I took this photo at Twin Falls in April 2014. It's actually just half of the frame, but it is the more interesting portion. The challenge was to capture the kayaker at a relatively still position and still show the action of the river and the waterfall. I used a polarizer to cut down on the reflection of the water and slowed the shutter speed to 1/25 of a second which blurred the water. I used Lightroom to make some initial adjustments and then used Perfect Effects for additional processing including cloning out some distractions in the bottom of the frame.

I thought it was time for a waterfall photo. I never tire of waterfalls. This one was noisy and wet. The entire canyon seemed to be misty. And the view is rarely the same as some other day. There's more water or less water, all rushing over the cliff and descending down the rocks. I like it. I enjoy standing there, mesmerized by the sight and sound. I almost forget to take the photo.

There's a buzzing sound in our backyard. It started a few weeks ago and seems to have grown more pronounced. The cicadas have emerged from the ground where they have been for several years, shed their old skin, and started a racket! Cicadas are not locusts, although many of us refer to the insects and the sound that they make as locusts. However, Cicadas are related to leaf-hoppers and spittlebugs.

It's the male that makes all the noise, sometimes as loud as 120 decibels.

Apparently, cicadas are eaten in some cultures. In the U.S., an ice cream shop, "Sparkys" in Columbia, Missouri incorporated cicadas in a single batch of ice cream in 2011. I love ice cream, but wouldn't have tried that delicacy. And few had the chance as it turned out. The local health department advised that there should not be a second batch. 

Seven weeks of summer remain.  Long after the kids return to school, I'll be swimming in my pool and thinking about familiar ice cream!

Our morning routine is that we usually sit outside at the table next to the pool. I drink coffee. Judy drinks hot water. And we watch the birds as they land at the sunflower feeders. It's nearly a ritual every morning. We have received twice the amount of normal rainfall during July. So our yard is green. The trees that surround our home are green. So it shouldn't have been a surprise to see several toadstools glistening in the early morning dew.

Only photographers retrieve plastic sheeting and a towel to lie on the grass and creep close enough with a macro lens and experiment with different lens settings to get a photo like the one above. Seeing is fun!

The epistle lesson for today is Ephesians 4:1-16.

Frederick Buechner from Wishful Thinking.

"God was making a body for Christ, Paul said. Christ didn't have a regular body any more so God was making him one out of anybody he could find who looked as if he might just possibly do. He was using other people's hands to be Christ's hands and other people's feet to be Christ's feet, and when there was some place where Christ was needed in a hurry and needed bad, he put the finger on some maybe-not-all-that-innocent bystander and got him to go and be Christ in that place himself for lack of anybody better."

It's been nearly six months since my last blog post. I'm resuming the blog today, although I do not know if I will return to the daily pattern of the previous year. Nevertheless, here we go!

I took this photo on the morning of May 28. What attracted me was the detail of the blossom falling apart. It was the same day that my mother began the last week of her life. And although she was not a celebrity (as most of us are not), and her life was unremarkable by most measures, she gave her all. Just as this Magnolia blossom, one of millions or billions, bloomed and spilled out its all in the moment.

Much has happened these past six months for me to grow in my appreciation of life, and family, and friends, and faith. It has been good.

Valentine's Day: greeting cards, candy, and flowers are the tangible symbols of the day. I recall the decorated shoeboxes that we had in the elementary grades to receive our valentines from our classmates. And I remember trying to decide which one would get the various cards: a few special ones for a few special girls and not too mushy for the boys. But we gave cards to everyone, an early lesson in caring for every person equally. And then as we matured, it became a romantic holiday with gifts for a select person.

Originally, St. Valentine's Day recalled the martyrdom of one of three Valentines, each of whom sacrificed his life in the service of Christ for the benefit of others. So in some ways, giving tokens to everyone equally may come closer to the original observance. I'd rather celebrate the presence and power of love than so many other things that call for our attention these days.

This heart was carved on a rock in Minnesota, near the Mississippi River.

I watched this snowy egret for a long time. He had caught a small fish. I guess it wasn't that small as the fish seemed too big to swallow whole. But the egret was not about to give up on this meal. He would thrash his bill around in the water. He would change the position of the fish in his bill. First, it would be on one side, and then the other. He would just about be ready to swallow it, and then he would dip it down into the water again. This cycle was repeated over and over. I gave up. I don't know if he ever swallowed it. And after all, I prefer my fish cooked.