…of my Country,
…of the People I share it with,
…and the Man who will lead us.
…So proud to be…
an American.
President Obama, …we do Believe…
“BARACK THE VOTE!!!!!”
…the power of change is ours…
See you at the polls…Liz
*This post is not intended to engage any political debate..we’ll leave that for the candidates. Embracing the classification of “inspirational blog”, I only wish to share with others one who inspires me….
Barack Obama 2008!
Summer.
These wonderful warm days beckon our full attention, promising to fill our lives with all that is absent during the winter months. Walks, swims, picnics, camping, gardening or bicycle riding, Summer is the season to do it all. With longer days packed with activity and lazily drifting into balmy nights, one can always seem to find a harmony in merely existing. Feeling good in just about everything we do, summer invites joy and fun …and the permission we sometimes need to behave like a kid again.
With my own permitted invitation to do just that, I once again regress into my annual childhood state… wanting to do it all, shed responsibility, and never say enough.
I grew up in Queens, NY, where summer was a ‘neighborhood’ in itself. Living on a ‘block’ boasting about 50 homes, 25 on each side of the street, neighbors became familiar with each other as they ventured out of their winter caves and socialized easily on each other’s front ’stoop’. Rediscovery embraced, they shared a cool drink, a good joke or the latest gossip.
Waking up earlier than usual this morning and feeling more like myself… I decided to enjoy my morning coffee outside.
Basking in the quiet peacefulness only mornings can provide, I welcome a new day as I become reacquainted with my own backyard. Admiring the rapid growth of my winter-dormant perennial flowers, I smile in delight as I visualize their future splendor. The air is fragrant with the sweet scent of honeysuckle and my little ‘winged’ friends are busy at my feeders.
A glance over at the bluebird houses catches a returning Tree Swallow swooping down for entry…as the other holds occupancy of a House Wren and family. With thoughts of adding a third to this backyard-birding-neighborhood in the hopes of attracting its meant-for occupant, my thoughts are interrupted with a distinct humming sound to my left.
Numb.
My mind is blank like a new sheet of a drawing tablet waiting for it’s first stroke of lead. Succumbing to a feeling of loss I am, and have been, unable to focus on anything.
Life has again delivered its wake-up call ..reminding once more that we are all on borrowed time and no life lasts forever.
With heavy heart, I respectfully acknowledge this fact with the passing of my Uncle yesterday. Taken from us abruptly and unexpectedly, my family is left grieving and sad …coping with the loss of another one of its’ members.
Succumbing to his journey’s end, my uncle slipped away slowly… mind before body. He had ‘drifted’ into a realm unknown… travelling down the final path leading from this world ..into the next.
Life.
…A wonderful gift we were all given though we never asked for it ourselves…
How many times have you heard it…’Enjoy your life and live it fully…you only go around once.’
I’ve said this myself many times.
Believing that life is meant to be lived to its full capacity, I think never a moment should be wasted. Days and nights ought to be filled with activities enjoyed and people whose company is appreciated. Regularly partaking of these pleasures is something that should hold a priority and significance for all of us.
For some, however, the interpretation of living life ‘fully’ can be lost or misconstrued. With the desire to have and do it all, the focus is fixated on living it ‘up’ rather than living ‘well’.
Translated by throwing caution to the wind, eating and drinking is indulged without concern while exercise is viewed as hobby instead of necessity… a pastime..’fit in’, if at all, whenever convenient. Less desirable habits are adapted acknowledged with empty vows to ‘quit’ them forthcoming.
Although we subconsciously know better than our actions indicate, we are convinced that anything less of this way of living ….is living life deprived.
I’m sitting here at my computer trying to focus and write a post but mentally unable to do so.
If you could see me, I’m happily sipping a glass of wine and gaily browsing the internet…visiting blogs I enjoy to read ..some known and familiar, …and some new and unexplored.
Finding contentment and pleasure in this luxury of reading, I ‘m enjoying the minds and musings of others while my own remains blank and unoccupied. I’m absorbing every detail of every written word and pondering every thought-provoking statement.
I enjoy reading blogs of all types of nature…similar… or different to my own. Contemplating and examining others opinions and experiences of life opens all kinds of doors and viewpoints into worlds that might otherwise remain unexplored.
I marvel at the inspirations, photography, humor, sensitivity, passions, loves and kinships they have to offer, and come away each and every time feeling satisfied and accomplished in understanding.
“…You Wake Up, and Time Has Slipped Away…”
Photographs…
…Our only visual link to the past.
Whether our own or even somebody else’s, it’s always nostalgic and delightful to flip through photos,.. identifying people, enjoying scenery or reliving memories from days gone by. Recording life as it happens, time is stopped… frozen forever for another day …to be reopened and enjoyed again.
With todays technology the photographer is provided with instant gratification. With the ability to re-shoot a scene immediately if the first is deemed poor, not a moment of potential treasured memory is lost. Having two hobbyist photographers in my family I am continually delighted as special events are immediately captured.
Rummaging through my albums I smile at the recollections my own photos stir as sleeping memories are awakened. Sometimes every detail can be vibrantly recalled,.. the scent of the air, the conversations taking place, or the laughter being shared. All events are relived again …pleasantly enjoyed once more.
Being left sentimentally satisfied after reviewing the pictorial documentation of my life, it is the photos of ‘old’ where my passions lie..serving as bridges to times unknown.
… Will You Follow?..
We took the dogs for their first hike of the season today.
Loving to hike as much as we do, the dogs seem to inherently know when we are about to embark on such an afternoon and eagerly anticipate the invitation to accompany us. Willing to take turns and don a backpack of their own, the Collies are always at the ready …anxiously awaiting to begin an adventure.
Today I decided that I would take Zack, my little Lhasa Apso, along as well and see how he would do.
Zack, a very bossy little dog to the Collies, (read more about him Here), seems to become slightly nervous upon leaving the house. Even a simple walk around the block will sometimes cause unease…his little tail displaying this emotion as it lengthens and drags behind him instead of happily curling over his back. Wanting to include him anyway, I insisted he come along.
As we set out toward our destination, I watched with amusement as the three dogs anxiously tolerated the car ride. Collie ‘noses’ were seen protruding out both sides of the car’s rear windows …somehow processing every scent in the air. Zack sat on my lap.. happy but cautious to our destination, .. the excitement to launch mounting with every passing minute.
In celebration of Patrick’s Birthday, we headed for little family getaway to Rhode Island.
This being our second trip to Newport, it is fast becoming a favorite weekend vacation spot of ours. Wanting to visit a few of the “Mansions” of Bellevue Avenue, past residences of various members of the Vanderbilt Family, I was again left awestruck..just as I was the first time I was there.
These summer ‘cottages’ of the Gilded Age are overelaborate and ostentatious, yet grand and spectacular to behold…remaining beautiful and unique unto themselves throughout each passing decade.
My favorite ‘cottages’, as they are termed because they were built as summer homes to be used for a mere unbelievable six to eight weeks out of the year, are ‘Marble House’ and the ‘Breakers’, the residences of William K. Vanderbilt and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
