Your Happy Photo for the Day – Friday 5-24-19

Anwar B. – LinkedIn

Wonderful Waterfalls

Nature via Cathy Ruggiero

A Candle

“A Candle”*

Poem and Photo by Kelly Mizell – LinkedIn

 

A candle is but a simple thing,

It starts with just a bit of string,

Yet dipped and dipped with a patient hand,

It gathers wax upon its strand,

Until it’s complete in colors and white

At last it gives a lovely light.

 

Life is so like that bit of string,

Each deed we do is a simple thing,

Yet day by day if on life’s strand,

We work with patient heart and hand

It gathers joy and makes dark times bright,

Giving at last a loving light.

Kelly Mizell

 

*Kelly published this on LinkedIn this morning. I was blown away and asked her for her permission to repost it here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Glorious Autumn!

Pinterest

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” ~ George Eliot

 

Pixabay

“Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.” ~ William Cullen Bryant

 

Unsplash

“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower”  ~ Albert Camus

 

Wikipedia

“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.” ~ Faith Baldwin

Wondering

Lisa Bearnes Richey

Shine

purpleclover.com

Fountain of Youth

57besteverdaypeopleimagesonPinterest

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” ~ Sophia Loren

Valentine’s Day 2018

H & L

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dragonfly

Amazing Pictures via Cathy Ruggiero

Feeling It!

Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

Maybe

Nino Chakvetadze via Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

This

Zen to Zany

“We have SUCH a good life.”

My husband and I say this to each other several times a week. Things will never be perfect, and we irritate each other greatly from time to time, but mostly, things are GOOD.

_____________________

I spent a wonderful time typing to our son via a chat program. He’s across the world from us, doing his own thing, with a good friend and his wife, living and working in a way I really have difficulty getting my head around.

He used to be like me, nervous about traveling and all the details associated with it. Now he travels at the drop of a hat, arranges for Uber to take him where he needs to go otherwise, staying in AirBnB’s for one night, two weeks, a month, then picking up and moving elsewhere. He has computer clients in the U.S. and he and his partners work freelance.

He takes both Mandarin and Thai lessons, wanting to be able to speak to people where he is. He’s making good progress, though he always feels he still speaks ‘baby language,’  he can understand and many times respond now in their language. He can also write in the languages. He doesn’t do this for job opportunities. He does this out of respect for the country and its people.

I talked with him this morning about dreaming of winning the lottery. He said, “It would be great to win the lottery. but we’d have to figure out how to help a lot of people with the money so the money didn’t make us sick. Winning the lottery doesn’t tend to make people happy.  ‘Cuz that’s not where happiness comes from.”

 He also said, “I want to make you guys proud helping good people, and live up to my own standards.”

I told him I was starting a list of charities who actually used most of the money collected to help the people. He immediately came up with two – “Watsi” and “Givewell,” – saying he gives $1000/month to Watsi, “a good group.”

________________

I have to tell you I already feel we have won the lottery – OUR SON.  I feel lucky to know him.

Be

The Daily Kitty via Cathy Ruggiero

I Think…

Zen to Zany

I laughed aloud when I saw this picture.

My husband and I got used to sleeping when we could, wandering around when we couldn’t, reading for another hour, then sleeping in, or taking a nap.

Then came Amber.

 

Amber at 3 months

Amber is a 3 month old yellow Labrador retriever. We adopted her at 10 weeks old, a month ago tomorrow.  And what a whirlwind of a month we’ve had!

Now our lives revolve on when Amber was last out. We take her out for at least a short walk every two hours from 7:30 in the morning until about 11:00 at night. If we’re not walking her, we make a point of going out to the porch to cuddle, play, talk, as well as check her water dish. (She’s definitely a water dog. We fill the bowl half full, and then she cannot seem to stand it until she gets at least one paw in it. She drinks it, plays in it, splashes it all over the floor. We’re hoping that she’ll learn that when she does this, she might have to go for a bit where the bowl is empty. (Not long, but we’re hoping long enough to get her attention and maybe get her to change her ways.)

She desperately wants to jump on, and play with, our 12-year-old cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, Molly,

 

Molly

 

and our cats, Abby

 

Abby

and Smoke.

Smoke

The problem is, NO ONE, except her people, wants to play with HER!

The one who handles our new family member best is Smoke. She routinely gets nose to nose with Amber, and then whacks her with a paw. Abby disappears until ‘the baby’ has gone back out on the porch  Molly tries to disappear, and then growls and snaps a bit when Amber relentlessly continues to try to jump on her face. Of course, even when Amber was being good, standing in front of Molly with her head down, front paws straight out in front of her, bottom high in the air, and tail wagging furiously, Molly still growled and snapped.

The only one NOT giving us a hassle right now is Boo, my new black fish. It’s really hard to get a picture of her because of the reflection of the light on the bowl.

This picture is a professional one I found on the net, but it gives you a good idea of Boo’s face. She swims right over to me when I feed her, wiggling her body and lots of fins while goggling at me. She doesn’t say much and doesn’t give us any problems – a real relief right now.

To say logistics of where animals are at any given time is a full time job around here is a vast understatement. Also, in our efforts to get Amber acclimated to the house more, we try to invite her in several times a day. This is complicated because she loves to jump into the kiddie pool just before coming in from a walk, so we have to check to see how wet she is before she is allowed inside…

Suffice to say we fall into bed at night and are probably asleep within 30 seconds or less. We wake up still tired from the day before, but are determined to adapt to our new lifestyle, feeling lucky to have a houseful of wonderful animals.

Gorgeous Flowers

Ginger Charles, Greenwood Arkansas

Ginger is a “Purple Person” as I am. I think she took this photo in her yard. I found it on Facebook and wanted to share it with you. Are YOU a ‘purple person’ too?

The Hummingbird Lady

I’ve had these pictures for quite awhile, and I neglected to get the name of the person who took them, so I cannot give credit as I would like to. I was fascinated by this lady and the hummingbirds’ attraction to her. I could sit with a little feeder in my hand until I melted into a puddle and hummingbirds wouldn’t flock around me like this. What a special lady she must be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vicarious Beach Vacation

“Last Night’s Sky” – Mary Lou Lewis

I think Mary Lou is coming home today, so this is probably the end of our vicarious vacation. What a glorious place to relax and unwind! Wasn’t it NICE of her to share these pictures with us?

Good Morning from the Beach (Vicariously)

“This Morning’s Sunrise” – Mary Lou Lewis

Good Morning from the Vicarious Beach!

Photo by Mary Lou Lewis

My sister-in-law is still most deservedly enjoying a week at the beach. Some of her friends are leaving today, some tomorrow, but Mary Lou will come back on Saturday, I think.  She shared her sunrise with me, and I wanted to share it with you! :0)

 

 

Magic of Whispers

Evolver Social Movement via Cathy Ruggiero

“For the Love of Pink”

“For the Love of Pink” via Cathy Ruggiero

Gorgeous Waterfall

Save Trees Save Earth Via Cathy Ruggiero

“Yellow Roses”

Roses on Facebook

Hope You Had a Happy St. Pat’s Day

Vitamin-Ha

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Pat’s – Pinterest

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
~Irish Blessing

Winter Poem

Pugs and Kisses via Cindy Bassnett Thurman

 

Sending warmth (and power!) to my good friends in the Northeast United States.  I hope this is, indeed, the last gasp of winter and that you’ll be enjoying the spring in all its glory soon.

You Know You’re Getting Old When…

Ben Fraser – 1000+ images About Old Age

Insane

Zen to Zany

Mirror Lakes

Offbeat via Susan Phariss

Tibetan Proverb

I’m unable to give credit for this, but I think these are words by which you and I should live.

Cruise Envy

Mary Lou Lewis

I’m envying my sister-in-law and brother-in-law as they enjoy a week-long music cruise.

Although the weather isn’t the best, with gray skies and choppy seas, this looks really beautiful. I’m delighted she shared it with me.

I’ve never been on a cruise, and my husband really doesn’t like the idea of doing it.

My mother LOVED to cruise. It didn’t matter where the ship was going. She loved the cruise life. She liked dressing up for dinner. She loved figuring out what she wanted to do in the huge number of choices each day. She loved eating at the captain’s table. The food was wonderful. The views were excellent. She would have loved spending the rest of her life cruising – anywhere.

I loved the look on her face when she would tell me about her latest cruise. The light in her eyes. The huge smile. The wonderful memories.

I hope the music on THIS cruise is wonderful, and that the weather cooperates to make this a wonderful experien