2011 Top Ten photos of the year

2011 is at an end...as with all of you, you can pick out highlights and things you'd rather forget.  I went through my 2011 photos to try and pick out 10 top photos.  Out of thousands, it is not an easy thing to do, I would love to have you go through them and pick out your favorites!  So here goes...with a couple extra.

Happy New Year to you, may peace and joy find its way into your life this next year amidst the "life".  Look for the things that are truly important, things that make you smile in the midst of strife.  Love & peace to all of you.

Cowboy Sunset Ride

Simple Elegance

Fall Says it All

Morro Rock at Peace

Look closely

Ciao Sic, We Will Miss You

Half a Wish

Cat's Tail

Exercise in Color

Santa's Helper

See you in 2012!

Joy - Gioia - Freude - שמחה

Joy

 

  Tis the season...I have managed to collect JOY.  Surround myself with JOY, yet it is many times elusive.  So, I chose to do a bit of study on the the word JOY.

1) the emotion evoked by well-being, success, 

   or good fortune or  by the prospect of possessing what one desires

   the expression or exhibition of such emotion

2) a state of happiness or felicity, bliss

3) a source or cause of delight 

 

 

wikipedia-Joy 

 

Here on Christmas Eve...an appropriate time for a reflection by me...there's is Joy where I choose to find it...the little things I gloss over.  .......

from the waking kiss on my cheek this morning by my Love and hearing "Merry Christmas Eve" to...

...the music that fills my soul...the family that surrounds me....

our daughter under our roof, our son living close by, my family near and far...

 

...my neighbors, my friends, my girlfriends who grow more precious every year....

 

 

... the many times this word pops up throughout this last week...trying to tell me something????

 

 

 

 

...sometimes, like the fragile glass ornament above, it gets broken and repeatedly fixed...I will not lose my JOY.

JOY is a friend who creates...and shares, thanks Beckie..

 

 

“Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by.”

 

 

And JOY found tucked on a tree...All I have to do is keep my eyes and heart open...JOY is all around me...

Merry Christmas and find your JOY...

Looking Through the Macro

The only time I really need to see the details, should be through my macro lens...

Do you have a favorite...I do

Sometimes I get too focused (no pun intended) on the details of life and miss out on the simplicity, though I find the opposite to be true through my lens

As the Calendar Turns

The Leaves, They Have All Gone

A week into December already.  Seems I just did my last thankfulness blog yesterday.

Time is passing quickly, and it is true, the older you get, the faster it seems to accelerate.

I continue to be thankful for the days and all that they hold.  From the smiles from strangers, to text from dear friends going through challenges, family also...and for a goodbye for now to our son in law who has gone off to serve our country.

I appreciate the little things much more these days.  The help in the kitchen from my hubby to a truckful of artichokes gone to beautiful purple heads parked next to me.

And some time to sit here and listen to some music, edit a few photos and share some thoughts.

Catch you back around soon...need to go check the fudge