading from the beginning here.

This past week I’ve dedicated to some of my fave florals I’ve shot with my sweet fifty. And since I like to keep this interesting, I’ve added a verse to each photo. How can you enjoy God’s art without thinking on His word as well?

Today, this last day of my series within a series, otherwise known as Florals Week, I’ll be sharing a shot I took of my favorite flower (only flower) growing in my backyard. Rose moss, it’s an extremely resilient plant, and it really has to be to survive my non-watering ways and the dogs trampling ways. This annual has been re-seeding itself and growing every year for the past 3 years. And every year it grows bigger, brighter, and even more beautiful than the year before. All without me tending to it and the dogs knocking over it’s pot on a regular basis. It’s almost like, this little rose moss plant is smiling through it all, like it knows that each day is a gift from God.

Maybe my little rose moss plant realizes something that we haven’t quite grasped. That today is the day that the Lord hath made, that today is what we have been given, this very moment we are living in right now is what the Lord has made. And you know what? We should rejoice in that knowledge, and be glad in this moment that the Lord has given us. Worry, anger, strife, those take the joy away from our moments. It’s a matter of hanging onto the joy, even through all of those things. To live like the lowly rose moss, to smile and prosper even though we haven’t been watered in a week, to blossom and make beautiful flowers, even though we’re knocked down. To rejoice and be glad in this very moment.

Shoot Happy: Becoming Less

Posted on October 18, 2013 by April

While this post will be magically appearing in the morning in readers and inboxes near you, it was written pretty late last night, or early morning. But it’s right now for me…how’s that for a nice time paradox. Did I mention it was late? Anyways, keeping with the monthly post series and this weeks florals series within a series, today I’ll be sharing a shot of some pretty white roses I shot at sunset the other day, with a verse from John.

So, becoming less so that God can become greater. The way I interpret this verse is this; we have to put ourselves, aside, to allow the Lord full reign in our lives. It is only then that He can show His greatness through us.

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