A Happy Mother’s Day Scavenger Hunt…

Here are this week’s prompts:  Perspective, Golden, Bloom, Dark and Local.  And here are my efforts.

I decided to use this definition of PERSPECTIVE:  a state of existing in space before the eye.  We were down at our neighborhood beach on Friday and I asked our friend Bob to hold still while I took this picture.  Good guy that he is, he did what I asked.  In his sunglasses, I could see what existed in the space before Bob’s eyes.  I think that’s kind of cool.

This is a koi from a local restaurant Zorba’s where we go occasionally for lunch.  Now that the weather is nice, they open their pleasant outdoor area and you can sit next to this lovely koi pond.  I’m not a big fan of fish but I think these are very pretty.  He’s like an overgrown GOLD(EN) fish.

It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “What is a weed?  A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.”  Most people consider the dandelion a weed, but I like its cheery yellow demeanor and love it when they turn to seed.  The dandelion is a BLOOM that I enjoy.

Here is one of the newest residents of our neighborhood.  His name is Maverick and he may be DARK but that doesn’t mean he isn’t sweet and friendly.  Welcome, Maverick!

We are so lucky that this scene is within a five minute walk from our front door.  This is LOCAL for us.

LINKING TO ASHLEY SISK'S 

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY!

Apple blossoms, stone fences and random thoughts…

1)  I took a ride around town the other day even though it was threatening to rain because a friend told me how beautiful the apple blossoms were this year.  I think I got to them a little late, but they were still beautiful with their nice stone fences in front of them.

2)  The alarm clock that sits next to my side of the bed is five minutes slow.  This would not be such a big deal but it is one of those clocks that allegedly sets itself by the Atomic Clock so there is no way to change the time to make it right.  The alarm part of the clock stopped working before it started losing time.  The only real reason I keep it around is because the numbers are really nice and big letting me tell the “time” even without my glasses.  I just do the five minute mental math and am done with it.  Ironically, this silly clock falls back and springs forward as regularly as clockwork without any prompting from me.

3)  Speaking of time pieces, I can’t wear a watch.  There is something about my body chemistry that makes a watch slow down and eventually it dies prematurely.  I’ve given up.  But it has taught me a big life lesson.  And that is that I can’t control time.  It flows as it flows and it will stop when it wants to.

4)  We had a Red-bellied woodpecker at the feeder yesterday in all its glory.  What a beautiful bird!  But I think it has been misnamed as most of its red is on its head not on its belly.

  I want to suggest a new name for this bird.   How about Cool Fancy Woodpecker?

5)  I’m half way through the third Game of Thrones book.  It’s called A Storm of Swords.  It’s takes all my willpower not to lock myself in a room somewhere and finish it.  I am smitten.

LINKING TO

FRIDAY'S FENCES &

{RANDOM 5 FRIDAY}

Ode to the Magnolia…

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.

~Gerard De Nerval

The Mind is Everything...

I believe this.

  So as much as I can, I try to think positive and grateful thoughts.

  It’s not always easy.

  Life is not always easy.

  But, to me, it is always best to look for the good in situations and in people.

  Namaste!

Thanks again, Nancy.  I used your Sakura texture when I processed this photo.

Sunday’s Scavenger Hunt…

Here are this week’s prompts:  Background, Spotted or Dots, Weather, Motion, Sweet.  And here’s what I have.

Here are beech leave in the foreground and the BACKGROUND.  I love these leaves this time of year.  They are like little pieces of stained glass hanging in the tree.

My glass gazing ball has a very SPOTTED look about it.

Here is the kind of WEATHER we’ve had for quite a few days now.  Clear, blue skies, temps in the 60s, not a drop of rain in sight.

A jet plane in MOTION.

Some SWEET fruit served at our annual Earth Day Pancake Breakfast that was this morning at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church.  I know, I know…we’re kind of late but I think most of us think that it should be Earth Day every day.

Random Stuff…

Since it is Random {5} Friday, I thought I would share some pics of some random graffiti I took in Northampton last week.

Sort of a kind of natural graffiti.

1)  I happen to like graffiti, even though I know it is technically vandalism.  It is an interesting way for people to express themselves.  Certain places like alleyways seem to actually benefit from graffiti making them kind of rustic art galleries.

2)  I went to the movies three times within the past week and a half.  I think that’s a record for me.  Greg, Evan and I saw 42, which is the movie about Jackie Robinson for those of you who don’t know baseball.  I recommend it to those who like baseball and those who don’t.  It’s an uplifting human story.  Then, Carrie, Evan and I went to see the movie event of Star Trek:  The Next Generation.  It was the combination of two Star Trek: TNG episodes when Captain Picard becomes a Borg.  It’s great to see on the big screen!  And last night, the three of us returned to see the nationwide simulcast of Wait, Wait..Don’t Tell me!   This is one of my favorite NPR shows and the podcasts of it save me on long plane rides.  It was fun to see in person with Steve Martin as the guest.  Now we have to remortgage the house to pay for all that popcorn…

3)  Spring is out in full force here and has been for more than a week.  But we had few April showers.  Regardless, we have many May flowers.

4)  We are leaving for two weeks in Norway in just over a month.  I am beginning to panic.

5)  Greg and I went out yesterday and bought a Buddha to put in the bird bath I bought last week.  Seems the birds won’t use a bird bath that is too deep.  We are hoping the birds will perch on the Buddha.  Buddha seems pretty comfortable with the idea of it.

LINKING TO A RURAL JOURNAL'S RANDOM 5 FRIDAY!

Sharing the Bridge of Flowers…

What a great idea Antoinette Burnham had!  She saw an old trolley bridge that was no longer being used and had a vision.  She sparked the idea to turn the old bridge into the Bridge of Flowers.  The Shelburne Falls Women’s Club sponsored the project in 1928 and the rest, shall we say, is history.  In spite of the fact that flood waters spawned by Hurricane Irene engulfed the Bridge in 2011, it is blooming and beautiful.  Here are a few blooms that Carrie and I saw on our trip there last Friday.

And here’s a little aside.  Last week I posted some road pictures from our trip to Apalachicola, Florida.  Here’s one:

While in Buckland, Massachusetts, I saw this and it made me laugh:

But I actually know what they support in Buckland.  They support local farms.  What that truck supported, I don’t know.  Maybe they support local farms too.

  That would be a good thing.