seedsower's Xanga

Summertime

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:04:47 GMT

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon;
to me those have always been the two most beautiful words
in the English language.
~Henry James
I never appreciate summer so much as when the kids are here.
I love to see their endless play, riding bikes,swinging,
wheeling rows of trucks across the porch
and chasing lightening bugs at the end of the day.

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.
~Celia Thaxter

Evening Light

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:09:27 GMT

Hath thy heart within thee burned,
At evening's calm and holy hour?

Author:Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch
Source: Meditation

The film of evening light made the red earth lucent,
so that its dimensions
were deepened, 
so that a stone, a post,a building,
had greater depth,
and more solidity than in any daytime light;
and these objects were
curiously more individual.

-John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath




It Is A Beauteous Evening, Calm And Free

IT is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea:
Listen! the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder--everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
And worship'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not.

-William Wordsworth

CallMeQuell for Miss Xangamerica!

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:13:11 GMT

One of the very first friends that I made on Xanga was "Quellers" ,who is now "CallMeQuell".

She was then a young girl in high school with incredible artistic talent,compassion,charm and modesty.
I have seen her grow into a woman and I love her humor,depth, convictions and creativity.
She has a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon!
In her profile she wrote..
" I need God, and I will try my best to put him before you or anyone else."

She made this dress

in the style of Piet Mondrian's artwork,she did a fabulous job!

She is competing in the Miss Xangamerica Contest .
I know that a lot of people hate these contests but it is all a part of being in a community,
I have appreciated that in this contest they were only allowed to send one mass message.
I have asked people to vote for her,I thought that I would give the soapbox this time.

Hi everyone! This is Raquel, of CallMeQuell fame,
here writing a guest post for Seedsower in order to formally ask you all to pretty please vote for me!

In what, you ask? Well, Hillary's made it still possible for me to become the first woman president, but for now I'll set my sights a little lower: to become Miss XangAmerica!
The contest is a "beauty and blogging" contest, and I would be incredibly honored (and feel much better about myself) if I was chosen as Xanga's most beautiful and most insightful blogger (of the selection, anyway, haha)!

I truly believe I am the best choice for this (though there are many wonderful women in it), and I've worked incredibly hard to do well for it.

So! I invite all of you to come to my blog, read what I have, HERE ARE THE LINKS to my archives and my pictures, all of that, and if you so wish, if you could all pretty please vote for me!
CallMeQuell

Round 5 - Pictures + How I would change Xanga
Round 4 - The Commencement Speech
Round 3 - The Style Round
Round 2 - The Questionnaire
Round 1 - The Swimsuit/Evening Wear Round

Thanks so much, and please, feel free to comment and message and come be my friend!
I can't wait to meet all of you, and I thank you all so much for your support.
I need all the help I can get, and your vote would make me very happy!

VOTE HERE

Consider the Lily

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:34:43 GMT

When I walk through the rows of Daylilies every single one is a work of art and there are 500!
Each individual variety is unique with vibrant petals and throats.
Look at all the intricate parts of the daylily

Even when they are spent they are beautiful.

I like this one because it shows the beginning and the end
.

Here you can see all stages of the flower .

This one is called "Yabba Dabba Do"

When I see the lilies in bloom I think of the bible verse

Matthew 6:28-29
27 "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field,
which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you"

This verse had taught me how useless it is to worry.

Daylily Farm

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:23:39 GMT

My nephew and his wife have a Daylily Farm
with over 500 varieties of daylilies.
On Sat they had the Peak Bloom Open House.
Seeing all the daylilies in bloom is a beautiful sight.

He is digging out the daylily for a customer
and she is tagging and bagging it.

Here are some of the varieties...

Bacon Gold Nugget

Big Sur

HERE is the post from last years blooms . See all varieties
They can be ordered online.

I Saw it Through the Grape Vine...

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:38:37 GMT

Summer Scenes

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:42:32 GMT

A few scenes from the week.

What is Beautiful?

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:39:42 GMT

(Original Photo HERE)
I love when my little nieces come to visit!
We talk and laugh,we play games and have tea parties.
I love having this opportunity to help
shape them into who they will become.
To teach them about real beauty.
I think that the most beautiful thing a person
can have is from within them and it is humility.

" Humility is the defining characteristic of an
unpretentious and modest person,
someone who does not think that he or she
is better or more important than others "

Humility is like underwear; essential, but indecent if it shows.
~ Helen Nielsen

"It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities
without your help." Judith Martin

"Humility is the ability to give up your pride
and still retain your dignity." Vanna Bonta

“Humility is the foundation of all the other
virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist t
here cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.”
St Augustine

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.

Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self.
Charles H spurgeon

What makes a person beautiful to you?

If you have seen the Miss Xangamerica contest and do not know who to vote for,
I am putting in a plug for Quellers ,I think that she is a truly beautiful girl .
VOTE HERE

Evolution of a Photo

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:51:33 GMT

Sometimes when I take a photo what I see when
I take the pic is not what is there,
I picture the end results.

I took this photo in passing on the way home on
the 4th of July behind "The Windmill Restaurant".

What I really saw was this...
Here are some editing stages
First... the crop.

Remove some of the things that get in the way.

Add the effects.

Time to remove a few more things,
can you see all the changes?

Last ,I added a few corrections.
This is what I pictured when I took the photo.

I used Adobe Photoshop CS2 for this.
If anyone would like to take the original and fart around with it,
please do. Let me know what you come up with!

I do not alter most of my photos outside of general editing.
This one was fun to do and I wanted to show all the steps.

Rainy Day Pix

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:33:24 GMT