Monday, January 24, 2011

Photo Fun

Thanks to The Pioneer Woman, I have been getting more creative with photo editing.  I recently purchased Photo Shop Elements, but have not been able to load it onto my retarded, decade-old computer, so all of my editing has been done on the decade-old Microsoft Picture It.  I guess it's just as well since I still am overwhelmed with our Photo Shop Elements at work.

She has a flower photo assignment right now, so I went to the archives for photos to edit.

Looky what I did...


Before Edit

After Edit


Before Edit

After


Before Edit

After Edit

Photography is so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And I'm just beginning. 

Friday, January 14, 2011

I Don't Belong Here

I've been reading the Harry Potter series.  My son started reading it a year ago and I told him I'd follow along and read it after him.  I haven't been doing that great considering I'm still in Year 3 and he is deep into Year 5.

Anyway, the fact that we are both reading it lets up speak in "Harry Potter" language.  We make up our own spell names and recall funny parts of the book.  It's a way I can connect with him in a world in which he feels like he belongs.

Today when I dropped him off at school, I said, "Here we are... Hogwarts."  Then as I looked around, I corrected myself.  "Oh.  This isn't Hogwarts.  These are all muggles.  This is a muggle school.  Oh no.  You don't belong here."  He immediately retorted, "Nope. I don't."  We smiled and off he went.

It struck me. That feeling.  Ah.  School. Not belonging.  I remember that.  I was just another insignificant person floating through the halls full of clicks and people who were all different from me and didn't get me.  And as I remembered that feeling, I realized that is how my son feels now.  School is a foreign land to him that he must partake in, but his real place, the place he belongs is somewhere else.

Do all kids feel like that in the large public schools or was it just me and him?  How about as adults?  I still feel like that a lot of the time.

There is a verse in the Bible that says our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20-21).  Maybe this is where we will finally feel like we belong. Until then, we are special, not fully realized people in a restrictive muggle world.

C'est la vie.