las libélulas [yeah... i don't know what's up with the spanish titles recently.]

so. in the middle of studying for my chem final yesterday, i saw these dragonflies on the holly bush outside our window. what i appreciate about homeschooling is that i could take a 15-minute break to go photograph them. :D

there were about 4 of them...

and they were all this gorgeous electric blue color. ^^

and apparently they were out there hunting because this one flew off and came back a second later with a white moth in its mouth. it proceeded to chew it up. and swallow it.
<3

random water drops. :D

so. i was [veryyy] upset yesterday... because we thought we were going to have to wipe our mac's hardrive. with all 4 year's worth of my pictures on it. i had never really realized how much losing that many pictures would mean to me... i don't really record my life in a diary; i record it in photos. so to lose that many memories and all of my photos was sort of heartbreaking.
BUT.
thankfully my amazing Dad saved the desktop from death and all of my pictures. :) so now i've learned a lesson and am going to back them up in 3 different places.

these are 2 photos of the hasta plants that Dad planted by our front porch. i had been planning to upload these and then was devastated when i thought they would be gone forever cuz i think these are kinda cool pictures. :D

i really like the... depth perception (?)... of my camera and the spiral that it made in this one. :D

this one reminds me of a giant caterpillar. :D

el sol

i'm convinced that the sun is a natural antidepressant... i love it. sunshine is one of the best parts of spring/summer, and i love how it changes the subjects of my pictures. so.. i take a lot of pictures of it. [haha. although this is sometimes bad for my eyesight.]

el fin.

glorious

Dad took us ice-skating on Cascade Lakes this morning. it was 25 degrees and windy, but the ice was smooth, and the sun was extremely bright. we probably skated for 2 miles! :D it was amazing.
this verse popped into my head while i was skating:
"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." Hebrews 1:3
it seemed appropriate. :)

muscrat island

the boys went exploring a few days ago and found this island in the marsh behind our house. i decided to check it out this evening- and i can't believe i never knew how gorgeous it is back there! i felt like i was a long way from home... but it was only a 5 minute walk.

i don't take a lot of landscape pictures cuz i don't feel as comfortable with them as i do with closeups. but here is the scenery on muscrat island. :D

this reminds me of Australia for some reason...

i found the weirdest dead flower out there... the sunshine makes it look a little happier. ;)

the best part was how open it is out there. it's a big marshy field surrounded by water.
(island... duh me.)

i've tried taking pictures of sunsets from my back porch but there's a line of trees between my house and this hill. now i finally found somewhere to take good shots of sunsets...

i love reflections.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies declare the work of his hands." [Ps 19:1]
true true true.

rejoice

design

who knew that so many patterns occur naturally within 10 feet of each other? the variety of the textures and patterns of the spot in each of these pictures amazes me.

haha... this reminds me of a satellite picture of Antarctica for some reason. i can kind of imagine those white circles as ice floats and icebergs... but it's actually just ice on a pond behind my house. ;) i can dream can't i?

my favorite. the bubbles are naturally spaced out by each ripple.

i love how this ice is completely motionless... yet there is so much movement captured in it. the frozen bubbles remind me of river rapids or something... and the fluid, downward waves remind me of a waterfall.

but none of these are "naturally occurring patterns," of course... i love that God designed each one of these little places for me to photograph just because he loves me and knows that i would get so much delight out of these pictures. he is a God of order, and beauty, and power, and it comes out in these designs.