The Voice Says, Go Outside My Friend

and so  I listened. As long as "practice social distancing" is happening let's go outside singly (or at least 6 feet apart) and snatch whatever you can.

Life, it isn't what it was before this all began, and it won't ever be what it was but this I know.....

"It began in a mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between." - Diane Ackerman

How I spent my Saturday, in search of captures for 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

Hello, my name is Tom. Tom Cat. How do you do?

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder

than one closed by belief.

Gerry Spence

"Catch me if you can."

Someday you'll be old enough to start 

reading fairy tales again.

C.S. Lewis

This is so spot on, don't you agree?

The magic of each day lives within the unknown.

It's waking up as one person

and accepting that when night falls

we may be someone else entirely.

So, when you ask what my story is,

forgive me,

I'm not quite sure yet.

J. Raymond

Imagination will carry us to worlds 

that never were,

but without it we go nowhere.

Carl Sagan

If you look very close, you'll spot my friend Tom Cat.

Here I am!

Anyone who lives within their means

suffers from a lack of imagination.

Oscar Wilde

Did I hear a bark?

I know I'll get this. Just one more time, I know it.

"Work hard, keep the ceremonies,
live peacefully, 
and unite your hearts."
American Indian Proverb, Hopi

I'm happy you stopped by.
May joy and happiness follow you everywhere you go.
Take good care of you.

Like Living in a Fish Bowl Yet Not A

a soul to be seen outside, except for one resident walking her dog.

How about day tripping with me?

Edging along Highway 8 (US 8) enroute to Franconia Art Sculpture Park moving closer by the mile noticing anything that intrigued me I'd pull over for a look-see. That's where I stumbled upon Center City a historic town most Minnesotans no nothing about. Unless of course you live within the Chisago Lakes towns area. From Chisago Lake Lutheran Church built 1889 (the original built in 1854) you can stroll along the Summit Avenue National Historic District and 2 blocks of distinctive late 19th- and early 20th century homes overlooking North Center Lake. 

Note this Summit Avenue not to be confused with the Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Is life really like living in a fishbowl?

Here's a thought.

"Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, 

weak minds discuss people."

Socrates

I add

Hungry minds seize whatever they can.

Another day in isolation 
has come and not gone away,
while children enjoy guitar lessons on Zoom.
It's all about the Apps you know.

It doesn't just take a village, 
"As people think and work and together,
a fabric of shared meaning 
comes into being." 
Harrison Owen

We may be surrounded by empty streets
a million people inside
yet I see greenery fighting for life
and blue waters inviting us in.

I see faces of friends 
in fading rainbows
above my neighborhood.
Once this quarantine ends
 laughter will fill the streets with friends
and strangers making new friends.

I can smell the coffee brewing now. Coming together is what we do.
Nothing can stop us now.

Over night bags will be taken out again!

We'll see more than houses.
People will rally together.

"What a large volume of adventures may be grasped
within the span of his little life 
by him who interests his heart in everything."
Laurence Sterne

Everything matters.

Soon this swing will move with joy.

You must put all your heart into everything you do.
Lailah Gifty Akita

I wonder how many birdhouses and Gnome houses
 have been built in the last two months?

Let life happen to you. 
Believe me: Life is in the right, always.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Welcome!

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote this quote that rings deeply with me, but this shutdown has changed it a bit for me.


"I love the dark (quiet) hours of my being.
My mind deepens into them. (it)
There I can find, as in old letters
the days of my life, already lived
and held like a legend,
and understood."
RMR and me

Of course there are shops and buildings as such.

I believe this is a private residence now.

I am thankful to all the souls I meet in the journey of life.
LGA

Thanks for stopping by
Take good care of you.

Saturday Critters Under the Influence of Love

These pets belong to my relatives and they're all under the influence of love! The cats in my life are mostly connoisseurs of comfort (most not pictured today) and a couple are prone to dominance as their middle name. 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

One look says it all.

Sparkle being Sparkle.

"Pets are humanizing. They remind us we have 

an obligation and responsibility

 to preserve and nurture

 and care for all life."

 James Cromwell

Hugging- Great for giving and receiving.

Wait! Did he say who wants a hot dog?

Rocky.

My niece's pup just home from the animal hospital.

 He got into his heart medication and ate

 over a week's supply. It was a scary time.

Thank goodness he survived!

Bugsly is beyond adorably sweet!

A cup of coffee shared with a friend 

is happiness tasted and well spent.

Far away there in the sunshine
are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them but I can look up
and see their beauty, believe in them
and try to follow them.
Louisa May Alcott

One must be kind
for every bunny is 
fighting a hard battle.
from
Bunny Buddhism
and

"Simple things can be extraordinary to the bunny who chooses to see them."
"The bunny who chews at his wound does not allow it to heal."
"We must consider the paw prints we leave on this earth so future bunnies will have a place to hop."

Jasmine.

"But if you really want to learn about life, get a cat."
James Cromwell

Backyard camping.
Dogs and humans only. 
Sorry
No cats allowed.


Me, myself and I today. Walking the artsy trail.

Moose.

Butterflies.

"Just living isn't enough," said a wise butterfly,
"One must have sunshine, freedom
and a little flower."
Hans Christian Anderson

Lion, lion on a wall
who's the fairest of them all?


In keeping with our Saturday Critter theme here's my daughter showing off her
 Scooby-Doo pattern for her mask making project.

"Always live your life with one dream to fulfill.
No matter how many of your dreams you have realized 
in the past, always have a dream to go.
Because when you stop dreaming, life becomes 
a mundane existence.
Sara Henderson 1936

Thank you for stopping in
Be safe. 
Take good care of you.

Sculpture is the Art of Intelligence

Welcome everyone to Shafer Minnesota

and

Franconia Sculpture Park

and I'm including 

SIX WORD WEDNESDAY

First- before you begin your journey,

"You must forget all your theories, 

all your ideas before the subject.

What part of these is really your own

will be expressed in your expression

of the emotion awakened in you by the subject."

Henri Matisse

Sunbathing time.

This sculpture reminds me of a streetlamp on steroids.

"To look at something as though we have never seen it before

requires great courage."

Henri Matisse

This piece is titled Don't Live Life in the Doorway

by Kevin Vanek

My Six Words  (all 12) for Wednesday are as follows.

Stop, if your thoughts are too reasonable at best 

you'll miss a most mythical and magical,

 monster in dragon thought 

but quite possibly lurks here

as if flowered much darker by your thinking

 while these pieces your drinking

in may 

foster yet

 another kind of resemblance that 

sings wildly in your heart of hearts.

The tubing are remnants from the Korean War.

I call this area Mirror Row.

"The mirror is the worst judge of true beauty."

Sophia Nam

"Don't wait for inspiration.

 It comes while one is working."

Henri Matisse

Jenga anyone?

"Art making is not about telling the truth but making the truth felt."

Christian Boltanski

Hmm, it does seem as though I've lost my head.

"No not really here I am," said the lost head.

"Most people are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns

in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground.

But a few others are like

stars which travel one defined path:

no wind reaches them

they have within themselves their guide and path."

Hermann Hesse

How about a visit to Arizona?

Be a cactus in a world of delicate flowers.

"A discovery is said to be an accident 
meeting a prepared mind."
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

"Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the 
branches of a tree so that it will grow better."
Henri Matisse


Giddy up partner!

"I have been and still am a seeker,
but I have ceased to question stars and books;
I have begun to listen to the teaching
my blood whispers to me."
Hermann Hesse

After viewing just a wee fraction of the sculpture art that covers 43 acres I hope that you felt your way through.

As I was ready to drive away this pine cone sculpture was in clear view, and I had to smile as I watched a teenager rubbing it for good luck. There are still believers among us.

Thanks for stopping in and taking this sculpture tour.
Take good care of you.


"Discovery is seeing what everybody else has seen,
and thinking what nobody else has thought."
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi