Splash!! ~ A Lucky Shot….

Boy, did I luck out capturing this shot! I just happened to take this photo just as the water surged in under that arch and hit the rock. Yep, it was a lucky shot.

This is one of the photos I took when my husband and I visited Point Lobos in October of 2013.

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© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Turning Grapes Into Raisins: A Labor of Love at the LDS Vineyard in Madera, California

On a bright, sunny Saturday morning at the end of August in 2013, my husband and I, along with hundreds of other volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints converged on an 80-acre grape vineyard in Madera, California.

The purpose? To pick the sweet, plump, juicy Thompson Seedless grapes and lay them out on large paper trays. Why did we place these grapes onto paper trays? So that they would dry in the sun and turn into raisins.

The grapes were left to dry in the sun for about two weeks. Then, volunteers returned to the vineyard to roll the grapes, or should I say raisins, inside the paper trays. The raisins were processed and made available to people around the world as part of the LDS Church's welfare and worldwide humanitarian aid programs. If you'd like to learn about the LDS Humanitarian Aid program, please click HERE.

This vineyard is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members of the Church in eight stakes volunteer to work in the vineyard throughout the year. For my non-LDS readers, you may be wondering what a "stake" is. A stake is a geographical unit that is made up of a group of wards. And a ward is a local congregation that is organized geographically. Members of the Church attend a ward near their home. Each ward is assigned a certain number of rows in this vineyard.

I took these photos after my husband and I had finished working in the vineyard.

Newly picked grapes. Isn't that a beautiful sight?



A row of grapes in the vineyard. See how they are changing color? These were picked several days before we arrived. They were already on their way to becoming raisins.



Grapes beginning to dry in the sun.



Grape vines.



Grape picking tools – grape pan, grape knives, garden pruner, and water. My husband uses a grape knife. I prefer my garden pruner.



To learn more about the LDS Vineyard in Madera, please click the following link. There's a great video that accompanies this brief article. The video shows volunteers working in the vineyard.

Raisins: Part of the Lord’s Work

Linking with Oh, the PLACES I've been! and Our World Tuesday.

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© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Precarious

It was so interesting to see these trees precariously perched on the sides of cliffs when we visited Bryce Canyon National Park last summer.








I am left to wonder how these trees ended up on the edges of cliffs. Could erosion have played a part? What do you think?

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© 2013 - 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Red Snapdragons

Snapdragons are such beautiful flowers. As I said in a previous post, I love them. I've already planted a few of these pretty flowers in our yard again this year. They are a cool-weather flower, so I have to remove them from our yard once the weather starts heating up later in the spring. We have hot summers where we live, so they wouldn't survive the heat here. But, I can enjoy them during our cool and mild winters.

I took this photo of these lovely red snapdragons in our yard several years ago.

Linking with Today's Flowers.

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© 2013 - 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Christmas Lights on Temple Square ~ Part 2

In a previous post, I shared some photos I took while our family visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City on November 29, 2013. That was the night the Christmas lights were turned on for the first time this Christmas season. What a beautiful sight!

Today, I'm sharing more pictures from our visit. I hope you enjoy them.

A photo of the Salt Lake Temple through the trees.



Lovely luminaries.



A beautiful nativity scene in the center of the reflecting pool.



Here's a different viewing angle of the nativity scene in the photo above. The magnificent building behind the nativity scene is the The Salt Lake Temple.



A close-up view of the nativity scene.



The Salt Lake Temple.



Merry Christmas everyone!

Linking with Oh, the PLACES I've been!.

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© 2012 - 2013 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Our Visit to Avila Beach, California ~ Part 6: Views From Under The Pier

In my previous post about our visit to Avila Beach, I told you I would share photos of the Avila Landing, which is under the Avila Beach Pier.

So, without further ado, I bring you views from under the pier ~

First of all, here is the stairway that takes you to the Avila Landing. That's my husband there in the photo.



Here's a zoomed in view of the Avila Landing sign in the photo above.



I took this picture from the stairs leading to the Landing. Look at all of that seaweed!



It's just those rusty-looking stairs between me and the ocean below.



Well, here we are! Under the pier!



That long metal walkway leads to the other side of the Landing. It looks like the metal on that section of the walkway is newer. It doesn't look rusty. See the difference?



The metal walkway to the other side of the Landing.



Another view from under the pier. I was standing on the walkway in the photo above when I took this photo.



On the other side of the landing, there was another stairway to a lower landing. Here it is. My husband got there before me.



We'll go down those stairs in a future post.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

Christmas Lights on Temple Square ~ Part 1

Last week, our family spent the Thanksgiving holiday together in Utah. We had a wonderful time.

On Friday, November 29, we all traveled to Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square.

For those who've never been to Temple Square, the magnificent building in these pictures is the Salt Lake Temple. Construction of this temple took 40 years to complete. The groundbreaking took place on February 14, 1853 and the dedication was held in April of 1893.

The Salt Lake Temple is the largest temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.



My husband and I had been to Temple Square before, but never at Christmas time.



These pictures will hopefully give you an idea of just how beautiful Temple Square is during the Christmas season.



But, being there is so much better. These photos simply can't compare with the experience of seeing the amazing beauty of Temple Square at Christmas time in person.



I'll be sharing more photos from our visit to Tempe Square in a future post.

Linking with Our World Tuesday and Oh, the PLACES I've been!.

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© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last