An active city square. Great place for a little street photography.

Aww…some Monday, a New Camera

The camera on the right, or one similar, has been responsibile for over 75% of the photos posted on this site over the last 10 years. The current model is a Nikon D500 and my favorite walking around lens is the Tamron 24-70mm making the combo weigh in at 4lbs., 2 oz. When I photograph high school football or soccer, I place a Tamron 70-200 mm lens on the body and the weight balloons to 5 or 6 pounds. This combo has been to Alaska, Hawaii, Texas Hill Country, South Carolina, and Georgia, just to name a few places.

The little camera on the left is a new acquisition. I bought if from a local resident on Facebook Market place. It is a Canon M50 mirrorless camera and with it’s 15-45mm lens, it weighs in at 1lb, 3oz. For future travel I have decided to lighten my load and shrink my camera bag. Although the Canon is much smaller, it is still has interchangable lenses, electronic viewfinder, flash attachment and all the things you will find on a full size DSLR camera. I still have a couple of lenses that I need to acquire, but I am certainly looking forward to the smaller package when we travel. Both cameras will shoot video. In fact the little Canon may be the most popular camera in the world for YouTube creators, but I plan to stick with traditional photography. Here is what this little jewel is capable of capturing with the standard kit lens.

Not to worry. I have no intention of abandoning my bigger camera and lenses. Sports, portraits, family photo shoots, Christmas stuff will still call for the big camera to do it’s thing, but when I want to travel light, the little Canon will get the call.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The theme this week at 4M is anything and everything about birds. Let’s face it, one could build a whole playlist by the Eagles, the Byrds, or the Black Crows. Songs about birds are pretty easy to come by, so let’s see what we can find.

First up is a song that I am pretty sure will be new to you. It’s not a new song, I just don’t recall it ever making the country charts. Here is Dwight Yoakam with V’s of Birds.

Everybody wants to Fly like an Eagle!

Well, if you can’t fly like an eagle, maybe you were cut out to be a Rockin’ Robin!

Have a blessed week!

Christmas lights going up on the town square. Ho, ho, ho!

Aww…some Mondays

It’s Football Friday night!!! Covid kept me from going to any games last year, so it’s been two years since I have photographed a game. Our local team played their first conference game so my wife and I decided to go to our second game of the season. It was Homecoming for our opponent, so the stands were full. I love the high school atmosphere.

We are the visitors in the white uniforms and we spoiled the homecoming by a score of 41-21.

It was our running game that proved to be the difference maker Friday night.

The running game is won in the trenches and we have a very good and big offensive line.

TOUCHDOWN!

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This week the theme at 4M is to honor National Scarf Day – Songs that express your fashion style or songs about being wrapped up in something physically or emotionally. Hmm… what to do, what to do. While this may not be my fashion style, music taste, nor dance , it worked for MC Hammer. U Can’t Touch This.

I have been wrapped up in something physically and emotionally for 47 years…My Girl! In May 2022 we will celebrate our 48th anniversary.

I’ve been wrapped up in another relationship for over 60 years with my best friend. What a friend We Have in Jesus. Have a blessed week.

Somebody’s already dressed for Halloween. A spider going as a skull. How cool is that?

Aww Mondays

This lovely creature was on our back fence the other day. There was another one with a white body and almost burgundy accents in the wings. I never did capture an image of it, but I will be on the lookout for it the next couple of weeks.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The theme this week at 4W is work. Actually it is to acknowledge National Boss/Employee Exchange Day. The concept is for a boss and employee exchange positions for a day to appreciate the workload of both positions. I know that Walmart used to send staff from the home office into the stores once a year to get a better idea of all the things that can go right or wrong in a store on any given day.

It will come as no surprise that most working songs are going to come from Country music. Yes, rock/pop music has their share of working tunes but country music is where the story is told. I loved my professions and always worked with great people but I know that some folks get stuck in a position that just makes them miserable. They can’t wait till the day they can tell their employer to “Take This Job and Shove It”.

Hard to believe it’s been seven years since we cruised Alaska. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Aww Mondays

This past week we spent a few days with my cousins at a vacation home on Bull Shoals Lake, outside of Branson, MO. Two young foxes made regular appearances morning and evening looking for snacks. It was apparent that they were seasoned veterans and were used to being fed by visitors. Both would get within inches of you to pick up a snack. No photo does them justice. They are exquisite little creatures.

The home overlooks Bull Shoals lake, which is the third lake in the White River chain of lakes between Arkansas and Missouri. We live close to Beaver Lake, Taneycomo runs through Branson, Bull Shoals is just east of Branson and Norfork is the last lake in the chain on the eastern edge of Arkansas/Missouri. One spot on the patio seemed especially suited to watching the sunrise with your favorite cup of coffee.

At the end of the same patio this little spot seemed perfect to end the day with a little dessert and another cup of coffee.

Breakfast and dinner were always visited by two locals that had no fear of humans. I am sure they have already welcomed the next set of visitors.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

The theme at 4M this week is free choice. The last time we had a free choice week I picked gospel music and featured some relatively new music. The truth is, I love the hymns of the church and I miss having them as a part of the worship service. Nearly all churches today have incorporated the praise and worship songs and abandoned the traditional hymns. Personally I like both but I do miss the days when hymns rang out from every church in town on Sunday morning. Over the years country music stars have been famous for producing two albums outside of their mainstream music. They will record a Christmas album and an inspirational album and these two albums will eventually out sell all of their other recordings because the music is timeless. So here are a few of my favorites.

As a teen, I attended church camp in Oklahoma. Falls Creek was the largest Southern Baptist camp in the world and each week, for six weeks, over 7,000 junior high and high school students descended on this camp to study God’s Word, hear some great preaching and sing beautiful hymns. Okay, so we went to meet other teens of the opposite sex and play pranks on one another. Still we heard great preaching and sang great songs. Victory in Jesus was an anthem at Falls Creek.

At an early age I learned that I was not going to heaven based on my good works. In fact Scripture specifically tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” There is only one way we will spend eternity in paradise with our Creator and that is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Our sin requires a sacrifice and that sacrifice is required to be perfectly sinless. The only one to meet that criteria is Christ, so “Nothing But the Blood” will do.

The choice is ours. God is not going to drag anyone, kicking and screaming, into His paradise. We must make the choice to accept Christ as our Savior. God does not intimidate us with His call to salvation. He speaks Softly and Tenderly. Have a blessed week.