Explore, Experience and Repeat

 If you cherish every experience, good or bad,

 you'll never have a bad day. 

Aaron Lauitsen

Love is an energy that is addictive, contagious and free.

Earn it, chase it, give it to those in need.

Aaron Lauitsen

and of course it's 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS 

Water splashing over face, flying off floppy ears,

and those random splashes everywhere 

brings merriment where it nears.

For one minute walk outside. Stand or sit there in silence.

Look up at the sky and contemplate

how amazing life is.

It's in those quiet little towns where we wander about and,

at the edge our journey, I know you'll agree that we'll capture not just great places but the salt of the earth in people we may never have met otherwise.

Somebody to leave the light on, for you.

May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.

J.R.R. Tolkien

So many journeys waiting. Be bold. Be brave.

and so what kind of steps do I make in a great day at work and play?

This.

Just a slight breeze of autumn in the air outside and inside as well.

Something we could all agree on is this.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. 

J.R.R. Tolkien

Thanks for bringing me the joy of your visits.

May you all stay safe and take good care of you.

Laughing Meerkats

"I love learning new things that will never be put to practical use."

Jackson Rathbone

 Good morning and welcome to

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

First meet the Happy Birthday pups!

Meet Emme

and below is Bugsly

These pups belong to the kiddos (my grandchildren) below, who all happen to be celebrating their mother's birthday in the state of Washington! So I get to puppy-sit again!

Let the critters begin.

There's something about looking into the eyes of Meerkats, for me, they just warm my heart.

Meerkats are catlike carnivores that are a part of civets and mongoose family.

Can you believe that Meerkats are quite shy? 

Meerkat: I'm pretending to be a Prairie Dog.

Visiting a Zoo allows us to meet those animals we might never see up close.

Some folks may call me a prankster. You know scaring people from behind, or giving them that eye we're so good at! But we're social, diurnal and live in gangs of 2 to 50, forging for food, caring for our young and guarding our territory.

So especially since Covid-19 came into our lives and my face to face visits with my grandchildren diminished drastically through texts I asked them to capture various things.  Like, "Go outside and take a photo of something that catches your eye."

So I'm sharing some of Karina's photos for my critter post today. Enjoy.

My grand-daughter Karina, she loves being a dancer, but she's also a huge fan of sharing her bird and nest photos with me!

As a matter of fact she takes a lot of pictures!

Under her deck this spring she discovered a Robin's nest!

and so she kept watch over it.

You can imagine her enthusiasm when she discovered the eggs hatched!

Of course she had to share a photo of the mother Robin!

One of the greatest and simplest tools for learning more and growing more is doing more. 

Washington Irving

and so what I believe of these Meerkats is this, taken from the words of Matshona Dhliwayo

I have a small message but a big audience.

I have a small title but a big education.

I have a small purse but a big gift.

Animals teach us more than they'll ever learn from us.

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.

Washington Irving

Thanks for stopping by today.

Take good care of you.

The Long Shadow Post

 This post is for Write...Edit...Publish

and the WEP August 2020 Challenge

I thought the most beautiful thing was sunshine,

until I met my friendly shadow.

How did I know it was friendly you ask? It followed me everywhere.

 Blazing shafts of  sunlight dropping shadows in random ways.

Incessant streams of sunlight casting shadows never yawning, stretching in selective rays.

Beams of light stained the sky illuminating thin strips of sunlight slipping between each cloud.

A foreshadow of  it's former self these shadows placed upon earth,

as if previewing what was yet to arrive before nightfall's darkening screen.

One cannot be in the sunshine without shadows

they follow you everywhere on earth.

They trust your every move and the shadow always wins.

If you were to try and escape it, you'd fail.

Escape it, whatever for, I embrace it.

Shadow your shadow without fail.

Just as the clever dog catches his shadow

so shall I.

Words: 143

Thank you for stopping by.

You can join in as well by using the Link in the beginning of this post.

On Being You

I decided to treat this Blogger change over like cooking.

Because we all enjoy adventure and trying new things right?

"Each season is like a little treasure box, filled with the gift of food."

Karista Bennett

and for the record, I look at all of our posts as just that. Each one like a new treasure to open and enjoy. We learn by them and, for myself the biggest gift from reading your posts, is very often the comfort I feel,  and sometimes humor, and the beauty of checking out places and sharing them.

Food should not only satisfy hunger, it should feed the soul

nourish the body and delight the senses.

Karista Bennett

The look of you can do this!

Everything is within your power and your power is within you.

Janice Trachtman

Live like a dog and feel the wind against your face.

The breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.

Kahlil Gibran

In every moment of choice, you create a new destiny.

Kevin Michel

This photo is a great reminder as to how I felt/feel about this change in Blogger. Sideways and all so confusing! But a challenge I accept!

Karina requested a sideways cake for her birthday this year, as she entered the double digits a big and happy adventurous 10 years old!

Small shifts in your thinking

and small changes in your energy

can lead to massive alterations of your end result.

Kevin Michel

 Despite the obvious fault in the universe, 

it cannot be used as an excuse 

for not trying to be your best self.

Be you!

Instead, use fairness as a starting point

to be sure that your actions

are the best that you can muster,

and find peace in navigating your time here

with grace and humor whenever possible.

Valerie Plame

We are all in this together, blogging is our thing 

and we must keep on keeping on! 

Thanks for stopping in

 and take good care of you!

Like Islands in the Sea of Critters Too

 Not sure what's happening with Blogger, so many changes but going to roll with the flow and get this post out.

We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep. (reflective of life, lately)

William James

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS 

I took a stroll at Hot Sam's Antiques just for Eileen's critter post.

It would appear I had a critter-photographer helping me today!

She brought her own Kodak camera!

One day in retrospect, the years of struggle

(especially these recent covid-19 months)

 will strike you as the most beautiful.

Sigmund Freud

Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.

Sigmund Freud

Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hill side on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring, it was peace.

Milan Kundera 

Where does a thought go when it's forgotten?

Sigmund Freud

Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark.

Bryce Courtenay

Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me.

Sigmund Freud

The universe doesn't give you what you ask for with your thoughts, it gives you what you what you demand with your actions.

Steve Maraboli

All animals except man know that the principle business of life

is to enjoy it.

Samuel Butler

Wait, I twat I taw a puddy tat!

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook. 

William James

A silent understanding can be a very healing energy.

The less said the better

just be there, we don't always need words

to convey compassion.

We need a quiet understanding

and a loving energy that passes between us.

Books are like imprisoned souls until someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.

Samuel Butler

Thanks for stopping by and 

this is still a work in progress!

Take good care of you.

Along the Sculptures and Critters

Good morning!





I've posted a few photos from my visit to Anderson Center at Tower View which offers incredible works of art in sculptures you've no doubt never seen or will ever see again. Anderson Center's mission is to support the arts, and offer much to the enrichment of community with many educational and cultural programs.

One man's junk can be useful to one's eye that sees beyond all thoughts.
Me


And of course not to forget the many wonderful and loving critters that share our lives.

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest;
and third, by experience, which is the bitterest."
Confucius





Your life is what your thoughts make it.
Confucius

Wherever you go 
go with all your heart.





Dogs, cats, horses, all critters teach us many things, 
but mostly they teach us love,
and how to love one another.




Make space in your life for the inevitable arrival 
of what you want.
Danielle LaPorte






"Care more about being accurately and precisely who you are,
then caring what someone might think about you."

Be you. It's something my mother pushed every single waking moment of every day.




Live like a child building sandcastles. 

The world is our sandbox and we're in charge 
of shaping our own choices
one grain at a time. 




"Do the best you can until you know better.
Then when you know better, do better."

"There is no greater agony 
than bearing an untold story inside of you."
Maya Angelou




Let your untold stories ring out! 




"Success is liking yourself,
liking what you do,
and liking how you do it."
Maya Angelou




If one is lucky, 
a solitary fantasy 
can totally transform
one million realities.

Maya Angelou 






If you're always trying to be normal 
you will never know how amazing you can be.




"An artist's flair is sometimes, 
worth a scientist's brains."
Anton Chekhov 

and this is how I want to move through each day,
"Don't tell me the moon is shining,
show me the glint of light on broken glass."
Anton Chekhov


Determine to live life 
with flair and laughter.
Thanks for saying hello
Take good care of you.