A Ghost Post

The sad thing about all those beautiful fall leaves is they need to be raked up. Well, just in time for Halloween, a very friendly hard working ghost came:



But so that we did not get too spooked, a fun one came too!

Flash Back Friday 138

Bridget, Fall 1999


Bridget, Fall 2009

Red Velvet

Each fall, the leaves on our Japanese Maple which we see through the front window turn such a fiery red and they look so graceful hanging from the branches.



Then sadly, they fall to the ground...



... reminding me of red velvet cake.



Just in time! Guess what next week is? :)

Golden

I looked out the window, as I was recovering from the flu, at the beautiful golden tree out in the back yard. The colours are so gorgeous this week that I know something is wrong when I don't even want to get the camera out. Finally, I did.

Then when Leo came to the backdoor, he was looking golden to me too.

Paintings

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.” S. Horowitz

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

Big Bev Blowing Bubbles

The Queen Mother blows bubbles at the wedding on Kelleys Island. September 2009

I have always wanted to take pictures of bubbles and I have even bought bubbles for this very reason. However, you need a bubble blower, they don't just blow themselves! Big Bev blows bubbles beautifully!!!

Flash Back Friday 137

Sister Paula needed to make the flashback! Christmas, 2004

Love Thursday

Maybe this was the best pic I took at that little wedding on the island...

One Day on Lake Erie

I realized that I have many photos from the Chris & Lindsay's wedding which I would still like to put on this blog. The ceremony was beautiful down by the water. The rain held off for the 1:30pm ceremony and the flowers glowed under a grey sky. Lake Erie was a soft green that day.

Fall Photo Shoot

You know how when every Fall the leaves are changing and you know soon the colour will be gone and it will be winter for a very long time? This is when I feel the need to get out and capture some of it with my camera. Deirdre was up for the adventure, so we headed out Saturday, October 17. Well peops, Fall is late this year! We still have a lot of green left on our trees.

The Flat River reflecting some of the green and gold in Lowell, MI

Well, if the leaves aren't quite ready, I always love to do people shots...

We turned our attention to this milky stream in Fallasburg Park. It was dark enough there in the late afternoon for 5-6 sec. shutter speeds. Fun.




Real fun.

Marathon Man X 4

I'm happy to say that John succeeded in running his 4th marathon on Sunday, that's 26.2 miles. He has been training steadily for months and he ran it in 3:49 - not his best time, but still a good show. The girls and I stopped at a point half way through it on our way to church to cheer him on and get these photos and he met us later at the church potluck. Edward was a race marshal at the 4 Mile mark.

#8!! That's My Nephew!

We really hoped to make it down to Ohio to see a Sammy play in a game this fall, but this fall got away. My sister Andrea sent me these pictures she took of him though and that's the next best thing!

Flash Back Friday 136

Edward, Maria & Bridget, Fall 1999

Something to Blog About

Yep, this past Sunday, Edward came home from college for the first time this year. He ate Sunday dinner with us (hot dogs) and hung out a bit, then went back to school. It was so fun and I needed to take a few photos on his way out to the car because I thought he looked so cute in that hat.

Oh, the Flowers!

I'm done going through the wedding photos now from the Kelleys Island Adventure, and I thought I should post more here. The flowers were just outstanding!!! I think they may have been especially so because of the grey sky. I'm just sayin', every cloud has a silver lining...

The bride's bouquet included this marvelous silver handle which added to the day!

Head in the Clouds

This past Saturday, John & I went up to the 28th story of Riverhouse Condos at Bridgewater Place in downtown G-Rap. They were showing artwork for ArtPrize up there and since it was the last day, we took the opportunity to view the city.

Our lovely city from higher than even the Amway Grand


With my stomach in my throat, I stood as far away possible from the edge to take this self-portrait in the mirrored building. The Van Andel Institute is behind me.

The QUEEN Mum

This past weekend as I was working on edits for Lindsay's wedding, I came across this gorgeous photo of the Queen Mother which I took at the wedding!



I also came across this photo of my mom & dad. I thought some of you might like to see where I came from :)

ArtPrize 2009

Maybe you have heard about ArtPrize which has been taking place in Grand Rapids from September 23 - October 10. ArtPrize has been called a social experiment to reboot the conversation between artist and audiences on a grand scale. The public was able to vote thumbs up or thumbs down on each of the 1262 pieces that were installed downtown in the first round. In the second round, you could cast one vote for one of the artists who made it into the top ten.

For what it's worth, I voted a thumb up on the winner, Open Water by Ray Ortner and also gave it my vote in the final 10. It's a large painting of waves coming right at you that looks like a photograph. I loved it!

Our church was a venue for ArtPrize and we showed pieces by 18 artists. Maria and I were on the committee to help choose the art we wanted to show and John & I spent many hours helping with installation and hosting and organizing volunteers. It has been so much fun! And meeting the artists has been my greatest joy these past weeks.

Here's a peek into what our worship space has looked like:

Click here to see the other photos I took at church.

Flash Back Friday 135

"Oma" Julia Conger Boyer, 1950's

The Flower Girls

What is a wedding without one or two of these???

Ping & Pong's Epic Island Adventure

I have been very lax with blogging here (or busy doing other things) but I do need to go back and tell about one of the side benefits of going to Kelleys Island last weekend. I invited Cathy, aka Pong, to go with me. She's so.much.fun.

We met the Queen Mother & Dad at the ferry and rode the stormy seas over to the island. Friday night, we hung out with my sisters & the family and stayed at Kelleys Island Venture Resort where the wedding was on Saturday afternoon.

After the wedding, Pong picked out a yellow bike to tour the island.



We rode many miles around the island...


and explored the old winery ruins.


We stopped by this old house which could have been taken from Alfred Hitchcock's, The Birds.

The birds were calm at the moment, but we didn't stay long to see what they would do.

Pong watches the island recede into memory.