The End of 2013 - To Do Things I've Never Done

This year I wanted to do things I had never done.  It is not a like a mid-life crisis but more like life is too short to not to live to the fullest. 

1) I have always wanted to see a movie on Christmas Day.  Christmas Day is usually spent exhausted or running from place to place.  Why not a movie?? Les Miserable was so awesome we saw it 7 times at the theater!  See the movie let to some interesting conversation and made me miss college sitting around and discussing literature. 

2) Start saying no more often.  This was not well received by most but it's just to hard to accept every single invitation and go places you really do not want to be.  I stuck to it. I am too old and don't have the energy to be places that are not positive.   

The power of no.  I realize as I start to age and things start breaking down on my body I am running out of time.  Oh, I am not in imminent throws of death but hey life is getting shorter and I want to make the most of it.  I have a bucket list.  Well sort of an imaginary one that I make up as I go along but hey it works for me.  I wanted to give thought and prayer to all my decisions on how I spend my time which meant I had to say, no.  This was not well received.  Mike described it like this, if movie stars are judged by their twitter feed whether good or bad mine was off the charts because the feeds were a buzzing.  No, I am not mad, sad, depressed, distressed or having marital trouble and yes, I still like/love and want to be around you.  It's just not about you any more.  I just do not want to try and do it all anymore only to come to the realization I was not doing anything well and no one was happy because it was not enough.  Age may have given me that wisdom but I can't do it all and trying made me feel like a failure.  So, I realized when I said, yes, to something out of guilt, really I was saying no to something I really wanted to do.  Taking back my life has not been easy but far more rewarding than I am imagined.  I had to learn I am not responsible for others reaction to my decision or their harsh judgment.  All, I can do is graciously decline and move on. 

3)  A picture a month.  I hope I can take our photo once everyone month and get it on the wall.  We shall see!  Almost but not quiet especially when trying to complete a picture a week!

4)  The Pink Lady Slipper and elusive orchid found in the Great Smokey Mountains where they thrive but cannot be transplanted.  The are a protective plant and their whereabouts are often hard to find.  We managed to find a beautiful spread hidden out of side.  It was amazing even if it did rain and rain and rain some more.  The pink one was actually moving from all the energy it used to try and open. 

5)  The yellow lady slipper was the cherry on the sundae.  A yummy find!

6) Ahhhh Hawaii, the bucket list was long.  I wanted to surf and it was just as thrilling as I thought it would be and on my anniversary. 

7) Eat at Roy's - check (been there done that but still yummy and going on the list!)

8)Four-wheeling - check

9)Zip lining never done that before - check

10) Waipo Valley- check

11)  Find new local places to eat, Big Island Grill (Loco Moco) Café Pesto!  - check and check

12) Paddling - check

13) I was not looking to add a new camera to new things list but Pele is an angry goddess.  Bring your offering or she will take one from you.

14)  Saw an island being formed, with lava

15) Read a book!  A real book with pages. 

16) Eat new places.  Chuy's a happy accident.  I was drawn by the pink cheesy building with dinosaurs on the top.  This is not a place I would have been drawn to normally but hey never been there or done that till month of July and it was AWESOME!

17) Jet ski with a GoPro it was amazing!

18) Said, yes to a midnight milkshake run to Sonic.  Ok, so it was 8:50 am but when 9:00 is your bed time it feel like midnight.  We sat in the car and watched our vacation pictures on my phone and laughed, talked and remembered. 

19) Peanut butter bacon milkshake!  Yuck!

20) Eat new places at Disney (Sanna)

21) EPCOT food and wine

22) Photo with Daisy and Donald Duck

23) Dress up at like Duck Dynasty at a Halloween Party.

24) Homemade hot chocolate, why not!

25) Learn to make bread and not too bad at it. 

26) Homemade eggnog!

27) GoPro

The year 2013 saw the end of the puppy with the softest ears in town, Mac.  His death was unexpected, quick and peaceful and though I know it is was his time to go it still hurts my heart to think about him.  I had him since he was 8 weeks old, and in the 11 years I had him, I never had a bite of food I did not share, go to the bathroom (aka head scratcher) by myself or sleep by myself.  He slept on his dog bed by my side of the bed since he was about a year old.  He snored, had puppy dreams and clawed the wall when he twitched in his sleep and he could tell time especially breakfast.  Mac did not spring forward or fall back and he did not care how you felt or what the weather was like outside, get up and feed him no later than 7:00am or he would pace the room and sigh constantly.  You could not fake sleep.  He did not buy that routine!  I miss my "Mac" a roni!

Besides Mac, I lived as exciting as I could for 2013 and it was mostly great! 

I don't know what 2014 will bring! 






 

The End Week 36

Week 35 The Missing Puppy

Week 34 Mac a roni

"Mac" a roni!  I still cannot believe you're gone.  You were only 11 years old.  The vet assured me you both should live to be 15 years old with good care.  I was sure we had more time it never occurred to me you would not live much longer.

This is exactly how you looked when you died.  Your ears were up, eyes half open and a the "I am over you look."  I still sniff you bed and listen for you to chase squirrels in your dreams at night with your toe nails hitting the wall.  I miss your puppy dreams and I miss you. 

Week 33 New Toys

Photographers can never have enough toys and this is my new toy.  A special filter that goes on the front of my lens and it is amazing!

Week 32 Goodbye Mac

"Mac"adamia Nut McPherson 08/09/2002 - 11/26/2013.  One day I will write his story but for now it is too painful. 

Week 31 Fall

A cemetery is the best place to spend fall.  No matter how hard those leaves try to hang on to their last bit of life the effort will be futile they will fall off and die.  However, in the spring their will be a glorious resurrection and new life.  It will be a great day. 

Week 30 - Ocoee

I am humbled trying to recreate what my eye can see but my camera cannot.  I desperately try to  capture the millions of color from the paint brush of God and I often feel inadequate knowing no matter how much money I spend I will never be as good or come close to the perfection of the Master Painter. 

Week 29 - Feeling a Little..

Some weeks you just feel a little of everything.....

Week 28 Mid week Terror

Just a little mid week scare. It's all good!

 

Week 27 Drop Dead Gorgeous

This is Lady Renata comes out of the Haunted Mansion at Halloween time to tell the story of how she died.  She is awesome and one my most favorite characters ever! 

Week 26 Fall in the Castle

 

What time of year is it?  We went to the Crystal Palace for breakfast and they let you in early and can walk around the square.  It was great to enjoy the park with low crowds.

Week 26 Magic Happens

Always like to visit the man behind the magic when I visit WDW.

Week 25 Let the Memories Begin

What is missing from this photo?  PEOPLE!  mwahahahah!  Took a little McPherson magic to knock this off my bucket list but I had a plan and it worked!

Week 24 - A Magical Morning

Being stuck on the monorail into the Magic Kingdom on the first day of your vacation is not always a bad thing sometimes it's down right magical.

Week 23 A New Camera And A Hurt Paw!

When you have a new camera and a hurt paw you go where your paw will take you and that is not far.  So, a nice level cemetery will do.  Unfortunately, as level as they look, they are NOT at all level.  They are full of holes, rocks and other things to send pain shooting through your foot!  You got to suffer for you art if you want to be successful. 

Week 22 Dahlia shooting

My photography has been seriously limited due to my foot but I was able to get out a do a little shooting. It was certainly not pain free but I never notice pain or cold or uncomfortable situations when shooting. 

 

Week 21 Imperfect Beauty

Calla lilies are my favorite flower.  In life, they are symbolic of purity and adorn many a bride's bouquet, including mine.  In death, they are representative of the resurrection.  I have never seen anything like this in a cemetery.  Their beauty is imperfect and fragile as in life and death.

Week 20 In the presence of amazing

On rare, and I mean rare occasions, I get the opportunity to experience something truly amazing.  The subject is magnificent, the light is perfect, the spot the equipment and I still screw it up.   A little less than perfect but still an amazing experience.

Week 19 New Camera

When you get a new camera what is the first thing you should take a picture of???

Week 17 Lava Lave Big Island Drama

Lava viewing is a spiritual experience.  The journey is sacred and connects you to Hawaii like nothing else.  You will realize that you are watching a new island literally being formed right before your eyes.  Hawaiian legend says, the goddess Pele lives in the volcano and it is important to bring her an offering when you go to visit.  Needless to say, I forget mine and angered Pele, she took my camera.  I will never make that mistake again!

Week 16 Happy Anniversary

Nothing like spending your anniversary on a surf board.  Awesome waves!  We called earlier in the trip to surf and there were not waves.  Really, it is Hawaii, how can their be no waves in the area.  Finally, a nice earthquake send some waves and the vibe was electric.  Kona comes alive when the waves hit.  People run, walk, hitch hike, whatever they have to do to get to the ocean to surf.  It was an amazing experience. 

Week 15 Happy Birthday to Me

Week 14 Pearl Harbor

This was an incredibly moving experience.  We spend the day at Pearl Harbor and met this gentlemen.  He was at Pearl Harbor on the Pennsylvania on the day of the attack. I read his moving story in a book and he was so wounded in the attack they moved him to a private ward to die because dying in front of your comrades was bad for moral.  He is in his 90's in a wheel chair and comes to Pearl Harbor on the weekend to speak with visitors.  I asked if I could take his picture and he said, only if you get in the picture with me.  It was an honor to meet him.  

 

Week 13 A Proud Day

It was a proud day for my family when the Veterans in our family were honored.  It was nice to see that a small town will still gather, say the pledge, have prayer and honor our veteran.  My grandfather was in WWII and his son was a Vietnam Vet.  I hope to add my g-g-g grandfather underneath for the his service in the civil war. 

Week 12 - The Return Trip

Rain, rain and more rain but it was so worth it. 

 

Week 11 Meeting the Queen

Setting out in search of royalty is not easy task and not for the easily discouraged.  The goal of the weekend was to find the pink lady slipper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypripedium_acaule.   This magnificent flower is highly sought after with photographers and wildflower enthusiast. The Lady Slipper is elusive, shy and not easily visible and the find will require a little hunting in the woods.  This flower is worth the trip though the mud and waiting out the rain.  As soon as we spotted the flower I knew we were in the presence of royalty.  For a brief moment, I couldn't move and I was just mesmerized by the beauty of this flower.  After a few minutes. I noticed the flower was moving with no wind and realized the plant was putting all its energy into opening.  I knew it was a moment I could never forget and overwhelmed at how God could put it into the flower to bloom an object without a brain could somehow know when to grow, bloom and die and yet come back next year a just the right time and do the process all again.

 

Week 10 - Big Game Hunter

Are you talking to me?  Are you talking to me?? Yep, Shot all three of them and they did not seem to mind!

This Is How I Roll - Week 9

The bottom photo was a volunteer request, one of the saddest so far, I hate broken stones especially for our veterans.  The top photo is fun with my new software. 

Shirley Miller - Week 8

Our annual trip to the Shirley Miller Wildflower trail was great as usual.  The timing was a little off their was plenty of flowers but only a few varieties.  I thought since it was further south it would be a little further along in the season.  I guess not. 

 

I was trying to fake a fall!  He did not go for it.  LOL 

 

 

Gibbs Garden Week 7

Gibbs Garden in the middle of no where 2 hours and 10 minutes from the house located in Ball Ground, GA.  They have over 16 million daffodils and a spectacular place to visit!  It was 80 degrees, direct light without a cloud in the sky and 16 mph wind! 

Volunteer Week 6

I have found it more and more difficult to do nice things for people.  It is not because I don't want to but it seem my generosity seems to miss it mark and a waste of my effort.  Why do things people do not want?  I volunteer to take cemetery photos for people.  The way it works people put in a request and a volunteer in that geographic location will get a notice and you can choose whether or not they can fulfill their request.  The volunteering satisfies my need for adventure, my need to help, keeps up my photo skills and I get great exercise!  Plus there is always the unexpected.  I saw a girl walking with another lady around this cemetery and they were watching me.  This is not unusual people are away nosy.  The little girl approaches me to buy a card for her school.  She was such a great sales lady I spent $10 in the cemetery to help the girl and her school! 

 

This was a recent request.  People are so appreciative because the information on the stone is so helpful usually for their genealogy and most of the time these requests are from people that are not located near their research.  Win win!  

 

Grave Houses Week 5

Graves houses were quiet popular in the old days.  They had many purposes but in the south they mainly kept cattle from stomping the graves.  However, the sad thing is their are very few left standing and those that remain will not last much longer.  They are rapidly decaying, being vandalized and cemetery maintenance people rarely care and bang into the fragile markers. 

 

On this day, I was being watch by the park police.  It happens all the time.  Anyway, this guy was super nice came to speak with me and happen to be the chapel that worked the train wreck that killed my grandfather.  It's a small world and we spoke for probably an hour. 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day Week 4

I'm a princess and this is my tiara!

Let it snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Week 3

Snow!  I came fast and unexpected and left faster than it arrived.  It was still fun and a great memory. 

Before & After in the great hereafter - Week 2