Happy Halloween

In this magical time that is Halloween, I thought I would post my own little version of Photoshop spookiness.

Happy Halloween y’all!

 

Apple Orchard

I’ve been wanting to do a photo shoot in an apple orchard for a while now and I finally had my opportunity this week. It was a perfect fall morning in Virginia and Hartland Farm and Orchard had an abundance of apples, pumpkins and beautiful vistas.

I know mom was worried about not being able to get a photo with all three in the picture because of a certain little guy’s activity level, but we managed. And, the picture tells a pretty accurate story of their life right now–little guy running to the next fun activity!

Big brother and sister were absolutely amazing in their willingness to help.

 

They even had some amazing barns.

 

The farm even had a wonderful Christmas tree farm to set the stage for their Christmas card.

 

 

Cotton Fields

There have been songs written about it, machines invented to process it and many a finger bloodied from picking it — yes, I’m talking about cotton. Anyone of my generation and back remembers huge rectangles of green with white puffs dotted here and there. I didn’t even live in the country, yet there were cotton fields across the highway from our apartment complex. So when I had to go to my hometown, Shreveport, LA for a family emergency I longed to see this memory from my childhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cotton fields aren’t so easy to find anymore though. I headed south on Hwy. 1 towards Natchitoches and only saw corn. Driving out past Bossier one evening got me caught up in a storm I thought might pitch me into Oz, and still only corn. By the time my sister got out of the hospital I had all my family and all of Facebook on the hunt for cotton fields in Caddo Parish. I finally found this one and as a bonus had my sister with me to pose.

A day or two later found me at the Red River Revel in downtown Shreveport, where I discovered an amazing artist, Floyd Gordon. The son of a sharecropper, Mr. Gordon, paints the cotton fields of his youth. He was kind enough to give me a package of his cards with his artwork on the cover.  

 

Fight Like a Girl, Fight Like my Sister

 

I’ve been wanting to go back to my hometown, Shreveport, LA, for a while now. A girl can only watch so much of Duck Dynasty without getting homesick after all.

But, getting a call from my brother-in-law that my sister had had a stroke was not the trip I planned.

With the help of my wonderful husband and beautiful children, I was packed and in the car in one hour. I picked up my older brother, who lives an hour and a half south of me and we drove all night to get to our sister.

The Bible tells us, “The prayers of a righteous man availeth much.” My sister had received the medicine she needed within an hour of showing symptoms of a stroke and the effects were minimized. The damage was mostly centered on her speech, with a little weakness on her right side. She went into ICU on Sunday and was out of the hospital by the following Wednesday. The Lord blesses and blesses again!

She still doesn’t have the ability to speak yet, but the doctors are confident that she will regain most of it. My dear sister has been strong through it all and has lifted our spirits with her humorous written comments.

In the meantime her loving siblings used the time in the hospital to tease her mercilessly about finally having our voices heard in the family. We also used the time to catch up with each other and enjoy being together. And, the notes my sister wrote to communicate will become a great source of family history!

I also had the opportunity to shoot some photos of my sister’s grandson when he visited her in the hospital. He loved the balloons!

Our Dad enjoyed visiting with his great-grandson too.

 

And, Noah got a chance to practice his Superman stance!

My title refers to a shirt that was advertised on the stroke.org website, “Fight Like a Girl.” I say you need to fight like my sister. And learn the symptoms of a stroke — http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SYMP