I miss you Sam!!

I miss you Sam!!
I miss you Sam!!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Shadow Shot Sunday!

Shadow Shot Sunday #2 - Magical Mystical Teacher + Chubskulit + Gemma Wiseman

I hope everyone's new year is off to a great start! Mine is in spite of the fact that I'm still searching for some sunshine!! Ah, whatever, we work with what we have! Enjoy your weekend!!

Life is ten percent what happens to us and ninety percent how we react to
it.
Dennis P. Kimbro


You can't put your feet on the ground until you've touched the sky.
Paul Auster
The whole secret of the study of nature lies in learning how to use one's
eyes...  George Sand

Friday, January 6, 2012

Weekend Reflections

Weekend Reflections is hosted by James each week beginning Friday at 11 AM Eastern Standard Time. It's another wonderful way of opening your eyes to new and different kinds of beauty. Click on the web address under the blog title and sign up to play with us!
Wishing all of you a lovely, restful, happy weekend!
There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature.  Aristotle
Wisdom begins in wonder.  Socrates
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.  William Shakespeare

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Sky Watch Friday!

Time to share your skies, the beauty over your world, the clouds, the colors! Sky Watch is hosted each week by  the Sky Watch team of  Sandy, Wren and me. And this week as every week, we remember Klaus and know that he joins us in spirit! Join us and the many people from all over the world who share theirs with us each week!
And the new year is here! Hope it's off to a great start for all of you and may we all find beautiful skies!!
Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water.
Christopher Morley




Wednesday, January 4, 2012

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!



First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank
while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then, after that trauma, we were
put to sleep on our tummies
in baby cribs covered
with bright coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets,
and, when we rode our bikes,
we had baseball caps,
not helmets, on our heads.
As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight.
WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day.
--And, we were OKAY.
We would spend hours building
our go-carts out of scraps
and then ride them down the hill,
only to find out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem..
We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were
no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVDs,
no surround-sound or CDs,
no cell phones,
no personal computers,
no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS
and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut,
broke bones and teeth,
and there were no lawsuits
from those accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms, and mud pies
made from dirt, and
the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and
-although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts
and not everyone made the team.
Those who didn't had to learn
to deal with disappointment.
Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,
problem solvers, and inventors ever.
The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas..
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of those born
between 1925-1970, CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Watery Wednesday!

Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb
but how well you bounce.
Vivian Komori
A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway.
Fr. Jerome Cummings
Join the fun on Watery Wednesday hosted by 2sweetnsaxy!!  http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Monday, January 2, 2012

Our World Tuesday!!

Time for "Our World" again! This is a wonderful way to find the beauty, the fun, the good and even the bad things about Our World and to share them! Hope you will join us! Click on the link  to go to the Our World site and sign up!!
http://ourworldtuesdaymeme.blogspot.com/
For those of you who commented earlier, I have saved your comments and they are appreciated, but in trying to clean up the mess Blogger made with my post for Our World, I was unable to post them again. I've saved them in my messages however as they are all important to me.

Thank you as always!!
Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it
into words is all that is necessary.
 Margaret Cousins
Life's a game, all you have to do, is know how to play it.
Unknown
Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Life is ten percent what happens to us and ninety percent how we react to
it.
Dennis P. Kimbro

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation.
Unknown

From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
Arthur Ashe
Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself, and know that everything
in this life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events
are blessings given to us to learn from.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM SAM SCHNAUZER

Wishing you all a most wonderful and Happy New Year from Sam Schnauzer -- and me!!
May all of us have a year filled with PEACE! LOVE, LAUGHTER, GOOD HEALTH, KINDNESS and BEAUTY!

What Can I Say?

What Can I Say?
I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.

Portland Time