Day 27: Happiness is . . .

Knowing that the sun will shine again and until it does, there are photographs of past sunny days.

Happiness is taking a little time to go through the photographs of the last month and finding more that you love and want to play with.

Some days it takes a little digging to notice the happiness moments. Some days are so busy that you don't have time to take the picture for your post. You just have to go with the flow.

Have a happy tomorrow. May the sun shine on your day, and the light paint up your sky.

Day 24: Happiness is . . .

Sometimes hard to see among what feels like thorns.

Saturday was tough. I wanted to print some photographs and things were not going right. By the time my husband walked into the room I was swearing in a fashion that could even embarrass a sailor. (Yes, librarians, at least this one, swears when frustrated).

John looked at the problem like a good engineer and it was discovered that I was printing on smaller paper than I realized and my border problem was because I needed wider paper not because the printer was messing with me.

Happiness is knowing that there usually is a solution and when you step back, or someone you loves looks at things a bit more objectively, you can find that solution and get the results that you want.

In all of this John reminded me that I was looking for happiness each day. I said sometimes happiness eludes you. OK, not in those words, I think I was still a bit more high keyed than that. But it is true, some tasks and activities feel like they are going against you. Those are just moments like the moments of happiness, we get to choose which ones to dwell on, to hold close, and to make our friends.

I am choosing to befriend the happy moments.

Dear Printer,

Thank you for the final print.

Love, Sarah


Dear John,

Thank you for being my calm in my silly storm.

Love, Sarah

Day 20: Happiness is:

Walking downtown Sycamore on a breezy sunny afternoon.

Greetings from Sycamore

Yes, I was shooting the clouds

Happiness is finding fun stuff for painting with light at the Dollar Store.

Happiness is taking notice of the little things in life. Running into people you haven't seen in a while.

Or Stopping to photograph the early morning fog on your way to work.

Or the streams of light through the trees and smoke on your way home.

Happiness is whatever you want it to be. What was your Happy moment today? Did you take time to notice it and enjoy it?

More birthdays, no pictures. Happy Birthday to Haley. Twenty years old today.

Day 17: Happiness is:

Getting up after a late night and going out with your camera and friends again.

Sarah, Tracy and Toni

On a clear day you can see Byron

This is known as the Rusty Old Cadillac West of Rochelle. A tourist stop on the Lincoln Highway Trail. Also along the path to the Nachusa Grasslands Autumn on the Prairie Celebration our planned destination.

Nachusa Grasslands Vista

Nachusa Grasslands Website

We discovered this little restaurant in downtown Franklin Grove. Tasty food, inexpensive and just off the beaten path.

Inside the Lincoln Way Cafe

Happiness is discovering new places, being outside on a beautiful day, and taking notice of the beauty and interesting things that surround you.

Day 16: Happiness is:

Knowing that you can post your post a day late and it's not the end of the world.

Happiness is Friday Night with the DeKalb Photo Walk Group painting with light.

Group Photo

In this image, Toni, Sarah, Kirk, Tracy, Candi, Cathi, and Rodney. We all took light sticks and danced and ran around to create this menagerie of color.

Steel Wool

 It's amazing what you get when you play with steel wool a d-volt battery and a whisk.

Tracy's Light

I just love this one of Tracy. Candi painted her with light and the clouds were turned orange by the city lights creating a bit of an Edvard Munch feel.

Happiness is new friends, cameras, light, a home in the country surrounded by darkness, a cooler of  beer, and lots of laughter.

Day 13: Happiness is:

Making it through a really long day and getting things done.

We had good discussions at the board meeting. Documents were prepared for a meeting on Thursday. A good day at work.

Below is the image that I will enter in the Swedish Covenant Hospital's "Testimony to Being" Art Show. 

Happiness is getting things done. Getting them done on time. And, most importantly, being happy with the results.

Day 11: Happiness is:

As I write my blog about finding happiness in each day, I am reminded of a horrible event that took place ten years ago. We are never supposed to forget about the loss of thousands of lives on one day. We are supposed to remember the fear, the tears, the devastating images that were played over and over again on television. It is called 911. A horrible time that brought people together.

Our society has a preference toward remembering the terrible moments. Yes, I remember that I had gone to work early, before anything had gone wrong. I was waiting for a person to come and install our T-1 line. A great library improvement. When Don walked in , he asked me if I had heard about the plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers in New York. I looked at him as if he was making a very strange and morbid joke. What he said did not make any sense. We turned on the radio and heard the horrible news. We heard continued reports of all that was happening. I kept the library open. I felt that we needed to be available to the community.

This is the reason that I have committed to noticing and posting moments of happiness for 30 days. Life is short and unexpected. It is easy to remember the extreme terrible moments in our lives and the little cheerful moments are often quickly forgotten.

Happiness is living in the moment and taking notice of those wonderful times.

Today the Chicago Bears played a great game. They gave me hope for the upcoming season.

I went to Sandwich Fair to pick up my photographs and my award check with Tracy.

My happy surprise was that I won three red ribbons to go with my blue ribbon. The line to pick up checks for people with last names beginning with N-Z was very short. Not that it mattered. Tracy's last name begins with a "C." You could get mad that you had to wait, or you could laugh and visit with the people around you. We visited.

My great winnings paid for my entry fees. But that's not what it was all about. It was about the ribbons. About taking a chance and trying. About spending time with friends and being hopeful as we looked at each section of photographs.

Day 8: Happiness is:

Right now happiness is sitting down and thinking about bed. It has been a long and good day.

Sandwich Fair: 1 Blue Ribbon and 2 Red Ribbons.

 There's a lot of competition. The Photo Competition Shoot at the fair was fun but difficult. At 5:00 p.m. they gave us the theme: In commemoration of the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, the theme is Let's Roll. At the Sandwich Fair. As you look around at life, joy and happiness, you are to focus on a horrible event 10 years ago.

I went my own way and looked for motion. Like, Let's Roll, Let's get going. Others were more direct in their interpretation and those are the images that won. Oh, well. It was a good experience and good practice. Tracy and I enjoyed Faye's BBQ for dinner and went on a train ride.

As hard as it is to see your photo without a ribbon on it, you know that there are others who are in the same place you are in. When your friends are participating in the contest, you want everyone to win.

Happiness is knowing that my friends and I are all Best in Show even if the judges didn't notice.

Day 4: Happiness is:

The yummy bacon, spinach and tomato sandwich I made yesterday.

Bear

 Relaxing in the sun on a beautiful day.

Having all of the Sandwich Fair photo contest photographs printed, mounted, named and tagged with more than a day to spare.

As I look at all of the images that I selected, I am pleased. Mostly, I am pleased that I can see growth in my skill, my point of view, and my vision of the world.  I am also finding great pleasure in seeing my work in print form. I really need to do that more often. Posting on Flickr and here is nice, but it is not the same as the printed image. It is easy to get caught up in the digital age and think that we no longer need that piece of paper. But, I can see that there is power in the print. I suspect that it is partly the tactile experience. It is also a feeling of completion. There may come a day (maybe it is here) that for many posting the image is completion and this may just be a part of my age. I hope that those of this technological  age will always toke time to print at least the very best of their photographs.

Having time to go through the photographs of the last few weeks and edit them.

This sunset was taken while we were driving home from a day out looking for a new bed. It was an incredible blazing orange sun that peaked through blow the cloud line. Happiness are the sunsets.