Life Through My Lens - Flow river, flow....

As I followed the dusty track along the banks of the Green River on this beautiful late April day I was again struck by the starkly rugged beauty of my home...

 Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. - John Lubbock

The river flows, it flows to the sea

Wherever that river goes that's where I want to be

Flow river flow, let your waters wash down

Take me from this road to some other town

All he wanted was to be free

And that's the way it turned out to be

Flow river flow, let your waters wash down

Take me from this road to some other town

Flow river flow, past the shady trees

Go river go, go to the sea

Flow to the sea

The river flows, it flows to the sea

Wherever it goes that's where I want to be

Flow river flow, let your waters wash down

Take me from this road to some other town

- Ballad of Easy Rider

                      

Friday Flix - Book People Unite...

I found this little video today as I was looking for some ideas about literacy. I thought I'd share it with you as my inaugural Friday Flix.

(And by all means, feel free to go grab a book,.... but only after you're done with with this post... lol...)

Life Through My Lens - Apple blossom time...

Outside my house grows an old fashioned apple tree bedecked with blossoms....

I thought I'd share a few with you... 

"The flowers of the apple are perhaps the most beautiful of any tree's, so copious and so delicious to both sight and scent." - Henry David Thoreau, Wild Apples

 “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”

- Martin Luther

Take a chance and visit Sweet Shot Tuesdays, Show Off Your Shot, Your Sunday Best, and Communal Global for other great photo collections.

Life Through My Lens - Sunset silhouettes...

      “I didn't ask for it to be over, but then again, I never asked for it to begin. For that's the way it is with life, as some of the most beautiful days come completely by chance. But even the most beautiful days eventually have their sunsets.”

"Signs" of the times...

Picture found here.

I was first introduced to American Sign Language (ASL) when I was in 5th Grade. My teacher, Miss Field (who later that year became Mrs. Seehusen) taught a class one quarter for those who were interested. I remember thinking then of the beautiful grace of her movements as she demonstrated the signs we would be learning. Over the course of that quarter we learned basic ASL culminating in performing a poem we could sign in addition to signing "Annie's Song" by John Denver. To this day I can remember many of the signs to that song and when I hear it now I am transported back to those 5th grade moments. Unfortunately, after that year my teacher moved and there was little opportunity to pursue learning more in my small hometown.

Several years later as I attended Utah State University I had the opportunity while exploring the possibility of going into Deaf Education to take a couple of classes in ASL. While I did not end up pursuing Deaf Education, I thoroughly enjoyed the courses I took and would have loved to take more. At the very least I wish I had kept up on practicing those skills I had gained in both signing myself and reading sign by others. But, even as rusty as my ASL skills are, nearly every year I have tried to teach a few simple signs to my class. Sadly, it seems like the time I have been able to spend doing that has been vastly reduced lately in light of the current educational climate.

Recently I have had the opportunity to observe ASL done in a couple of different situations both in person and via different media and it again tapped into my desire to become more fluent in this beautiful language. So, my goal over the next while is to get "back in the saddle" and start refreshing my old skills and learning new ones.

In light of that fact, I found a few ASL interpretations of songs that I thought I would share to inspire me to get to work and hopefully inspire you with the simple beauty of sign language.

Enjoy....