It has been a while since I joined a challenge, so I thought I would remedy the problem by joining the Brashley’s Mid-Week Monochrome challenge, number 49.
The subject is the First Street Cemetery that I was walking by near the Brazos River. My favorite picture is the one just below: Private First Class Joseph Cross. I wonder if the tree that his grave is under, was there when they buried him in 1919. It looks peaceful.
Playing with movement some years ago, with the help of two young boys.
Sometimes, I get lucky.
This latest selfie was taken in the process of making a video for my special education students on folding clothes. I took the picture so I could adjust the focus, and lighting, etc., for the video. I didn’t realize how good it would be.
The video, which is on folding clothes, will be published on Youtube at a later date. While viewing it, my lovely bride Heidi, informed me that the way I fold sweatshirts is all wrong. So I need to correct the video so that my students see the correct way to fold sweat shirts. I will make a post about it once I upload it to Youtube. You can see the video about washing clothes here.
Copyright © Timothy J. Hammons 2020
The smell of frying chili pablanos in the cast iron skillet saturated the apartment, and perhaps, even the neighbors apartments. It’s a strong smell, and one that I love. It reminds me of Thanksgivings at my mother’s home in Lufkin, TX during the 1980s and 1990s. We didn’t have the typical thanksgiving dinner growing up, because we knew that we would get turkey and the fixins’ somewhere during the season. So, she cooked our favorite meal instead, chili rellenos. It was our family tradition.
Heidi and I have adopted that tradition. Heidi made rellenos the first time when we lived in Waxahachie, then again in Terrell, and yesterday. What a treat. Now that we have done it three out of the five Thanksgivings we’ve been married, it’s tradition by my reckoning. Doing something once is unique. Doing it again, is nostalgic. Doing it a third time, tradition.
The smell of the cooking pablanos made my mouth water. While we were not able to be with family, having such a wonderful meal together just enhanced the tradition.
Below are the photos of the process.
Photos copyright © Timothy J Hammons 2020.
From the archives. I keep going through my 17,000 pictures trying to weed out the ones I don’t need. For instance, the pictures below each had 5 to 10 similar shots that are not really worth keeping. My philosophy is to take the one or two best from any shoot, and dump the rest. No one is going to be all that interested in those photos anyway. After all, with 17,000 photos, who am I going to show them to?
Enjoy these few of my firstborn, Andy.
Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
The reality is that when one trusts in Christ as their Savior, they become new creations and members of a new family, His family. This includes our children. Those below are truly the daughters of the King.
All Photos Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
In my last post, I mentioned that I had a purpose in bringing my camera to the Reformation Day celebration. The purpose was Revere. When I met him in church, and saw his eyes, my first thought was that I needed to get my camera. Reformation Day provided the excuse. He has the biggest eyes of any baby I think I have ever seen. His mother informed me that it runs in the family. Revere’s grandfather had the same big eyes.
I wasn’t sure how to get the best pictures of him, since he was either being held by his father or mother or someone else. As we were beginning to eat, I noticed that Revere was crawling around the couch, so I grabbed my camera and took a few shots. It wasn’t working, so I sat down on the couch to put my camera back in the camera bag. Revere immediately pulled himself up next to the couch and started moving toward me.
“Now’s my chance.” I started taking pictures, and he kept crawling my way, then up my legs, and into my lap. Apparently, he wanted to pull on someone’s beard.
Andy, my son, took the pictures of me with Revere.
Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
When I heard about the Reformation Day gathering, I immediately thought of taking my camera because I wanted to take pictures of one particular child (blog post to follow) who has rather large eyes.
I love taking pictures of toddlers and young children who don’t know me, because they are really suspicious of who I am, and they give some of the best facial expressions. See Penny, Cyrus, and Peter below:
All photos Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
Reformation Day is a small celebration among Protestants in the area of Christianity known as Reformed. Most of these Protestants follow the Biblical truths put forth by John Calvin, a contemporary of Martin Luther, and leader of the Reformation in Geneva. His main thesis, in what is called Calvinism, is the sovereignty of God in all things. This sovereignty emphasizes man’s inability to save himself, and God’s overwhelming grace in saving a people to Himself, through Jesus Christ. To the Calvinist, as it was for Paul, no one seeks God… there is none who does good (Romans 3:11-12). This emphasizes that those who are saved, are saved by God’s grace alone, in Christ alone.
These truths was part of what Martin Luther declared when he posted his theses on the Wittenberg Door on October 31, 1517. The actual 95 Theses was over the abuses of the Roman Catholic church and its popes. But his driving issue, and posted on the door prior to the 95 Theses, was over justification by faith alone in Christ alone. That doctrine is the heart of the gospel, and at the heart of those of us who are called Reformed.
All that Luther and Calvin worked for, was a reformation of the church. The Roman Catholic church of the day, taught that man could earn his salvation by doing good works and earning enough merit to work their way out of purgatory into heaven. But Paul showed this not to be the case (Ephesians 2:8-10). We are saved by faith in Christ, not our works. Amen and amen. For if our works are tainted with the least bit of sin, they are rejected by God. We need the works of another, one who was perfect: Jesus Christ.
It is for this reason we remember October 31, 1517 and call it Reformation Day. Our celebration is not a mandate of God, but something we do with thanksgiving that God worked through men like Luther and Calvin for the purity of the gospel.
The following pictures were taking at our Reformation gathering and feature Arthur, also known as “Bear.” More pics to follow in the coming days.
All photos Copyright Timothy J. Hammons 2020.
It’s time for another grandbaby update, via iPhones Photography.
Copyright Hammons 2020.
Copyright Hammons 2020.
When we went to vote last week, it became obvious that Biden didn’t have a lot of support in our area. I tried to find a Biden supporter, or sign, and couldn’t. I think our county is Red.
My wife and I voted early this year because of our move from our old neighborhood. We didn’t want to have to use a mail-in ballot with all the questions regarding mail-in ballots. So we went one afternoon last week, hoping to avoid the lines.
Didn’t happen. So we semi-masked up, and stood in the queue with the other dutiful citizens of the county.
One thing I wanted to know when I voted was whether or not our votes would be counted by before election day, or did they wait until election day. I had some irrational fear that early votes were set aside unless needed. The voting clerk assured me that my vote was counted the moment I submitted my electronically produced ballot to the counter at the end of the line. I was satisfied.
Just a reminder, the big voting day is in two weeks.
I thought it was interesting that they had so many empty machines. We had the line because they only had enough election officials to process a few of us at a time. Hopefully, that will change on election day.
The Denton Square…
From the Denton Square.
As I’ve said before, the best children to take photos of, are those who look at you with distrust. Their eyes are amazing. Scarlett clearly doesn’t trust me.
Heidi and I celebrated her 65th birthday yesterday. We rejoice that the LORD has blessed her with so many years, so many experiences, both challenging and filled with joy. With each passing year we are given, we know and trust the LORD to grow us in faith and grace.
Given the blessing the day is to both of us, I thought I would share a few shots from the simple things we enjoyed, which included, two new coffee cups for our morning ritual, and a trip to the Frisco square, where she gladly let me take her picture. She is the most beautiful and cooperative model.
