Solitude for City Daily Photo

Our March theme for City Daily Photo is "solitude" and like always we share our own interpretation.  I'm offering various views of solitude, a state of being or situation of being alone, and a lonely or uninhabited place. My selections are mostly from the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and a few other places around town.

My thoughts on solitude.

If you desire peace and quiet, have a seat.

"Solitude is where I place my chaos to rest and awaken my inner peace."

Nikki Rowe 

Open seating.

Chances are, you won't be disturbed when sitting alone here.

"There's an energy we all attract, whether we feel it or not and those things that come to us during our time of solitude are here to teach and discover things deep within ourselves. If you listen, you won't be disappointed." Me

The middle of nowhere or feels like the wild.

 I don't believe in empty spaces because there is always something to notice, or hear, feel and touch. 

The back of beyond.

"If you're lonely when you're alone,

 you're in bad company."

Jean-Paul Sartre

and

"Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself."

Ahh yes, the loneliness of a sailor's life.

"I can't control the wind, but I can adjust the sail." Ricky Skaggs

It feels like being on top of the world, but really, it's overlooking Red Wing, Minnesota.

"It isn't freedom from. It's freedom to."

Jean-Paul Sartre

Is she sad? Nope. This is the look of a devoted dog that will wait what feels like eternity for their master to return.

Alone in a crowd, each going their own way.

A boy, paper to color and crayons what more do you need?

Please, leave me alone can't you see I'm dancing?

"Only when I'm dancing can I feel this free." Madonna

Me and my shadow.

We thank you for joining us for our March theme.

Your visits and comments are gifts.

Take good care of you and enjoy whatever solitude you desire.

"One of the most powerful lessons that silence teaches us,

 is how to ponder."

The Power of Animals for Critters on Saturday

 Yes, if only all human beings walked our planet with the soul of animals there would be peace on planet earth. 

Posting to 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

Snow, snow and more snow, Misty can't get enough of the white stuff. Take it all girl, your Momma is ready for greenery. 

This sweet Cardinal flew into my window and landed on his back and didn't budge, so I carefully helped it over and after a short while it flew away.

This quote below has been quite helpful for me lately, especially with the tragedy affecting Ukraine right now. 

"Much more surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable, determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place."

Frances Hodgson Burnett

I never would have guessed this unexpected critter would bring me such joy.

Still here and so far, surviving our frozen tundra.

On the topic of pets visiting unexpected places, 

to brighten everyone's day, absolutely!

Discovering such delightful surprises in perhaps the most mundane circumstances and unexpected places feels your heart and soul.

Give Peace a Chance? 

"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done, then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago."

Francis Hodgson Burnett.

Pretty much everything is a delight through the eyes of a dog.

"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden."

Francis Hodgson Burnett quotes

Francis says hey, you all have a great weekend, okay?

Thank you for the joy of your visits and comments.

Enjoy your moments, every single one.

Take good care of you and those critters around you.

The Importance of Signs

On the subject of signs and their importance, both good or sometimes harmful it's all a matter of your own perspective. Today, I'm posting to City Daily Photo.

 Signs and what they mean to us.

 

 From one of my many visits to The Huntsville Botanical Garden

"Love is a reliable soldier on the war on hate."

Matshona Dhliwayo

However never, just because you've heard love conquers all, try to kiss a rattlesnake.

Take notice of all Mackinac Island warnings.

"We are all just stories that we've been told."

Oliver Jeffers

Some of you may remember I've made several posts about this sculpture park in Franconia. 

"You know someone is truly special when the most beautiful thing they have on is a kind soul." Matshona Dhliwayo

How about those signs that speak to us?

The sign LOVE and each letter offering a message.  

It's Okay to Be Different. I Love a Special Someone with Autism.  Autism Speaks. Love. Understand. Accept.

"We love the imperfect shapes in nature and in the works of art, look for an intentional error as a sign of the golden key and sincerity found in true mastery." 

Dejan Stojanovic

"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it."

 Moliere

It's the getting up 

shaking things off, and moving on, that matters most of all.

I can only imagine that every writer has his or her own selective alphabet as well, but for me Dejan speaks volumes with this quote, as it feels like it should be lyrics to a specific love song.

"There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky."

"The world is always open, waiting to be discovered."

Dejan Stojanovic

 "Your worth is not what you have, but who you are."

Matshona Dhilwayo

Enjoy your day, and take good care and  be safe.

Leaping and Twinkling

I'm posting from Stillwater, Minnesota today, and joining 

City Daily Photo as well.

"As Carl Jung put it, "In each of us there is another whom we do not know," As Pink Floyd sang, "There's someone in my head, but it's not me."

David Eagleman

Being one with nature and wandering 

wherever my feet take me, defines a better me.

Welcome to Stillwater a town characterized by the sights and sounds on the lovely St. Croix River with its many paddlewheel river boats and other boats. 

 

 "Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like and echo. Be like water making its way through."

Bruce Lee

 Happy Heart Day to You All

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

Carl Jung

Being out and about in this charming riverboat town of Stillwater nestled on the St. Croix River, puts a jingle in my step ever single time.

"It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials."

Bruce Lee

Below, a place where little eyes twinkle and you hear the sounds of, please, please can we go inside?

Most folks can't resist this home-made fudge.

"Taking time to do nothing often brings everything into perspective."

Doe Santamata

Absolutely no waiting here! 

But also, no service either until spring!

Try for your dining pleasure, by entering through the door on the right, 

and

You've arrived. Find a seat.

These steps below aren't that scary, although I've never walked them during icy winters, but the from the top the view is without a doubt a must see.

And yes, you can reach the top by car.

"When we open our eyes to what lies before us 

what we see is 

somewhere between reminiscence and reality."

Karen Sather

"Sometimes the only thing in your control is the way you react to something."

Doe Zantamata

Unbelievably delicious Irish Burger!

"This fire that we call loving is too strong for human minds. But just right for human souls." 

Aberjhani 

Wishing you all the happiest, most joyful of Happy Hearts for Valentine's Day. 

Thanks for stopping in, and for your comments.

Take good care of you and your loved ones.

Who Let the Cows Out and Other Critters

Who Let the Cows Out?

 

How now, brown cow?

Welcome to 

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

What the day has to offer.

"As patches of sunlight fall in an effervescent overcast

they shift ever so lightly through cotton candy clouds.

At no particular point of time 

morning sunlight slips by

illuminating our stroll and inviting us to wander through

soaking in every moment before the wind seals up the gap,

and shadows fall as our winds speed up within our journey."

Not to forget my other critters.

Getting to know you.

Kitty on fluff.

Wisconsin I've found has much to do about cows.

Meet Buffy the Cow from Austin, Minnesota

"It's all in the mind." George Harrison 

From stage left enters a pooch on a mission.

Snow Girl Misty. Ahh a simple roll in the fluffy snow!

Dogs live simply and earnestly and are our biggest fans through life.

Eating snow. What could be better?

As their humans we live a bit more of a complex life.  Seems the winter blues have a way of bringing hygge to life, or so it does in my realm.

"Walk in the direction where your peace is found." Steve Aitchison

Being one with the moment. Key.

An essential ingredient to hygge (to give courage, comfort and joy) is the boundary that marks a place or delineates a moment - a fence, a circle of cushions or a stolen half hour." Louisa Thomsen Brits, from The Book of Hygge- the Danish Art of Living Well

"Don't worry I've got your back."

"Let us go forth, the tellers of tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear. Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust under our feet." W. B. Yeats

Snow dog Rusty!

"Material goods rarely alter our levels of happiness, unlike emotional experience. Having can never replace being." Ilsa Crawford

 

That look you get when you know there's another snowbank waiting just for you!

"Keep looking up, that's the secret of life." Snoopy

Having can never replace being.

Thanks for stopping by and take good care of you.