Dear Reader:

Isn’t this picture beautiful? It almost looks like a negative with light shining through it. Last Sunday evening Walsh and Mollie had the family over for a get-together. It has been awhile since we did so… Walsh, Mollie, and Rutledge were gone this Christmas.

Everyone was so happy to be back together. January can be a tough month to go it alone. With cold, dreary, wet days succeeding each other for far too long…having the opportunity to witness the sun setting together on a beautiful clear winter late afternoon… can be quite exhilarating.

Being able to capture priceless moments, along one’s life journey, gives us a sense of control over time. We can actually stop it…that precious moment…that second of a smile at the age taken…  it remains behind as a ‘marker’ for an eternal (earth time-defined) moment in existence.

At church Sunday Ann Graves told me that she had seen a quote she liked and bet I would  too. I told her to email it to me, which she did, and then she added a bonus photo.

The quote says:

“Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important, Capture the good times, Develop from the negatives, and if things don’t work out...Take another shot!” 

Since the digital age arrived…portable cameras inside every kind of electronic device invented is possible. The world is suddenly flooded with pictures throughout every media imaginable.

Whereas, in the past, photographs were considered a rarity… with people placing them high on mantles for all to see….today we are constantly lamenting the fact that we need to clean out our photos because we have thousands of them stockpiled on our IPhone or other apparatus.

The “specialness” or rarity of photographs, now with immediate access, has dwindled on the market. In 2013, however, 22 rolls of negatives were found frozen in a block of ice from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition. With careful “tending” they were able to be brought back to reveal amazing pictures of the brave men battling  the elements from this famous exploration.

Professional photographers today bemoan the fact that we have given up the ability to save pictures for posterity substituting digital images for negatives. As always…with each new invention…comes a loss from the past.

On the bright side…being able to take pictures on a second’s notice…provides wonderful opportunities to capture life in an instance with no artificial posings. We can rapidly “focus on what’s important” in our daily lives and then see it come to fruition in mere seconds.

We don’t have to worry about negatives now…but can concentrate on the positives in life that make us happy. And as we know…with our digital cameras…we can take as many photos as we like at any time. Continuing to click away with the tap of a finger…until we get it just right.

With all this said…Ann  experienced an epiphany of sorts with the lit Star symbol of Epiphany… hung from one of the rafters in our sanctuary Sunday before last.

We have glass wall windows in our church and as Ann gazed out during church…she thought she saw something….a star, seemingly, hanging in mid-air in the woods surrounding the church. She could hardly wait to go investigate after service and upon arrival outside…there was nothing.

It took a little investigating to realize the glass walls were reflecting the hanging star inside to the woods outside. Ann took a photo and has an amazing picture for the church history, as well as, her personal. An “epiphany” ….a God’s Wink!

*Ann also sent a second picture taken from behind.

“I’ve attached a photo of it (the star) from behind where I was sitting. I didn’t see this view until I turned around to look where the one I was seeing was being reflected.”

 All I know is that my camera and/or Iphone have definitely added a new dimension of happiness for me. I can “capture the good times” and find my loved ones with a ‘tap’ and a smile! (And speaking of loved ones…family pictures from Sunday night’s family gathering are located at the bottom of the blog)

So until tomorrow…we never know when a negative will provide the most positive image we can receive…right Linda? Good News! Linda’s biopsy came back negative!!!!! And what a “positive” that is!

*I really think it was the magic lollipop (that can help you “lick” any thing ) that took you over the top!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Fran Townsend had a memorable quote concerning middle schoolers from Tuesday’s blog…too funny!

Clarice Foster said that middle schoolers were “neither man nor beast, but some mixture of the two“, and I think she was right (Clarice was ALWAYS right!). First grade teachers and middle school teachers are my heroes: you performed magic, in my book!

My Berkeley friend , Carol Poole,  asked me to come speak at the Retired Charleston Educators’ meeting Tuesday. She also captured some fun moments as we did the “No News” skit together and then I shared some Miss Effie “taradiddles” that brought down the house (actually the church) we met at a Methodist church in N. Charleston- some Archibald Rutledge stories and of course, the Chapel of Hope.

I had such a good time and such a wonderful audience…thanks gals for making me feel so welcome! Here are some captured moments Carol and her friends took.