Simply, Plain Sailing

Or flying with one's head in the clouds, kind of day.

"Clouds come floating into my life,
no longer to carry rain or usher storm,
but to add color to my sunset sky."
Rabindranath Tagore


"Living simply is voluntary poetry."- 

Seneca The Younger

"We learn not in the school, but in life."
 Seneca

Today's subject- Smiles
"So pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag-
And smile, smile, smile."
George Asaf

See video here
Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag
Bravery and Sacrifice are Timeless
Bless those men and women that serve and honor us.
 Asaf was a Pseudonym for George Powell and Felix Powell

Catch a smile- throw a smile back!

Simply said-

Anything is possible when leaving a camera in the hands of a child!

"The heart, like the mind, has a memory,

and in it are kept the most precious keepsakes."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Nobody ever said getting your feet wet was a bad thing!
Shoes off, come on in, stay a long while.

Sometimes, a picture says it all.

"A torn jacket is soon mended, but hard words bruise the heart of a child."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(actually anyone with a beating heart.)

"You use and lose a lot of energy being grumpy."

 Ted Danson

How about a hug grumpy face?

"Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dared to think."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

William Shakespeare

Always, Smell the Flowers.

"Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms, 
you'll be able to use them better when you're older."

Seneca

It's just that simple.

When a tree offers to tell you a story, listen.

Simply put.

Always make room for family.

It was wonderful to see my cousin, Linda (she moved to Alabama after college) and I hadn't seen her in years!

Naps

Are so good to catch up!

Even when the eyes are closed,

and sleep has arrived,

 our brain is always awake.

Thinking, thinking.... and say how do you do?  Even if he's a Minion.

Seneca quoted-
"As in a tale, so is life: not how long it is, 
but how good it is, is what matters."

and I totally agree. Just as importantly is how good blogging together is for our souls.  I treasure every single one of you, in and out of blogging, and sharing this Bloggersville experience together makes life so good.  Enjoy your day!

Good Fences- Human Imitation or

"In happy hours, when the imagination

wakes like a wind at midnight,and the soul

Trembles in all its leaves, it is a joy

To be uplifted on its wings, and listen

To the prophetic voices in the air

That call us onward."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

GOOD FENCES

On the subject of Scarecrows

Welcome to the valley of scarecrows.  Stroll through at your leisure, observe through the magical eyes of a child and you will see beyond their literal identities. 

We must all make do-

with the rags of love

we find flapping

on the scarecrow of humanity. - Angela Carter

"Anticipation is the greater part of pleasure." Angela Carter

Look very closely my little pretty, (left bottom corner) you shall see a wee bit of fence.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your day!

Words for Wednesday

Greetings and welcome to Words for Wednesday 
brought to us this week by our delightful friend  and her lovely blog
Elephant's Child.

WORDS FOR WEDNESDAY

and a bit of a change from our normal word list.

We've been invited to play along this week with familiar phrases,
 and I'm using both.

The first phrase

"A little of what you fancy does you good."

"I never was a one to go and stint myself
If I like a thing, I like it- that's enough."

(Fashion by Dorothy-Scarecrow)

But there's lots of people say that if you like a thing a lot

It'll grow on you and all that sort of stuff.

Enjoying a day of  childlike fancy!

My father said now slow down- life for you has just begun.
(that's what he said)

Hold on and pull tight.

A little of what you fancy does you good-

Song by Marie Lloyd here.


The Second Phrase 

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

From inside The Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee.

One great week of good old fashion family time will have to hold us all until Christmas!

Autumn - TP

By calendar autumn arrived September 23rd this year, however I returned from Alabama with anything but autumn like weather. Stepping out of the Mpls. St. Paul airport it was still 80 degrees at 10:00 pm.  That's amazing weather Minneapolis.

(of course heavy winds were on their way)

THEMATIC PHOTOGRAPHIC

Monday, Carmi offered "Autumn" as our theme this week.

So, even if Mother Nature is still holding tight to summer, the explosion of a profusion of color is beginning, albeit rather slowly in signaling our autumn season.

The leaves have been tumbling ever so sweetly.

AUTUMN

as it is-
today.

My backyard view.

and then-

My views of autumn in Alabama last week.

Moments from Huntsville Botanical Gardens-
a lovely place that we never completely covered, even after being there all day!

Say horse, where's your cowboy?

"May your belly never grumble, may your heart never ache, may your horse never stumble, may your cinch never break."

Cowboy Prayer

A smile is the prettiest thing you can share.

"Here's looking at you, kid."

As we were leaving the Botanical Garden we captured this lovely view and had to investigate.  All other photos of this location were far from autumn views.

While checking out a neighborhood park we stumbled upon this-

I'm not picking any sides with this photo, it's just what someone left in the park.

That's it for autumn views for Thematic Photographic.  It's great to be back.  Now I'll have to check out what you've all been doing.  Thanks for stopping by.

Alabama and Critters

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." 

George Eliot

Happy October everyone!

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

AND 

Alabama

In case you wonder where I am next week I'll be visiting my daughter and her family's new stomping grounds in Alabama.  So blogging will be on hold until I return next Sunday evening.

I'll be gathering critter and Good Fences among other treasures of Alabama.

Have a wonderful Sunday and a positively delightful week in all that you do. I'll miss my normal postings and all of your daily postings as well. So, take good care of you until I return.

Oh can't forget my critter!

I saved these photos from the Renaissance Festival just for Eileen's Saturday's Critter post.

What is this shadowy like sleuth moving ever so slowly right next to me?

Is it friend or foe?

Embracing what some say are the undesirable but not everyone feels that way, see here.

It's all about people loving critters.

Absolutely, the best grouping of "the undesirables" and also totally delightful critters to grace the festival!

In case you didn't know, I am a huge fan of everything at the Renaissance Festival. 

Connections

Life is better -
Keeping the Beat


Lately it seems life is built on

complex connections, disciplines, serendipity moments and handshakes.

We're always lucky to board the Blogosphere pontoon and collectively journey into the unknown of limitless possibilities together.

Hurry, next pontoon arrives soon.

I thought about this post yesterday while attending

Farmington Elementary School's Fun Run to support their school.

Don't Gum Up the Works

I don't think it was really necessary to close the ceremony with a few "pie in your face" episodes, but they did, and even their Principal Januschka (not pictured here) got his!

By watching all the students during their run of mostly 36 laps per child

(so happy I donated straight pledges) who knew they'd run that many?!

Everyone (including teachers) had a blast.

It wasn't just about music either, or the High Five, Run like an Airplane, or etc. themed laps, 
it was the joining of students all sharing in one important goal, funds for their school and-

More importantly, united friendship.
-and seeing that your teacher dances like nobody's watching.

NOW FOR MY MAIN POINT

I'm trying something new in this hopefully, audience participating post.

I'm sharing some up and shining stars from the literary world for your viewing pleasure. 

I'm sure most of you know them too. Give them a shout out in my comments, better yet, buy their books, or whatever! 

Now here comes your part.  
If you're reading this, (this includes the folks introduced at the end) if you're out there contributing, (pulling hairs and whatnot) please present yourself. 
Do leave your link in my comments.

Show Us What You've Got. 

This is where you blog about you! Afterwards, I might brag about you in another post.  


First may I introduce a favorite hermit writer we all know and find ourselves lost in his limitless views of a dreams-do-come-true of photography,
every single day right here in Blogland.
R Mac Wheeler his books here.
and his blog here as well.
Check Mac out on Amazon as well and say hello!


Next

From the comfort of and stepping into her wise and dreamy spiral of Hawaii and pure everyday life-


Cloudia W. Charters blog and author of 
ALOHA Where You Like Go?

Check Cloudia out on Amazon.

Next

Ashley Chappell-Peeples

YA Fantasy Author

Rocket City Literary Festival

(I'm incredibly honored that she sent invited me to this festival and I'll be there on the 10th!)

Next

Celebrating her first book is- Murees Dupe'

Next

Lisa Shafer- books here.Lisa Schafer see blog here.
Check Lisa out on Amazon.


The age of sharing is a never ending part of life. Every person walking this lovely planet is important, and investing in people, (not just greenbacks but our time as well) is what makes a life well lived.


"Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing."
Elie Wiesel


Celebrate people, and enjoy your weekend everyone.

Good Fences in the Forest

From somewhere in the deep forest, around a crooked creek and high upon the branches of an old oak tree, you'll uncover nature's gifts hanging free.
Surely you'll see butterflies and be noticed by happy bees.

You are entering the Fairy Wing Forest.

GOOD FENCES

and WORDS FOR WEDNESDAY
(All 12 in Italic)

Artsy Fairy Houses abound right before your eyes, as well as showing off from albums for your viewing pleasure.  Ultimately, each builder if you should inquire to contract one or more of their works, all swear that your own gardens will sparkle as well. 
Sit for a spell, perhaps underneath a sconce, just be sure to grab their land line or later this fall attend one of their art shows.  No doubt you'll be comforted in a furry of bliss as spectacular as a lunar eclipse! 

You just never know what unusual elements of nature 
exist behind these good fences.
They're ready to present themselves 
upon your accidental discovery.
Be brave. Be adventurous. 

"The important thing is not to stop questioning -

"Curiosity has its own reason for existing." 
Albert Einstein

I don't know about you, but for me after seeing all these treasures I want to go and home create a few artsy things myself.

So far, autumn's astonishing gifts of yellow, browns, orange and reds have yet to arrive.  

It's quite fair I'd say that autumn is slow to appear here in Minnesota, since our spring lived far beyond its normal schedule.

"The power to question is the basis of all human progress." 
- Indira Gandhi

"Whenever you take a step forward, you are bound to disturb something." - Indira Gandhi

Just keep moving ahead.

The simplest of things often present themselves just for your enjoyment.  Take time to notice things.

Welcome to the Fairy Wing Forest Laundry.

It goes without saying right?

Not far from the sudsy corners of the laundry sits this charming house.

Not sure who lives inside this magical fairy house, but if you listen very closely you will hear music playing.

All good things must come to an end.  Unless of course I've twisted your arm into attending one of their last days at the Minnesota Renaissance Fair of 2015.  You still have three glorious days to venture out there this year. 

Of course-

Even Fairies need their own private places.

The greatest chance for desirable adventures are waiting around every corner.  Meet them head on.  Enjoy your day and everything you do.