Monday, November 28, 2011

Life Through My Lens - Traveling...

Let me be a free man - free to travel, free to stop, free to work. - Chief Joseph


It seems that lately I have been on the road quite a bit traveling from one meeting or conference to another. Sadly, no exotic locations have surfaced as spots for these meetings - no grand cities or breathtaking forests. Still, I see an awesome sort of grandeur in many of my surroundings as I travel...





Maybe someday I'll make it to those exotic places... but for now... this is enough....







Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living




Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thankful...



At this time of year there are so many things I am thankful for...

A loving family...



Wonderful friends... both old and new...

A rewarding career working with great people and children filled with boundless potential...

A ruggedly beautiful place I call home...

It's the small and simple things that mean so very much.



Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Brady...

Brady
Today I was stunned and saddened to hear that my cousin Brady had passed away. It is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that someone so vibrant, so full of life, love, and good cheer is suddenly gone. I remember family parties where he would crack jokes, tease, and make sure everyone had a smile on their face before the celebration was through. He was in so many ways his father's son. Uncle Darvel had that same talent for making you feel happy, involved, loved.

I remember sitting at ball games while I was attending college in Logan listening to my uncle Darvel and my Grandpa Durrant cheer (and sometimes harangue... lol) Brady and the other cousins and friends who played on their teams. (Though it must be said, many of my uncle and grandpa's diatribes were against officials who couldn't seem to make the right calls when it came to "the boys"... lol)

As time passed and circumstances changed, my association with my cousin faded to the occasional family party or activity. I am sad to say that I did not know Brady as well as I would have liked to in the past few years. That doesn't change the fact that I love my cousin Brady and will miss his smile and laugh.

I don't know why he was taken with so much of his life ahead of him. I cannot claim to understand the reasoning why some are left to linger and others not. I believe in my heart that when he left this mortal sphere his dad, grandparents, niece and nephew, and countless others were there to welcome him home.

It is now, we, those who remain, who must pick up the pieces, finding meaning and purpose and go on.

These things I know:
Life is precious.
Time is fleeting.
Love is eternal.


A few of "Sharon's Boys"
Curtis Hendricks, Tony LeFevre, Brady Durrant
Sharon Durrant



Monday, November 21, 2011

Life Through My Lens - Mighty mountaineers....

The spirit of adventure seems to start young and stay with us as we grow older. I captured these shots on an outing with family. The day was perfect for exploring...











Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living



Sunday, November 13, 2011

Life Through My Lens - Clinging...

Yesterday I went with some friends to the "beach" not too far from town. As I walked among the boulder strewn shore watching and listening to the water careening over rocks on its relentless journey downstream, I glanced down and captured this.



I thought to myself how tenacious this plant was, growing - thriving even - in this seemingly hostile area. On the surface it would appear a nearly impossible place to grow, and yet it is green and growing even when all about it is turning brown and decaying. It's ability to flourish in the midst of adverse conditions impressed me.

Then I thought about myself. If I were this plant, would I cling to the banks high above the shore because it is familiar or because it is where I am supposed to be? Am I meant to remain where I am or do I need to be like the plant, willing to set my roots in a different place regardless of how different or new? Maybe someday I'll know the answer. For right now though, I'm clinging...



Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living



Monday, November 7, 2011

Life Through My Lens - Poetry in motion ...

The Repertory Dance Theatre Company came to do an assembly at our school. They did an amazing job and the students loved it. I caught a few moments on film.


On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.
~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage




Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn.  ~Terri Guillemets



Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words, and, need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen?  ~Friedrich Nietzsche


Dance till the stars come down from the rafters
Dance, Dance, Dance till you drop.
~W.H. Auden


(Sorry for the blur... hard to catch them in motion...)






Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Life Through My Lens - Gourd-geous

I captured these outside our public library on the way home from school yesterday as the ghouls and hobgoblins began their yearly trek...

































They seemed - in their own way - a festive grouping waiting for darkness to descend so they could leave their stationary post and join in the autumnal revelry....




(And yes.... I know... they are not all technically "gourds".... lol....)


Adventures & Misadventures of Daily Living