Finally...Flower Friday

Bougainvillea taken with Fuji E-X2

Back home, snow still under my feet...now it blends with puddles and mud...typical of New England..but the sun is shinning today and we turned the clocks forward so that gives me hope that spring is right around the corner.  Flowers, they also announce the arrival of spring..in all their beauty, but I have not seen so much as a pussy willow or forsythia.  That's o.k. though because I brought lots of flowers back from St. Maarten to cheer me up. Most tropical islands are fragrant in color and design with many different varieties of flowers and St. Maarten is no exception...so for today's Friday Finds...I share with you, the blossoms of the Island. 

I don't know the name of this lovely but was taken with Canon 7D Mark 11

Taken with Canon 7D Mark 11..no idea what it is..but pretty, right.

Taken with the Fuji E-X2  Blue flower LOL

Different color Bougainvillaea Fuji E-X2 

Hibiscus Fuji E-X2 

Purple Water Lily...Canon 7D Mark 11

So there you have it..my Friday Flowers...I like the both camera's captured their beauty...I love how they make me feel to view them...and they do give me hope that soon, a very tall stem will break through the 2 feet of snow that continues to sleep on my lawn...and until the snow melts, I bring you spring from St. Maarten each Friday until we are all warm...enjoy your weekend.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Advice From a Tree

Stand Tall & Proud...Remember your Roots!

Reflect the Light of Your True Nature

Drink plenty of Water

Enjoy the View!

Week 39 of Be Still.. A breath of Fresh air...I set it all up...props, table, side lighting and I just didn't get it. It doesn't always work for me...sometimes it's still a struggle...so for today...I walked away.  Instead I went to what I love the most..the great outdoors and I found my Be Still moment with this tree...tomorrow, I'll try setting up a scene again but for today...I'm o.k. with my tree..

Edited in LR..KK preset Slight Light..into Photoshop for text...do what feels right...It's all good.

A New Toy

No, I didn't buy myself a new plane while on vacation but I did have lots of fun shooting them...and for the first time ever, since my Kodak Brownie, I bought myself a new camera that is not a Canon...Don't get me wrong, I love my Canon's but I'm really starting to fall in love with my new Fuji XE-2 mirrorless camera. It seemed to me that St. Maarten was the perfect place to take it for a test drive...so off we flew together, with the manual tucked away, ready for studying.

Upon arriving it took me several days to figure it all out to my liking. There was definitely a learning curve, so I knew I would have to use it a lot to remember where all the buttons were so I could find them quickly when I needed them. I was off and running to see what I could capture, with one small camera and one lens. Not so much writing this time, I just want to share some of the photo's from this camera and the 18-55 lens that came with me. The photo above was captured during take-off, out over the ocean, late afternoon.

 A little macro work....because I love flowers.

 A shot of the Lagoon from my favorite French Cafe..early morning.

Jenna and Jaxson walking my favorite beach...Grand Case..Midday

Lovely light and color on the beach at Philipsburg..almost dusk.

People in the beautiful late afternoon light..psst that Jim checking things out.

Black and white mailboxes...just because I liked them...they tell their own story.

Ah, my favorite new restaurant... how about some nice dof..indoor, night, no flash..

Jaxson said "hug" to Liam..and they did...indoors, no flash.

Philipsburg...sun is setting.  Another perfect day.

All photo's were edited in LR...no presets or textures. Actually the light is so good in the Caribbean that very little editing is needed...I was really quite pleased with the camera in that the photo's were consistently sharp and the color in this camera is amazing. The little 18-55 did a great job for me...in the future, if I decide to keep working with it, I would probably add a portrait lens.  I choose Aperture priority for my shooting mode this first time out...as I move forward I hope to become more familiar with manual mode but for right now I'm loving this little lightweight buddy...

Linking up to Kim Klassen's Friday Finds...

So French

Everywhere I turn I see French, I hear French spoken and eat French treats...so that is my inspiration for week 36 of Be Still...St. Maarten is part Dutch and part French...I stay on the Dutch side but I love the French side with its's macarons, cafe-a-lait and almond croissants..yes, I know you can buy these lovely items in the States but trust me, they do not taste the same...even here if you buy macarons on the Dutch side you are not getting the real deal...so twice, while I'm here, I go to the French coffee house and get me 6 lovely macarons in a variety of colors...the first time.  After that I get the chocolate...so smooth and rich and the raspberry...so sweet and juicy with a crust like velvet and the cappicino. The only other place that they came close was in France and even then they were not as good as the ones here...It is worth my yearly trek here just for this one treat. Of course getting away from the cold and piles of snow is a good incentive also..

As if that weren't enough, on our first day here, driving up to our condo, we passed a new restaurant called So French...I couldn't believe my eyes...well it didn't take me long to find my way down the hill to that lovely place...just to check it out.  The view of the lagoon across the street is so lovely and romantic...I just had to have a drink and talk to the nice waiters and owners...seems they have only been open 6 months.  The menu is a little pricey but I have heard good things...When it came time to leave...I was so shocked and thrilled, they had comped our bar bill...now how is that for good business practice and of course we made a reservation for this Friday night...table for two by the window on the little porch...Merci

I'll be back when my macarons are gone...

Linking up to Kim Klassen's  Be Still week 36...Summersun pre-set used on all photo's.  Edited in LR...

Photo's taken with Fuji EX-2 mirrorless camera..

One Last Breakfast

Hard to believe it is 14 years today since my Mom died...I miss her everyday but like most of us who have lost someone special, we realize that certain days can trigger a more prominent memory and a deeper sadness...today is like that for me...as is her birthday and I also feel the lose more on Christmas...but breakfast though, that is a sadness all in it's own category...

My Mom and I both belonged to the same weight loss group...TOPS.  I have lost over 100 pounds with them, starting way back in 1982.  Before I even reached my goal my Mom joined with me...she didn't have as much weight to lose but it was good for her also and it gave us a connection. Until the day she died, she was still a member and at all the Tops functions, that I attended, as the biggest loser for the State of Massachusetts in 1983, my Mom was there.

I started a morning group and we held our Tops meetings, on Fridays, at my church. We would weight in, stay for the meeting, and then head to breakfast...it was our one real treat for the week and we did it every Friday...after breakfast we would head off shopping and then I would drop her home at around two in the afternoon. Sometimes it would be just my Mom and me for breakfast but many times we would have a following.  Each declaring Friday breakfast their cheat day..

When my Mom got sick she came to Tops as often as she could and we would still do breakfast but not go shopping anymore...she tired easily and then when she went into rehab after being on a ventilator...we never went to breakfast again...because she never came home.  

On the day she died, we were all with her at the hospital, including my pastor who was also my friend...as we prayed for an easy passing...Anne came over to me and said...how lovely is this that you Mom chose today to pass...I was in shock as to what she might have meant by that...and I expressed that...her answer was..".Cheryl, today is Friday...and it's 1:45...your Mom gave you one more Friday of spending time together.".She was right...I looked at the clock and knew that this last day was my Mom's gift to me...to tell me that we could always have Friday morning breakfast together...

So this breakfast in is memory of my Mom...I know it's not Friday..but I also know she would have loved this French breakfast...yup, when I was a kid she would eat cake for breakfast...my kind of woman...Miss you Mom, everyday but especially on Friday's...

How much does a man live, after all?

Does he live a thousand days, or really only one?

For a week or for several centuries?

How long does a man spend dying?

What does it mean to say "for ever"?

                 Pablo Neruda 

Linking up with Kim Klassen "Be Still" week 35.

This photo was taken with my new Fuji X-E2 Mirrorless Camera...