Pick A Daisy

Good morning all!

This day has me thinking about my dear father and remembering how we always celebrated his special day.  So I'm sending birthday wishes and hugs up to heaven.

This photo was taken a few years before my father was born, but it pretty much describes the way things were in his world way back when.  (My grandmother was quite the gardener) 

His childhood was spent mostly outdoors, taking in clean fresh air, playing and raising animals of all kinds, and of course lots and lots of flowers, and vegetables too. His older sister was born to ride, and showed him many things!

Then, once my daddy turned 12 his father moved away to Arizona and during the summer months and his college years my Daddy really learned what life of a cowboy was all about.

Welcome to another

GOOD FENCES

"You have to decide if you're going to wilt like a daisy 

or if you're just going to go forward 

and live the life that you've been granted."

Kevin Costner

Go forward always.

"Always have something beautiful in sight,

even if it's just a daisy in a jelly glass."

H. Jackson Brown Jr.

I don't really know why

but daisies always make me smile.

Enjoy your day, and pick a daisy 

but don't keep it

give it away today!

The Tulips and The Gnome

"Others said May was best,
that sweet green time when 
lilacs bloomed and gardens along Main Street
 were filled with sugary pink peonies and Dutch tulips."
Alice Hoffman

What the Gnome said to the tulips.

You simply can't compare me to another tulip.

Because this isn't a competition.

I'm one of a kind, and that's real.

"You're strictly a tulip girl, a red tulip girl."
Alyson Noel

2 Am's were made for Poets/

lovers/writers.

Visionaries.

Photographers.

Painters.

Over Thinkers.

Silent seekers.

These are my favorite hours.

Tulisan Manda

Green tulips growing ever so softly-

It's a time when dogs and cats

and tulips sleep

while you create.

When I grow up I want to be a tulip. 
The Gnome

Play outside. Get dirt on your hands and face. Play.

From the days long. long, long ago when the sun came out to play.

Be Happy! Take good care of you.

For Who Can We Be

Oh Deary me!

Welcome dear ones!

THE MAG

"For who can we be, but ourselves."

Molly Vonk

Photo by Tom Chambers

"The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd

keeps with perfect sweetness

the independence of solitude."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Said the deer to the girl,

"I live by the nature of me."

Always bring you

to everything you do.

Never let anyone change you

from being you.

Live out of your own skin

like something akin

to gratitude pursue.

It's the perfect thing to do.

Be your main character

just live out loud.

"Today you are you!

That is truer than true.

There is no one alive

who is you-er than you."

Dr. Seuss

Fall in love with your life.

Insight with Good Fences

Insight

A stroll through town.

A few fences

And a few critters along the way.

Lions in stone or alive are always

Sharp, shrewd and smart.

A place where lions watch over all.

GOOD FENCES
and 
SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

"A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

"A man's mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation,

and never shrinks back to it's former dimensions."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

What once was Lakeville's All Saints Catholic Church

Is now our Lakeville Area Arts Center

Visiting the memorial garden at McGuire Middle school where plaques, birdhouses, benches, newly planted trees and pavers commemorate those who have died. In honor of teachers as well as students.

I took this photo a couple of years ago,
 but it's a perfect photo to remind us that 
it's tick season once again.  

Don't put off your tick checks,
 especially when romping anywhere outside.


"The greatest of all faults is to imagine you have none."
Author Unknown



Enjoy your Friday and weekend as well!

Solitude

Thoughts on 

SOLITUDE

and

CHILDREN/ANIMALS

Eyes that see no hatred.

"We need solitude,

because when we're alone,

we're free from obligations,

we don't need to put on a show,

and we can

HEAR our own thoughts."

Tamin Ansary

Try to see the world through the eyes of a child/animal.

Eyes that are not yet cynical or skeptical. 

Eyes that marvel at everything they see. 

The lessons we learn from children about life 

are so much more important than the lessons we teach them.

 Think happy thoughts.

Leslie Inner Calm Reiki

"Being alone is very difficult."

Yoko Ono

But I believe my alone time

is what makes me appreciate everyone and everything.

What do you think?

Enjoy your day 

be it alone or not

and take good care of you.

Really Mama, on Saturday Critters

About ready to head out for some Minnesota captures, but first,


Welcome to SATURDAY'S CRITTERS

"Really Mama? You kind of make me look like a girly-girl here."

"Tell me I'm clever, tell me I'm kind, 

Tell me I'm talented, tell me I'm cute,

Tell me I'm sensitive, graceful and wise

Tell me I'm perfect-

But tell me the truth."

Shel Silverstein

I'm caught in the act of kissing in this photo.

Emmie is a sweetie. 

"Underneath my outside face

There's a face that none can see

A little less smiley

A little less sure,

But a whole more like me."

Shel Silverstein 

I'm a cutie right?

We do a whole lot of kissing in our family!

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.

Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me....  

Anything can happen, child. Anything can be."

Shel Silverstein

Sure Mom, go and leave us all alone on a Friday night 
and post all those pictures of other dogs the next day. 

Go Outside - and Good Fences

Good morning on this sunny Emancipation Day in the United States.

So in honor of that, and also that your taxes aren't officially due until the 18th of April this year-

let's all

GO OUTSIDE

Can you spot the barbed-wire fence here? The old grape vine is trying to conceal it.

"In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man,

in spite of real sorrows."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Observe.

Enjoy.

GOOD FENCES

It's been a busy work week, besides celebrating hubby's birthday on the 12th and our anniversary on the 14th. (He's already had 3 birthday celebrations) and our oldest son and his family are making us Beer Can Chicken or Juicy Lucy burgers on the grill tonight!

It's truly spring here, for the moment anyway.

So if you're wondering about my next few blogs-
read on.

(hey I have three glorious days off in a row from work!)

WOO HOO!

In honor of one of our favorite writer, hermit, dog/tree/nature loving blogger friend to many of us visiting here-

you know him as Mac or Floridian ace-photographer

Like he famously shares Florida for us,

I'll share a bit of Minnesota.

Hoping to catch just as many cool captures as Mac does.

Not to forget fences too.

Only the shadow knows

who this is.

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet

 and winds long to play with your hair." - Kahli Gibran

Look there he is again.

He sure does get around, 

Blowing in the wind.

Here's a hint of what's coming in my next post.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

"We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.

Winston Churchill

Enjoy your day, take good care of you and see you all back here tomorrow!