Our Word View - Adore

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word adore was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

This image embodies two of the many things that I adore; photography and Christmas.  I took this image just before Christmas and spent some time altering the image and adding both text and borders.  I like the end product.

Peace!

Our Word View - Zoo

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word zoo was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

I love going to the zoo with my family.  We have visited the Roger Williams Zoo many times and on R's birthday a few years ago we went to the Franklin Park Zoo.  I truly enjoy photographing animals and nature.  These are some of my favorite 'zoo' photographs. 

Peace!

Our Word View - Yummy

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word yummy was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

I think these pictures speak for themselves.  

Peace!

Our Word View - Wonder

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word wonder was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

The wonder of the season always comes alive for me when I unpack my mum's angel ornaments.   The hustle and bustle of the season can take away from the meaning and the simple joys that make us happy during this time of year.  Seeing the tree come alive with ornaments reminds me of what is important.  

Peace!

Our Word View - Variety

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word variety was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

Every year I am amazed by the variety of marching bands, floats and other displays at the Thanksgiving day parade.  Perhaps my favorite is the Budweiser  clydesdale drawn carriage.  These horses are majestic creatures. I will never tire of seeing them in our parade.  To top off their presentation for the parade this year they included dalmatian riding shotgun in the front of the carriage.  Truly a sight to behold. 

Peace!

Our Word View - Unintentional

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word unintentional was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

Shot these two photos today at America's Hometown Parade.  Do you think that Santa intended for anyone to notice him as he wandered the streets?

I wonder if Santa was thinking about getting into his suit and climbing into his sleigh. 

Shortly after Santa left my area I saw him at work.   He had a busy day. 

Peace!

Our Word View - Time

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word time was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

So one way we witness the passing of time is by noticing the changes that occur as seasons change.  This fall has been unusually mild.  It is hard to believe that we are in the midst of the month of November when we go outside to mild temperatures and roses that are blooming!  How shocked was I when I went outside and saw this beautiful little bloom.  Truly it felt like a gift.  The person I immediately thought of was my Mum.  She enjoyed roses.  She had several bushes around her yard.  They never grew well near the ocean even though she took very good care of them.  I have one remaining rose bush in my yard.  It has lovely little cream colored blooms that reveal a soft pink as they open.  I am thankful for this little bloom.

Peace!

NaBloPoMo - 12

Daily Prompt: Inside the Actor’s Studio

On the interview show Inside the Actors’ Studio, host James Lipton asks each of his guests the same ten questions. What are your responses? 

1. What is your favorite word?  My favorite word has to be family.  It encompasses all that is important.
2. What is your least favorite word? cancer
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?   The beauty in nature and human nature turns me on in all of these areas.  I just love witnessing the beauty that surrounds us each and every day.  Some days I am utterly amazed by the splendor in the simple things.   I do not always appreciate this beauty.  Life gets crazy and I forget to notice.  After all the craziness and when I do finally remember to take a breath and notice again... there it is waiting for me, waiting for all of us really....
4.   What turns you off? The biggest turnoffs for me are ignorance and cruelty. 
5. What is your favorite curse word?  I wish I didn't use curse words... but I do!  I'm not sure I have a favorite curse word, but I have two favorite curse word stories!  When I was a small child, 4 or 5 maybe younger, I spent a lot of time with my Aunt Barbara.  On one particular day I was at her house in the city.  She had two floors with a phone on each floor.  This was a complete novelty for me as my home was a ranch with just one phone.  I am pretty sure I was not allowed to play on the phone.  Well at my Aunt's house I played on the phone.  I talked to her on the other end.  Well evidently I had stopped talking so my Aunt hung up her extension, to which I said, "Dammit Bawbwa I was talking to you!"  I never lived this down!  I am sure my mother was mortified. This brings me to my next story.  I don't remember my mum swearing when I was a kid.  She was prim and proper.  I will never forget the time when she cam out with the following:  " Chuck you Farley, you're not so muckin fuch!"  This had me roaring with laughter.  It makes me smile to this day.
6. What sound or noise do you love?   I love the sound of my quiet house.  It could be early in the morning or late at night or even in the middle of the day when the tv is off and everyone is doing there own thing.  I love sitting on the couch with Flicka, surfing the net and listening to the quiet.  Next to that I love the sound my keyboard makes when I type.  The click, click, click of the keys is so satisfying.
7. What sound or noise do you hate?  I HATE the sound of my alarm clock at 5 am.  
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Two professions come to mind.  Artist and midwife. 
9. What profession would you not like to do?  I would not want to be a funeral home director.  Too much sadness. 
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?   Welcome, here they are... all your loved ones who went before you.  They have been waiting for you to come home. 

Peace!

       

NaBloPoMo - 11

National blog post month originated with November posts.  Check out the links to many other blogs participating in daily posts here.   If you are interested in writing to a prompt each day check out The Daily Post.  

Daily Prompt: The Perfect Game

You’re set to play poker (or Scrabble or something else . . .) with a group of four. Write a story set during this game. Or, describe the ideal match: the players, the relationships — and the hidden rivalries.

This prompt brings me back to my childhood.  I have very distinct memories of playing games at the kitchen table and witnessing the card games that were played there as well.   The pictures of both of these memories are very vivid.  If I close my eyes I can almost transport myself back in time.

Scrabble was the game of choice in my home as I grew up.  There were other games too, an occasional game of Monopoly, Life or Sorry was thrown into the mix, but most often it was the Scrabble board that was pulled out from under the couch and set up on the kitchen table.  Typically it was Mum, Dad and me who would play on a Sunday.  The game would go on all afternoon.  We would take breaks and walk away to catch something on TV or to prepare part of the Sunday meal, but the game would continue.  My mother was a scrabble champion.  She was an incredible speller and had a vast vocabulary. She was a crossword aficionado.  Some of the words she would come up with floored me and Dad.  We might challenge her but when we went to the dictionary her word was always there...in black and white.   I remember feeling frustrated at times as I struggled to come up with a 'good' word from my jumble of letters.  In those times Mum would come and stand behind me and help.  It was all for fun, more of a learning experience than a competition.    This could not be said, however of the rousing Wist games that would take place at that same table between my parents and my Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Alby!  Those were competitive evenings fraught with wild accusations when subtle clues were given amongst the partners, like "Oh It's so warm in hear I think I'll have to take off my diamond."  I can hear their voices and their banter as if it were yesterday.  Warm summer evenings with the windows open and the cocktails flowing.  I would always be close to the kitchen table in order to witness the antics of my family.  There was a competitive spirit in the game of Wist but in the end, they would all be laughing and joking no matter the results of the game.  

I have not thought of games from my childhood in some time.  Revisiting these memories inspires me to clean off the coffee table and pull out the old Scrabble game out from under and challenge my children to a game.  Perhaps I will!  

Our Word View - Simple

What is Our Word View?  A collaboration between two friends who lost touch over the years but have reconnected online.  We share a love of the ocean, photography, quotes, animals and family.  Often times our photographic interpretations for the word of the week are very similar.

This week the word simple was chosen for our photographic interpretation.  I hope you will go over to Our Word View and see what Liz shares this week.

I love finding the simple beauty in the world around me every day.  Recently n and I walked to the end of the road to capture this beautiful sky.  I especially enjoy how the stop sign pops in this image.  Sometimes simple is best. 

Peace!

NaBloPoMo-9

Daily Prompt: About Page of the Future

Write the About page for your blog in 10 years.

 This is quite the challenge.  I am not a big fan of thinking so far ahead in the future.  Fast forwarding ten years gives me an enormous amount of stress.  In ten years my eldest child will be 25 and my daughter will be 23.  I will be ... well we don't have to talk about that now do we.  I hope to be teaching kindergarden in the same beautiful classroom where I teach now but there are no guarantees.  In ten years I'll be about 5 years away from having 20 years into my school system and then retiring.  

What will this blog look like in ten years?  What will it be about?  Such a great question.  The truth is I am not sure. Do I even have ten more years of blogging in me?  I have been at this for seven years.  What could I possibly have to say for ten more years?

In ten years my 'about page' might look like this:  This is where I will share my adventures in aging like fine wine, mothering 20 somethings, education, creativity, living life in the moment and all things artistic.  Pour yourself a cup of tea and visit with me for just a bit.  

Things will change but certainly not the essence of who I am and who I strive to be.  

Peace!

NaBloPoMo - 8

I have been following the prompts for the first seven days but today my thoughts are elsewhere.

I learned today that a high school friend with whom I lost touch passed away yesterday.  From what I can gather it was completely unexpected.  She was a kind, gentle soul.  What a loss for her close friends and family.  Life is so short.  We are only here for a limited time.  This is just one more reminder to live life to the fullest and enjoy each day.

This weekend I am going to be more aware of my blessings and appreciate all that I have just a little more.

Peace!

NaBloPoMo - 7

National blog post month originated with November posts.  Check out the links to many other blogs participating in daily posts here.   If you are interested in writing to a prompt each day check out The Daily Post.  

Daily Prompt: Cheering Section

Do you have a mentor? Tell us about him or her. Are you a mentor to someone else? Tell us what that relationship has added to your life.

As soon as I read this prompt one person came to my mind.  My dear friend and mentor M.  M was the most gentle soul and creative spirits I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  She was my children's preschool and kindergarten teacher.  She was my boss and my friend.  She led by example and what she said always matched with what she did.  She was compassionate and kind.  She knew how to listen and empathize with parents, children and colleagues.  She had a wonderful sense of humor and was able to laugh at herself and laugh with children.  I learned lessons in listening, compassion, creativity, professionalism, forgiveness, grace, strength, humility and kindness from this wonderful woman.  I think of her often, especially as I teach.  I try to practice what I learned from her.  When the children share their exuberance for each other and all that is kindergarten, I think of her and I smile.  

Peace!