The calm after a serious session of "evening crazies."

After two rather challenging words for the day, it was nice to have a simple concrete subject.  It was also rather nice that I had the time today to dedicate to capturing the "day in the life" of a candle in our dining room window. * A special shoutout to the SkyView app that allowed me... Continue Reading →

13 years since Anna first sat on Joanne's lap mesmerized watching her first Nutcracker. 4 months since Anna learned that her new ballet school offered her an opportunity to dance in the Nutcracker. 2 months since the intense practice schedule for Nutcracker started. 1 week of insane hours of dress rehearsal practices on the real stage. 2... Continue Reading →

Today's word (actually a two word phrase) had me completely stumped. I have no idea what most people think of when they hear "First Friday."  The only thing that comes to mind for me is the various events that communities, civc organizations, or museums hold on the first Friday of each month.  But I'm not... Continue Reading →

It is interesting how each word on this list brings its own challenges.  Yesterday's word was inherently difficult because of its abstract nature.  Today's word provided a different challenge—to avoid the low-hanging fruit. I could have captured a photo of a saint statue in front of practically any Catholic church.  I could have gone to a... Continue Reading →

What a horrific day to try to capture a photograph of a glorious sunrise or sunset.  Everything about the day was dreary.  It was hard to find anything glorious in nature today. So, I created my own version of the "sun over a mountain range."   I will let each of you decide on your own if this is a... Continue Reading →

The notion of focus has recently taken on a new meaning for me.  Anyone who wears glasses or contacts understands what it is like to see the world without it.  We understand the importance of periodically fine-tuning our corrective lenses to see the world in its sharpest form. Not too long ago, however, I noticed... Continue Reading →

The reason that I enjoy the Advent and Lent photo-a-day challenges is that they force me to be actively aware of the world around me.  It was not really a surprise that there is a lot of red in our world.  But when you spend the day looking for the "perfect" image to capture the essence... Continue Reading →

In preparing to decorate our house for Christmas, I needed to first take down all the stuff we put up for the Haloween/harvest season.  This included removing the corn stalks we had tied to the columns on our porch.  Never wanting to waste anything that has any value, I removed the corn cobs from the stalk... Continue Reading →

This is the third year in a row that I will challenge myself to hold to a daily Advent discipline of capturing a photo each day based on a prescribed daily theme. I will again post these photos in three locations: The VMWishes blog site (here) The VMWishes photo gallery The CTS Lutheran Facebook page The rules I... Continue Reading →