Sylvia’s fresh-baked chocolate zucchini bread. (Actually it looks and tastes like cake.)
Category Archives: love
Recomposing
I recently shared a couple of shots from our recent session with Kelly Lynne Burke of Kelly Lynne Photography. Here is one of my favorite shots from that day:
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| Sylvia and Chuck at home |
I really like this shot because it captures Sylvia and me in the context of our lower lawn. You can see the cattails and the trees. The composition is expertly done.
I wanted to use just our images for a new profile picture for Facebook. I cropped the photo, and got this:
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| As we appeared in a cropped image from the larger photo above |
I don’t like the the composition in this version. There is too much separation between the two of us–not what you want after [nearly] 50 years of marriage.
Enter Photoshop Elements 8. Using the recompose tool, I was able, with a few clicks, to produce this:
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| The recomposed image |
I won’t go into the details. If you use Photoshop Elements, you can find out how in the help menu. Look for the recompose tool.
For the power and features, this program is worth the price for those who want to get the most out of their images. Be prepared to spend some time learning to use what you have. Adobe has online help complete with tutorial videos to help you master the controls. Have fun.
Love
In keeping with the day, our thoughts turn to love. The Apostle Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth wrote about love and described it thus:
1. Love never gives up.
2. Cares more for others than for self.
3. Doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
4. Doesn’t strut,
5. Doesn’t have a swelled head,
6. Doesn’t force itself on others,
7. Isn’t always “me first,”
8. Doesn’t fly off the handle,
9. Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
10. Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
11. Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
12. Puts up with anything,
13. Trusts God always,
14. Always looks for the best,
15. Never looks back,
16. But keeps going to the end.
Love is not easy, and it’s not for sissies. I’ve known that love first from my mother, and then from the mother of my children. May you know that kind of love and the love of our heavenly father.
May your lives be open to and filled with love, joy and contentment.
Saturday Song ~ Amor Sin Limites
Tomorrow, we celebrate Valentine’s Day. A day in which we celebrate love, and in particular the one we love. In anticipation of the day, I’m posting this song for the one that I love. The one who has taught me to love and who has loved me and our children without conditions or limits. Today’s song, by one of our favorite singers, is for Sylvia, fair maiden that won my youthful heart, mother of my sons and and faithful companion through life. Be blessed my love with unconditional love, joy and good health.
Although Sylvia will understand the words, you may not. Here is a translation for you to follow if you want:
If I could touch the sun and empty the sea
or invent a place to the south for liberty
Experience the beginning and end of each star
yet if I lack love you see, I am nothing
Love is patient without limits
It is giving without limits and
It is forgiving without limits, Without limits
It is not egoistical, neither is it irritable
Love believes all without limits
It endures all without limits
Is generous without limits, without limits
It does not envy, It doesn’t know how to keep score
It demands nothing
If I could die for thee and then return to life
Or paint the light with color or make salt sweet
If I could be a prophet of what is yet to come, breaking the air
yet if I lack love you see, I am nothing
Love is humble without limits
It is understanding without limits
And is justice without limits, without limits
It is always tender and speaks the truth
Love believes in all without limits,
It endures all without limits
Is generous without limits, without limits
It does not envy, It doesn’t know how to keep score,
It demands nothing
Love is patience without limits
It is giving without limits and
It is forgiveness without limits, Without limits
It is not egoistical, neither is it irritable
It demands nothing
Happy Valentines Day!
Saturday Song ~ Piano Duo
Just for fun . . . Fran & Marlo Cowan (married 62 years) playing impromptu recital together in the atrium of the Mayo Clinic. He turned 90 in February.
My Valentine
It was more than 50 years ago that I met the most wonderful woman in the world. Later this year, we’ll celebrate our 48th anniversary. Together, we’ve raised two sons, lived in three countries, including a couple of states. It has been a wonderful journey, because we made that trip together.
Sylvia and Chuck — the early years.
Last week as I was surfing the blogosphere, I came across a posting that featured a video of the musical group, Journey, performing “After All These Years.” The words are beautiful. The song ends this way:
After all these years
You stood by me
The days and nights that I was gone
After all these years
You sacrificed, believed in me
And you stood strong
Cause with our love there’s nothing left to fear
After all these years
Thank you Journey.
Thank you Sylvia that you stood by me in the good times and the bad. Thank you that our faith has never wavered. I’m glad you are here with me my love.
Where Does Love Go When It Dies?
Valentine’s Day is swiftly approaching. We like to the positive side of this fantastic pheomenon, but it isn’t always that. On a dreary winter day as I sat alone, I began to wonder about the end of love. Perhaps it was a change of heart. Or perhaps a heart stopped beating. Either way it begs the question.
Where does love go when it dies?
Where do the summer breezes go,
when ice and snow prevail?
Why do my spirits droop so low,
when days are short and pale?
These are some questions that I ask,
myself upon some winter days.
When northern winds blast through my coat,
and freeze me here in place.
Sometimes I think of spring time,
when all the world was green.
Warmth of sunshine filled the air,
and robins could be seen.
I found the joy of deep blue skies,
and of the gentle breeze.
And now it seems ’twas but a dream,
that only my heart sees.
Where do the summer breezes go,
when ice and snow prevail?
Why do my spirits droop so low,
when days are short and pale?
There are many things in this old world,
I cannot understand.
And where does love go when it dies?
Oh, the heat of summer stillness,
I long to feel again.
The sight of growing things,
and birds upon the wing.
And looking back I now can see,
it was so dear to me.
I feel so sad I want to cry,
for it’s just a memory.
Where do the summer breezes go,
when ice and snow prevail?
Why do my spirits droop so low,
when days are short and pale?
There are many things in this old world,
I cannot understand.
And where does love go when it dies?