Hopeful Photos

Harmony:

2010-06-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

Abandoned House:

2010-06-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Web Weaver :)

2010-05-24T14:05:00.001-07:00

Bristol Renaissance Faire Portrait:

2010-05-08T12:39:00.001-07:00

And Another New Collage:

2010-05-02T14:10:00.001-07:00

New Collage:

2010-05-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Just made this new collage yesterday and put it up on etsy today! :)

Grandma Alma's Curtains:

2010-04-27T20:18:00.001-07:00

Willow:

2010-04-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

This reminds me of the willow tree we had growing in our backyard of our Dover Court house. I always thought these fuzzy things were cool... :)

Pansy at the Chicago Botanic Gardens:

2010-04-18T10:58:00.001-07:00

Zeus

2010-04-04T20:10:00.001-07:00

Good Dog!

Something Nice:

2010-03-18T18:00:00.001-07:00

"I discovered that there is something nice about working in an office with a candle burning. It's like seeing snow falling outside the window or having a dog snoozing on the carpet beside you. It's a kind of silent presence in the room and very pleasant."~Gretchen Rubin

My Grandma Ruth Tells Stories About My Dad As A Kid:

2010-03-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

"Now for a little funny episode in the life of Dennis at about four years old... He had a towel thrown over his head and was creeping on the floor. I asked him if he would please run upstairs and get a diaper for Howard. Dennis looked at me real shocked and said,'I can't~I'm a cat!' and I said,'Well, you can be a smart cat, can't you?'. 'Nope, this is a dumb cat,' he said. He was such an adorable little guy, and funny!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You asked me to write some funny things that Dennis said when he was little. Dennis never liked anything but Cheerios, and one day I had his lunch ready but he didn't want anything to eat. I told him,'it is windy out, if you don't eat, the wind is going to blow you away.' He didn't seem to be troubled by that. He grabbed his red straw hat and went out the kitchen door. He just got to the bottom step of the porch and the wind took his little red hat, it blew all over the back yard. He scrambled to get a hold of it but it was a struggle. When he finally got it, he came back in the kitchen and said,'I guess I better eat some lunch!' What a darling he was!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Before I write so much I won't get it in an envelope, I'll write about Dennis as a kid. He and I were in Wisconsin~in my Mother's strawberry patch. I told Dennis about a man who almost had his arm cut off~how much it bled and all the gory details. He grabbed his stomach and said,'ooh that makes me sick!' He was quiet for awhile and then he said,'Tell that again Mom!' He was such a little darling. When he grew up he was a big darling."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When Dennis was in first grade, he had a teacher by the name of Miss Oliphant. He disliked her very much and he hated to go to school. He wanted to stay home and he said,'I'd rather face a pistol than that elephant!' Dennis had such a remarkable record in high school, he never missed one day-perfect attendance. I'll write more later. Love you~Gram"

Grandma Alma's Story~Hot Springs Hotel:

2010-03-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hot Springs Hotel! …And we went in a Brand New Chevy Truck, all us kids, in the back, Dad put a mattress in the back…and on the way there, we were picking up beautiful stones in the mountains, you know, pretty things to pick up, and laid them in the truck. And coming home, we left on a real cloudy morning, and some elderly woman ran into us. She was going right we were going left, and we plowed…we slammed into one another. Well, nobody was seriously hurt. My Mom hurt her knee pretty bad. I was just shocked…I was a little kid. They took us back to our Hot Springs Hotel, it was outside of Hot Springs . We stayed there for weeks until the case was settled. My two brothers hitchhiked home to Kansas , so they might be able to sell something in Dad’s shoe shop, you know, or whatever they had. And, um, we had a blast. I met two other nice girls, and my Dad…we didn’t have any money, my Dad would…I used a lot of bobby pins, in those days, to curl my hair, and when he was walking around town, or the swimming pool, if he saw a bobby pin, he’d bring it home to me, so I could fix my hair. He was a real loving Dad. And…got to know these girls, and one night, we got permission from my parents to go downtown to this Indian Jamboree they were having, you know, Indians were always fascinating. So many Indians from South Dakota …real, they were costumed and everything. And…was this big hall where they had food and drinks and dancing, I was fascinated by all this cause I’d never been on a dance floor. I don’t know if I was twelve, no, I was older than that, I think I was thirteen. Yeah, and, those girls promised Dad they’d have me home by a certain time. Well, they didn’t know my Dad. We didn’t get home at eleven I think it was closer to twelve, and he’s sitting out in front of the hotel room on a bench, and he grounded me for a week. And this girl just pleaded,”Dad, it was my fault, I’m the one that talked her into staying downtown.” He wouldn’t give up. Anyway, it worked out alright, but he was strict, you said you were gonna be home you better be home. And, the swimming pool, it was the Hot Springs Pool. And Richard was a little boy, eighteen months old. Ginny wasn’t even born. And he learned to swim, like a fish. He…they’d take him up in the tower, and jump…there was always somebody down there to catch him, he couldn’t drown. And he loved it, he just loved it. He was a swimmer from then on. And, inside they had an indoor pool. It was open up to the outside. And I couldn’t swim, I was never a good swimmer. My Dad, one night, I wanted~I was so proud, I’d been practicing during the day. I wanted to show him how good I could swim, I could swim across the pool. So, he’s on one end waiting for me and I’m over here. And I start across. And I look up, he’s looking…panic! “ Alma ’s going down, she’s going down!” I never did learn to swim, never did, no, never did. Can you swim? It’s funny, isn’t it? My Mother couldn’t swim either. All my brothers and sisters are good swimmers, but me. I don’t know why. My Dad was a good swimmer, but my Mom, she just… And then, Neva …she met a cute little boy, little romance, little kids…he took us, he wanted us to meet his Mother, to a house on a hill, they lived up in the house. His mother was a real modern woman, and my Mother was old~fashioned, and so I knew they weren’t gonna hit it off. They were fine, but nothing came of it. Anyway, years later, they had carved, Neva and this little boy had carved their initials in the stone of the pool. And, years later, they came to Kansas , and she was so disappointed, cause he was so cute as a little boy and I guess he was still nice looking but wasn’t that cute anymore. And I guess they corresponded for awhile. So when she and Vernie went back there, years later, she looked for those initials and she saw them. She found the initials. So, finally, when we got out of there, I think I was a sophomore in high school, I must have been fourteen or fifteen. We got back to Kansas and I had to go back to school. That was hard, my brothers hadn’t done too great and getting any money together. I felt sorry for them anyway. Two young kids hitchhiking home, and…oh, in those days, everybody did it. In those days, a bum would come to your door, you’d call him a bum, because they’d ride the rails, they’d hop the cars, railroad cars, and they’d just look for work. And so they’d knock at the back door and Mom would answer…”If you have any work to be done I would love to do it for a meal.” So she’d have them chop some wood or something that had to be done out in the yard. She’d fix them a meal. But, these days, you don’t open your door to strangers, it’s a different world. There’s not that trust because of the weird ones that run around.

Cat:

2010-03-15T07:48:00.001-07:00

Grandma Alma's Childhood, In Her Own Words:

2010-03-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

"I fell on a bunch of metal heavy pipes laying against the neighbor's garage. And we decided it'd be fun to roll those pipes with our feet. I think that's when it happened. Can you see my nose? It changed the shape of my nose, I'd probably have a little wider nose if it wasn't for that.

...We were across the street from the Baptist church at the edge of town. And back of that church were fields, and a biiig tempting haystack with a big pitchfork in it. And Dad just kept warning us,'Don't ever go near that haystack.' So guess what? That's right where Elmer (her brother) went. And he got the pitchfork through his foot. So, I don't know if he pulled it out, I don't know how we got him to the doctor, I can't remember. He was alright.

There was another story that made me think of... Oh! My Dad, we went to a wedding once in the afternoon, and while my Dad went in church...we had to stay in the car for some reason...and he left the camera. He said,'Doooon't touch it!' What do you think we did?? We played with the camera all afternoon! He was about ready to throw us all out! In those days, you know, you had a camera and you had film~there weren't chances to take it over again."~All Grandma Alma :)

Grandma Alma:

2010-03-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

"One winter morning, when I was about seven or eight years old, I was walking from home to my Dad's shoe repair shop on main street, about two blocks. We'd had an ice storm the night before and now the sun was shining, a brilliant morning and the ice-coated trees sparkled like diamonds. It was so beautiful it was enchanting! I don't know why I was going downtown but I'll never forget the beauty of that morning."~Grandma Alma

Mother & Daughter

2010-03-09T20:40:00.001-08:00

Artist Interview:

2010-03-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

If you have time, check out my interview at http://wherepeoplecreate.blogspot.com/2010/03/julie-ivens-work-space.html

"I feel alive with you...Celebrate, Celebrate..."~Hope Sandoval

2010-03-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

I took this photo of my husband Jeff at the Haunted Hamburger restaraunt in Jerome, Arizona. It was our favorite restaraunt in one of our favorite towns. We were seated in this open air section, and the landscape you can see includes Sedona in the distance. We had a lot of fun road trips! We still do, just in another part of the country now.

...the dark, warm sky:

2010-03-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

"The thunder sounds again but it doesn't scare me because I can hear all my people outside. The couch's material feels warm and damp and my skin feels soft like the way the trees look outside, the way the sky looks, the way Marly's arm looked holding the pale pink shirt in front of the bright trees and the dark, warm sky."

~The Tiny One by Eliza Minot

We're almost there:

2010-03-04T22:32:00.000-08:00

"One night Marly and her friend June go skinny-dipping in the rain in the Emersons' pool and they bring me with them. Marly takes my hand and speeds way up so I get pulled. The pavement's gravelly on my feet and wet with the rain. June's in front of us in the dark and she starts to run. We're almost there. Marly undoes the hitches at the fence and reaches underneath a thing and suddenly the pool lights up like some sort of show. It's so blue in the dark. It's so blue. The rain rains. Each drop's lit up on the water because of the light inside the pool so they're lit up all over the place and they look like sparks. They look like live things. June jumps in and her splash sparks around. June comes up from underwater. Her curly hair's smoothed down.

'Look how it's all lit up,' Marly tells us. 'Like mercury. It looks like little mirrors getting splashed around.' A big burst of wind blows around. I'm not sure I want to go in anymore. 'Ready, V?' Marly squeezes my hand. She squeezes my hand tight and then gently jumps in while she's still holding my hand so I go with her.

We're under and shapes warp around. When I come up the rain's on my face. The wind's blowing the trees around above us but I can't see them I just hear them. I swim to Marly and hold on to her neck. 'See?' she says. The wind's on my face. I can see the drops in my eyelashes. 'See?' Marly says again and hugs me closer. Her face is lit up too.

Marly sways us over toward the edge of the pool. 'Look,'says Marly,'they look like little ants.'

'Where?' I ask, my mouth open. I don't see them. Then I do. On the bricks on the side of the pool little raindrops dart around. They're beaded and shooting around across the wet brick. 'Oh, yeah,' I say, and then I hold on tighter around her wet neck to hug her."

~from The Tiny One by Eliza Minot. I've gotten to the point where I know what's coming up on the next paragraph or page before I even look. :)

I don't know how:

2010-03-04T22:14:00.000-08:00

"Then we're in the boat heading back home to Sky Island from Brimstone. My skin's all salty and the sun's going down. I'm sitting on the seat with Mum with a towel around me. I'm eating a peach. There are some clouds over near the sunset. They're pink and orange swipy swirls that go up to the middle of the sky. They look like glowing tails of a horse that are flared. I love this day. I love peaches. I love the way the ocean's so dark blue and the sky's so pink and orange. I love the way I feel the vibration of the boat's engine and that we're in a boat moving across the water, going home.

Mum's next to me. I feel like I wish I could say something but I don't know what it is. Ethan's sitting down on the floor in front of us rolling a nerf ball under his bare foot. He's whistling to himself but I can't hear the whistle because of the humming engine and the wind. I can see it from his lips and the way he's moving his head. I'm leaning into Mum and her arm's around me. My peach is so good. The sunset's so big. The water's blue and, like, long. I shake my head around in the wind. I want to do something like gulp it all in or get it and catch it somehow.

'Look, Mum,' I say,'look,' meaning the sunset. I point at it with my foot. I know she sees it because we're heading straight for it, but I can't help it, I want to point it out to her. I want to show her more but I don't know what. I want to get everything and have her see it. 'Take a bite of this,' I tell Mum. I want her to taste the peach too. It's a perfect one. I want to take everything and put it all together somehow but I don't know how.

Mum smiles at me. She's smiling at me because she knows how I feel. She lowers her head toward my ear so I can hear her over the engine. 'You must always remember, my pumpkin, that there will always be days like this,'she's smiling. 'Always,'she says again.

I'll post some more of my favorite parts of my favorite book. I am not kidding when I say that I have read my hardcover copy of this book hundreds of times. It's beautiful.

Earthy:

2010-03-04T13:57:00.001-08:00

OK, I know these are kind of silly, but this is one of my favorites so far!

Glow:

2010-03-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

"I'm bending time, getting back to you."~Zero 7

My Book Review of "Picking Dandelions~A Search For Eden Among Life's Weeds"~by Sarah Cunningham

2010-03-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

First of all, let me say how happy I've been to be a part of this blog tour~it is such a brilliant idea! I want to thank Sarah Cunningham, the author of this lovely book, for including me in such a fun project. When I say that reading this book is like listening to a good friend telling you her favorite memories and things she's learned so far~you know that is high praise! Sarah has such a natural and genuine voice that reading her book was a fulfilling and comforting experience, and I was busy underlining favorite passages as I read, until I realized I was underlining pretty much every word. I always think a book should be allowed to speak for itself, so I would like to share a few of my favorite passages with you here.
First, I will share the beginning of Sarah's journey with her faith~she takes us along on this journey, and this paragraph sums up the easiness of faith during the innocence of childhood:
"So as a child, my faith was just fine, thank you, swinging above danger to the safety of our tree-plank, breeze in my hair. Jesus made my hair fly back in the wind and that was enough for me."
Also a quote about her faith when she was a youngster:
"To search out God and follow him, jumping from footprint to footprint just as I did when I followed my Dad in the snow."
Sarah cracks me up too, as in this quote, again of her faith in childhood:
"I understood that there were good and evil in the world and, given the two sides and how Star Wars depicted them, I wanted to throw in with the forces of good. Naturally, I chose the side with light sabers, R2D2, and Chewbacca."
In this next quote~changing within the confines of our real lives, right where we are, right now:
"Transformation centered at home changes us every day when we wake up and is still changing us every night when we lie down to sleep."
Sarah Cunningham explores the concept or the feeling that Eden was intended to be, and she searches for pieces of this Eden in beautiful moments, places and people in her life. Sometimes you can even find it on accident...
"We're so disoriented that we'll reach for something even in blindness. And sometimes what we reach for is real and right. And it reaches right back."
The one thing that resonates with me most is the section of the book that deals with September 11th. Everyone wanted to do something to help. Sarah made phone calls and wrote emails to officials in New York, asking how she could help, and ended up at Ground Zero handing out food and drink to traumatized and appreciative firefighters and other rescue workers, as well as doing anything she could to help out in addition to this, and many members of Sarah's church made this trip with her. I think that's such an amazing moment in a life, when you realize that God asks us to reach out to each other, to show up, to show compassion, to give of ourselves and our gifts. I was incredibly moved by this section within Sarah's book, and I have great respect and admiration for her. She is inspirational in showing us that we can try every day to be the most genuine and loving version of ourselves, be aware of what is happening around us, and follow our hearts to make things better.
I encourage you, no matter where you are with your faith, to pick this book up. Sarah Cunningham takes you though her journey with her faith so far, and you will definitely be enlightened by the ride!

Collage Crazy:

2010-02-28T23:10:00.000-08:00

My Husband Jeff can vouch for me when I say that I've been going nutso with the collages lately...I think within the past week, I've cranked out ten of these, and I'm getting to the point where I can get one done within ten minutes. I'm buying stock in double sided tape. I'm having a lot of fun making these! It's good to have something pretty to look to for inspiration, especially at this point in the winter... :) If you want to join me in my madness, I am here to enable you! I buy tons of magazines (especially Martha Stewart~great photos!) and photo filled books, at the used book sale at our library. My library is the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, and it is truly awesome, and you can get three magazines for a quarter. By the time I leave those things I want a shopping cart. My Husband carries way too much to the car, and before I knew him, I basically just dragged full paper bags to my car one by one and hoped for the best. (Thanks Jeff!) ANYWAY. Double sided tape and scizzors are your friend, and go with a frameable paper size for the backing, I go for 11x14 or larger, because these things look amazing framed~it makes a huge difference! I end up on the living room floor surrounded by all the photos I've spent gleeful hours cutting from their previous homes, and I just put them together in whatever way feels right. When you look at your collages afterwards, you'll see connections that you didn't even realize were there when you were putting it together. It's fun, and it's a great hobby to have during tv watching. I have a hard time watching tv without doing all this. One last idea for more pictures~I go to Loews, Home Depot, etc and get paint chips and the little booklets the paint companies have out for free~I have my hands full. And I don't feel guilty because we're going to paint our whole apartment eventually. ;) I'd love to see what you make!

IO:

2010-02-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can be together all the time."~Hobbes from Calvin & Hobbes :)

Christina:

2010-02-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

"One day you'll look back, and you'll see

Where you were held now by this love.

While you could stand there,

You could move on this moment

Follow this feeling."

~U2, Mysterious Ways

Sophie:

2010-02-20T19:00:00.001-08:00

"Paint me as I am. If you leave out the scars and wrinkles, I will not pay you a shilling."~Oliver Cromwell

Visual Feast:

2010-02-20T09:11:00.000-08:00

"The visual feast keeps my mind humming."~Carol Gillett

Find Yourself:

2010-02-19T07:43:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes you just find yourself in the right place at the right time."~Becky New

The Blessings:

2010-02-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

"Blessing have always been, and continue to be, a part of our being."~Darla Faircloth Bostick

Bloom:

2010-02-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

"Remember, only the buds that are ready will bloom. The rest have to wait patiently."

~Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Give:

2010-02-16T14:05:00.000-08:00

"Intense love does not measure, it just gives." — Mother Theresa

Genuine:

2010-02-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

"Nothing can take the place of a genuine voice. Sometimes, it's just a matter of finding it."~Andrea Lampman

Moonlight Chronicles:

2010-02-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

"Some of us, if we're willing to, can remember what it was like back in the days of our own adolescence, when the world seemed lit by a certain light. When there seemed to be something just there beyond where we stood."~from Moonlight Chronicles

Happiness:

2010-02-14T12:40:00.001-08:00

"It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere."~Agnes Repplier

Happiness:

2010-02-13T20:55:00.001-08:00

"Exude happiness and you will feel it back a thousand times."~Joan Lunden

Soulful:

2010-02-13T20:49:00.001-08:00

"Life here is soulful. You have a chance to get to know yourself."~Michael Boyd

Blow The Moon Out:

2010-02-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

"The bed is too small for my tired head. Bring me a hill soft with trees. Tuck a cloud up under my chin. Lord, blow the moon out, please."~Hem/Lullabye

Deer:

2010-02-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

A very peaceful moment...

...happiness is the only dream...

2010-02-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

"But really happiness is the only dream worth trying to fulfill."~Deborah Needleman of Domino Magazine

Release The Hummingbird! :)

2010-02-09T07:42:00.001-08:00

Jeff and I went to Starved Rock at the end of this past summer, beginning of fall. They had set up tiny cages/boxes around the hummingbird feeders and caught the little guys that way. Then they tagged them and for five dollars you could release the hummingbird. The lady who is holding this was surrounded by paparazzi like myself, and this little guy rested for awhile in the palm of her hand, and then he took off, up up and away. It was amazing and breathtaking to watch. We had really good timing and luck that day, but the moral of the story is, be nosy~if you see a crowd gathered on a hill, find out why, and you may find something like this. It works for us! :)

Mom & Dad:

2010-02-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

My Mom & Dad, dancing their first dance as a married couple!

Picking Dandelions by Sarah Cunningham:

2010-02-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

I am looking forward to reviewing this book here on my blog on March 2! If you are interested in reading it for yourself, it is out at bookstores everywhere as of today! :)

Sentimental:

2010-01-28T17:06:00.000-08:00

"For as long as I can recall, I've been drawn to old keys. I love to think about them on a more sentimental level. How many hands have touched this key? What was kept behind that locked door or cabinet? Is that door still out there somewhere or has this key long outlived the original piece it opened?"~Rebecca Sower from http://www.rebeccasower.typepad.com/

Favorite Song:

2010-01-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

"Your favorite song's still the hidden track."~High Places

Oceans:

2010-01-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

"Keeping oceans within reach."~Over The Rhine

Joyous:

2010-01-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

"And you live life with your arms reached out

Eye to eye when speaking

Enter rooms with great joyous shouts

Happy to be meeting

And bright as yellow

Warm as yellow"

~Karen Peris

Creative:

2010-01-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

"Do Something Creative Every Day."~Paper Source :)

Ribbit:

2010-01-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

An Open Heart:

2010-01-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

"I'm looking through the lens with an open heart and a story to tell."~Tracy Clark

Great Day:

2010-01-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

"It's going to be a great day. It just is."~Jenni Horne

Lovely:

2010-01-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

"Life is supposed to be this inviting, this lovely."~Jenni Horne

of http://www.jennihorne.blogspot.com/

Joy:

2010-01-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

"The joy you give to others is the joy that comes back."~Proverb

Happiness:

2010-01-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

"There is so much beauty in the world, so much that can fill you with joy. It's endless. It's all so wonderful and beautiful and amazing. And to think I can experience it every day, because it's always around me and now I know how to find it."~from http://www.bluebirdbaby.com/ on July 3rd, 2008, titled,'30 Days of Happiness'.

Found:

2010-01-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

"I'm just gonna iron these flowers."~Mom

Lightheartedness:

2010-01-16T17:05:00.000-08:00

"...so downright special like the most important happy accidents of our lives. Unwind, have fun, and revel in the silliness. What I'm learning more than ever is that true intimacy and connection also live inside ridiculously silly moments of play and lightheartedness. In the end, it all matters."~Kelly Rae Roberts in Somerset Life Magazine (also can be found at kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com)

Setting It Free:

2010-01-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

"What I have learned again and again...is the value of transparency~the potency of just telling the story of what is raw and real in the moment and then setting it free. I...create the things I want most to experience. By giving freely, I am opening the door for someone else to cross over and do the same. I believe that providing others easy access to our stories and our art is a powerful means toward healing the ways that we feel seperate in this world. It is a testimony to the importance of saying yes to things and people that provoke us."~Lisa Field-Elliott in Somerset Life Magazine. She can also be found at doorwaystraveler.com

Fiery:

2010-01-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

"It felt like such an accident of fate."~Jodhi May

Beautiful:

2010-01-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."~Charles Dudley Warner

Shining:

2010-01-13T15:31:00.000-08:00

"Lighthouses don't go running all over an island looking for boats to save, they just stand there shining."
~Anne Lamott

Roadside Flowers:

2010-01-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

"You find beauty in ordinary things. Do not lose this ability."
~Fortune Cookie

Ascend Together:

2010-01-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

"Thee lift me, and I'll lift thee, and we'll ascend together."
~Quaker Proverb

Bright As Yellow:

2010-01-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

"And you live life with your arms reached out..."
~Karin Peris

Answer:

2010-01-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

"There are years that ask questions and years that answer."

~Zora Neale Hurston

Swan:

2010-01-04T14:55:00.000-08:00

"I am actively pursuing happiness."
~Christina Ricci

Baby Chick:

2010-01-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

"If there were no other proof of the existence of a bigger reality than birds, they would do it for me."

~Anne Lamott

Hope:

2010-01-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

"Hope is a waking dream."

~Aristotle

Green:

2009-12-30T23:41:00.000-08:00

"We had a big garden so there was respect for slow-growing things."

~Dar Williams

Haunting:

2009-12-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

"Everything was so clear and distinct it seemed to leave no room for me."

~Margot Livesy

Spring Green

2009-12-26T23:23:00.000-08:00

"The tree shakes slightly. Rainwater jolts off the branches and falls, a miniature parody of rain."

~Ali Smith

Gentle Jesus

2009-12-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

"I feel relieved you are here, and I can see you, and I can feel you...Gentle Jesus, aren't you always, aren't you every hour here?"

~Karen Peris

Lemonade

2009-12-21T13:51:00.001-08:00

"Have patience with yourself."

~Saint Francis de Sales

In Love:

2009-12-19T08:32:00.000-08:00

"A heart in love with beauty never grows old."

~Turkish Proverb

Becca

2009-12-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

"If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your back."

~Eido Tai Shimano Roshi

The Sweetest Things

2009-12-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

"Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into."

~Henry Ward Beecher

Karin Berquist of Over The Rhine:

2009-12-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

"We have a great history with funky pianos."

~Karin Berquist

Live:

2009-12-10T17:32:00.000-08:00

"Begin at once to live and count each seperate day as a seperate life."

~Seneca

Joy:

2009-12-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

"Joy delights in joy."

~Shakespeare

Life

2009-12-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

"Miracles...surround us...life itself is the miracle of miracles."

~George Bernard Shaw

Jerome, Arizona

2009-12-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

"The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible."

~Oscar Wilde

Loveliness:

2009-12-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness."

~Galway Kinnell

Frosted Windowpanes...

2009-12-02T08:10:00.001-08:00

"Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy."

~Albert Einstein

Portrait

2009-12-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

"All actual life is encounter."

~Martin Buber

Jerome, Arizona

2009-11-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

The oblong reason of the bough

seems unmoved to us; yet it hears

light's sound in the sky

in a zither of leaves;

and if you lean closer to learn

how water climbs in the flower

you'll hear the moon sing

in the night of the roots."

~Pablo Neruda

Sunlight

2009-11-29T18:13:00.000-08:00

"In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."

~Mark Twain

Autumn Leaves

2009-10-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

"The leaves of the delicate Japanese maple between Mattie's window and the wobbly fence were still green, but elsewhere in the garden were russets and butterscotch-oranges, other trees giddy with color, almost garish, like gypsy dresses. When she strained to listen, she could almost imagine them saying, We gave you shade, and now we'll give you a little kick-ass beauty before we die."

~Anne Lamott

Flight

2009-10-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

"She recalls her dream and lingers for a moment in that color and light filled memory."

~William Norris

Portrait

2009-09-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

"Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."

~C.S. Lewis