Do Your Little Bit

Desmond Tutu via Lisa Bearnes Richey

Camera

Chrissie Anderson Peters

Some People Never Get Old – Take 5

Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some People Never Get Old – Take 4

 

Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.

 

 

Some People Never Get Old – Take 3

Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.

 

 

 

Some People Never Grow Old – Take 2

Thanks to Marsha Koenig for her email.

 

 

 

It’s Up to YOU

Margarita Bloom via Cathy Ruggiero

Too Often

Life Lessons by AwePost

Waste

Purple Clover via Cathy Ruggiero

I would LIKE to take the above to heart and quit worrying, but it seems to be something I carry deep into my DNA. I TRY to say I’ll stop, but then it rears its ugly head again.

I worry about things about which I have absolutely no control – a sure sign of stupidity – but, KNOWING it’s stupid and ACTING on it are two different things.

So, I post this in the hope that each of us will read it and digest it, hoping that THIS TIME the sense of it will sink in.

You’re Never Too Old

Growing Bolder via Cathy Ruggiero

Lazy

Lazy Days Wallpaper – Fanpop

I was GOING to work in the garden again and do more weed whacking.

We got up early today

1. to take Molly to the groomer’s, and
2. to go to my husband’s appointment with the eye doctor

We have his second cataract surgery scheduled for the 16th of this month. His right eye (first surgery) is doing well, except that my husband was admonished for insisting we stop putting in the drops. (We started again when we got home).

I fixed us some lunch and then fell asleep in my chair, waking up just a few minutes ago.

I SHOULD get out and do the weed whacking I wanted to do around the garden, but I’m feeling super-lazy.

I think I’m going to declare this an official working-outside-day-off.

I feel a little bit guilty – but not enough to actually go out and DO anything….

Lesson Learned (Well, Almost)

Zen to Zany

Imagination

The Crone’s Grove

Sometimes

Life Lessons by AwePost

Puddles

Zen to Zany via Cathy Ruggiero

I love this picture and the quote.

For me, personally, though, this is a happy WISH, rather than an actual memory.

My mother didn’t like messes. She wouldn’t have provided the rain gear in this picture or countenanced me jumping into a puddle.  My parents were both only children, strictly raised. They didn’t ‘forbid’ us to get dirty. They just couldn’t imagine it. Some things my brother and I ‘got’ without having to be told.

My best friend, Ann, down the street, played in the water. And, if some of it DID get on me, my friend’s mom would clean me up before I walked home. For several years I was at my friend’s house every day, and also routinely spent the night on weekends. We were inseparable and enjoyed countless hours of things my mom would have frowned upon – like finger painting, making chocolate chip cookies, and dressing up to play, “Children of Another Land.”

My friend’s house was always full.  Ann had one sister and two brothers, and ALL of their friends felt the same way I did.

My wish is that every neighborhood have one shared ‘mom’ who delights in – and embraces – the many memory making joys of childhood.

Just Breathe

Life Lessons by AwePost

Good Advice

Theodore Roosevelt via Messages.365 Greetings.com

 

Never

Purple Clover via Cathy Ruggiero

Focus

Alexa – Artful Life

Be the Reason

Life Lessons by AwePost

We are all busy, caught up in what we need or want to accomplish today. It’s easy to move around in your own little bubble, concentrating on getting to the next thing. Every time I see someone take just a moment out of their day to open the door for someone, lift a package, let someone ahead of them in line – do some little thing they didn’t have to do to lighten someone else’s load – I feel three things:

1. I feel guilty that “I” wasn’t aware enough to do it,
2. Very glad that there ARE people who DO see the need and do it in such a natural fashion you know they do things like this all the time, and
3. Determined to pay more attention to what’s going on around me so that “I” can contribute.

Perspective

tumblr

 

Lisa Bearnes Richey

Hope for the Future

PositiveHitsper via Chrissie Anderson Peters

When I feel down, I plant something.

When I’m anxious about the future, I plant something.

When I’m frustrated at the world around me, I plant something.

When I’m angry and hurt, I plant something.

When I’m eager to make a difference, I plant something.

Today I planted two bulbs that my husband wanted when he saw the picture. We looked at the picture, then looked at each other and smiled.  Here is what I planted –

Who could feel bad when there is hope that this will bloom?

 

How Deep is the Mud?

Breathing for Peace via Carol Auclair Daly

I love this for several reasons –

• It made me laugh.
• We have this situation at our home. We have a pit bull (Bambi) and a cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, Molly. We try very hard to let only one of them outside at a time. We have no fences. If one of them is out, he or she doesn’t go far from the house. If they are out together, they are a pack and head for the greater reaches. They usually come home filthy – bringing this picture to mind – needing immediately baths.  We use the hose first, to get off the worst. Then my husband continues with Bambi – with Bambi chained to the edge of the deck. I carry Molly inside to the kitchen sink where I can soap her thoroughly a couple of times. See how happy the doggies in the picture look? So do ours…
• I also love this for the message at the bottom. Some of us can shrug off the bad things. Others of us are hit right between the eyes, where it truly gets us where we live. There are as many reactions to ‘stuff’ as there are people. Since we never know what others are going through at any time, we might consider giving them a bit of extra consideration…

Recognizing a Friend

Anita Opper – Zen to Zany

 

I don’t make friends easily. When I say, “friend,” I mean a REAL friend. Not just people you enjoy being with because of location, a shared interest, etc. Those acquaintances are fun, too, and necessary for quality of life. But these acquaintances are free-flowing. When the shared activity goes, or you don’t share the same location anymore, they tend to fade, however much you might like them to last forever.

I think you ‘recognize’ a friend. You first meet and you feel you’ve known each other forever. You recognize it in her eyes. Most of the time I discover later it’s a depth caused by pains or losses, of down-to-the-ground living, and living through hard things, survival to find things in life to enjoy again.  Recognition of a soulmate without more than a, “It’s nice to meet you.”

I have two friends in Tulsa. They know who they are. We may not talk every day, but when we DO get together again, we don’t even really need to catch up. We’re still on the same page. We talk as if we haven’t been apart. We still share and love. Our hearts reach out whether we can hug each other’s neck or have to rely on Facebook, blogs, emails, cards, phones, or email. The closeness and caring are forever.

I have another friend in Charlotte. We email every day. We “talk” about things we might never say aloud to others. We help each other through things. We laugh together. We share big things and little things. We don’t agree on everything, but don’t feel the need to win each other over to our way of thinking. We love and respect each other. I never feel my day is complete until I’ve heard from her. I feel extremely lucky to know her.

A relative in Thibodaux is also a good friend. If I were her neighbor, she would probably put tape on my mouth before I talked her arm off. We never run out of things/feelings/hopes to share. Even though we’re across the country from each other, I think of her every day.

I hope you’ve recognized a friend.

Learning Something New

Public Domain Vintage Photo – Anita Opper – Zen to Zany

Save Some Time

StuffNoOneToldMe.blogspot.com

The Beautiful Thing…

Recharge Your Mind Via Cathy Ruggiero

What Time?

1000+ Funny Quotes on Pinterest

Many of the most wonderful memories I have are of things I did spontaneously. Sometimes I was even reluctant, with my first reaction being, ‘no.’  I like to plan – to know what’s happening in advance – to prepare – and even to be proactive. So it really goes against the grain to throw caution to the wind and just DO IT.

I see this as something I need to work on, since I realize I would have missed out on some truly great things. Now I push myself to get outside my comfort zone – albeit rarely and slowly. My world expands and I wonder WHY I didn’t try this before. Even if I decide I never want to do THAT again, at least I tried it.

I’ve seen many of my friend’s worlds get smaller and smaller. They become more and more cautious. They go out less. They try nothing new. It seems they prefer to live in their own little world in the past. Memories are wonderful, but I hurt for them, and I hurt for my tendency to think about doing the same.  We need to be creating NEW memories.

I am challenging myself to do something I haven’t tried before every once in a while.  I started doing yoga for the first time a few months ago. Now I regret that I haven’t been doing it for years. It has added a richness to my life – added goals I didn’t have before – challenges me to work at getting better every day.

I love this sign –

Lisa Bearnes Richey

Having tried yoga when I was intimidated and seeing how MUCH t it is helping me, it encourages me to reach out to other things I don’t want to miss. I hope that you are getting outside your comfort zone – even slowly – to renew your lease on life, too.

Aging

John Wagner via buzzle.com

Do NOT

Spreadshirt

Free

David Clinton via David McCunellon

Hahahahahahahahah! :0)