Hurray for Christmas - Fantasy in Lights (Photography Class)

Let me start out with I am not a photographer.  When my parents retired, they both took up photography (you should check out their pictures, http://lakeseminolephotography.com/, they ROCK!!) and love it.  Last year, they went up to Callaway Gardens' Fantasy in Lights photography workshop and had such a great time, they wanted to go back.  Callaway Gardens also has lots of geocaches and so my parents invited me to their trip this year!  YAY!  I also went to the photography workshop (it was for 'advanced' photographers so I sat in between my parents and asked zero questions and smiled and nodded like I totally knew what was going on...which most of the time I did not).
An example of by noobiness - my remote clicker got stuck one time and this was my 'shot'!

Another example - I couldn't put the camera on the tripod and had to ask my dad for help.  #fail

After about an hour in the classroom, we went over to the Gardens for a preview of the Fantasy in Lights, stopping at many of the scenes to take pictures.  This was the point of the class, to go through the show before it opened to the masses so we could stop and take pictures without spectators/cars/trolleys getting in the way.  Truth be told, at first I was too nervous and wasn't having a blast, but once I figured out a couple of kinks, I had a GREAT time!
In person, you only see one of the kites at a time (they blink back and forth), but slowing down the ISO and increasing my aperture (I have really no idea what I just said or if I even said it correctly!) I was able to capture all the kites in one shot (no photoshopping required!).

Callaway has introduced the LED lights to its displays, which look awesome in person but are a bit hard to shoot.  The nutcrackers are all LED.

Santa's workshop is also LED now.  I love the purple LED lights (let's face it, a snake could be purple and I would like it)!

As part of the tour, some of the trees around the park/gardens are lit up (either lights on the trees or a colored spotlight aimed at the trees).  This shot is actually two trees!  When you see the trees in person, you don't see the colors you see in the photograph.

And then there are swans.  To be honest, I am not sure what swans have to do with Christmas, but it is pretty neat to see their reflection in the water.

Even after only 1 hour of instruction, I did learn a lot about photography and the camera (probably mostly from my parents showing my how to use the camera).  And I learned that though I am not an avid photographer, I really enjoy the Photoshop part!  :)

I See Your True Colors, Shining Through!

Another great surprise (well, not really a surprise as we knew it was coming so I am not sure why I wrote surprise) in going to Callaway Gardens in the fall is the changing of the colors.  The colors were magnificent and amazing!

And I really have nothing to add, the colors speak for themselves!

Seeing the falls colors makes me now want to go to Callaway in the spring to see the azaleas.

He Can Call Me a Flower If He Wants To!

Of course, you cannot go to Callaway Gardens without taking in the beauty of the flowers.  Even in November, there are quite a few flowers in bloom (of course that is partly due to climate control, but whatever!).  Between the Butterfly Center, the Sibley Horticultural Center, the fall flowers, and of course the fall tree colors (reds, yellows, and oranges oh my!), Callaway was FULL of color!

I had to take a picture of these mums and their colors!  Even nature loves Florida State!  :)

This trip was technically my 3rd time to Callaway, though the first time was just a short up and back trip about 6 years ago to see the Fantasy in Lights and the second trip was a Geocaching day trip when we stopped outside Callaway's Country Store (amazing speckled grits!) for a cache and then went on to FDR and other state parks.  So, even though this was my 3rd trip, it was really the first time I had the opportunity to enjoy everything Callaway has to offer.  We visited just about everything in the Gardens (well, we didn't play golf), but I am already excited about my next trip back.  I feel as though I am suffering from sensory overload and need to go back and see everything again!

These shots were taken in the Sibley Horticultural Center. 

Can you tell I like purple-esque flowers?  Just keep reading.  :)  Side note:  God is so good!  He so often pours down blessings upon us just to display His love for us!  It was supposed to rain Tuesday night (during the photography class), but it turned out to be a beautiful night with no rain.  Then, it was supposed to rain all day on Wednesday, but we were able to go to Callaway and the Sibley Center and even geocache all morning with no rain!

Mum's the word!

I think this is some sort of cactus thing?  Maybe?  I don't know.  All I know is that it was pretty!

And there are still more flowers and pictures (BUTTERFLIES!  CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!  FALL COLORS!!  OH MY!!) to come!

Whoooo Liked Callaway Gardens? Me!!

This week, I went with my parents to Callaway Gardens and FD Roosevelt State Park (in Georgia).  My parents wanted to participate in a photography workshop (an opportunity to photograph Callaway Garden's Fantasy in Lights) and I wanted a vacation!  I warn you, there will be quite a few posts about this trip as my parents let me borrow one of their cameras for this trip and I had lots o' fun!

We drove up on Monday morning, and though the photography workshop was not until Tuesday evening, we spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday in the Gardens.  On Tuesday morning, we attended the Birds of Prey demonstration and had a great time.  We were pretty much all by ourselves in the ampitheatre until a class of about 7 year old ran down at about 3 minutes before the show began.  I'm not going to lie, I was a bit wary about them being there at first but it was a lot of fun!  Best part (read: not the best part), one of the parents sat beside me and asked which one was my kid!!

The first bird of prey was a Red Tailed Hawk.  Little did I know that these hawks are (well maybe were) referred to as chicken-hawks (like from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons).  Our curator for the day informed us of this fun fact, though I think this tidbit of information was lost on the 7 year olds who probably have never heard of Foghorn Legorn!  What a sad, sad world.

After the Red Tailed Hawk (I can't remember her name, it was like Marina or Manola or Malina...oh that is what it is!  Malina! [stream of consciousness writing JUST happened]), we were introduced to Olive the Barred Owl.  Olive was absolutely beautiful!  I felt like she was staring into my soul with those black beady eyes!!

The curator made a joke about what owls eat, "Owls eat small rodents, mice, squirrels, small children, rats, etc..." and one of the little girls piped up and was like "wait, what!"  It was cute!

After Olive, we were introduced to a couple of free flight birds.  The first was a Great Horned Owl (I really can't remember their names, I was too enthralled with watching them fly through the crowd).

During the presentation of the Great Horned Owl, my most memorable part of the trip happened.  She (maybe it was a he, but I don't think so), flew in for a treat (and I don't mean peanut butter cup) and spotted an Eagle that WAY WAY off; the poor owl freaked out.  When I say freaked, I mean FREAKED!  Look at the picture above...normal Owl, and look at the picture below....

Her eyes constricted and she blew up; I think she grew about 3 sizes bigger (it reminded me of a cat the way she crouched into a defensive position).  The poor thing was so scared that the curator had to come and bribe her off the stump and coax her back to her home.  It was a truly amazing event, as none of us even saw the Eagle but the Owl saw it immediately!

The last bird was a Harris Hawk.  This kind of hawk is not found in this area of the US (it is a desert bird).  She also performed some theatrics for us, but nothing like the poor Great Horned Owl.  This is a beautiful bird, with such clean lines and so sleek.  Crazy part was, she looked tiny compared to the Red Tailed Hawk.

More to follow as we had a great week!

Oh and for those inquiring about where Allie the dog was, she stayed in the cabin during the bird show; if she attended, she may have become part of the show (in a very bad way)!

What Is It?

This Saturday, at early thirty for a Saturday especially when I am on official vacation, my dad and I participated in the church's (Lake Seminole Baptist Church) Second Harvest Manna Drop.  My mother was a bit under the weather so we made her stay home.  This was the 4th or 5th one this year (ish) at the church and probably the last for the year; we usually have them about once a quarter.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and in about a hour and a half, we provided 108 meals to families in Seminole County, Georgia.  Praise God, we were able to provide enough meals to all the families there and we didn't have to turn anyone away (we pretty much ran out of food at the end)!

What is a manna drop you ask?  Well, to drop some knowledge on you, when the Israelites fled Egypt they left with no food or water, and there were a lot of people.  After complaining, basically saying they would have preferred to be slaves in Egypt rather than be out in the desert with no food, God provided!  God gave the Israelites manna every morning (like dew on the ground) to collect and eat.  The Israelites could only gather what they could eat for the day and the rest would disappear (like frost) until the next morning (or go bad if they did collect it).  The term 'manna' comes from the Israelites asking "what is it"; manna means what is it.

Anyway, these manna drops at church enable us to serve God by serving others.  Today we put together 108 meals (which is about maybe a weeks worth of food for a family, give or take).  It is a great opportunity to serve the community and meet people's needs both physically (with food) and also emotionally/mentally/spiritually through praying over them and their needs and also talking to them about God (if the opportunity presents itself).

For me, these manna drops have been a blessing for me in allowing me to serve G0d, putting into practice Matthew 25:34-40.  I don't know how many people have joined a church because of these manna drops, but I know that people see Christ in our actions and the Second Harvest Manna Drops are an amazing opportunity to see God's love through His children's actions.

A Secret and Christmas

What a great weekend!  After getting back from Atlanta (and my third trip to Mary Macs Team Room...DELICIOUS!) I went up to my parents to hang with them, pick up Allie the dog, and go to Secret Church.  What is Secret Church you may ask.  About twice a year, David Platt at Brook Hills Church (in Birmingham, AL) host a 6 hour(ish) simulcast event, expeditiously (to say the least!) addressing a variety of topics.  This Friday's Secret Church was about "Family, Marriage, Sex, and the Bible."  These Secret Church sessions are based on the secret churches that meet all over the world, that have to meet in secret due to the persecution Christians face in many countries.  The simulcast Secret Churches are meant to emulate the bible studies in the worldwide secret churches (covering material quickly to then review and apply in homes, with friends, at work).  It was an amazing experience.  The time flew by as we were engrossed in God's word (though full disclosure: at about midnight, I started getting twitchy and tired and we still had another almost 2 hours!).

I am excited to go back through the study guide and I am also excited about the next Secret Church (Good Friday 2012).

On Saturday, my mom and I went antiquing in Havana and then went up to the church to put together boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  What a great experience!  6 of us put together 58 boxes; box contents included clothes, scarves, toys, crayons, markers, toothpaste, toothbrush, and candy.  I totally felt like Santa Claus!  I only wish I could be there when the kids (all over the world) open the boxes!  I am now so ready for Christmas!

And then there was the football game!  I never could decide whether to cheer for Alabama or LSU so I just enjoyed the game (and maybe fell asleep right before the winning field goal was kicked!).

Great weekend...hated to see it end!

Books from October - Tebow, Germany, and High Places

Ever since I purchased my Kindle in August 2010, I have become quite a reading machine (if I do say so myself).  About January of this year (2011 [for when I am taking a trip down memory lane in 2031]) I had to make myself temper my fiction reading with some non-fiction.  Then, in about March 2011 (again, for posterity) I started focusing on Jesus-centric reading (Francis Chan, Steven Furtick, etc).  Nowadays, I have to force myself to finish ONE book before I start another (which is so much easier in theory than in application).  Anyways, all of that said as background to provide a brief update on the books I read in October (caveat:  I have never been good at book reviews.  I am not eloquent or introspective.  I am not even sure why I am writing a book review now...).

Hinds Feet on High Places

I loved this book.  Christ's love and patience and plan for us (and His walk with us) and the challenges we face in our Christian walk is woven in with a tale of Much-Afraid and her journey to transform her feet to be like hind's feet and journey to the high places.  Though it took a couple of chapters to get used to the naming conventions Hannah Hurnard uses, I couldn't put the book down.  I am all too often Much-Afraid and anxiously await my hinds feet to get me to the high places.  I call out to the Shepard quite often and thankfully and gratefully he is there.  I will be re-reading this book before the end of the year; as much as it is a tale, the story is challenging and has applicability to my life everyday.  It reminds me so much of C.S. Lewis but is easier to read and understand the analogies and metaphors.

In the Garden of Beasts:  Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

After reading Unbroken, I was looking forward to this book as I hoped to continue my journey of reading about the heroes of World War II and their stories.  However, as powerful as Unbroken was, In the  Garden of Beasts was not (for me).  It definitely read like a history book and in many cases I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The story is eye-opening, as it showed a different side of  Berlin  (not that I have been to Berlin, but did study WWII in college during my history classes [history major here]), but I can't say I really took anything away from it (other than a history lesson).  While I would recommend Unbroken to anyone and everyone, I would not recommend In the Garden of Beasts to everyone.

Through My Eyes

Let me start with I like Tim Tebow.  It started with a picture of him in Thailand with one of my friend's from high school little girl (click here for that picture [it is awesome!] http://www.aolnews.com/2008/07/10/tim-tebow/).  I admire his outspoken testimony and his passion in both his walk with Christ and on the football field (that kind of hurts to say as I am a 'I bleed garnet and gold' FSU fan).  I didn't even laugh with my friends when Tim Tebow cried when the Gators lost the SEC championship in 2009.  All that to say, I did not love his book.  Though his testimony is inspiring and challenges me in not only my actions but in my words and thoughts, to me, all too often (in the book) his passion comes across as arrogance (my parents sometimes refer to this as 'humble bragging').  Also, I don't care about football stats.  Running however number of yards in a game and passing for however many yards goes in one eye and out the other (the reading equivalent of 'in one ear and out the other').  I think that as Tim Tebow gets older, his writing will evolve and improve (I do hope he continues writing).  I would love to hear more about his trips overseas (such as the Philippines) and his foundation.  I loved the chapters about his work with the hospital in Gainesville.  These are the kind of things that inspire me, not how much one can benchpress or negative comments about FSU.