Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Thursday, February 25, 2021

Pandemonium Breakaway

Welcome to another WORDS FOR WEDNESDAY blog post from Elephant's Child and our word list is from Alex J. Cavanaugh.

The words are, guacamole, ninja, lollygag, malarkey, skedaddle, piffle, and/or berserk, earwig, fiasco, gazebo, huzzah, nitwit, thingamajig, and pandemonium.

Let me say, this was a lot tougher than I thought it would be! But thank you Alex your delightful words really stretched my thinking!


Pandemonium Breakaway!

Crazy like the sound of banging pots, what a fiasco while all pandemonium broke the crowd went berserk in a moment of sheer frenzy screaming, "huzzah!"


Without a doubt they knew not to lollygag about this frozen tundra of extreme temperatures so skedaddle they did so not to freeze in one spot.



Except this man, frozen in his steps as the snow fell all he could think of was devouring another hot dish of chicken guacamole quesadilla!




Everyone warned him,
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation." Jean Kerr

Could you imagine a headless world? Or worse yet like these poor folks?



Butts in view what a piffle indeed while our imagination skedaddles wildly across the land like a ninja in disguise. 




Heads on or not if we lollygag about more pandemonium may fall into the mix and then someone blurted out, "Oh no, a flurry of earwigs have been spotted!"



Of course if you ever wondered how an earwig travels in winter they're stealthily tucked away in a warm ear of a bicycler who possibly might be engaged in earwigging (secret conversation) between a ninja and a nitwit conversing a piffle of malarkey about a frenzy of earwigs cutting lose.

Meanwhile about 1,750 miles away in a city park there are no crowds, or ninjas, not even a mousy nitwit you could hear music playing.



Somewhere within this gazebo an outdoor speaker plays the song, "I Like Chopin" sung by Gazebo 
and
as if my story wasn't silly enough look at what sits not far from the gazebo.


Okay using the word thingy when you're not absolutely understanding the whatchamacallit you are looking at, a thingamajig proves more helpful in describing what sits within this garden retreat.

The End.
I used all the words.

Hallelujah! I finished.








Wednesday, February 17, 2021

The Road Words For Wednesday

 Hello everyone, with this post I'm playing along with Elephant's Child and 

WORDS For WEDNESDAY

Our words this week are, firefly, mystery, science, theater, star, 

and/or not trek eureka, psych, jokers and gate.



Catching Fireflies.


Where 

THE ROAD 

Leads.

In search of Someplace.

A firefly is a gift to us and it's a mystery in which science explains a firefly's "cold light" glows from the lower part of their abdomen and may be yellow, green or pale red, with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies,

So throw out all alien theories.




End of the road or is this the way out?


If this were theater the firefly would cast as the main star. Oddly the female firefly is the most easily noticed.



Photo taken in Eureka Township about 3 miles from my house and a grand meeting place for fireflies!

Tell me does this gate prevent us from leaving or entering through it? It's a mystery to me.


Gazing in it offers a slightly ramshackle atmosphere

 of not knowing again which way to travel.



In Psych 101 do they ever teach that if you find yourself

 on the wrong road which way is right?



Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference. Robert Frost



Worry not that your trek becomes weary, for you never know
 what strangers you may meet along the way.



Eureka they exclaimed as this dusty trail has finally brought us to a close. Everyone knows how lucky it is to stumble upon a yellow brick road, meaning we've achieved Godspeed at long last.

Success is ours, we've found our way out. I think.



Of course some silly jokers have paused at the gate. Afraid of the Wizard maybe?
Eureka! Welcome to Oz everyone.


"If we walk far enough," says Dorothy, "we shall sometime come to someplace."
L. Frank Baum

I do believe we've arrived at someplace.

Remember you can play along too, with or without a post just visit here.








Tuesday, February 16, 2021

What We Play Is Life

 Happy Mardi Gras to all!


Enjoy a few photos of Mardi Gras celebrations from a few years back.


"Look after the senses and the sounds will look after themselves." Lewis Carroll



"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." Lewis Carroll
and "In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take."



Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans in 1901.

"What we play is life." Louis Armstrong
What a wonderful world.
 



"I'd rather be a little weird than all boring."
Rebecca McKinsey



"Mardi Gras is the love of life. It is the harmonic convergence of our food, our music, our creativity, our eccentricity, our neighborhoods, and our joy of living. All at once." Chris Rose 


"You're mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."
Lewis Carroll





"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."
Lewis Carroll

I ask you which queen is the sweetest? The one above or this one below?

"She who saves a single soul, saves the universe."
Lewis Carroll



"Our dreams drive us so. One after another. Jasmine sprung bravely from the fertile soil of our suffering. And who can live without dreams? Who loves their brief, sweet passage? Dum vivimus, vivimus. While we live, let us live." 
David V. Lentz



Mardi Gras in it's usual fashion of course has been cancelled, but the folks there are still celebrating from their front porches! Here's what I captured from the news this morning.







Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person I know that loves clowns, and not the ones depicted in horror films. But the kind like this one.

I bought this charming clown in a quaint little shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans.




God Bless all clowns 
Who star the world with laughter
Who ring the rafters with a fine jest
Who make the world spin on its merry way
And somehow add more beauty to each day.

God Bless all clowns
So poor the world would be
Lacking their piquant touch, hilarity
Their belly laughs, the ringing, lovely mirth
That makes a friendly place of this earth.
taken from my book
Clown Paintings by Diane Keaton


I'll be looking for those trees of green, while wishing away winter, hoping you all are experiencing happy days and warmth! Spring is coming.
Thank you for your visit, 
Take good care of you.



Sunday, February 14, 2021

A Walk in Search of Critters and Muses

Once we realize that all the simple things in our lives are beyond the ordinary and wonderful enough, it's that very moment your inner muses come to life. 


SATURDAY'S CRITTERS



What's that luscious green stuff underneath Rusty?
Grass you say? What's that again?



Okay this is more like today! Our temperature right now -16 with a high of -4! Ouch!

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."
Vincent Van Gogh

So let's search for those muses.

Why not begin with learning to play with shadows?


A year ago today, on this Valentine's Day we enjoyed our Science Museum which is temporarily closed. But our learning process continues in other ways.

"All of us need to be in touch with a mysterious, tantalizing source of inspiration that teases our sense of wonder and goads us on to life's next adventure." Rob Brezney

What shall we do today?

So I ask,


The lion to the left of me and



 The lion to the right of me.
They answered, ask the


 Colorful moose and butterflies in the middle.


"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"

Van Gogh

If you're lacking inspiration or you're suffering from heaven forbid that creature called "boredom" as I've heard an occasional kiddo proclaim, 

I'll say go for a walk, talk to someone along your way.

Even if it's your fellow critter.


"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together."

Vincent Van Gogh

How about that snow person you may encounter. What do you notice?



So Mr. Snowman are you seeing with green peppers for eyes?




And Frosty put your hat back on, it's cold outside!


What about that cat-in-a-box?

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

It is fun to have fun! Dr. Seuss to the rescue.



So you're hungry you say after touring the town?


What shall you discover?


If  your adventure happens to include a plastic igloo aren't you the lucky one!


Sit down awhile, relax, and perhaps sip some wine or warm yourself with tea.

Once you've dined, visit some shops, support their stores. 




Excuse me Heather but you have a pup following your every step!




So whether you're serving up cake for your family or spending the day about town remember what Van Gogh said, "Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is done well."






and at the same time

Involve yourself in 10 actions.

Try daydreaming, watching clouds, dance, go to a lake, eat soup, visit a farmer's market, read old journals, eavesdrop at a coffee shop, go to a bakery, just be.


Enjoy comfort food while watching a movie!




Visit a nearby town, but make the drive an exploration along the way.


If you could compose a haiku what would it be?

Cold February day 

On this bright sunny morning 

Hear the bird chirp overhead?


Thank you for taking time to visit and share your thoughts with me.

Stay warm and safe and take good care of you.


Tuesday, February 9, 2021

My Wild Rabbits

 Not sure if you all recall my bunny post from spring? Here's an update (not that I've photographed them all) most have survived so far.


SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

(Sorry I'm a couple days late)


These first two photos are from their bunny days in spring 2020.


We have wilder critters especially coyotes prowling about more than usual.




These next photos are from present day in their Wild Rabbit stages!


They are so funny and predictable. Once I arrive home from work they're out at their feeding post moments after I drop the food!





If a thing loves, it is infinite. William Blake.





The life of a wild critter often has a tragic end. 
We rise by lifting others. No matter what.





What happens when people open their hearts? They get better.
Haruki Murakami


I read a thought provoking quote the other day on Facebook which asked,


"What tools do you use to shift from disaster mind to clear perception?

My answer is search for the unusual or uncommon that a good number of folks may enjoy experiencing, and share it.




In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors. William Blake.

Those are the doors that fascinate me.
How about you?




Another thing I find so very fascinating is how not everything is necessarily how it seems or appears, but rather how you perceive it.

The world is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. Y. B. Yeats


"Imagination, is the real and eternal world, of which this vegetable universe, 
is but a faint shadow." William Blake



And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through,
how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.
Haruki Murakami

Remember this. 
Always.



What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
 It also depends on what sort of person you are. C. S. Lewis

Thanks for stopping in and every comment you leave is a gift.
Take good care of you. Stay safe.