Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Saturday, April 9, 2016

The Life of a Few Good Critters

My critters this Saturday morning begins from-
Yesterday, after dinner Misty and I took a hike!



"To his dog
every man is Napoleon;
hence the constant
popularity of dogs."
Aldous Huxley








"The donkey sweats so the horse can be decorated with lace."
Haitian Proverbs



Looking for clams.

Clams can only be dug up at low tides so it makes sense when you hear-
"Happy as a clam at high tide!"




Not all birds are meant to be caged.
Some like Lido, in this photo happily spent the day in Virginia City with us.
But that was moons ago.
Rest in peace dear sweet Lido.


By way of the following quote, I believe my long time question may just have been answered by Robin.

"Everybody is born so that they can learn to live a good life- like loving everybody and being nice, right? Well animals already know how to do that, so they don't have to live so long." - Robin Downing



Enjoy your weekend, take good care of you,
 and all the critters you are lucky to know.





Thursday, April 7, 2016

Good Fences and Moments

"Some moments are nice,
some are nicer
some are even worth writing about."
Charles Bukowski

Mostly, all are worth remembering.

and
A wee bit of England






"She smiled and said with an ecstatic air:
 "It shines like a little diamond."
"What does?"
"This moment. It is round, it hangs in empty space
 like a little diamond;
I am eternal."
Jean-Paul Sartre








"We make patterns. We share moments."
Jenny Downham






Any moment you can join a tour
will be moments long remembered.


Like a Jack the Ripper tour!

What tour have you taken lately?

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Sparky - Saturday Critters

Happy day after "April Fool's Day" I hope nobody got too fooled!

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

and Italic words for
 WORDS FOR WEDNESDAY 


Fire horses, bravely pulled engines and ladder wagons and raced fiercely to bring firefighters to blazing fires.



Fire Horses
sometime between 1918 and 1921




Number Twelve Engine
outside firehouse in Washington D.C.


Meet
Sparky the Fire Dog a true hero





(For Words for Wednesday)

One gullible misconception is, 
that a burning cigarette can do no harm.
It can lead to more than a lawsuit.
One harmful act and the insidious effect of a lit cigarette 
left unattended
 it's smug nature to feast on nearby objects
inflicting damage and spreads
 like an out of control weed
forbidden and off limits
it hungrily thrives on when
left unattended
all the bread or rather money in the world can't stop its destruction
only the tug of a water hose
at the hand of a firefighter 
unexpectedly
plucked from the warmth of his bed
to put the blazing fire out.
But!
In the end, man wins, and no human/animal losses.


The next photos below are from a recent fire in town this week

and the firefighter pictured is my son.  This is his first actual fire.
He's completed his schooling process to become a volunteer firefighter and had only gone on firehouse calls like, carbon monoxide to 911 medical calls and etc. until this burning structure.




Photo credits by the Farmington Police Department.


One cigarette attacks a garage with two cars inside. 

Never, underestimate the power of a burning cigarette.


Nobody ever called the fire department because they did something smart.



"The funny thing about firemen is
night and day, they are always firemen."
Gregory Widen, Backdraft

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Rebuilding - Good Fences

Once upon a time there was a sturdy fence,
but not all good fences live a long fencing life.
They move on to other things.



Some fences aren't as pretty as others
but they serve a worthy purpose. 




On the life of a fence, serving is never ending.




Often those fine serving fences become




Chairs!




and artful picture pieces!





How incredibly constructive to discover a fun wooden-build-your-own wooden fence or whatever waiting just for you!






It's true very often many fences get lost in the background.






But a fence that becomes a chair in a city park lives on to show off!


"Everything vanishes around me, 
and works are born as if out of the void. 
Ripe graphic fruits fall off. 
My hand has become
 the obedient instrument of a remote will." 
Paul Klee
artist

So explains the life of many a good fences, wouldn't you agree?


My hubby has a pile of sturdy wood fencing his sister begged him to take down.  She wanted a clear view without fencing.  So now it sits here in a heap waiting to be something.  Hopefully, I'll be able to share it here (someday) in a new life form! We'll see.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Bunnyfest - Magpie


A Magpie Tale



Pass The Bread Please



Easter is To Me

Memories of eating
real bread squares 
and cold grape juice
and singing.






Enhancing the perfect white egg.



and yellow daffodils.



PEEPS!





Chocolates.








Sunsets arriving later.




Animals in our lives.





open meadows
green grasses
fresh air
skipping
through fields
of springtime fair!




Bringing out our trusty old golf cart.
Accepting the years 
as little ones 
grow!

Decorating the table!
Twinkle lights.




Fixing everyone's favorite dishes
laughing
joke telling





funny happy faces.




Did I mention peeps?

Reflecting on those not with us.

Memories.





Big hats
fancy bows
Easter Egg Hunts
The Golden Egg

and 
a giddy up
in everyone's step
kindness
togetherness
that's about it!







"In the oddity or maybe the miracle of life,
the roots of something new
frequently lie in the decaying husks
of something old."
Craig D. Lounsbrough


Enjoy your week and take good care of you!

Saturday, March 26, 2016

More Than Milk and Bread - Saturday Critters

It's Saturday morning before Easter, I'm betting Peter Rabbit is busily, scurrying about hiding his last baskets of eggs!






RUSTY

This is the story of 
how one trip to the market changed
 so many lives, for the better.

In our family, dogs never go unnoticed.
Yes we meet and greet them all.
Such was the case two years ago on a dark and cold November
evening.


My youngest son, and his two boys were headed into the grocery store when out of the blue here comes this big dog running non-stop right over to them.
Of course my concerned son said, "What the heck!" and gave up shopping.
"Who owns this dog?"





After a bit of searching, my son located the owner (he lived across the busy street) with no fenced yard, and had a toddler with him.

Long story short, the man said he couldn't keep his dog, RUSTY in their yard, and he/Rusty often led his son across the road.
Really? The dog led the boy. Okay.

So naturally when the man asked if my son wanted Rusty, fifty-dollars later my son brought home the sweetest, loving, devoted and watchful dog, named Rusty and added him to the family. 






There was a bit of #@$%^& silly stuff from my daughter-in-law feeling she should have been asked first, but goodness this was a crises situation.

He who snoozes loses.




Rusty loves his new home. Once when the family accidentally left the front door open, the cats ran out but Rusty stayed right there on the front porch until they drove up and he quickly ran back inside and took his usual spot to greet them. 







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




Now kitty-cats (this is one of Rusty's new pals) they are a whole other kind of personality!






Enjoy your weekend, have a Happy and Blessed Easter!
and take good care of you.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Mysteriously Classic

Welcome to


"The true mystery of the world is the visible
not the invisible." -
Oscar Wilde

(click on photos to enlarge)

No matter where you travel
there is always more mystery to unravel.


A must to see, please click the link above.








"It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit." -
Antoine Rivarol


How about a mystery right in Minnesota?

Located up on a hill sits


The Robert M. Foster House- Preston, Minnesota.



It's a bit closer to home for me to visit the

Mystery House - located in Minnesota






Inside the mystery house- oops






One more mystery to discover if you will

I ask, what could be more classic than a vintage Volkswagen Beetle smack in the middle of a great mystery?



Where- The Mystery Hole
near Ansted West Virginia



"It's the unknown that draws people." 
E.A. Bucchianeri
(Brushstrokes of a Gadfly)


So what mysteries will you uncover?

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Single Gate

What is the story behind this property that's gated but still not fenced?  I shared this gate before, but they've added a few interesting touches to it since then.

GOOD FENCES

Perhaps sometimes, all you need is a good gate.




These photos were taken on a stretch of land on a country road near my house, that sits between land that is owned by a large floral and garden company and  a longtime land owner.



Yes those are red horseshoes!

Note to self, come back and get a better photo of those incredible red horseshoes.







I don't know what it is about this place,
 but I plan on finding all there is to know about it.

Do you ever get curious about randomly simple things?
I find they feed my imagination. 
 So for me, I'll keeping questioning and digging 
about these random goodies.


"I wear the universe backwards. 
I imagine putting stars in my
coffee, and sugar in the sky.
I imagine going fishing in clouds,
and watching the sun hide
behind lakes. I'm too busy dancing
with my imagination to even tip toe
with reality for a second.

They say I'm going mad.
They're right." - D. Antoinette Foy


Enjoy your day and take good care of you!