Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Eyes

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“If God wants me to have another dog, he’ll send one to live on my porch.” I had just lost my dog “Andi” and a friend was asking if I would be getting another dog.

Andi had been with me for 12 years before developing cancer. I missed her and really had no desire to “replace” her.

A few weeks later this white dog was spotted running around the neighborhood. He seemed afraid, hiding in bushes and running as soon as anyone got close to him. No one was able to catch him. Then one day one of my neighbors caught him and was attempting to pull a large burr from his fur. As this was happening, I walked out on my porch, the white dog broke away from my neighbor and ran straight to me.

We bonded immediately.

Several weeks later I took him to the sheltered workshop where I was employed. One of the clients said to me, “Do you believe when something dies it comes back as something else?”

I responded, “Some people do believe that is what happens.”

With a big smile she said, “We think Freckles is Andi.”

I’m not sure exactly why Freckles chose me and I’m not totally convinced Andi didn’t have a paw in it…but no matter why or how…Freckles has remained faithfully by my side for the past 13 years. And for this I am grateful.img_5966

For her Fun Foto Challenge, Cee has asked us to share photos of “eyes.” They say the eyes are the window to the soul. One of the first things I noticed about Freckles was his eyes. He has the eyes of an old soul. I suspect maybe he has seen more than his 14 years.

52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 6-Red

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The 52 Weeks Photo Challenge continues at The Girl That Dreams Awake. This week we are asked to share something red.

I have chosen the following two photos.

The first is the Hardy Hibiscus that blooms in our backyard.img_4411

The second is the tractor Uncle Bill was working on the last time we visited Snyder Texas.img_4753

Two very different objects, two different shades of red, found in two different parts of Texas…both very red!

 

Here and Now

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I am not sure if I have ever met another person more capable of living in the “Here and Now” than Sonya. She has a truly free spirit that is not hindered by the expectations of others. img_4704

Sonya has been known to burst into song while dining in public, walking down the street and always in the shower. She will break out in dance whether she is in our living room, a crowded mall or on top of a mountain.img_5151

Sonya shares her joy and freely passes out the love.img_3106

If Sonya feels the urge to sing, she sings. If she feels the urge to hug, she hugs and if she feels the urge to dance…well you better believe she will dance!dsc_0155

The Daily Post challenged us to share “a moment” using our media of choice. obviously I tweaked the challenge slightly and decided to share the joy of every moment I get to spend with Sonya…because even the quiet and peaceful moments spent with Sonya are moments  I cherish.img_4155

A True Heart

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I wrote this and originally posted it onSeptember 10, 2013 (on my Facebook page)….it seems just as appropriate, if not more appropriate today. 

Day 293….I love kids. They still have so much to experience and learn from this crazy world. And they are so curious, adventurous and playful. Today one of my friends (and volunteer for our agency) brought her grandson to our office. Since my office has all of the toys he gravitated in my direction. We spent the next hour or so blowing bubbles, shooting screaming monkeys across the office, playing with “flarp” (yes it does make a farting sound!) and talking about video games. I was also named his protector and was given the power to shoot fire balls from my mouth!! One of my co-workers mentioned how nice it was that Tree had a playmate! (I thought so too!!)
It was a nice break from reality…..a time of play. How awesome it would be if all grown-ups could let down their guard and play. Maybe if our politicians and world leaders got together to play, they could settle arguments via thumb wrestling, or “rock, paper, scissors.”

I can’t help but think our world would be a more peaceful place if we allowed ourselves to get lost in an imaginary place….just for a few minutes everyday. A place of joy and color, dancing and spirit, laughter and song….places of goodness, places that do not allow space for hate or prejudice or judgement….just space for naive happiness!

I am thankful there are still people walking this earth that see the amazement of our world, not the trouble….they are called children!!

Skull’s Crossing – Conquered

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Last year, shortly before I started the “Blazzin Saddle” ride, the men parked beside us started talking about “Skull’s Crossing.” They told stories of a climb so difficult people fall over in the middle of the road. They said the road narrows at Skull’s Crossing just before you climb the steep hill. So people that were spread out across the country roads, suddenly crunched together to climb the impossible climb. DSC_0915
The description of this ride states it will challenge top level riders with its hilly terrain. Needless to say I freaked out a bit.
We reached Skull’s Crossing before the first rest area (less than 10 miles). The road curved right, then left. It dipped drastically across a small bridge, then it began to rise.

I made it about half way up and noticed a woman had flipped her bike into the ditch. I also saw people stopped along the side and people weaving back and forth in the middle of the road. It was like a war zone, with bodies strewn across the road (slight exaggeration…but you get my point!) I was no longer afraid of the hill, I was afraid of the riders around me. I was afraid of crashing. I unclipped my shoes (clips are used to attach a riders shoe to her pedal), to avoid a fall (if you are familiar with cycling you will understand I was still new to clips and lacked confidence in my cycling ability). Once I unclipped I lost all momentum. Needless to say I did not complete the hill on my bike, but I finished it pushing my bike.

This year I was determined to beat Skull’s Crossing. My hill climbing has improved. Wearing clips is now second nature and I feel much more in control.
I rode along a winding country road, my surroundings felt familiar, I knew Skull’s Crossing was getting closer. I tried to avoid the crowds so I could approach the hill without anyone near me (that didn’t happen). DSC_0912
The amazing thing is, once I started climbing the hill I felt focused on the climb. I felt all my energy pushing the pedals, pulling the pedals and I watched the road in front of me pass on by.
About midway up the hill I noticed my riding buddy to my left. Typically she beats me up difficult hills. I encouraged her, “We got this!”
As she quickly fell behind me, all I heard was “Damn it..(not sure what is said here) …came off!”
I had no idea what happened to her bike. I knew stopping in the middle of the hill was not an option. I turned back toward the hill to find a rider directly in front of me. I told the rider I was preparing to pass her as I guided my bike around on her left side.
As I crested the hill I worked my way through the other riders to the right side of the road so I could stop and wait for Rachael.
Although I was panting heavily from the climb, I felt like riding back down just to ride back up again. I was that excited about conquering Skull’s Crossing. No worries though…I was that excited…but not that stupid!
By the time Rachael caught up I had calmed down. She recently got new clips and one of her clips slipped out of the pedal. Fortunately she did not crash unfortunately she was not able to complete the hill.
The next day I revisited Skull’s Crossing. This time in a car and with camera in hand. Usually when I’m on a bike hills look really big…but as I stood at the base of this hill preparing to take a picture, it looked extremely steep and bigger than it looked the day before.DSC_0919

I was even more excited that I had conquered Skull’s Crossing!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Hands

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I’m not sure I can explain what happened.

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Cassidy and Stan

My little monkeys, Stan and Cassidy, frequently travel with us. Tina and the girls tease me by hiding my monkeys or putting them in unusual places. Earlier today I got in the car, after pumping gas, and found Cassidy hanging by her feet from the sunroof!

So it did not surprise me when Sonya tossed Stan and Cassidy out the sunroof (fortunately we were parked!)

I jumped out of the car to rescue both of my monkey friends (and take a picture for evidence!) When a hand reached from the other side of the car…I laughed and said, “This will be perfect for Cee’s challenge!

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The Hand

 

52 Weeks Photo Challenge: Week 1 – Black & White

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The Girl That Dreams Awake has created a new weekly photo challenge. I am excited that I learned about it through Photos by Emilio (who happens to be one of my favorite photographers – but don’t tell him…I think it would go to his head!!)

As you can see, by the title, this is week one…so why don’t you all come along and join the fun?

I didn’t have much time to take new photos for this week…so I looked through my photos from Provincetown MA and found a few buildings that I thought might be nice for this challenge.

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Public Library – Provincetown MA

You Are Not My Enemy…

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Do you hate Donald Trump?
Do you hate Hillary Clinton?

Do you hate me for supporting Hillary Clinton?

I don’t hate you for supporting Donald Trump.

I may not understand your choice. Because my brain simply cannot wrap itself around the idea of a man like Mr. Trump being the President of our country. But let’s be fair. I’ve tried for years to understand why some people see the world through a liberal lens and others through a conservative one. I guess that is one of the many things that makes this country a beautiful place.

When I think about people with polar opposite political views I don’t have to look far for an example. My brother and I are 2 years, 7 months apart in age. He is older. We lived in the same house with the same parents until I was 16 years old. We grew up during the 60’s and 70’s. Our family was relatively normal for that era. Mom stayed home and Dad was a hard working blue collar wage earner. We were surrounded by extended family. Most of our family lived on farms we lived in a nearby suburb. We did not grow up with much diversity in our lives. We did not grow up with black friends, hispanic friends and to my knowledge we did not know any Jews or Muslims. The church we attended was the same Methodist church much of our family attended. As I look back I believe we had a relatively uneventful childhood…yet some how my brother and I turned out to be totally different in our views of the world.
He is conservative and proudly supports Donald Trump.
I am Liberal and proudly support Hillary Clinton.
My brother and I tease each other about our political views but I think we both know there is no sense actually discussing or debating our views because we are both entrenched in our political camps.

Those of you that have followed my page for any length of time are aware that I rarely mention politics and typically if I do it is because I have witnessed an injustice. So why now?

The reason is selfish and the reason is personal. There are a few people on my friends list that support Donald Trump and dislike Hillary Clinton…that’s ok. What isn’t ok is the hateful words directed at Clinton supporters. I am regularly seeing comments about the stupidity of liberals, the ignorance of Hillary supporters, and the lack of honest democrats…
Do they mean for these comments to be hurtful? Because they are.
Do they think their comments are funny? They aren’t.
Do they think name calling will transform a liberal to a conservative? It won’t.

So why? I wonder if any of them would call me stupid to my face? A few of the people I refer to are family (not my brother, he isn’t on Facebook) and claim they love me and respect my opinion…yet I identify as a liberal and they are indirectly lumping me into a group of people apparently they do not respect, like or trust.

My point in this long rambling post…is, let’s be kind to each other. If you want to trash Trump or Hillary…go right ahead. But why trash their supporters? Why trash people that may spend the next holiday with you? Why trash people you claim to love, just because they plan to vote for a different politician than you?

I remember when the “hanging chad” was the big headline during the Bush vs Gore election. One of the things I think many of us came away with after that election was how wonderful it was that we could disagree politically yet settle our differences without fighting in the streets. Sadly, I fear that may not be the case anymore. The hatred and name calling is unravelling the fabric of our country….to avoid this I ask each of you to look at your fellow American as your brothers and sisters, not as a democrat or republican and certainly not as your enemy.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Smiles

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I love smiles!

This week Cee has asked us to share photos of smiles….I get excited when I have a challenge in my mind as I’m driving down the road and the perfect subject matter jumps to my attention.

Yesterday this exact thing happened. I was leaving a client’s apartment when I spotted this big smiling sun balloon. My immediate thought? Cee’s Challenge!!

I did a U-turn, jumped out of my car and started taking pictures. I’m sure the construction guys right in front of the balloon (and the liquor store it was advertising) thought I was nuts!IMG_4294

I took this photo of Hershey the Schnauzer Sunday because we had a new happy pillow and she was sitting beside it smiling! (can you imagine a better reason to take a photo?)IMG_4250

And the final photo is my sister-in-law and her son at Easter…this photo makes me smile!DSC_0861

So there you have it….an object smiling, a dog smiling, people smiling and all 3 make me smile!