And so it begins . . .

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They say life begins at fifty.
First, who are "they" and what have they been doing up 'til now?

Yep, it happened, just as planned  . . .  the big five-OH!And when I went to sleep a few nights ago, I awoke in the morning to findthat I had not at the stroke of midnight, turned into a pumpkin!In fact, I feel no different then I did the day before.

"Age is an issue of mind over matter.If you don't mind it doesn't matter."-Mark Twain

{ Kim Klassen texture "Portrait" }

Nothing has changed except the number. 
I still love pink....And watching the sunrise...And my favorite coffee is still Texas Pecan with french vanilla creamer.
But, I do wonder why we don't craft more of an appreciation for the process of getting older, becauseI think the very resistance of it just may be the thing that ages us. I mean with age comes experience and with experience comes wisdom, something we certainly gain more of, and unlike when we were younger weactually now know what we're talking about. And as I've gotten older I have realized there are certain opportunities for exploration and self-discovery that only comes later in life.
And how does it feel to be 50?Like thirty with twenty extra years of wisdom, understanding, spirituality and an ever growing comprehension of how big this life really is. Okay, definitely minus the size 5, but with a new sense of what sexy is, and isn't. I find myself wanting to move in the world with a greater sense of urgency as time whispers louder, and I'm having fun re-inventing myself with along the way. 
No, nothing has changed except the number. Age doesn't own me or define me. It doesn't tell me whether or not I can have pink highlights or wear feathers in my hair, it only marks how long I've been here.
I am 50, I don't mind, so it doesn't matter!! 
Have a fabulous day!Love, KimXO



Linking up with Communal Global and:
 

Beach happenings. . .week in review

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"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."
- Emily Dickinson

In fact it actually leaves little time to clean one's house!But hey, I don't think I want to be remembered for that anyway....
I was able to get to the beach twice this week, once on my birthday and once with a friend.The birthday on the beach was well, a bit of a bust as it rained.But later in the week my friend and I packed snacks and drinks, books, journals and of course my handy dandy blue kids net, you remember that one.
We left fairly early set up our chairs, and umbrellas and had ourselves a grand time.Eating, talking, relaxing, playing . . . rinse (literally),  and repeat.
And it was quite an eventful week at the beach . . .
This was Sunday morning, the birthday edition sunrise . . .
{Shoot.edit.submit}
It seems when I get out that handy dandy blue kids net (lol) I always make a few friends, and they are always quite a bit younger. Together, the three of us caught 375 hermit crabs with a few olive snails thrown in!! I put a few in my make shift glass aquarium and holy cow, one came straight out and took over the shell of another crab. Although this was much to the demise of that other crab, and he struggled for awhile trying to get him out all the way. I'm sparing you the photo and the details as interesting as it was. . . and yes youare welcome!

They were all put gently back from where they came.....
As I was taking these pics of the hermits, I hear, "he got a shark".....yes, I dropped everything to go look, well not the camera. It was a very young Bonnethead shark.They can get up to 5 feet, but average around 3 feet, and are timid and not dangerous to humans.AND, I just had to hold it . . . it was pretty amazing and its skin was a bit sand papery. He needed somehelp staying above water until the water could wash back into his gills


I watched this guy practice his balancing act for the beach Olympics . . .



. . . and the seagulls take a bath.


But then, you see something that makes you go hmmmm . . . at first I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but I scooped it up with my net and was quite perplexed to see this poor red eared slider, a fresh water turtle, floating in the ocean, a very salty body of water. So I rinsed him with some fresh water, had a photo session and found him a safer home. Isn't he just adorable?


This year on the Galveston State Park beach, the vegetation is in abundance with these little yellow flowers and as I was looking for shells I spotted this tiny, and I mean dime size tiny butterfly looking for a snack.

{Flower Art Friday -I used Bonnie's (pixel dust art) painterly texture and love the effect I got on this}

And for Photo Art Friday the theme is doors, and in keeping with my beach theme I used doors from a church in Galveston and overlayed an image of pelicans with some clouds. I used a Kim Klassen texture sunkissed, and two from Pixel Dust - etched in stone and painterly, removing the textures at 100% off the doors in a way to accentuate the crosses. I thought the pelicans were perfect with church doors as they fly with such grace and the hint of clouds remind me of heaven.

"Heavens Grace"Can you believe it's August already? My kids start back to school in a matter of weeks, and my son starts football camp for high school next week. We are a huge high school football fan family and in fact my daughter has the countdown at 21 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 40 seconds until the first football game.
And one last note, about a pesto called Ernesto, as in Tropical Storm Ernesto. It's on track to become a hurricane by Monday and currently in the Caribbean but it's a bit early to know just where in the Gulf of Mexico it will land. If the high pressure system currently in my area of the gulf stays then chances are it will most likely take a turn for Mexico. This is the time of year when hurricane season starts getting really fired up as the water is very warm, especially in the gulf which is what gives fuel to the storms to grown into major hurricanes. Keep your fingers crossed for all of us here in the gulf!!
Until next time,Love, KimXO




   
   

Photo-heart connection, number VII

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We do not live life in the big picture,we live it moment by moment in the small details.



It was on our vacation in Florida that I captured this. He was walking with his mom, it wasearly morning and quite overcast, and on the verge of raining. And as little boys do, he stopped often to check things out along the way. That is until this moment,  when he stopped and very purposely went and stood in the surf. I remember it like it was 5 minutes ago. The way the air smelled and the sound of the crashing waves, the beautiful reflections in the sand, and the misty pastel like colors of the morning all etched into my memory.
But most of all I remember that there was intention in how he stood. His body language gave way to what seemed like much thought and contemplation with some wonder and awe.
I wondered what he was thinking, what he was feeling. What made him go and just stand there.
But perhaps it was just that, the sounds, the smell, the entirety of it. And because he is a small child and most likely does not yet live in the big picture, he was just simply enjoying the moment in a way a childdoes . . . naturally, unconsciously,  and moment by moment.
This image reminds me how of important it is not to let that inner child in me grow up too much. Because really, what good is the big picture if there are no details, no pauses to look back on.   
Love, KimXO
P.S. - I would love for you to join me over at my collaborative blog today, Focusing On Life,as I'm sharing a little confession.


 

As the world turns . . .

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{Galveston Bay sunrise, 6:26 A.M.}

Each morning as the dawn breakswe all start with the same amount,and it can be a challenge to manage it well.It is a gift,that some use wiser than othersbecause we simply take it for granted,and are seldom thankful enough for it.And although it unfolds right before our eyes,it can not be seen or touched.But even though we can't hold it in our hands,the memories gathered from it can be held in our hearts.Some always seem pressed for it,but it requires some patienceas it can not be rushed.We race against it, we run out of it,and some try to buy, borrow and even kill it.But it is a non-renewable resourceworth its weight in gold,meant to be used in the present,and can not be sold.Its only requirement is that we be here, now.That we celebrate and not squander it,and that we not wish it away on the futureto spite today.Because once we waste itit can't be turned around.But make no mistake, it waits for no one.It will go on without us, guaranteed, time after time. . .
- Kim

I made it to the bay this week twice to watch God paint with his many brushes. And to think that millionsof people world-wide are sleeping, unaware of the beauty, the artistry that goes on without them. When we first moved here to the gulf I thought people just had to be crazy to want to live so close to a body of water that can cause so much destruction during a hurricane season. But I have come to understand the pull it can have on you, the addiction to want more. There is something incredible about watching the sun rise, and it's not just the beauty of it, but the reminder that time does not stand still, that it waits for no man. So I'm sharing some pictures from the sunrise just yesterday morning and how time changes, and sometimes it is so subtle that unless we take the time of day, we don't even take notice.

6:33 A.M

6:34 A.M.

6:41 A.M.

6:56 A.M.

6:56 A.M. {photograph life, looking up at the sky}

7:06 A.M.

7:18 A.M.

This was later on in the afternoon . . .

{Textured with Pixel Dust Photo Art age it, and painterly}

And lastly my Flower Art Friday submission, using Kim Klassen's Oh My, and Red.

{shoot.edit.submit}
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke,thoroughly used up, worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow, what a ride!"
- Hunter S. Thompson
Time, it's that one thing we can't save, that must be used. As the world turns we get 1440 minutes a day, how are you going to use yours?
Make it a great day!Love, KimXO

     

Look down long enough . . .

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. . . and you may lose your sense of direction.
Unless you are surrounded by a field of aromatic lavender, which is not a bad thing, but . . .

{Kim Klassen textures, kkred in hardlight and kkwarm sun in overlay}
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down,you can't see something that's above you."
- C. S. Lewis

Today, I'm hurting, feeling a bit angry, and a lot perplexed. I know this isn't somethingI normally share here but I promised myself that I was going to be authentic when I started this blog.And occasionally I need to stray from the candy store, because well, life isn't always sweet.
To quote my daughter from a paper she wrote: " Is it at all hypocritical that the the thing that confuses me in life is my own species? You would think that, being a human, I would understand them. But really, humans are the most inconsistent beings I have ever seen." Honestly, I wonder the same thing at times.
Life, between all the beautiful moments is just hard sometimes. Sometimes people make it harder. Sometimes those people aren't the ones you can choose, but the ones that you cannot.
You see, this weekend on facebook I saw a picture of my nephew. He turned 2. It was the first timeI had ever seen him, and it was a picture, on facebook from someone who is not related to him. And in allhonesty I thought I had come to terms with the fact that my brother, for a reason I do not know, does not include me in his life. But it got me, like an arrow in the heart and not the kind from cupid.
Right now, my brother is that proud man, who is unfortunately looking down on things and people.People I love very much.  My nephew is missing out on all the things his father is not looking at above him. I can't help but wonder how he will feel about that when he is older.
And quoting from her again, "Even if you look among your peers, your family even, you will see that all of you are completely different. No two people are the same, but yet we all share a common trait. We all live on this Earth, we all have souls and we all feel pain, happiness, heartbreak, joy. Why do other humans feel the need to cause someone just like them pain and suffering?" Well, that's the million dollar question for which I will gladly take a 2 cent answer.
You know, if you walk long enough with your head down I'm pretty sure at some point you will hit a brick wall. And I can think of only a few reasons why one would really need to look down anyway . . . when you come across a beautiful field of lavender (of course), to avoid stepping in the (BS) from the proud man in front of you, and while in Texas to avoid stepping in a pile of fire ants!
Oh, but most importantly,
"Never look down on anybody, unless your helping him up"-Jesse Jackson

Love, KimXO
P.S. - come back next week, I'll be sharing more on that lavender field . . . happy thoughts only! ; )