I miss you Sam!!

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

Friday, April 29, 2011

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! I move into my new place tomorrow, so you may not see me around a lot over the weekend, but I send you wishes for beautiful reflections!
Enjoy your weekend!
You change your life by changing your heart.
Max Lucado

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.
Nido Qubein

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Sky Watch Friday!

Time to share your skies, the beauty over your world, the clouds, the colors! Sky Watch is hosted each week by Klaus and the Sky Watch team of Klaus, Sandy, Wren and me. Join us and the many people from all over the world who share theirs with us each week! Click on the address under the post title to be taken to the SWF website where you can sign up.  This was our sunset night before last at the end of a gray, rainy day!  Needless to say, I loved the change of skies! I will visit as many of your blogs as I can today, but I'm up to my eyeballs in packing boxes -- well, you get the picture!!!

Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it.
Doug Larson


The doors of wisdom are never shut.
Benjamin Franklin

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
Mark Twain

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

Positive expressions and feelings are contagious. 
Lee Jampolsky

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
Saint Augustine

The IRS

This is an oldie but goodie that a friend sent me and I thought I'd share it with you. Definitely good for a rueful giggle! Unfortunately, all too true!!


At the end of the tax year, the IRS office sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital.  While the IRS agent was checking the books, he turned to the CFO of the hospital and said. "I notice you buy a lot of bandages.  What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?"
"Good question," noted the CFO.  "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every once in a while, they send us a free roll."?

"Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer.  But on he went, in his obnoxious way. "What about all these plaster purchases?  What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?"
"Ah, yes," replied the CFO, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question.  "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer and every so often they will send us a free bag of plaster.

"I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all CFO.  "Well," he went on, "What do you do with all the remains from the circumcision surgeries?"
"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the CFO.  "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the IRS office, and about once a year they send us a complete prick."

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.
Bertrand Russell

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
Aristotle

 Happiness is having a scratch for every itch.
Ogden Nash
 
Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness.
Richard Bach

The Big Move Has Begun!

The last preparations for the big move on Saturday begin tomorrow and there's much packing etc. to be done and not much time for blogging!  I'm sure all of your will be grateful when this move is finally over and I can finally talk/write/whine about something else!  I will probably not be posting much until I'm settled in, but whenever I have a free moment or two I'll be checking in with your blogs on ABC, Sky Watch, Weekend Reflections, Shadow Shot Sunday and Pet Pride!  These are a couple of photos (not mine) of the complex that I'm moving into. You'll get to see lots of better ones once I get unpacked!  I hope you all have a great week and I do look forward to things getting back to normal -- whatever that is in my life these days!!!

Monday, April 25, 2011

That's My World!

That's My World is hosted each week by Klaus and the My World team, Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and me. Join us and share your world with others from all over Our World! Just click on the post title, read the rules, sign up and play with us! So! How is your world this week? Have you taken time to see the beauty there? What is it about your world that makes you smile or laugh or feel grateful for?  So, next Saturday is the big day! And now that I can stop fretting over the waiting, I can enjoy some more lovely memories of my world where I've lived the past four years! Hope you enjoy them! Wishing you all a beautiful week!

 An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.
Don Marquis

Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
Pete Seeger


A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.
Elbert Hubbard

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
William James
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Mark Twain
I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
E. B. White


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

 A faith is a necessity to a man. Woe to him who believes in nothing.
Victor Hugo

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.
Khalil Gibran

Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.
D. Elton Trueblood

Pet Pride!

Hey guys, get up off your tush and lets go see Bozo over at his pad in Mumbai! It's always a fun time when we all get together and talk about what's been happin', Bro! You know? Get your human to click on the Post Title, that'll take them to the website where you can sign up! We'll be waiting for you!!
Happy Easter Everyone!!

I'm really celebrating today because I have a lot to be thankful for!! We're moving next weekend!!!  I am SO excited! But I did want to wish all of your a very Happy Easter! I guess the haircut was worth it after all because this was the news waiting for me when I came home!!!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Shadow Shot Sunday!

Get out the magnifying glass, get into your best sleuthing clothes and start prowling your environment looking for those wonderful, but sometimes elusive shadows. This fun and challenging meme is hosted each week by Tracy over at Hey Harriet! Click on the link under the blog title and sign up to play!!

Well, the big moving day will be next weekend so I'll be missing, but I'll be back the following weekend with new pics! This week is a few of the same old, same old except for one -- two SSS blogging friends meeting and enjoying lunch together! That is always fun! Catherine from Mexico on her way to France was in Seattle recently and we got to meet! Wonderful!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter Weekend!

Friday, April 22, 2011

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! 

Happy Earth Day!

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.
John Barrymore
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
Dreams are necessary to life.
Anais Nin

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Sky Watch Friday!

Time to share your skies, the beauty over your world, the clouds, the colors! Sky Watch is hosted each week by Klaus and the Sky Watch team of Klaus, Sandy, Wren and me. Join us and the many people from all over the world who share theirs with us each week! Click on the post title to be taken to the SWF website where you can sign up.  Ah, we've had a little of everything in our skies this week!
Yipes!! There's a monster in my sky!

A Big Monster!

 A fool and his money are soon elected.
Will Rogers

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
E. B. White

 Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge


The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.
Chief Joseph

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Franklin P. Jones

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
Abraham Lincoln

Monastery Life

A young monk arrives at the monastery.
He is assigned to helping the other monks
in copying the old canons and laws of the
church by hand.
He notices, however, that all of the monks
are copying from copies, not from the original
manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the
head abbot to question this, pointing out that
if someone made even a small error in the first
copy, it would never be picked up! In fact, that
error would be continued in all of the subsequent
copies.
The head monk, says, 'We have been copying
from the copies for centuries, but you make
a good point, my son.'
He goes down into the dark caves underneath
the monastery where the original manuscripts
are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't
been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go
by and nobody sees the old abbot. 
So, the young monk gets worried and goes down
to look for him. He sees him banging his head
against the wall and wailing.
"We missed the R !
We missed the R !
We missed the fu%@#ing R !"
His forehead is all bruised and he is
crying uncontrollably. The young monk
asks the old abbot, 'What's wrong, father?'
With a choking voice, the old abbot replies,
'The word was...
CELEB R ATE

Getting Old? Or Getting Better?

 A good friend of mine shared this with me and I loved it and want to share it with you today.
As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of  myself. I've become my own friend..

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer  until 4 AM or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish  to weep over a lost love .. I will.
 I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with  abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.
 
I know I am sometimes forgetful.  But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I  eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not  break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken  hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will  never know the joy of being imperfect.
 
I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have  my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever  etched into deep grooves on my face.
  So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about  what other people think. I don't question myself anymore..
I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I  like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever,
but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could  have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert  every single day(if I feel like it).
 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

ABC Wednesday - N!

Got your dictionary out? You ready to play with the letters? It's that time again! ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and the ABC team: Denise, Annelie, Leslie, Nathalie, Joyce, Donna, Helen, Roger, Troy, Jay, Barb, Gattina and me! And guess what? It's that day again!
No! Don't leave Now! And No Napping! I don't want to have to Nag you to write your Narrative for the letter  N!  Nothing Negative! Maybe something Neat about your Neighbors! I know you're Nervous, but grab a Newspaper and pour yourself a Night cap or we can all meet at a Night club, have some Nachos and Nuts! We can start Networking! We don't want to Neglect ABC Wednesday! Here in the Northwest it's almost Noon and I'm getting Numb from sitting at my desk, Nursing a cup of tea! Now is the time, No more Nonsense! I could go on Nonstop, but None of us has time for that. And here are my N words for the day -- all mine, sorry Lord Google! N is for Night skies, Naps and Napping Doggies, Neighbors, Nature and Natural! 

Monday, April 18, 2011

That's My World!

That's My World is hosted each week by Klaus and the My World team, Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and me. Join us and share your world with others from all over Our World! Just click on the post title, read the rules, sign up and play with us! So! How is your world this week? Have you taken time to see the beauty there? What is it about your world that makes you smile or laugh or feel grateful for?  As I begin preparing for the big move I've been looking back over the past four years since I moved to Seattle and here are a few of the lovely memories I will take with me! My children, the ocean, the harbor, incredible trees, and so much beauty everywhere! 
Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.
Joseph Wood Krutch


 Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
William Arthur Ward

I think I've given the wrong impression -- I'm not leaving Seattle, just a different area and I won't be close to the water, but I do have gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier!! I'll still have plenty to take pictures of!!!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson


If it were not for hopes, the heart would break.
Thomas Fuller


A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe.
Wayne Dyer 

Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire

Pet Pride!

Hey guys, get up off your tush and lets go see Bozo over at his pad in Mumbai! It's always a fun time when we all get together and talk about what's been happin', Bro! You know? Get your human to click on the Post Title, that'll take them to the website where you can sign up! We'll be waiting for you!!

Oh, no! I have to get another haircut before we move? Why? I know I'm a little messy, but it's going to be our apartment isn't it? Who am I getting a haircut for? I hate getting haircuts!!!

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