Author Archives: Kim Halloran-Fry

Keep Your Eyes Upon the Rail

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Life is like a mountain railway,
With an engineer that’s brave;
We must make the run successful,
From the cradle to the grave;
Watch the curves, the fills, the tunnels;
Never falter, never fail;
Keep your hands upon the throttle,
And your eyes upon the rail.

 

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You will roll up grades of trial;
You will cross the bridge of strife;
See that Christ is your conductor
On this lightning train of life;
Always mindful of obstruction,
Do your duty, never fail;
Keep your hands upon the throttle,
And your eyes upon the rail.

 

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You will often find obstructions,
Look for storms and wind and rain;
On a fill, or curve, or trestle
They will almost ditch your train;
Put your trust alone in Jesus,
Never falter, never fail;
Keep your hands upon the throttle,
And your eyes upon the rail.

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As you roll across the trestle,
Spanning Jordan’s swelling tide,
You behold the Union Depot
Into which your train will glide;
There you’ll meet the Sup’rintendent,
God, the Father, God the Son,
With the hearty, joyous plaudit,
“Weary Pilgrim, welcome home.”

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This hymn is attributed to Eliza Snow.  I pause at that line in the middle,

"They will almost ditch your train." 

Many of us know those words, know that truth, we have known storms that come dangerously close to derailing us entirely.  But there is no looking left nor right on the rails.  Backward glances avail nothing.  Our focus must always be onward. 

Always onward.  

So as I listen to one of my favorite renditions, again I ask myself,

"Where is my glance today?"

 

 

Mainz Madness – Fasching 2012

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Fasching 2012 was a bit more um, colorful, than Fasching 2011.  At least for us.  Husband had read about the parade in Mainz and heard it was second only to the celebration in Koln.  It isn't all that far away and it seemed like something to to check off the bucket list while we were here.  

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I did mention it to my German friends a few days earlier to which they both responded, "Why? They'll all be drunk," with a shake of their heads. Honestly, we took that with a grain of salt.  For one thing, all German festivals involve a fair amount of alcohol.  While drinking and driving is dealt with severely here, open intoxicants and drinking and walking are not considered a problem. So we expected some of that. But "all" sounded like an exaggeration.  Yeah.

It wasn't. 

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I am just going to interject here that the little people generally get dressed up cute when going out in public. But sometime in those last minutes before we get out the door Brendan usually reworks at least part of his outfit. Today it was his cold weather gear. So. Back to your regularly scheduled programming…

We arrived an hour or so before the parade was set to begin and immediately found a parking spot.  Rare events such as these always make us pause and go, hmmmm <g> After scouring the street for signs to the contrary, we assured ourselves it was, indeed, a legit spot.  We headed down through the park to the city center. It wasn't hard to find.  You just follow the noise. 

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The parade route was lined with beer trucks and pommes vendors, beer and french fries being standard festing fare.  People were milling about and just beginning to line up streetside. We took spots ourselves and settled in.  That lasted about 20 minutes, at which point a crowd of "young people" (ok, did I just say that?  I did.  I think I am very old….)  could be seen carousing down the street in our direction.   When they gathered on our corner and decided to stay I smiled pathetically at Husband and he moved us further down the road.  Right after I taped them. <g>  It's terrible video because you know, there is a fine line between getting footage of drunken revelry and being noticed getting footage of same. 

Untitled from Starry Sky Ranch on Vimeo.

 You get extra points if you can identify the song on that one.  If you watch international soccer you might recognize it.  Give me an H!

 

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So we set up again and waited.  A long time.  Two more hours actually.  Which required some pommes to convince Abbie it was going to be worth it.  

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The crowds grew to massive size by the time the parade reached our end of town. Like, massive. Like, the kind of crowds you see on the news massive.  The rest of the event could be summed up thusly: music, costumes, and public drunkeness.  All in large quantities.

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You might think you have a visual, but if you haven't been here I am venturing to say you probably don't. I am not posting all my pics here (though several will likely end up on the website by the end of the week) because some were a little over the top. Like the guy dangling the little girl out of the window ala Michael Jackson.  Or the old folks in the parade chugging tiny shot bottles of vodka as they marched.  Or the bottles and broken glass that literally covered the streets like peanuts at the Organ Grinder.  (Did I just date myself?  Someone tell me there are still Organ Grinder restaurants someplace?)

Feb (this was my little space before things got rockin'.  The dirty clogs are mine, the vodka wasn't though)

Don't get me wrong, it WAS a cool thing to say you got to see in person.  Still, we did form a human chain and got outta Dodge before the parade was over. Seemed better to leave before the crowd no longer had something to focus their attention upon.   Our German friends said this year was particularly rowdy and the news was all about it last night.  So Tina, if you are reading this – you were right!  

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Anyway, I was pretty pumped that I did get to see those giant puppet head guys finally.   The kids mostly had fun – if sometimes in a deer in the headlights sorta way.  Always an adventure in this family. Always an adventure.  They will never be short on stories!

If you want to get a feel for the place and the day I made this slide video. The music is one of the party songs you hear at all these things.  I apologize in advance if you are singing "La, la, lalala" all day now. If it makes you feel any better it is stuck in my head now too.  "So a schöner tag…"  Remember I already explained this event so you know that this may be a PG show ok?  Ok. 

Untitled from Starry Sky Ranch on Vimeo.

Enjoy!  As for me it is four minutes to lent now.  Probably my cue to go to bed instead of sitting up snacking as though I was storing up til April.  Even if I maybe was. <g>   

If you want to learn more about Fasching in Germany you can check out last year's posts here and here.  

Perseverance

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It's funny because I have certainly read to the kids about Lincoln over the years. In fact, we read one of our favorite biographies last week.   Perhaps it was seeing it laid out this way that caught my attention: 

1. He had a difficult childhood  

2. Less than one year of formal schooling

3. Failed in business at age 22

4. Defeated for legislature at 23

5. Failed again in business at 24

6. Elected to the legislature at 24

7. Fiancee died when he was 26

8. Defeated for speaker at 29

9. Defeated for electorate at 31

10. At 33 married a woman who became a burden not a help

11. Only one of four sons lived past age 18

12. Defeated for congress at 34

13. Elected to congress at 37

14. Defeated for congress at 39

15. Defeated for senate at 46

16. Defeated for vice president at 47

17. Defeated for senate at 49

18. Finally elected president

 

Defeated. Defeated. Defeated.  Surely a man would have reason to consider that to be the operative word in that life list… at least if you didn't know the rest of the story.  And Lincoln did not know the rest of his story while he was still living it. He just chose to ignore those repeated defeats and press on.  That is no small feat, especially for a man who is thought to have suffered from depression. It takes an iron will and great vision to persevere like that.  

This is what I am mulling over on President's Day. 

Lincoln-3

At the Cabin

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I had to laugh when my son commented on Facebook that a visit to our house typically includes your involvement in a play, a concert, or a photo shoot.  This is actually true, particularly if you are a guest of one of our middle kids.  You may well find yourself swept away into a throwback fantasy world – at least for a little while. It's all good fun.

If you visit, dress warmly.

We may end up hiking over to the cabin at the pond…

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Weekend Photography Tips – composition

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There is one instance in which it is actually less than desirable to be 'centered'.  That is, when it comes to your photographs. (Actually this applies to all forms of visual art.) It is generally accepted that a composition is more pleasing when the subject is slightly off-sides rather than dead center.  For a couple hundred years now this has been referred to as the rule of thirds. 

If you imagine a nine-patch quilt square superimposed over your image, you want to try to position your camera so that the subject is roughly near one of the four points on the center square. This can be done during focusing or later in editing. There is a trick to doing it in camera however because most point and shoot cameras tend to hunt for a center object to focus upon.  

First things first, you need to track down the way your camera is currently set to focus.  Does your camera have face recognition? Does it have flashing boxes in the viewfinder letting you know what it is selecting as focal points?  These are important things to know because whatever is outside the little flashing box(es) may well not be in focus, particularly if you are in Aperture or Portrait modes. 

Next, get your subject into a focus box and press the shutter half way down.  This will lock your focus and exposure.  Many people don't realize that your camera needs a half second there to do that. If you routinely press the shutter button completely immediately without that pause you aren't allowing your camera to focus properly. 

So, you have your subject locked in.  Now, move your camera slightly one way or another to frame the scene and then depress your shutter button the rest of the way. If this takes too much time you can always play around with cropping in your photo editing program.  They all have that. I would suggest making a copy of your image first and then try cropping it different ways for comparison. 

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This one is pretty obvious. 

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tess

 

In this shot the tunnel is centered, but you can see that the girls themselves are aligned at the 1/3 and 2/3 marks.  This makes for a more symmetrical composition than Aidan's but still works. 

tess

When she was solo, however, I moved Tess slightly left.

tunnel

The Rule of Thirds doesn't apply only to portraits.  Some gorgeous examples of landscape and still shots here.

Weekend Challenge: learn to identify your camera's focus indicator and practice holding the shutter halfway down and recomposing your shot.  Alternatively, choose some of your older photos and play around with cropping.  (remember, always edit COPIES, never originals – cardinal rule of editing)

Learning to Love

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"There are many who want me to tell them of secret ways of becoming perfect and I can only tell them that the sole secret is a hearty love of God, and the only way of attaining that love is by loving.  You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so you learn to love God and man by loving. Begin as a mere apprentice and the very power of love will lead you on to become a master of the art." 

– St Francis de Sales

valentine

valentine Little love apprentices at work around here this week.  

Montessori at Home – Multiplication Manipulative plans

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Those of you who were interested in our multiplication mat might want to visit Montessori Print Shop.  Jennifer has graciously shared actual lesson pages from her primary math manual to use with the mat.   These run through a typical multiplication presentation, complete with suggested scripts. 

Enjoy!

The Best Medicine

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"The best medicine in the world, without any side effects, is a smiling face."

We are hoping this saying holds true.  I had the privilege to photograph some of my favorite people this week and we had a blast.  Lots of smiles and laughter during the session.  Some more sober thoughts and lots of prayers while editing.  You see, the pictures of these beautiful faces are going to be hung in their father's ICU room, where he is in critical condition.  Visits are limited so we bringing a little bit of home to him this way.  I would ask you say a prayer when you see this post for a gentle man and the woman and children who absolutely adore him. 

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Walk in Love

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"The lens of loss and trial has a way of bringing blessing into sharp focus. It is the the relative ease of the uninterrupted daily that muddies the water, allowing discontent to filter in. It can make it hard to see love, to show love, to feel loving. How often we become farsighted as marriage ages, seeing clearly that which is beyond our reach, while what is right there before us blurs and fades from our sight…"

please visit Suscipio for the rest of the story