Smart, Talent, Skill, or Luck?......

# One -- Yes, I did take this awesome photograph of the clouds. 

# Two – Yes, I took the beautiful photograph with my little cell phone.  (Our oldest grandson, Brendan, bought a new super phone and everyone passed their old electronic cell phones down the family-chain until finally I was finally forced to move into the 21-century with an I-phone …..I think its “I” for “intelligent”!:)


My mother was a outstanding artist and oil painter and art teacher.  But as far as my talent, I was always at my best when the lines are already drawn and numbered…and I could fill in the blanks.  Wanting to see the torch passed down to the next generation, Mom saw that I was trained in various areas of art: sculpting, sketching, mixing colors, shading, staging, arrangements, oil painting, and the one I probably enjoyed the most….was framing a scene. 


 I guess you could say that time was spent training me to be an artist.  But the only time my signature was attached to anything worth money was when I got a parking ticket and the city of Fort Worth was $17 dollars richer.

 I do see things with a trained eye….the same kind of "trained" as I would say, "My daughter's dog has been "trained"!  But her dog does NOT use his training!  You can buy him a cushion.  You can put the cushion in his favorite spot, right in front of the tv. ....but when you leave the room ....... Good Ol' Chance is right back up in the middle of Carrie's chair.

Our granddaughter, Brittany, (who lives with us) trained her three small dogs to run outside to bark.  Irwin  installed a doggie-door near the patio door.  Time was spent in training Harlie, Suzuki, and Pixel to use their doggie-door to EXIT the house to party and BARK….outside!  But there are so many times I can be deep in thought at my computer and Irwin at his carpenter bench, when a strange dog trots down the street and all three well trained dogs will run for the doggie-door at once.  However, these trained dogs will hold their barking until they get right behind my desk chair ....and then they explode with that shrill, panicky type barking....in triplicate!!!!  It frightens me so badly, its known to straighten the curls out of hair.  Then, the real excitement comes when all three dogs run right under Irwin at his workbench or electric saw, and begin to yelp feverishly.  Irwin jumps and yells and throws whatever is in his hand…..very similar to the chaos of Geronimo's sneak-attack on the U.S. Calvary.
 

Trained at something does not always mean that one is accomplished.   I’m amazed at the amount of skill in the photography that comes across my computer screen. My skill is called the law of averages…I just click at something until it is gone and I’m bound to get a good one.  For instance, the picture above of the sun rays.  We were actually traveling down the Interstate going about 65 mph.  I asked Irwin to slow down while I was rolling down my window and getting my brand new I-phone ready. (That’s another story!)  “You’re going too fast; slow down,” I kept yelling at Irwin.

Irwin yelled back, “I can’t slow down; we are traveling on the Interstate that’s posted 65 mph!  I’ve got traffic backed up all the way to the Red River.  We're going to have to keep up with the traffic or be rear-ended!” 

“Honey, you can just smile and motion for the impatient drivers to go around!  There’s 3 other lanes....... this was the exact picture I’ve been waiting for. God has created the sketching, colors mixing, shading, staging, and arrangements,…and I've got a "Smart Phone"!