The Substitute

I had my first day of substitute teaching today. Definitely an adventure.

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
~ Albert Einstein

Summertime Heat

It's only going to be 106 today with a chance of thunderstorms...

If you're going through hell, keep going.
~ Winston Churchill

Boiling Eggs

There is always a best way of doing everything, if it be to boil an egg.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lunar Eclipse

During...

and After...

You can only come to the morning through the shadows.
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Old and New Friends

I was able to see my best friend from high school today. It has been a long time. She has a new baby - at least new to me. He has the best smile I've seen in a long time.

If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.
~ Vincent Van Gogh

Mail

The post office has a great charm at one point of our lives. When you have lived to my age, you will begin to think letters are never worth going through the rain for.
~ Jane Austen

Friends

I met up with my friend Carol today in Corona. She was here with her family from Oregon for a week and we were able to squeeze in some time together. It was so good to see her even if it was only for a couple of hours.

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?
~ Henry David Thoreau

Old Fruit

As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit.
~ Seneca

Leather

Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
~ Emo Philips

Ents

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.
~ J.R.R Tolkien

The Collection

We say that a girl with her doll anticipates the mother. It is more true, perhaps, that most mothers are still but children with playthings.
~ Francis Herbert Bradley

Patterns

Went shopping for new shoes and a new backpack today for B. I had to get a photo since they went together so well.

If I nurture the newness while I have it, perhaps, I won't lose it — at least not for something less. And if I nurture what I keep, perhaps, I won't miss what I have lost.
~ Jan Denise

The Road Home

Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going to fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
~ Eddie Cantor

Lines

I took so many photos today it was hard to pick just one to post. I put the rest on flickr if you want to take a look.

Life forms illogical patterns. It is haphazard and full of beauties which I try to catch as they fly by, for who knows whether any of them will ever return?
~ Margot Fonteyn

Running in Utah

I absolutely love running in Utah because: my feet rarely have to touch pavement, I'm in a higher altitude so the air feels fresher, the sunrises are beautiful, and I don't hear any traffic. It is also a great place for photos. :-) I found a new trail today and saw a lot of blue jays and jackrabbits. It was a nice morning.

This photo is dedicated to my favorite podcaster - Steve Runner. Make sure you check him out if you like to run.

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.
~ George Sheehan

Splendor

That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind.
~ William Wordsworth

Strange

The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.
~ Moliere

Light

We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light.
~ Earl Nightingale

Thru the Viewfinder

Here is another link (fixed) to my etsy shop: Etsy
And more experiments with my new camera. I built a contraption out of a cereal box to block the glare and then focus my digital camera on the viewfinder of the Argus. I wish it was as easy as it sounds!

One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photos out of focus are an experimentation, one hundred photos out of focus are a style.
~ Author Unknown

Lake Arrowhead

Men go back to the mountains, as they go back to sailing ships at sea, because in the mountains and on the sea they must face up.
~ Henry Thoreau

Playstation

Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end.
~ Anonymous

Driving

This is a summer of new beginnings. First, I sign up B for school, now E gets his permit. Time is moving along...

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.
~ Dave Barry

My New Camera

New to me, anyway. I bought if from ebay for about $5. You can use these old cameras for a process called "Through the Viewfinder". There are some great examples on flickr if you want to check them out.


And here is one that I took yesterday of the dog:



They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
~ Andy Warhol

Wicked

B and I got to see Wicked tonight. We just got home a few minutes ago so I just missed the midnight deadline for the first time this year. It was well worth it though. It was a fantastic show - we both absolutely loved it. Now it's time for bed...

It's good to see me, isn't it? No need to answer, that was rhetorical.
~ Glinda

Zen 2

The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.
~ Robert M. Pirsig

Diagonal

I spent most of the weekend putting things onto Etsy. Altho I did take this photo today, my dd was not happy that it was of her again. Here is the link to my shop: nicoleraephotos.etsy.com

I'm just holding up mirrors at interesting places, I'm trying to capture life at strange angles.
~ Dar Williams

Trails

I went to the botanical gardens today. It was so nice to walk around in the silence with no one else around.

Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.
~ Edith Wharton

Pier One Design

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.
~ Stella Adler

Feet

If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do all the rest have to drown too?
~ Steven Wright

Buy Handmade...

These will hopefully be going up on Etsy by the end of this week.

Etsy is an online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade. It was built by artists, for artists - and for those consumers conscious of the true value of handmade goods and their creators. Together, our intention is to create viable alternatives to ecologically unfriendly, mass-produced objects in the world's marketplace, and give all independent artists the technology they need to make a living, making things. Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice.
BUY, SELL, AND LIVE HANDMADE
~ founders of Etsy.com