For the month of December 30 Minutes in the Life acknowledges that times get busy and so for this month we choose to do a Festive 5. Most of my 30 minutes come from one event but I did want to share two others as well.  In the last week in November I asked Richard to take me to the Hoffman Chocolate Shop.  They had a display of lights in their garden.  I took along my Lensbaby Sweet 35 with the idea of capturing the lights and the beautiful bokeh that this lens creates.  Beyond that I have been to a series of Christmas lunches.  The middle 3 image are from one of those events.  Lastly, my Christmas tree bokeh.

Blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love

~Hamilton Wright Mawbie

Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but also of reflecting

~ Winston Churchill

Christmas is a great time for extra hugs and cuddles.  Love is the magic of Christmas.  If you are blessed with children, share with them that special magic and it will spread to others as well.  

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

Christmas for me is about acknowledging and celebrating the birth of Christ.  It is also a time for family, and I am grateful to have all my family with us as well as an additional guest that Amy brought home with her.

I wish you a blessed Christmas with your family and friends.  May you know love, peace and joy as you celebrate together.  If you are traveling, travel safely.

Peace on Earth will come to stay

When we live Christmas every day.

~Helen Steiner Rice

Thank you for joining me for this month’s 30 Minutes in Life.  Please take time to visit my friend and fellow blogger  Stacey Markel Photography to see what she has for you this month with her Festive 5.  Keep following the circle of photographers to see what the other photographers, from the US and around the world,  have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Viewbug and Google+

When I think of the theme Wonderland I think of winter and snow and the gorgeous scenery that you will find in the northern states.  Down in Florida, Wonderland takes on a different perspective.  This month Kathy of KG Ledbetter Photography chose the theme Wonderland.

I was stumped until I read about a local chocolate shop, Hoffmans Chocolates, that has a light display in the gardens.  In fact this year they have even created a mini ice rink.  So I asked Richard if we could go up to see the light display.  This was hopefully going to work out for the Wonderland theme.

My heart dropped when we got there and I saw just how many cars were there.  It did not look like there was much parking at all.  Right now I am walking but just barely.  Long distances do not work for me.  Fortunately I have a temporary disabled permit, and even better the policeman directing traffic spotted it and waved us into a parking close to the event.  I could have hugged that policeman on the spot.  It was not a big area to walk around but once done I was glad to get out, back home and on ice again.

I took a couple of lens with me but defaulted to my Lensbaby Sweet 35 for all the beautiful bokeh that it creates

A snowman family

The Christmas tree in the center of the square

Mr Teddy

A collection of lights

Santa’s reindeer

And good old Santa wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

As we head into this festive season, I want to wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.  If you are traveling, drive safely.  If you are staying at home remember not to get caught up in the craziness of the season.  Relax, enjoy, embrace the season, know peace, love, joy and laughter.

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six.  This is a circle blog.  From the sneak peak images I have seen, you are going to want to follow the circle.  Please take time to visit my friend Tori of Roots and Twigs Photography and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month.  Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and Viewbug.

Now it is your turn. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook at Share Six and come and share your images on the theme Wonderland throughout the month of December.  A new theme will come out on January 6.

Remember you can follow us on Instagram at @sharesix  and tag your images #sharesix_wonderland

You can also find the Share Six webpage at http://www.sharesix.wordpress.com

We look forward to seeing your images on the theme Wonderland.

There is nothing worse in my life than waking me up early in the morning. When I say early I man before 8 AM.  I am definitely a night owl. Actually I do that most work days so that makes sleeping in even better.  However, on occasion I am willing to drag myself out of bed and blindly shower and dress, and pick up my prepacked camera bag and head downstairs.  I would love to say I make coffee.  I miss coffee, but I am drinking mainly tea.  So tea made, I allow myself to be dragged off to the beach with the intention of watching the sunrise.  Somewhere along the way I surface to a less surely mood, where conversation begins to be possible.  Once we arrive, we sit and drink our tea or coffee and we wait for the sun to begin the new day.

Saturday was one of those days.  Richard suggested we go and watch the sunrise.  I agreed thinking, oh no I have to wake up early.  That said I was ready to get out with my camera again after 3 months of being house bound.  We were going to one place and before we were out of the community we changed our direction to head north to Lake Worth.  The reason, breakfast at Benny’s on the Beach.  The restaurant opens at 7am and that meant we could watch the sunrise and eat straight after.

So here is my start to Saturday morning.

It was not the most spectacular sunrise.  The weather was overcast with a thick band of clouds across the horizon.  However, it was good to get up and get out after being housebound for three months.  Breakfast was good and the company was even better.  We definitely should do this more often, says me who likes to sleep in.

“Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.” 
~ Douglas Pagels

Thank you for joining me for this month’s 30 Minutes in Life.  Please take time to visit my friend and fellow blogger in Germany  Sonia of Sonia Epple Fotographie and see what she has for you this month.   Keep following the circle of photographers to see what the other photographers, from the US and around the world,  have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Viewbug and Google+

It’s November and time for Share Six and the theme is Harvest and it was chosen by Katherine of Cobert Photography.  It’s fall up north, and the colors are changing, and pumpkins are out.  Folks are getting ready for Thanksgiving.  I am down south.  The weather is hot, there is no change in color, and I am still limited to my room recovering.  There is no going out for me, so I have to improvise.  Yikes, the only photo’s related to harvest that I have, have been used before.

I was stumped as to what I was going to do.  The other day a friend posted the lyrics to a song on Facebook, and my brain kicked in.  The next morning I was up early and working on the theme.  So what was the song?

Harvest Moon ~ Neil Young

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin’
We could dream this night away.

But there’s a full moon risin’
Let’s go dancin’ in the light
We know where the music’s playin’
Let’s go out and feel the night.

Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart.

But now it’s gettin’ late
And the moon is climbin’ high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin’ in your eye.

Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

And if you want to hear the song click here.

What I have done here is, once again, experimented with double exposure, made up of moon images and beach scenes.   Underneath the Harvest Moon.

Because I’m still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I’m still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

~ Neil Young

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six.  This is a circle blog.  From the sneak peak images I have seen, you are going to want to follow the circle.  Please take time to visit my friend Kim of Kim Sidwell Photography and see what she has for you this month.  At the same time give her a warm welcome back to the blog group.   Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month.  Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and Viewbug.

Now it is your turn. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook at Share Six and come and share your images on the theme Harvest throughout the month of November.  A new theme will come out on November 6.

Remember you can follow us on Instagram at @sharesix  and tag your images #sharesix_harvest.

You can also find the Share Six webpage at http://www.sharesix.wordpress.com

We look forward to seeing your images on the theme Harvest.  

I love Iguana.  While they are not native to South Florida, they are here in abundance.  We used to have one living on our dock for the longest time.  We had an unusually cold winter one year and he disappeared and along with him, a lot of iguana locally died.

However, in our local wetland the colony seems to be growing again.  On a walk through the wetlands prior to surgery I happened to find this guy hanging out in the shaded area.

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Tell me a Story.    This is a circle blog.  Please take time to visit my fellow blogger Kim of Kim Sidwell Photography and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month. Don’t forget to leave a little love on their pages.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and Viewbug.

I chose the theme Double exposure this month and I have to be honest I ambitiously wanted to do some in camera exposures.  However, I had a hectic run up to my surgery date and since then have spent my days in bed recovering.  I chose this theme because I wanted to stretch myself beyond the norm.  I wanted to try something new.  I am a bit disappointed that I could not do that.  However, while lying in bed I started playing with an app on my phone and came up with some double exposures that I like.  This was the route I was going to go.  But I was not totally happy with them, so I began to play in Photoshop to see what I could come up with.  What I have done here is show the double exposure and then show the combinations that make it up.  Here are my double exposures for this month.

One of my favorite places to be – the beach

At the beach and I cannot resist sitting at the edge of the water watching the Osprey dive for fish.  At the same beach I pulled out my Lensbaby and the Sweet 35 optic and began playing.  I love the dreamy effect that the Lensbaby creates.

Raindrops in Seattle

When I rains I love to head outside with my macro lens and catch the water drops on the multicolored leaves.  I combined this with another Lensbaby image taken in Seattle.  If you haven’t visited Seattle then that is one of my favorite places to visit in the US, along with Denver.

The setting sun on a long journey

In 2015 I did a road trip to Columbus and managed to capture this train from a moving vehicle.  I loved the leading line in this image.  The sunset was captured using the Lensbaby and Sweet 35 optic.  The star effect was created by taking the optic to a blur position.

Key West – The Keys are on my heart.

The flower was taken in a local park using my macro lens.  I don’t do this often enough and I decided that I would just go for a short walk and do some close up shots.  The signboard was taken in Key West.  The words sum it up.

On land or sea the setting sun moves me to capture those final moments

Taken in Key West just a week before I had surgery and 3 weeks before Hurricane Irma passed through, this one of my favorite things to do in Key West.  Head out on a sailing ship (in this case Schooner Appledore) to watch the sunset.  The other photo is taken at the Everglades National Park, where I frequently go to catch the sunset.

Eyes on Denver

This little man holds a very special place in my heart.  Simba is our rescue cat and as of now our only cat.  He is one of the most loving cats, but put a dog in his pathway and he turns into a monster.  Another place that I love is Denver and in winter it was the most beautiful sight I have seen in a long time.  Cold though!!

And I did one more, since I very rarely put myself in the picture.  I was playing around one of the sliders in Photoshop and this was the result.

My brain activity

I love this image of me, although I cannot claim it is mine.  It was taken by my daughter, Amy Stuart.  The other image is taken on our trip to Nashville.  Each year we try to meet up with my brother somewhere in the US when he is here on conference.

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six.  This is a circle blog.  From the sneak peak images I have seen, you are going to want to follow the circle.  Please take time to visit my friend Katherine of Cobert Photography and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month.  Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.

You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and Viewbug.

Now it is your turn. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook at Share Six and come and share your images on the theme Double Exposure throughout the month of October.  A new theme will come out on November 6.

Remember you can follow us on Instagram at @sharesix  and tag your images #sharesix_doubleexposure.

You can also find the Share Six webpage at http://www.sharesix.wordpress.com

We look forward to seeing your images on the theme Double Exposure