The quest to simplify my life seems to constantly elude me. Just when I think I’m beginning to make headway, complications develop. Sometimes I think this happens because I didn’t make use of a well-timed “no” when a demand was being made upon my time either by another person or my own desires. Sometimes it’s just life throwing me a curve ball. No matter the obstacles, moving toward simplicity is a necessity. So many of us are simultaneously blessed and burdened with excess availability of activities and acquisitions. I think it’s imperative that we choose things wisely to live a life that’s happy and fulfilled, and not just filled up. This post is my response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Cover Art by Pete Rosos.
“For this week’s Photo Challenge, stimulate your creative process and imagine which of your images you would like to see gracing the cover of a book, an album, or a magazine.”
I think I prefer my color version of “Cover Art” to the sepia tone version. How about you?
I would like to extend many thanks to gahlearner from Flights of Fancy, and Linda from Sofia Wisdom of the Ages for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award! I was notified by these two lovely bloggers in September and October, only two weeks apart. Receiving two nominations in such a short time was very, very encouraging and a pleasant surprise since my blog is so new!
The One Lovely Blog Award recognizes blogs considered to be lovely, written by bloggers who share their story or thoughts in a beautiful manner to connect with their viewers and followers. The nominees are chosen by fellow bloggers, and the nominations are presented to new and up-and-coming bloggers. The purpose of the award is to not only give recognition, but to help the new blogger reach more viewers as well.
If nominated, in order to “accept” the award, you must follow these guidelines:
* Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
* Add the One Lovely Blog logo image to your acceptance post.
* Share 7 facts/or things about yourself.
* Nominate about 15 (I have seen 10 as a suggestion as well) bloggers you admire and inform nominees by commenting on their blog.
With that, here are my nominations for the One Lovely Blog Award. Continue reading →
Hello, I’m still here! I’ve been absent from Blogging 101 for several days. Sometimes life, work, fatigue and unending tasks just snowball, and unable to find enough rejuvenating alone time, I slip into overwhelm. Tonight I finally found some time to sit down at my computer when I am not completely exhausted, unable to think or write. I’m behind at least 4 assignments maybe 5 so I was a bit apprehensive to look and see exactly what I needed to do to catch up in Blogging 101.
Tonight the most recent assignment is to Try Another Blog Event. I visited the page, clicked on the link Community Event Listings, and was happily relieved and excited to see The Daily Post Photo Challenge titled Signs. Post a photo of a sign… Yes! I’m ready for this one! I have a photo waiting in the wings all set to go.
And here is the sign. It’s a simple one, of a very common variety, a small variety that I encounter every day.
To drive home their message, as with exit signs or advertisements, sometimes signs are repeated. This “sign” repeated itself several times, yes several, in one day. Continue reading →
I was aware of fall’s approach, but hadn’t appreciated its wispy, damp presence rubbing up against the edge of my doorstep until reading posts by fellow Blogging101 participants, GaH and Tantoverde.
I had heard the geese on the move for the first time on August 8th, their distinctive trumpeting announcing their departure. I was aware of the changing sounds of the evening insects; crickets, grasshoppers katydids and the like. I saw the asters, harbingers of fall, blooming in my garden. It just hadn’t yet hit me that summer was over, until, as I said, I read these two blog posts.
More asters. Summer’s last hurrah!
Tantoverde’s post conjured images of copious amounts of apples and baking, baking with abandon, baking to keep up with the yield. It made me yearn for warm apple pie with a hot cup of tea.
Honey crisps and macs.
More visions of a bountiful apple harvest and abundant baking came to me with the reading of GaH’s post contrasting the lazy days of summer with the clues of fall’s arrival. GaH transitions between summer and fall with the phrase, “Then comes a storm, and when it ends, the air is cold, and won’t get warm again. And suddenly you realize that fall is here.”
Maple leaves beginning to turn color.
The day after I read this, the storm came as if on cue. Well, not exactly a storm, but a definitive rain which changed the quality and the smell of the air. Now, even when the sun is out and there is warmth, there is a damp crispness around the edges of the day like the juicy crispness you find when biting into a fresh fall apple.
After reading these two blog posts I just had to go out and buy apples. Not grocery store apples… orchard apples, newly plucked from a local tree.
Apple orchard.
With the first bite, I engage in being a locavore and it pays off. A perfect blend of sweet and tart, crisply yielding.
Ready for harvest.
I’m ready now for fall, ready to enjoy the last few warm days that will tease us. Ready for the nights to cool more and more, plants tucking themselves into the ground for winter, trees shedding their excess in colorful glory.
Fall is a time of transition, a time to transition from outdoors to indoors. The tablecloth comes off the picnic table. Meals are eaten inside. The hammock gets stored. The gas grill will still be used, but not nearly as often. The raking will commence, hopefully to be finished before the first snow. The firewood gets stacked, the chimney cleaned, and the window screens are exchanged for storms.
Harriman State Park
I feel the transition beginning within myself as well, shifting my attention from external doings to a more inward view. Fall is a time to pause and reflect. To take stock. Some things end. Some become dormant, to rest and refresh. Nature turns inward and so do I. Fall brings clarity with bright color and light, a focusing introspection.
What meaning does fall hold for you?
This post was written as a response to the Blogging101 assignment, Be Inspired by the Community. All of the photos in this post, except for the last one, were taken a couple of days ago after reading GaH’s and Tantoverde’s blog posts. I would like to extend many thanks to them for the inspiration. 🙂
I drove by the building I sold earlier this year and my stomach unexpectedly churned. I thought I had moved on and let go of this part of my life and punctuated it with a period or perhaps even with a happy punctuation mark, but seeing the fence around the building that had occupied much of my time and housed my business for about 15 years hit me viscerally. The erecting of the fence signals that the demolition of the building is immanent. I thought I had come to grips with this in stages over time, so my reaction upon seeing the fence was unexpected.
Hi, my name is Terry. I am just shy of being five years past the half century mark and have started this blog to access my creativity and put my thoughts, via words and images, out into the world. I am participating in Blogging101 to give some structure to the process and to improve my writing and communication skills. The thought of blogging makes me somewhat nervous, but it’s a journey and I love to travel, when I have the occasional opportunity to do so!
I am creatively inclined, teach yoga, and can be quite chatty even though I am an introverted thinker and observer at heart. I am also a natural/alternative health enthusiast and have somewhat worn out the ears of my husband and grown-up kids with this topic. Maybe that’s what I should write about, though at this point in my life I am looking for a broader conversation. This blog will be a way for me to exercise my voice, communicate thoughts and ideas, and perhaps interact with others who have put themselves out into the blogosphere. It will be an experiment and an exploration. A way to not only create, but more importantly, to express and perhaps connect.
The quest to simplify my life seems to constantly elude me. Just when I think I’m beginning to make headway, complications develop. Sometimes I think this happens because I didn’t make use of a well-timed “no” when a demand was being made upon my time either by another person or my own desires. Sometimes it’s just life throwing me a curve ball. No matter the obstacles, moving toward simplicity is a necessity. So many of us are simultaneously blessed and burdened with excess availability of activities and acquisitions. I think it’s imperative that we choose things wisely to live a life that’s happy and fulfilled, and not just filled up. 
This post is my response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Cover Art by Pete Rosos.
To drive home their message, as with exit signs or advertisements, sometimes signs are repeated. This “sign” repeated itself several times, yes several, in one day.
Through the Lens of my Life 