Photos

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 7

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

One of my favorite windows in the world: My front door.  In the U. S. it’s quite common to have two doors at the entrances: One a normal wooden door and the other a storm/screen door, which usually consists of glass windows which can be converted to screens for warm weather. Some are plain and some are embellished with designs made from different materials — often wrought iron — like mine. When the sun rises every morning, this is the beautiful scene I encounter, and I love the way the storm door windows allow both sun and shadow to paint a picture on my wooden door.

Be sure to leave a comment and link to your own windows.  Thanks to all of you for joining in and opening so many windows into your world for us to share.

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 6

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Madonna and Child window above the main entrance to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in Herrin, Illinois, U. S. A.  The inscription is from the Gospel of Matthew: “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”

Well, here we are in our 6th week of “Thusday’s Windows.” I’m having fun. Hope you are too.  Remember to leave a link to your window photos in the comments section below.

Jake Sprinter’s Sunday Challenge: City

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I certainly agree with the definition of a city as it’s explained on Jake’s site. But I sometimes look at cities — and nations — from another perspective.  I like to concentrate on the ‘heart’ of a city — and that’s its people. So this week, I’m taking Jake’s challenge in that direction and offering a slide show that tells the story of the heart of my city: Herrin, Illinois, U. S. A.

Herrin is a small city, a little over 100 years old.  We have a population of a little under 12,000,  made up of people whose roots can be found in nations all around the world. Even though we are small, we are very aware of the diverse cultures inherent in our citizens, and we embrace that cultural variety with honor and affection

One of the most significant events in which we interact takes place every year on Thanksgiving Day. The city of Herrin has a huge community Thanksgiving Dinner — free to everyone who would like to participate — at our city civic center.  It is not a meal prepared only for poor or indigent people — although most assuredly they are welcomed and appreciated. But this meal is for the entire citizenry of the city — as well as any surrounding neighbors who would like to be involved. (And there are usually scores of those as well.)

A small group of about three people take the responsibility of organizing the event and bringing all the various organizations and individuals together each year to carry on the work of providing the food, the decorations, the entertainment, and the atmosphere. Numerous civic organizations, churches, businesses, families, and individuals invest their time, energy, money, and resources so that everyone in our city can share their hearts on this day that we in the U. S. set aside to express our gratitude for God’s blessings. 

Many people have personal family events that take place that day, of course, so obviously not everyone in the city can take part freely. But a large number of people do participate in the meal. Last year alone, the team cooked and served 56 turkeys (1127 pounds), along with mountains of dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, salad, pie, ice cream, and fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies.

Most of the people come to the civic center and eat — where they are also entertained with live music, activities for the children, and sometimes large screen TV’s for the sports fans. People can also come to get carry-out meals. In addition, we have a team of people who take meals to home-bound residents, on-duty firemen and police officers, and to other citizens who have to work on Thanksgiving Day.

Everyone who comes enjoys the experience immensely.  As a newspaper reporter for many years, I have had the privilege of interviewing hundreds of the people who come to eat and visit, as well as those who volunteer to do the actual work.  Every single person I have interviewed has been lavish in his praise of the event and in his gratitude for how much joy he received personally by taking part in it.

So I’m offering this little slide show of photos that will give you an idea of some of the preparation activities as well as the big dinner itself. These photos give a small peek into the heart of my city, and I hope you enjoy them.

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To take part in Jake’s challenge, hop over to his site at this link:
http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/sunday-post-city/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I took this photo several weeks ago and posted it in its original state.  But I played around with it at the time just for fun, and when this week’s challenge came out, I couldn’t resist using this “adjusted” version for the “Silhouette” theme.

Hometown Autumn

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

Well, I’ve promised a slide show of my Smoky Mountain trip photos, but I don’t have all of them ready yet.  But in the meantime, I walked out my front door a couple days ago, and all this beauty just exploded right before my eyes.  I had to capture it, and now I’m sharing it with you in a slide show from closer to home.

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Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 5

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

This week, I’m sharing two photos because I couldn’t make a decision. Both of these are “borrowed” with permission.  I love these charming windows with the flower pots sitting outside them.  I wish I had a window at my house where I could do this. 

The second window serves as background for this laden table.  The whole picture reminds me so very much of my mom’s and grandmother’s tables on baking days — especially around the holidays. Every time I look at this picture, I am transported to some of the happiest memories of my childhood and adolescence. 

One other thing that ties these two pics together is the curtains at the windows.  Did you notice that they are of exactly the same material and with very similar patters embroidered into them?  I love them.

Be sure to leave a link to your windows in the comment section.  I am really enjoying seeing all of your interesting takes on this theme. Hope you’re enjoying it as much.

IF YOU’RE NEW TO THIS CHALLENGE — Here’s the link to the original post that started it all:  https://sandraconner.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/new-photo-challenge-thursdays-windows/

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge — One Single Flower

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

This photo is my sister’s.
It is of the very first Crocus in her yard last spring.
I think it’s lovely.

 

To join in the challenge, hop over to Cee’s site at this link: http://ceeslifephotographyblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/cees-fun-foto-challenge-one-single-flower/

Photo Challenge: Thursday’s Windows — Week 4

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

This is my favorite church window in my home town.

I’m really enjoying all of these great posts.  They sort if “open a window” into the lives of the people with whom we share this little section of cyberspace.

Your posts do not have to be of “church” windows.  Any window that appeals to you is great. And please feel free to post after Thursday if necessary.  Be sure to leave the link to yours in the comment section.

Jake Sprinter’s Sunday Challenge: ‘Favorite Spot’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I originally came by this photo unexpectedly as part of a set I purchased for use in some publishing projects.  From the first moment I saw it, I fell in love with it — primarily because it so perfectly depicts one of my favorite spots in the whole world.  Most of my adult life I have found that I would rather be alone in the sanctuary of a church visiting with the Lord than almost any other place on earth. A friend of mine once described me as a “church mouse,” because — as he said — I would like to just “live” in a church. Of course, we can pray any place — and I often do.  I learned long ago that God doesn’t care where we are, how we are positioned, what we are wearing, or how accurate our grammar is.  He just wants communication with us.  However, there has always been something so particularly special to me in spending time in a quiet, peaceful church sanctuary.

I remember, during one period of my life, my husband and I lived out in the country very close to a small country church that was more than 100 years old.  It had a very small congregation, and they generally had only two services in it each week.  The rest of the time it was empty. Even though my hubby and I actually belonged to a different church in a nearby town, we knew a great many of the local people who attended this small white frame church,and we knew quite a bit about its history.

At one time, I felt such a strong desire to spend some time in prayer there, and I asked one of the leaders of the congregation if it might be possible for me to do so.  He talked to the other leaders, and, to my amazement, they made me my very own key to the front door and said, “We like the idea that someone wants to spend time praying in our church throughout the week.  You just go and pray there any time you feel like it.” So I did.  In fact, I went almost daily for well over a year, and even after moving from the area, went back periodically for some time.

I cannot adequately describe what I felt there, but there was something so congenial about walking those old wooden floorboards, sitting in those wooden pews that shined from years of loving wear, and kneeling before the ornate wooden pulpit where so many saints had communed with God for over a hundred years. Often as I prayed there, I could feel the prayers of many of those men and women of faith who had called on God in that very place a century before I even knew how to do so.

This picture takes me back to that experience, and I cherish it deeply.

Thank you, Jake, for this challenge that stirred up such blessed memories.

If you’d like to participate in Jake’s challenge, here’s the link:
http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/sunday-post-favorite-spot/

~

Playing Tag with the Moon and Trees

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I couldn’t resist that full moon tonight, so for about an hour I played camera tag with the moon and the trees.  I’ve generally not had much success with photos of the moon with my very old digital camera, but some of these weren’t too bad. The slide show shares the best 6 of the shots.  It was interesting to see how everything changed as the sky grew darker and I captured the moon through different trees.

Slideshow

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A Tree Grows In Herrin, Illinois

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I have a Blue Spruce tree. And I love my Blue Spruce tree very much. Though I am a far cry from the type of person you’d call a “nature worshiper,” I have to admit that I have this deep connection to my tree. For one thing, I have always thought the Blue Spruce was one of the most beautiful trees on the planet, and I used to think that it was unlikely I would ever have one in my own yard. But about 12 years ago, shortly after my husband and I moved into my current home, a cousin asked me if I’d like to have a Blue Spruce.

It seems that this little tree – not much more than a baby, at 5 feet tall – was having a very hard time of it in his yard because it was sitting in an old barrel, beneath several other trees, which were robbing it of sun and seriously stunting its growth. It was leaning to one side, trying to stay alive, but my cousin said it wouldn’t last if he didn’t get it out of the barrel and give it a home in deep soil, with plenty of sunshine and moisture.

I jumped at the chance to have my own Blue Spruce, and I believed that, through care and a lot of prayer (I always pray for my pets and my plants), I could get it back to a state of good health. I was especially encouraged to learn that when he went to pick up the barrel and transfer it to my yard, he could not get the barrel to budge. Upon further investigation, he found that this persistent Blue Spruce had forced its roots down between some very small cracks in the bottom of the barrel and rooted itself in the solid ground, determined to live and grow.

So we planted it in the middle of my front yard, drove a metal stake into the yard against its trunk, and fastened it to that stake so that it would help it to grow straight again. It was barely 5 feet tall, and two people could reach around its circumference and touch hands. 12 years and much prayer later (due to drought, bagworms, and a couple big dogs who kept mistaking it for their bathroom), it is thriving. Standing straight and strong, it now reaches almost 20 feet into the air and would require about 7 people to encircle it if they wanted to touch hands. I used to decorate it every year at Christmas, but now it would take a truck with a bucket ladder to do the job.

I guess you could say that I have a love affair with this tree. And every spring, I get excited just thinking about how it will again put out thousands of little pods on the end of each branch and push from those pods the most delightful bright green fluffs which will become the new leaves for that year. I look forward to the experience every year, and each year I am thrilled all over again as I watch the brand new life spring forth and totally renew this giant friend. Part of that thrill, of course, is not just because my tree is growing. But that bursting forth of new life from my tree represents all the new life that God gives us each year in nature – and the new life He offers each of us through Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

This year, I got the bright idea that I would take pictures and record each step in the process of this renewal of life in my Spruce tree. And since WordPress so conveniently offers a slide show apparatus on our blogs, I have put those pictures into a slide show in order to share the beauty and the thrill with everyone who visits here. Enjoy.

Slideshow

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AZALEAS ABOUNDING!

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

This abundant exhibition of beauty is truly a gift from God.  I am blessed to be surrounded by all of it in my yard this year — particularly since I am not much of a gardener or grounds-keeper. I thought I’d share the beauty with my readers in this little slide show.  Depending on the size of your screen, the photos may not come out very large in the slide show, but there are just too many to post as separate pictures. Hope you enjoy them.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: ‘Down’

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I took this photo while riding with my sister as she took her very first flying lesson.  I went along, carrying my camera and two of hers, in order to document the event for posterity. Although flying in large jets does not make me dizzy at all, flying in this tiny three-seater put my head on a merry-go-round. The only time I could keep it settled was when I looked down, so I concentrated on taking a lot of pictures of the ground. This photo is my favorite.  It is a section of my home town, and when I enlarge it, I can actually pick out my house.