Through the distance ...

“And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.” (Gen 31:49)

“Is the Lord going to use in a great way? Quite probably. Is He going to prepare you as you expect? Probably not. And if you’re not careful, you will look at the trials, the tests, the sudden interruptions, the disappointments, the sadness, the lost jobs, the failed opportunities, the broken moments, and you will think, He’s through with me, He’s finished with me, when in fact, He is equipping you.” (The Mystery of God’s Will, by Chuck Swindoll)

Daily writing tips for students, teachers and others

Whether you are a student, teacher, an attorney, manager, or blogger, writing skills are essential for your success. Considering the rise of the information age, they are even more important, as people are surrounded by e-mails, wikis, social networks and so on. It can be difficult to hone one’s writing skills within this fast paced environment. Daily Writing Tips is a blog where you will find simple yet effective tips to improve your writing.

Categories include Book Reviews, Business Writing, Competitions, Expressions, Fiction Writing, Freelance Writing, General, Grammar, Grammar 101, Misused Words, Punctuation, Spelling, Vocabulary, Word of the Day, and Writing Basics.

Most popular articles are: 40 Yiddish Words You Should Know; The Impotence of Proofreading; 6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know; Let the Word Do the Work; 10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals; 50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should Avoid; 12 Greek Words You Should Know; 34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer; Gross Writing Errors on the Web; Creative Writing 101; Latin Words and Expressions; Usage That Provokes “Blackboard Moments”; and 44 Resume Writing Tips.

You can also measure your writing skills with DWT’s monthly updated tests. Current tests include Vocabulary Test 1, Spelling Test 1, Grammar Test 1, and Vocabulary Test 2.

You can get DWT via RSS Feed, or by email, and stay tuned for your writing tips!

Free photos for Christian publications

ChristianPhotos.net is a leap of faith. Everything is free - you can download high resolution stock photography for Christian purposes without having to pay anything - expenses are covered by donations and ads. The photos can be used freely in Christian advertisements, program booklets, bulletins, invitations, newsletters, religious education materials, flyers, posters and any other project for which photos are needed. The vision of ChristianPhotos.net is simple: it wants to help churches to publish better material for spreading the word of Gospel. You can also submit your own photos.

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Picture no. 18 (series): Clouds and nostalgia

These two pictures show the athletic oval and the Main Building of Rizal High School, Pasig City, Metro Manila.

In the 1990’s the Guinness Book of World Records credited the school as the largest high school in the world, with its enrollment reaching a high of 26,000 students at one point in time.

I took the sepia-toned picture in 1995 and the colored picture in 1996. If you are a beginning photographer wondering how you can get great cloud shots, you can simply fit a filter (polarizing or graduated) on the lens of your single lens reflex camera.

Way back in 1969, I was a first year student in Rizal High School. Back then it was better known as the Rizal Provincial High School. Anyway, what I remember most about those youthful days was the Field Demonstration held annually in the oval. The most popular song in the Philippines at that time was Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now.” Some of you may be familiar with the famous lines from that song:

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I’ve looked at clouds that way.
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone.
So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall.
I really don’t know clouds at all.

I don't know about you but for me, sepia-toned or black and white pictures can evoke nostalgia better than colored pictures. Posted below are some quotations about nostalgia:

Owens Lee Pomeroy: “Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense, but the past perfect!”  

Author Unknown: “People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things they weren't so crazy about the first time around.”  

Bill Vaughn: It’s never safe to be nostalgic about something until you're absolutely certain there's no chance of its coming back.  

Florence King: “True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories.”  

Lou Reed: “I don't like nostalgia unless it's mine.”  

Ted Koppel: “It becomes increasingly easy, as you get older, to drown in nostalgia.”  

Doug Larson: “Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.”  

Will Rogers: “Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was.” 

Picture no. 17: Serendipity

I took this picture way back 1991 or 1992. After a lunchtime siesta, I got up, went out of my room and then I saw these stuffed toys just hanging around. I got my beloved Canon AE-1 program camera with an FD 50 mm f/1.8 lens. I centered the stuffed toys in the viewfinder and filled the frame (this is a basic technique in photography).I’m sure the girls among you will agree with me that this picture is probably the cutest picture in the history of photography!

Picture no. 16: The toys and joys of childhood

Eugene Field (September 2, 1850 - November 4, 1895) was an American writer best known for writing poetry for children and humorous essays. Some of you might have come across his melancholy poem “Little Boy Blue” with such lines as:

The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and staunch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.

“Now, don't you go till I come,” he said,
“And don't you make any noise!”
So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,
He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue---
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true!

I took the picture above in the early 1990’s. I used Kodak T-Max black and white film (if I remember correctly) and my beloved Canon AE-1 Program camera with a Vivitar 28-210 mm zoom lens. I first saw the rusted cans of baby milk products but I felt that something was missing. I looked around the area and then I then saw an old rubber doll that my nephew (five years old at the time) had discarded. I placed the rubber doll in one of the cans and then I shot this picture.

Free online resources on creative and journalistic writing for teachers and students

WritingFix is a global resource for Writing teachers and students with hundreds of free interactive writing prompts, lessons and quality resources for classrooms where writing is taught, not just assigned.

Some of the interactive writing prompts are:

Daily Writing Prompts
Interactive Writing Prompts for K-6th Grade
Right-Brained Writing Prompts using serendipity and creativity to launch a piece of writing
Left-Brained writing prompts
Writing Lesson of the Month Network for teachers around the world