Food for Thought

Use each interaction to be the best,

most powerful version of yourself.

said the cat and

Marianne Williamson

Okay as I promised is this the kitty cat post today?

Nope, that's saved for this coming Saturday's Critters post with Eileen. Instead, a bit of kitty cat wisdom about an important experience I had last week.

"Blessed are those that love cats, for they shall never be lonely."

Love given is love returned. Same goes for volunteering.

Just one of the many opportunities working for Target offers us. Although I already knew about "Feed My Starving Children of Minnesota" through the Lions Club (their motto, We serve) this time I went with co-workers. I'm  Posting to City Daily Photo.

"It's not the love you make. It's the love you give."

Yes, that's me in the center along with four other team members from our store. 

As this video shows music playing in the background as we work,  music sets the mood, I'm not kidding. They play upbeat songs all through the process of putting the bags together. Your first visit you may enter meek and unsure of what's going to happen but you leave energized in so many ways. 

"Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty, It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow."

 Tony Schwartz quotes

and 

"Each of us has a finite reservoir of energy in any given day."

Life often feels like a guessing game.

Should I engage or walk on by?

If you have a choice to interact

 face to face,

do it!

Let The Art Of Conversation Grow.

I don't know if it's the aftermath of COVID-19 taking over/consuming  our lives but I stumbled across this awesome quote today.

"In these times I don't in a manner of speaking, know what I want; perhaps I don't want what I know and want what I don't know." Marsilio Ficino  Born 1433 and died 1499 amazing right?

A delicious close to food for thought is this.

Never underestimate the power of kitty-cats and sweets.

Thanks for sharing time with me. Your visits and comments are special.

Take good care of you and enjoy your week.

 

Color My World With Critters

Happiness for me is surrounding myself around critters. Welcome to another Saturday posting of critters within my world. I'm also posting to City Daily Photo.

I begin today with this quote from Nakeia Homer it's what I've learned through the years, and especially from my pets.

"Remember the last time

you thought you couldn't do it,

but then you did?

Do that again." Nakeia Home

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

Welcome to the pups in my world and sorry kitties you aren't in this line-up today. 

Meet Bugsy my oldest son's pup.

Royal pup in my eyes Artemis (a girl) named by my daughter from Artemis, The Greek Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon and Chastity. 

Rusty (my youngest son's pup) is the sweetest of all pups ever here with one of his boys!

Yikes, Rusty what are those green hands behind you rising up from the ground?

My daughter and her pup Artemis!

My beloved pups, Dash (also named by my daughter as Dashiell Hammett one of her favorite writers) above and below with Misty.

"You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain't one." Dashiell Hammett

Also my oldest son's pup, sweet little Emme who graciously allows her brother Bugsy to take center stage until she doesn't! hehehe.

"The love of a dog is a pure thing. He/she gives you a trust that is total. You must not betray it."

Michel Houellebecq 

"Like literature, music can overwhelm you with sudden emotion, can move you to absolute sorrow or ecstasy; like literature, painting has the power to astonish, and to make you see the world through fresh eyes.

Come close and let me tell you an ancient story.

But only literature can put you in touch with another human spirit, as a whole, with all its weaknesses and grandeurs, its limitations, its  pettinesses, its obsessions, its beliefs; with whatever it finds moving, interesting, exciting, or repugnant." 

Michel Houellebecq

This quote, pretty much explains what the critters in our lives master as well.

Update on our peacock that so far as yet still remains with us.

"If you stare at someone long enough, they'll eventually look back at you."

Cory Doctorow

I hear your approach! 

Always on the run though. When we stay quietly inside watching through a window we get a lovely show, even see the beautiful fan of feathers.

 

Risky business coming this close to our pups view though, and he's off and running again.

"If you don't like where you are, move. You are not a tree."

Og Mandina

Random hikers with their pups. All lost in thought.

"You can't discuss the ocean with a well frog, he's limited by the space he lives in. You can't discuss ice with a summer insect, he's bound to a single season."

Zhuangzi

Some faces are hard to resist.

 

"The real world is much smaller than the imaginary."

Friedrich Nietzsche

"Search for the seed of good in every adversity. Master that principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard you well through all the darkest valleys you must traverse. Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the mountaintop."

Og Mandino

 

Thank you for sharing time with me.

Take good care of you and be safe.

An Evening Air

 Don't get me wrong I'm the biggest fan of sunlight, but there's such a magical experience that always takes a unique hold over me out about the evening air as it always stirs a magical enchantment deep inside of me. I'm posting to City Daily Photo.

"The night hides a world, but reveals a universe."

Terry Gotham 

"True life is lived one moment at a time."

Karen Sather

"In the gathering darkness a long, swift train suddenly,

 Passes me like a lighting.

Hard and ponderous and loud are the wheels.

As ponderous as the darkness, and as beautiful."

Samar Sen 

"All the diversity, all the charm, 

and all the beauty of life are made up of light and shade."

Leo Tolstoy

Unlike trees, that we love dearly and often decorate on a whim, "Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give (life) a meaning."

Jean-Paul Sartre

"Life is a paradise for those who love many things with passion."

 Leo F. Buscaglia

"The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises."

Leo F. Buscaglia

Seems we're all enjoying "The Gratitude Tree" look at all those ribbons!

I'm so grateful for your visits and comments.

Take good care of you and enjoy your week ahead.

 

October Stylistically Masterful

Normally if things were anything like last year we'd be wearing hats and heavy coats today and crying about missing our incredible "fall colors" and yet this October it's almost as if we're living in a marvelous dream of summer still living on in October! I'm posting to City Daily Photo hope enjoy moments from this October.

October Bliss.

"Autumn gave a party, the leaves by hundreds came. The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples their costumes all aflame. The sunshine spread a carpet and everything was grand.  Miss Weather led the dancing. Professor Wind the band and the guests were all aflutter and danced off hand in hand." George Cooper Chrysalis

"The only journey is the one within." Rainer Maria Rilke

"I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone." RMR

"Love is the bridge between you and everything." Rumi

Our old Cedar Street bridge.

"Rather than focusing on the obstacle in your path,

focus on the bridge over your obstacle." Mary Lou Retton 

Care for a ride through the streets of Stillwater? Hop on then.

"If your life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches." RMR 

"The sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." Carl Jung

"Were it not for the leaping and twinkling of the soul, man would rot away in his greatest passion, idleness." Carl Jung

"Trace your fingers along the lull of the afternoons then,

Take the spirit of the evenings in your arms, kiss it deeply."

Sanober Khan 

This was a new experience for Artemis on the river in a kayak. She mastered it!

"Let everything happen to you, beauty and terror, just keep going no feeling is final."

 RMR

Enjoy those unexpected moments of gathering together. Time moves on far too quickly. Don't be left behind.

"You have to live life to the limit, not according to each day but by plumbing its depth."

Rainer Maria Rilke

I shot this photo two days ago and what a rare bloom for October this is, and a gift from my son.  I'm grateful for these precious finds because we all know our winter will be arriving at place very close to us right now. 

Still caring for this lovely creature for now.

"Beauty is not who you are on the outside, it is the wisdom and time you gave away to save another struggling soul like you." Shannon L. Alder

Thank you for your visit and comments they truly are a day-brightener.

Be safe, and Take good care of you.

Somewhere Between Busyness with Critters

It's been a wonderful whirlwind adventure with my daughter and her family visiting and of course a perfect time for my 9 year old laptop to say "that's enough!" So welcome as I post to City Daily Photo and 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

This critter post is mostly all about Artemis my daughter's pup which makes this her second trip here this year. She got to experience our Minnesota winter during their January trip.

Be conscious of your treasures.

Sometimes it's the unspoken language of the collective unconscious that makes all the difference in communication. 

 Sometimes the heart sees what's invisible to the eye.

Tennyson

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope. Maya Angelou

Mason's new found friend!

A day spent in nature and 

especially spent with friends or family is always a day well spent.

We spent a gorgeous evening in Wayzata, while loving the fact that it's a dog friendly town! 

Hard to believe it's October.

Artemis was one special pup as all the servers asked to serve us! Thank goodness for dog loving servers, in fact Artemis got her bowl of water before she took our drink orders!

If you're always trying to be normal 

you will never know how amazing you can be.

Maya Angelou

Hello from Danny and Sparky. Later I'll post more from our evening at the Farmington Fire Open House.

Success is liking yourself,

liking what you do,

and liking how you do it.

Maya Angelou

Okay I've got this!  Everyone buckle up.

Artemis truly believes she's one of the kiddos.

Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers.

Alfred Lord Tennyson
 

and

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

and also

I am part of all that I have met.

Lyra, Artemis and Karina

In case you didn't notice, Artemis is always ready for a ride.

Thanks for stopping in, and here's my favorite wise quote of today,

Think long thoughts in short sentences.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Take good care of you.