Our kitchen and the red gerberas were enlightened by a bright sun shine in the morning - I enjoyed my first cup of tea beside the window ... Looking the sun rays reflections on the bushes outside and on the flowers inside. It's much aesier to wake up when the sun is shining ... the bright light gives somehow energy and colors the morning with a "golden" lining :)
I took s snap shot of the greberas, and used a brand new Mextures App for the first time - It has amultiple of layers and is designed by Merek Davis, whose texture work I admire greatly.
The weather changes - Sunday afternoon was filled with raindrops after the rain - fresh air humid air - wet, wet, wet every where ...
I took my phone and captured these the little shiny pearls.
The amount of the pixels in the photo is a bit low, so I made a green background to using Word Paint, adding a texture on it, and then pasted the photo from iPhone.
From Monday to Wednesday I had a course in downtown. The Botanic Garden lies just beside the University, so we took a walk there with some of my collegues at the luch breaks. Feeling the warmth of the sun on my cheeks was lovely - the flowers blooming around ... the summer has arrived!
An iPhone app called Glaze transform your pictures to paintings. I chose these traditional, oli painting-alikes for these photos - Glaze has plenty of options, also more abstract and fun ones.
Last Saturday I tasted a delicious salad at my friend's house, she shared the recipe with me and I made it yesterday at home ... A fresh, simple treat of kale, mint and quinoa (the recipe will be soon on the blog :)
Last, but not the least, a friend of ours surprised us by coming with these lovely flowers! Her language of love is certainly coming with these lovely surprises ... I'll bake something nice and sweet to her this weekend. I need read a Whole lot during the weekend, so the baking will be the nice break & motivating factor to get through the pages :)
When I think about Motherhood, the words bonding, unconditional love, responsibility and Once a mom, always a mom, are echoing in my mind. I am a mother of two lovely boys (well, to be more specific, a tween and a teenager), and I have the sweetest mom in the world, whom I cherish and look up to.
Motherhood - being a mom, establishing an emotional relationship to your child, loving him / her unconditionally, is a continuous process of growing and maturing, as we go along. Our childhood experiences are shaping our expectations of motherhood - How do we percieve the role of a mom? During pregnancy everything is getting more real, and all of a sudden you are holding this precious baby in your arms, overwhelmed with the feeling of responsibility - wondering how on earth are you're going to take care of this unique gift you're given?
As the days go by, you experience that motherhood is about learning to know your child and learning to know yourself as a mom for this specific child. And the process keeps going on - your child and you're developing side by side. Each child is unique and has specific gifts, needs and challenges.
When I've been talking with adoptive mothers, their experiences are much alike - besides that the process of getting approved as an adoptive parent can be hard and overwhelming because of the doubt and the fear of not meeting the qualifications, and due to other unknown factors in the process. But when the daily life with the long-awaited child has begun, they're also in the same boat - learning to know their precious child, and learning to be a mom.
Motherhood is also about letting go - giving place for your child to become more independent, starting with the "terrible two's" ... I remember the spring when our oldest son was about to start pre-school and our youngest son was starting in the kindergarden - I was feeling blue, like a hen, whose chicks we're about to fly from the nest.
On the other hand, it was a pleasure to be able to say to a 4 year old son once in a while: "Just wait a minute, I need to think about that - vividly remembering that the needs of a baby and a toddler are to be met right away.
Well, it is a pleasure to experience that as the children grow, your relationship and the things you do together with them changes as well. Moreover, you're beginning to appreciate the fact that you're getting more time to do things as a couple and also more time for yourself.
After the teenager years, when your child has learned to be more independent and when you as a mother have let your child manage more and more by him / herself, the relationship between a mom and a child is about to change to a more equal friendship, with a special emotional affection and respect, on the fundament of all the shared moments - as a mom and a child.
To sum up my thoughts on Motherhood,
I'd like to share with you a favourite poem of mine:
On Children
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Kahlil Gibran
Which words or images come to your mind,
when you hear the word Motherhood?
Share them with us on our mothly blog hop, details below,
Nina
::: ::: :::
Welcome to the 4 Ways Photography Challenge:
Our theme in May is Motherhood
4 Ways Photography Challenge is a monthly creative meme,
where we wish to challenge you and one another in finding
4 ways of photographing the monthly themes:
June 20th: In My Town August 15th: Capturing Negative Space
4 Ways is hosted by 4 friends - all photo enthusiasts,
who wish to share the joy of finding new insights and skew angles
in photographing the world around us,
embracing everyday life with a camera at hand.
4 Ways Photography Challenge is open to everyone!
Guidelines:
1. Link up your blog post / Flickr link
2. Visit a few fellow participants
3. Spread the word by grabbing our button or by adding a text link on your post
For me the bright green leaves of birch trees is a sign that the spring has arrived and the summer is just around the corner. My eyes were resting on the forests and lakes, as I was landing to Savolax in Finland, where I've grown up. I was curious to see if there were any buds in the birch trees ...
The first days we got rain and sun - and I could almost see, how the birch leaves were appearing from the buds - day by day.
The smell of the fresh forest was such a pleasure after the rain! The view from the hanging bridge was amazing - I'll post more pictures with the river view during the weekend.
The surroundings were getting greener - this bright, new green color against the white trunks is a miracle that we're able to witness each May.
The leaves have heart-shaped form - like small clusters of green hearts growing in the branches.
So happy I was able to see the birch trees go green -
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit
—that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
We've been walking with my parents every afternoon.
These blue-lilac flowers caught my eyes -
I saw the colorful spots under the pine trees, and took a closer look.
The sun broke out after the rain,
caressing these beauties, highlighting the hairy stems.
I searched a bit on anemones:
The word anemone origins from the Greek, anemos, or wind.
Some anemone spieces begin to bloom in early spring, and are for this reason also called wind flowers. Anemones grow in dry, open woodland with a porous soil.
Within the woods,
Whose young and half transparent leaves scarce cast
A shade, gay circles of anemones
Danced on their stalks;
wind flowers sway
Against the throbbing heart of May.
- Bryant -
Wishing you a delightful Sunday and a Happy Mother's Day,
Mom's porch is decorated with dried heather flowers. I cherish the sight of mom smiling at the porch and welcoming us! I've had a special pleasure of being with my parents a whole week, helping to prepare my mom's birthday celebrations. She's hold 3 different feasts - such a joy to meet relatives and old friends of the family!
Mom is very creative, she repurposes almost everything and uses materials from the nature. She has crafted these beautiful covers to the clay pots using bark of birch trees.
Mom has received beautiful flowers both to her garden and in the house -
fresh roses are such a delight!
This fresh pink flower pot is a gift from my cousin - I love the texture in the pot.
What is more relaxing than sitting a while in the good, old rocking chair.
When I think about my grand father from my dad's side,
I picture him sitting by the window at his house in this rocking chair.
Now the chair is rocking at my mom's & dad's kitchen -
and our children are talking about it as "Granny's chair"
