Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Saturday, January 24, 2026

What A Week and Critters


"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir




Minneopa Falls at Minneopa State Park located along Minneopa Creek with two distinct waterfalls, one 8 feet high and the lower falls is nearly 40 feet high.


"In the hush of winter, even the trees seem to be listening 

for spring's first whisper."


Welcome to 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS


and I'm posting to City Daily Photo





"The giraffe's gaze sees beyond the horizon,
 teaching us to look past the immediate."






"Giraffes show us that it's not about blending in
 but standing out with pride."



"Rebel children, I urge you, fight the turgid slick of conformity with which they seek to smother your glory."

Russell Brand



"Thou art all ice. Thy kindness freezes."

Richard III





Your eyes speak a language that few will ever know.


 



I love these two (Artemis and Athena) both having a completely different character and hearts of gold.




Still missing my Misty girl. 

Sixteen years of life was still too short.


Wisdom comes from winter.




When outside Misty would always be by your side.




Dambo Trolls created by Thomas Dambo and National Parks are my need to visit destinations this year.




Because who doesn't love rugged landscapes and awe-inspiring views?

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming





Charleston, South Carolina

"Cities everywhere, here or abroad are like people each with their own personalities showing us who and what they are. Then it's our own preference whether we awaken with a mutual love, or friendship, or perhaps we completely dislike the vibe, although happy to have had the experience." Me




Charleston, South Carolina


The Power of Wisdom

"Never dismiss the impossible, conquer it. If the hammer doesn't fit find a new one. Make it impossible to fail.

Listen to your heart it knows how to treat the venerable (whether they are human or animal) it defines who you are. When your heart feels empty this is when your gut instincts seize your attention.


 Lastly this week we honored once again

Our memories about Martin Luther King Jr.


"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr.


Everybody can be great because Anybody can Serve. You only need a Heart full of Grace. A Soul generated by love." Martin Luther King Jr.




Statue of civil-rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr. and civil-rights martyr Emmett Till at the Culture Center and Museum in Pueblo, Colorado. The museum was closed and its artifacts placed in storage one year after this photo was taken. September 3, 2015


From me to you 

Remember this, 

Hate only wins when it is fed.

Fear only spreads when we panic.

Division only works when we forget who we are.



 

... stay on course for a better tomorrow.


Coming next if this frozen tundra will lighten up just a bit, I'm headed to Stillwater this weekend before this year's snow sculptures become history. 





Thank you for sharing time with me and gifting me with your comments.

Take good care of you.



Sunday, January 11, 2026

Balance and Critters

Lately I've been lost for words, and so I posted this question on my Facebook page, "What helps you feel grounded when everything is loud?" Feel free to tell me what you do in my comments. I'm sharing what helps/guides/calls to me in this post. 

Welcome to 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS 

and I'm posting to City Daily Photo


You guessed it, dogs are my go-to first and forever. 

"Dogs are our link to paradise.

 They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent."

Milan Kundera 




"The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants." 

Johnny Depp




My grand-daughter's dog, Athena isn't she sweet?

"To sit with a dog on a hillside (or in your living room) on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring, it was peace."
Milan Kundera


How about that four-letter-word, walk.





Some say sad some think perplexed. What do you see?


Hephaestus located at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

"Standing 12 feet tall, Hephaestus portrays the Greek god of fire, metalworkers, and other craftspeople. With the gentle features of its mask-like face and outstretched arm beckoning to the viewer, the figure appears both proud and derelict."





Paying attention to those things that surround me.
Turkeys? Just roaming about the city streets?




It does beg the question, why did the Turkey cross the street?





To catch up with his Turkey buddies.





Not one of them seemed to care that I was following along. Probably a bit sad that I didn't have food to offer, I'll know better next time. 

Just so you know, I spoke with some caring neighbors that leave food, protect and enjoy these feathered friends. They've been featured in many stories especially the famous ones, like Gregory Peck.




Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.





Just Add Joy

To tell you the truth I believe everything, 

and anything can bring joy, unless your heart is made of stone.






"Walks work for me. I enter some arena that is neither conscious or unconscious."
Mary Oliver

You never know what you'll encounter. 
Keep WALKING!




At the Huntsville Alabama Art Museum

 "Art is unquestionably one of the purest and highest elements in human happiness. It trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life."

John Lubbock





Many things are the strange chances of the world.


What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. In the same field the farmer will notice the crop. the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the coloring, sportsmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them."

John Lubbock






"We ought to follow exactly the opposite course with children to give them a wholesome variety of mental food, and endeavor to cultivate their tastes, rather than to fill their minds with dry facts. The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.


What does it matter if the pupil knows a little more or a little less? A boy/or girl who leaves school knowing much, by hating his lessons, will soon have forgotten almost all he ever learned, while another who had acquired a thirst for knowledge, even if he had learned little, would soon teach himself more than the first ever knew."

John Lubbock




Protecting what matters. It's what most of us do. 


"If we are ever in doubt what to do, it is a good rule to ask ourselves what we shall wish on the morrow that we had done."

John Lubbock




Walks and wandering about your familiar or new places
 are favorable to me, making me the captain along my trails.







The common eye sees only the outside of things, and judges by that, but the seeing eye pierces through and reads the heart and the soul, finding capacities which the outside didn't indicate or promise, and which the other kind couldn't detect.











Winter can have the perks that motivate you, even if at times you struggle with that idea. Keep moving. 





Walking with purpose,
 but more for enjoyment even in winter.





Dance like nobody's watching.
And live like its heaven on earth.




To dessert or not to dessert.





Common sense is not so common anymore.




Yesterday from within Wild Rumpus Bookstore in Linden Hills.


It's all a matter of perspective, and where you live or where you hang your hat.

When you change the way, you look at things, the things you look at change.
Try having new eyes, and not only new but open.




I first found Linden Hills in 1981 while working at Coldwell Banker.








Oh no, do you have a tummy ache? 
If you in fact have a tummy?


May your weekend be joyful and the week ahead as well. 
It's the joy that will save us.
Thank you for stopping by and gifting me with your comments.
Take good care of you and be safe.




My thoughts, keep roaming places that move you.