adding to the mix...

Spent Saturday afternoon working on tearing down several pallets to use the wood on a wall in my eventual studio space & darkroom. All I can say is that tearing apart something that is built to stay together is not the easiest job. Didn't take long before I had to add some coffee and film to the mix...

conversations, photos and coffee...

Got to spend a little dad/daughter time this afternoon with Sadi. Nothing like having some quality time for conversations, photos and Starbucks coffee...

a good morning...

Newpaper, coffee and bisquit... Enjoying some relaxing time this morning and realized that I should stop and take a picture.  Of course the Leica was within arm's reach. Slightly edited for a nostalgic effect...

Christmas Blend

Ok, so after reading the post on quirkybee.blogspot.com, I decided to also vent on something that sorta bugs me when we get close to the Christmas season.  I attached a picture that I took, so it stays with the troybradfordphoto theme (no blogs without a picture of it).

So here I am at the airport in Seattle the other day.  I was waiting in the loooooooong line for Starbucks coffee and of course I was next to someone who wanted to talk.  She was mentioning the fact that she was surprised that Starbucks still called their holiday coffee a “Christmas Blend”.  Then she goes on to tell me how she is a “Christian”, but she doesn’t necessarily think that it matters is someone uses “holiday” or “Christmas”.  Of course, me being the introvert that I am, (especially in airports) I am thinking that maybe I didn’t want coffee after all.  I can’t believe that out of all of the people in the airport, she picked me to share her opinion with.  Well, the conversation continued and then she got me to thinking.  She was telling me how she almost lost a friend over that very thing.  The friend was insistent on boycotting a particular store because they use the phrase “Happy Holidays” in their advertisements instead of “Merry Christmas”.  When she didn’t agree with her friend, the “disagreement” began.  In reality, it turned “ugly”.  So here is the thought that is going through my head.  “Would Jesus really get upset over such a technicality?”  If they are so insistent in using “Happy Holidays”, maybe we should think of why?  We shouldn’t be so arrogant and think that just because we believe in Jesus Christ, that everyone else should (because we are right and they are wrong).  Maybe if we just appreciated the fact that some stores (or people) say “Merry Christmas” (and let them know that) and not hold it against the ones that say “Happy Holidays”, then we might be portraying the love that Jesus extends to us (and them) every day. Remember how undeserving we really are!  Do you think the world sees the boycotting or complaining as our absolute love for our Savior or do you think they see it as our arrogance that we are saying we are right and they are wrong?  I DON’T want to come across as a person that is compromising my beliefs, but I DO want to be a person that doesn’t let my personal “technicalities” get in the way of letting others see the grace that Christ provides all of us all year long.  By the way, love that “Christmas Blend” coffee!