Photo by Audrey

You will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

Throwback Thursday

Sandy, Audrey, Veronica, Vicki, Becky

I confess!!  I was an avid bowler for almost 30 years, sometimes bowling in two leagues a year.  This was my favorite league and the one I bowled in the longest.  The memories and friendships are priceless.  I miss bowling, but life took me in a different direction.  

My lifetime high game ~ 265

The PINK Fence is SOLD!!!

Earth Day

EARTH DAY is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection.  It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year.

~ ~ ~

There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.

~Brooke Medicine Eagle

Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.

~Pedro Calderon de la Barca

A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.  Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.

~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the winds long to play with your hair.

~Kahlil Gibran

Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.  Wash your spirit clean.

~John Muir

This most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.

~e. e. cummings

Fence Sections

 Last Fall, I purchased a couple sections of old yucky dirty peeling white fence.  Last Sunday, I painted a light blue wash on the one section and turned it into a shabby-chic lover's dream piece.  Took it to my consignment space on Monday night and it SOLD by Wednesday!

 Yesterday afternoon, I painted a pale pink wash on the other section ~ a shabby-chic piece for the princess or fairy lover out there.  It is going into my consignment space tonight.  I hope to see it sell as quick as the blue one.

HE IS RISEN!!!

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

~ ~ ~

Happy Easter Everyone!

Healing Touch

I had my first ever Healing Touch session yesterday at Barefoot Studios in Roanoke.  Jane, who owns Barefoot Studios, is a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner.  Those who know Jane would agree that she is a beautiful, soft-spoken, loving individual who willingly does all she can to help others feel better emotionally and physically.  These positive qualities allowed me to face Healing Touch with no apprehension.  I was excited to experience Healing 
Touch. 
Healing Touch recognizes a subtle energy field around the body and energy centers located within the body.  Practitioners of Healing Touch use their hands to clear, balance, and stimulate these energy fields and centers to promote healing on a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual level.
I wasn't sure what to expect.  I will say this:  I found it to be a very personal experience.  For one hour, I was in a state of complete relaxation and today I truly feel I have less pain in my hips.  I will definitely return for another session in the future.

Jane Barefoot Rochelle

www.teenytinypieces.com

Jake

My sweet baby.  

The eyes could melt an ice block.

Throwback Thursday ~ Part 2

1977 ~ Casey is now 4 and sitting on the lap of an Easter Bunny from outer space.  I guess back then we didn't find these pretend creatures to be creepy looking.  They have come a long way in improving the Easter Bunny costumes that are used these days.

Throwback Thursday

I'm thinking this would be a good Easter card for Casey.  This is him at 3 with a somber creepy Easter Bunny.  Check out the little leisure suit and shirt ~ Yep, that was the attire of the day in 1976.  I doubt the leisure suit will EVER come back.

Close Encounter

7:30 last night ~ As I drove up the lane to my house, there were four deer eating by the side of the road.  These two looked up and posed for me.  They are such graceful, gentle, sweet looking creatures.  They can be destructive ~ hunger will do that.  I love when they are close and still so that I can study them.  They have a strong fear of human contact ~ they run at the smallest sound.  These two must have been paralyzed in their tracks because they let me take a LOT of photos.

Moon over Virginia last night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Maria !!

I wish you a day filled with joy 

Time to celebrate YOU

Good eats and drinks

Cake, of course

Love all around you

And may all your dreams come true!

Living the Creative Life

Audrey, Tricia, Page, Ibby

Sweet Donkey Coffee Shop was the setting for our Living the Creative Life group yesterday.  It was our 3rd meeting and we had a new artist join us ~ Manjussa Sahni.  She insisted on taking the photo, so we'll get her in the photo next month along with a few others who couldn't attend.

We covered a plethora of topics ~ one thing leading to another.  We all agreed that Sweet Donkey has very good eats/drinks and a bright comfortable shop for us to meet at, so we'll be returning there in May.  I see a lot of future inspiration coming from this group.

White Dove

I just received a new Ted DeGrazia piece ~ White Dove ~ to go along with my other two.  It is a sweet one and special to me ~ Ever since my brother died in 2010, I've been waiting to see a white dove to let me know that he is OK.  Perhaps this is it.  I choose to think so.  I love you, Patrick.

Throwback Thursday

1951 ~ I think these are currents and I doubt that I cleaned that entire bushel.  I probably liked it long enough to stain my hands and dress and then went off to do something else.  Grandpa had current bushes in his yard and he lived just around the corner.

Why do you suppose Patrick is over by the house digging in the dirt and I'm doing the work?  He would get a real kick out of this photo.  

Lulu's Love Shack Window

This lovely photo was taken by my friend, Lulu.  I asked her if I could share it on my blog and she was kind enough to let me.  I wanted to share it because it really hit home with me.

First, I would like to tell you about Lulu.  She lives in Canada, close to the Vermont border, in what I call "the land of enchantment".  I think God put her there for a reason.  Lulu sees the world through special eyes and she finds beauty EVERYWHERE all around her.  Lulu takes time to visit the lake and the mountains, some nights she sleeps under the stars, she finds treasures every time she takes a walk, she plants beauty in her garden, and loves all of God's creatures and has MANY living close by.  Lulu has a large following on facebook ~ you can't help but love her.  I believe her ability to see beauty in everything is why she shares so much with all of us.  She takes the time to post photos just about every day, to share her daily joy with us, to open our eyes to simple things that we might otherwise never even think about ~ like the window in this photo.  Lulu is an artist and I believe that artists see just about everything in a different light.  Some are able to verbalize their thoughts, others are not.  Lulu has a way with words.  Lulu is a gift.

She went outside tonight to say goodbye to the sun.  These are the words she posted with the photo on facebook:

I just ran OUTSIDE to say GOODBYE to the sun ... I sat in my OLD beaten up aluminum chair ... INSIDE my GARDEN love SHACK ... and watched it SET slowly ... CONTENT ... Through the DIRTY salvaged WINDOW facing WEST ... This is HOW spring days END in my neck of the woods ...

What a beautiful way to end the day.  To take the time to say goodbye to the sun, sitting in an old loved chair, in a shack that is loved dearly, looking out an old salvaged window that has a beauty all its own, to view the beauty outside beyond the panes of glass.  I commented:

Lovely, lovely, Lulu!!  This is how all days should end.  Looking through that window, I feel peace, serenity, and contentment.  My mind can go where it wants or it can just rest in the beauty of what it sees.

And so... I wanted to share this window.  I love the simplicity of it, the age of it, the way the sun shines through the glass, and the rosary hanging there.  From the moment I saw the photo, I loved it.  I immediately felt peace.  I forgot about the trials of the day and about the things I needed to do tonight.  It would be nice to do this every evening ~ look out a window and focus on the setting sun, or a tree, or a flower... and let our frustrations, our fears, our trials from the day, dissolve.

I want to thank Lulu for the beauty she posts all the time.  And the fun photos, too.  Her photos have brought many a smile to my face.  I have been following Lulu's art blog for many years ~ long before facebook became so popular.  If you'd like to visit her blog, just click on this link: my pink turtle art by Lulu.

What a beautiful world it could be.........

A couple of Canada Geese enjoying a swim under the sun on our little corner city lake.   I pass the lake just about every day as I zip around town doing errands.  Every once in a while, I stop there long enough to "smell the roses".  It is very relaxing to watch the birds and ducks.  Right now, our little park is in bloom ~ one of the prettiest times of the year.

Thank You God for Spring

 There is beauty everywhere you look.  How can our hearts not be filled with joy and gratitude?  Birds are singing in the trees.  Robins flit across the yard in search of worms.  The grass is greening.  The ground gets warmer each day.   Buds are opening ~ adding brightness to our flower beds, adding color to the roadways, and outlining homes, businesses and churches.  Tulips are dancing, daffodils are swaying, crocuses are smiling, the gentle smell of lavender is in the air, the yellow of forsythia screams "look at me", and hyacinths give us a quick look at their beauty and fade too soon.

The trees are glorious! The tulip tree with her large gorgeous pink blooms, the redbuds, the cherry blossoms, the crabapples, dogwoods, and magnolias. It looks like God dropped a box of crayons and they are melting all over the earth.  What a gift ~ Spring flowers on the ground and in the trees!  A welcome sign for warmer days and nights to come.  Gone are the cold days of winter, the hats, the scarves, the boots, the shovels, the scrapers, the salt, and the gloom.  Soon, our tea will be more appealing with ice cubes rather than steam.  Sandals and lighter attire are now the things we reach for.  

I took these photos all through this week.  It isn't possible to capture the total essence of beauty that surrounds us.  I just know each time I step outside my door, I am filled with happiness to see the beauty.

Throwback Thursday

This Throwback Thursday takes me back to July, 1952.  Mom always told me that when I was little, I LOVED playing in the street.  This was our sweet little bungalow home where I grew up as a very happy little girl.  I was 4-1/2 and Patrick had just turned 9.  That's Grandpa watching!  I sure wish I could sit and talk with him now.  It makes me smile to think that Mom, Grandpa, and Patrick are together again.

APRIL

April 1 ~ It was a long cold snowy Winter, but Spring is finally here!!  March is always iffy when it comes to the weather ~ definitely still part of the Winter scene, so we can almost always count on a snowstorm.  There is no guarantee that April won't bring snow, but let's hope not.

April brings the opening of buds and color to Winter's drab landscape of greys and browns.  The grass is turning green and there are little sprouts of green throughout the woods.  Soon, the earth will be graced with the colors of the rainbow with a backdrop of blue and green.

We are enjoying a beautiful 75* sunny day.

The April flower is the Daisy or the Sweet Pea.

The gemstone for April is the Diamond.

The April zodiac sign is Aries (until the 20th) and then Taurus (21st on).

I hope your 1st day of April is just as beautiful for you and that you are enjoying your day without any jokes being played on you.