Got ya!

I have seen very few hummingbirds in my life. I have never had a feeder that attracted them. The flowers we have now in our yard have attracted some that have been fun to watch. That is if you don't blink your eyes very fast. They are fast and don't sit still for very long, if ever. I have always wanted to get a picture of a hummingbird and while on vacation we stayed a place that had a dozen or more hummingbirds. There were three feeders hanging from the rafters of an old porch and the birds seemed oblivious to people sitting right below them! So I decided to attempt to get a picture of them. After about sixty pictures (thank goodness for a digital camera) and thirty minutes of sitting still, I was able to get one picture that I'm not embarrassed to show.

What's the old saying? "Good things come to those that wait." This picture may be an example of that saying, but more importantly for me is my marriage. I met my husband when I was 34, just about given up hope to find the man of my dreams. In fact I had decided to give up on California guys and move back to Wisconsin "to find myself a good old farm boy and settle down." Of course I had no one in mind, but I was willing to give up the city lifestyle for rural Wisconsin.

Well, God had other things in mind. In the process of closing down the business I worked at in California, I met my husband. The man of my dreams? Not really. Older, balding, conservative, Republican, and divorced. The man of my dreams? Yes really. Compassionate, loving, caring, thoughtful, intelligent and supportive. He's the one that's been encouraging to write again. He's the one that "loves" my pictures and always reminds me to bring my camera when we go out driving.

So it's appropriate that I share today this picture of the hummingbird taken from the porch of the quaint, old hotel that we stayed at on our honeymoon twenty years ago and again last month on our wedding anniversary. The place had hardly changed. I don't think I can say the same for hubby and I. I hope hummingbirds stay the same, elusive to photograph and exciting to catch a good shot!

Moth & Butterfly

Flowers and a butterfly. At least I think it's a butterfly. There are some beautiful moths out there and it can get confusing. According to my friend Webster (as in dictionary) a butterfly has a slender body with four wings. A moth has a stout body. I think the top picture has a butterfly and a moth.

Even though there is not a great amount of difference between a moth and a butterfly, they both fly and have wings and antennae. Think about the differences in our attitude towards one or the other. Historically, are we not prone to dislike moths? They eat our clothes, therefore the need for mothballs. They flutter around just like butterflies, yet they do so at night. Therefore we can't see them as well and they startle us when their wings brush against our hair. Moths are usually not as beautiful, therefore we don't often seek them out to observe or take photos of them.

We treat people the same way, don't we? People with stout bodies and are not as attractive are often overlooked, bypassed, ignored or shunned. People with slender bodies and glamorous colors or clothes are the center of attention. Many times an unattractive person will have a colorful personality. Perhaps as a way to draw attention to themselves. Many times an attractive person will have little personality. Yet they still draw attention to themselves. How do we judge people? How do we want others to judge us? Are you a moth or a butterfly? You're just as important and valuable whichever you are! Be colorful!

Cactus: Any of a large group of plants, mostly native to arid regions of the New World. They are characterized by thick, fleshy often prickly stems that function as leaves and in some species have showy flowers and edible fruit.

I love flowers. I should say I love viewing flowers, taking photos of flowers. I do not have any interest in growing flowers or doing all of that work, just looking at them. I have hundreds of pictures of flowers. As I browse through my pictures, once in awhile a picture will make me spontaneously say, "Oooo!" This was one of them. Some of you may not have the same reaction or even be the slightest interested in a picture of the cactus flower. Isn't that awesome? So many interests that we all have in life? Isn't it awesome that God created so many different plants to have showy flowers?

Today in Sunday School we were discussing the planet Earth and how we are just a small speck on this Earth and our Earth is just a small speck in the Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy is a small speck in the Universe.... and on and on! God made the prickly pear cactus have a showy flower. God took the time to make each of us unique and special. He gave each of us a "showy flower" for all the world to see and admire. For some people, it's their smile. For others, it's their eyes. For others, it's their hair or fingers. Just like there are thousands of varieties of flowers, there thousands of ways that God gave us to be showy flowers.

Don't we often think of ourselves in terms of the stems (of the flowers)? When I was typing the cactus description, "characterized by thick, fleshy often prickly stems," I thought, "That's me!" You can't get much more thick, fleshy AND prickly than me! True or not, God still gives me a showy flower to let the world see beyond my stem. There's a motto out in there, "God doesn't make junk." Do we feel that? Do we believe it? Or do we degrade ourselves? Do we degrade the product that God has made? We are God's most special product, made in His image. We are all the showy flowers that God puts on the "stems" of the world. Show off your "flowers."

Flags

The political party conventions have exposed our flag and it's colors, red, white and blue all over the television screen in the past weeks. An American knows those colors from the time we were little children. We waved a miniature flag at our town's parades as we sit on Daddy's shoulders or hold our Mommy's hand. We were secure with our parents and we are secure in our towns and states. The flag is a symbol of security and freedom for our citizens. The flag is often synonymous with our soldiers, even unto death when a flag is folded and given to family members in honor of the deceased one's serving our country.

This picture is not of the real flags of our country or my adopted state, Texas. They are banners at a kite festival on South Padre Island, an island that is about far south as you can get in the United States. From all corners of our nation, we can see and feel the patriotism that we have for our country. We are so blessed. Do you feel it? God bless America!

I am

It's been one year since I started this blog. It's been quite an experience. I have taken some steps forward and fallen down, too. I have written openly about most of my steps and my falls. I am not sure that I want to or need to continue writing a blog. There is no doubt that I need to write, but not sure if my writing needs to be in this public fashion.

A year ago I thought in many different ways. I acted in many different ways. I was in many ways, a different person. Today, I am...... me. There are all kinds of labels that you or I could put on me.... short, fat, wife, sister, manager, Texan, friendly, lazy, photographer, etc. However, I do not have to be constrained by those labels or feel that my worth is tied up in those labels. I have choices. I have options.

Today, I am ..... feeling very exposed, yet feeling very whole. Today, I am....trying to live and act in the present, instead of re-acting based on past experiences or future expectations. Today, I am.... at peace.

Lazy Lions

Several years back, probably several, several years back.... there was picture/poster that had a majestic looking lion surrounded by books and it's caption was Lazy Lions Lounging in the Local Library. I was reminded of that today when Hubby awoke from a couch-nap, yawned, stretched and proclaimed, "I'm lazy."

Have you ever seen a television documentary on lions? It seems that much of their time is spent sleeping, yawning, and stretching. Granted, the shows have to highlight the chases; the attacks on smaller and slower prey; romping, playing cubs; and the midnight feasts that lions have. But many of their hours are spent sleeping. No wonder I like lions.

How am I like a lion? I'm proud, boastful (or I wouldn't be writing this blog, right?), and definitely "queen of the jungle." I say "queen" because my name, Rayna, means queen or to reign. I "chase" by driving my car fast and sometimes recklessly. I "attack" one small or large project/problem at my job or another, I'm ferocious. I love to "feast," but unlike lions, not at midnight. I like to play around and have a good time as any cub likes to do, and I have "romped" around this country a few times. Last but not least, I like to sleep! Always have, always will.

I think part of my desire to sleep is because I often dream and remember my dreams. It's like watching TV all night, yet you don't know what you're watching until it happens as there are no channel choices in dreamland. As I have written in this blog before, I often dream about work. That is sometimes a "horror" show, other times it's an "eye-opener" of a psycho-drama. Then comes the fun part of trying to psycho-analyze these dreams in the morning. Ha-Ha! Some dreams, I just have to chalk-up to the pizza dinner I had the night before.

Anyway, my original thought as I set myself down to write today was to "talk" about how lazy I've been lately. That's blogging (or writing) for you.... one thought begets another begets another.... soon you have more generations (paragraphs) then you can imagine. Then there are the trains of thoughts with one car after another and when the caboose finally arrives, you're so thankful. Maybe that's my writing, people are thankful when I finally get to the end.....
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. Peace be with you and have lazy day, you deserve it!

How Green is My Valley

I live in "The Valley" as this part of the Rio Grande River area is called. No, I'm not one of those "valley girls" from California, even though I lived in California for three years. I live in the "Tip of Texas," about as far south as you can go in Texas. I have been to the mouth of the Rio Grande River where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Last week I was almost to the head waters of the Rio Grande. The river starts in the Colorado mountains and we saw the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico, near Taos. It's a raging river at that point, full of rapids.

It's interesting to see the changes the river makes in it's make-up as well as what it has done to the land around it. There is a deep gorge that the river runs through at the beginning of it's way down through the state of New Mexico. Just like we humans, that change our nature as we progress through our lives.

I enjoyed driving along a good portion of this river and I could often spot its placement in the desert wilderness by the green trees surrounding the river. Many times, I could not see the river but I knew it was there by the evidence... the trees. Just like we humans, when we display the evidence of our actions even though others may not see our actions.

We also saw the Rio Grande as it surrounded a national park in Texas, Big Bend. Then we drove along a large portion of the river as we made our way back home. Back home to the Rio Grande River Valley. The road trip to New Mexico and western Texas was quite an experience. Yes, I found out that you can truthfully, legally, go 80 miles an hour in western Texas. It was not a myth as I thought. I found out that there are places in Texas that you can travel 55 miles and meet only seven vehicles during that drive (in the middle of the day). And two of those vehicles were the UPS and Fed-Ex trucks... hubby said they should combine their services out there!

I found out there is a LOT of open land with out any houses or people for miles in this country. I found out that there are a LOT of different kinds of cactus in the desert. I found out there are a LOT of miles of country with the roadside fence posts being the taller than most of the living vegetation. And the fence posts look even taller due to turkey vultures setting on them waiting for road kill. After about a week in what I would call brown terrain.... desert, mountains, grasses & roads... it was awesome to me to see trees and greenery again!

I was born and raised in Wisconsin where you can rarely go a mile without seeing a lake, pond or creek, and of course all kinds of trees and evergreens. So, it's quite different for me to experience the opposite. As much as I enjoyed seeing and experiencing new things.... a scorpion in the bathtub that I didn't want to touch, stars in the night sky so bright you felt like you could touch them, seeing so many different kinds of cactus which you should not touch, tall mountains I wish I could touch the tops.... it was wonderful to come back to the green valley where I live.

The different shades of green in the valley's fields of crops, grasses in the yards, palm tree fronds, and flowering bushes are a treat for sore eyes. It's good to be home!