Glorious Rays of Sun

I enjoy the beauty God has made and I take a lot of photos to record it. Whether clouds, sunsets, animals, fog, ice, trees or more, I love to photograph nature and that's what this blog is about. 

This post is specifically about those glorious rays of the sun that peek through clouds, trees or other things. It can change a regular scene into something special... something mysterious.... something glorious.

I love being up in the early morning to be able to see the sun peek through the trees while the day just gets started. It is peaceful as well as beautiful. Since my family is large and I am kept very busy throughout each day, I love these quiet bits of time to enjoy the beauty of the earth that God has made.

The rays of light are beautiful, whether they go up, down or sideways. They are beautiful through fog, trees, smoke, between houses, around objects and they can transform an ordinary scene into something far more special. 


Do you enjoy the rays of sun? I hope you take time to enjoy the beauty God puts around us. I delight in living in the country now so that we can enjoy it more than ever, although we found LOTS of beauty to enjoy in the city also. We have lived in the country for almost a year now and the time has just flown by. You can read about it at this link:  Living in the Country


Thank you for visiting today. I'd love to hear from you in the comments. If you are interested, I also write another blog called   Gentle Joy Homemaker

Our Duck Adventure-The Beginning

You may have read my post on Gentle Joy Homemaker, about living in the country. It has been a dream of ours for many years and finally it happened! You can read about it here if you are interested:

Living In the Country

Anyway, on to the duck adventure.....

Yes, we have ducks. Six of them, to be exact. Was it a dream of ours to have ducks someday? No.... never.....                  

   So, why would we have ducks?

It started with a trip to the farm store for some forgotten reason. While there, we heard lots of peeps and chirps which led us to investigate and discover baby chicks and ducklings. They were so cute, of course... which is probably why they were close to the cash register area as a temptation. Yes, they were cute, and I thought that was that. My husband said the girls would LOVE to see those. I agreed and we went about our business. Later, another trip was made to the farm store to show the chicks and ducklings to the girls. I thought that was nice... they enjoyed it... but I was firm about saying we didn't need any ducks!

Our sons also had to go to the farm store for something and commented on the cute little ducklings. I agreed that they were cute and life went on. We had lots to do as we hadn't lived in our house in the country for very long and one son was graduating and another son got engaged. Life was busy, but it was so nice to live in the country. I was also very glad my husband had dropped the duckling idea. Whew.

Then a few weeks later, one son came to us saying he wanted to buy 2 ducklings for the youngest sister for her birthday. I resisted ..... as the voice of reason..... too much work, it'll cost too much, what would we do with them as they got older, etc. By this time, son and husband were both very enthusiastic and countered all of my objections. 

Now, don't get me wrong. I do NOT make the decisions for our family....  I just let my ideas be known because my husband had asked, "What do you think, Honey?" This went on for a while and excitement over the possible birthday surprise rose. I started feeling like I was holding up the party and figured that maybe I was being too inflexible, so I agreed she would love the ducks and since son and husband said they would take care of details, I hesitantly thought, "Ooookay... " 

The day of her birthday was approaching, but ducklings were out of stock. What a disappointment... and a secret relief for me. Whew again! 

Then the store had another unexpected duckling shipment arrive, so the surprise was still on. What a hard secret to keep!  

                         Our Ducklings first pool was a small birdbath.


Our life began to revolve around ducks...  they needed to be warm enough, but not too warm. They needed to eat... and then we also had to buy grit for them to be able to digest their food.... they liked the water, but couldn't stay in too long since they didn't have the ability to oil their feathers at such a young age, and more. 

                 Our ducklings graduated to swimming in the wheelbarrow. They loved to have dandelions in the water for a snack.

                                 A little pool gave the ducks more room to swim.


We learned, played with ducks, learned some more, cuddled ducks and kept learning.... and cleaning up after ducks. sigh.

              Getting dried off and cuddled after swim time....  2 very sleepy little ducks.




So, that is how we ended up with 2 sweet little ducklings. I know, I know.... there are more than 2 ducks in the first picture in this post and you are right.... we do have more than 2 ducks now. How all of that came about is a story for another time. 

The ducklings were fun and a lot of work also.... and our family thoroughly enjoyed them... and yes, I also learned to really like the ducks.  All of the family loved to watch them and hold them.  Join me again for more pictures and stories of these sweet little ducklings and our adventures with them. I would love to read your comments also...   Thanks for visiting me here at Gentle Joy Photography. 




Find more posts on family, herbs, gardening, homeschooling, cooking, recipes, life and more by clicking on this link to my other blog:

   Gentle Joy Homemaker


 

Birds.... and More Birds!

 The mockingbird sits in this tree much of the time and sings loudly and often. What a treat to have our own now that we have moved to the country as I really enjoy the songs.

 A robin ready for spring...

 The finches and sparrows love our Blue Spruce tree... and we see all kinds of birds coming and going to the shelter of its branches.

 This guys just seemed to do well as a silhouette, so I did a black and white photo.  :) 

 This is the mockingbird in the same tree as the first picture, but this one was taken in the winter and the first one in the spring.

 Beautiful eggs in a nest is a wonderful find.  :)

I am sure enjoying the spring birds and I hope you are also. After such a long hard winter, spring is a real treat this year. It seems we are all rejoicing over the nicer weather. I hope you are enjoying spring... and the birds. I'd love to hear from you. Have a great week.   :)   



 

The Last of Winter.... I Hope!!!

It has been a LONG winter here. Every time we think it is over, it isn't. I'm sharing some pretty winter pictures and I HOPE I cannot take any more winter ones this year! I sure feel ready for spring.

Last year, I planted some of my garden on February 1 and the year before it was the middle of February. That was very unusual for us, but both years it worked and we enjoyed early crops. This year is different. We still had hard freezes over the weekend and a frost last night and this is the middle of April. I am thankful, though, and I have enjoyed the winter beauty that God has blessed us with and I hope you are enjoying it also.

 These seagulls on the ice caught my attention.














 This guy looked like he was cold!   :) 

 Love the snowy country road....

We moved last fall and we now live in the country... and have a small section of woods, so I loved taking pictures there. One son built a bridge over a dry creek  and it looked pretty after an ice storm.  We really didn't get any snow from that storm... all that you are seeing in this picture is either ice or sleet.

We LOVE being in the country and I will be sharing more pictures. I hope you enjoy country nature scenes also.  I'd love to hear your comments on the pictures if you wish to share any.

Winter was beautiful.... it was just long. Hopefully my next pictures will be spring pics.  :)  Have a great week!