Laundry Day

It's a small thing really...the dryer broke. Oh, the drum spins just fine, but there is no heat. Without heat the clothes take forr-evv-verrr to dry...IF they ever get dry. Wanting to "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without," I had Jeff help me put up a clothesline between some palm trees in the yard. Today I planned to do some laundry but the weather report said, "scattered thunderstorms." So I thought that I'd just have to wash some clothes any way and take my chances on the rain. The first load I hung while it was still cool and calm. By the time I hung the second load a warm wind had picked up a little - a gentle breeze. When I got the third load out to the clothesline the wind was blowing - hard! The first load was totally dry and the second well on its way. Loads two and three dried quickly and I hung load 4 and 5. One more to go :) President Henry B. Eyring recommended keeping a daily record of the little miracles that occur in our lives. "Tonight, and tomorrow night," he suggested, "you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him." It may seem like a coincidence, but I'm grateful for the tiny miracle of having the wind blow hard today so that, even though we haven't quite figured out how to fix the dryer yet, I was still able to get the laundry done.

My Photographic Journey of Discovery

Over the weekend I started reading a photography book called Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson. The first exercise he suggests is to "get to know your lenses" so I set my 28-80mm lens at 35mm and took a series of shots of the clothes drying on the line. With each shot I moved toward the clothesline 5 paces. Then I went back to my starting point and shot the same series while kneeling. After that I shot one more series while lying on my stomach. Lastly I flipped over on my back for a shot straight up (see photo at top of this blog entry).

35mm focal length - Standing and moving 5 paces forward for each shot

Bryan Peterson says, "If you maintain this regimen of 'eye exercises' once a week for three months, you'll have a vision that is shared by fewer than 10% of all photographers."