HF #44 & OSI: Week 13 - Reflection

The prompt for Week 13: Reflection

Thanks to Scylla at Law & Motherhood for this cool Haiku button

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Henningsen Gardens - Taos, New Mexico


Mirrored images
captured with my digital
camera ... I sat

on the bank & wrote
reflecting upon the week
filling pages with

memories & thoughts
with my pencil on the page
precursors of my

Small Reflections 'blog'
late October of last year ...
2007

in addition to
Sacred Ruminations. Now
each 'reflects' who I

am as I explore
a transition from 'closet
writer' to Blogger.

Gradually my
comfort level grows with each
piece I choose to share

and your responses
left in comments as you stop
by for a visit.




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Click for Volume #43
(3 challenges in a single post)
at Small Reflections
and for others participating this week:
One Single Impression

~ ~ ~

For a Mr. Linky to other Haiku Fridays
go to A Mommy Story or
Playgroups are no Place for Children.

To see more previous Haikus,
click on the Haiku Friday label below this post
or in the sidebar under About Me.

Thought for Today
"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action." Peter Drucker

My One Single Impression Directory

Directory
of My OSI Posts

Week 22: Faces at SacredRuminations and Small Reflections

Week 21: Rest
Collage: Cuties at Rest (at Sacred Ruminations)
Recovering after Taos (at Small Reflections)

Weeks 18-20: (under construction & hopefully published soon)

Week: 17 Melody

Week 16: Transience or Permanence

Week 15: Pets - One of a kind, Charly

Week 14: Freedom

Week 13: Reflection
of Taos & Blogging (at Sacred Ruminations)
of One Single Impression Prompts (at Small Reflections)

Week 12: Bleeding
Review of THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant

Week 11: Warm
Sunsets (at Sacred Ruminations)
Puppies (at Small Reflections)

Week 10: Deserted

Week 9: - Flowering
My Garden at Sacred Ruminations)
Personal Growth and Blossoming (at Small Reflections)

Week 8: Color
Images of the Mind Revealed (at Sacred Ruminations)
Comeback of my Apricot Rose at (Small Reflections)

Week 7: Glory/Glorious
Sunrise (at Sacred Ruminations)
Glory (the film at Small Reflections)

Week 6: Stranded
In a Hurricane (at Sacred Ruminations)
Polar Bears (at Small Reflections)

Week 5: Laughter
April Fools' Day

Week 4: Spring -
A Colorful Offering from my Garden (at Sacred Ruminations)
Tennis Leaps (at Small Reflections)

Week 3: Circles - Easter Sunday (at Sacred Ruminations)

Week 2: Kindness

Week 1: Change - Introducing Molly & Ms. Kitty Coping with Change

BYB #5 and more ... on Sunday

The French Open tournament
begins today ... for two
weeks there will be tennis matches
to record & view!

Those who've read my blogs a while
know I'm a tennis fan
during major championships.
I'm grateful I can

DVR the matches while I'm
busy, and when time
permits, watch them at my leisure.
Thus my simple rhyme

focuses attention on this
'blessing' ... I can see
matches since the 'Tennis Channel'
seems 'unblocked' and free!!!

~ ~ ~

Gentle rain the last two days has
watered everything
saving me the time & effort.
Sunny now ... birds sing

joyfully and hop around
the yard in search of food ...
Is it any wonder I'm in
a marvelous mood?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All I need to figure out
is what to do about
the gopher who's 'tunneling' a
'home' out front. No doubt
I cannot ignore this rodent
(or the family
who might reside with him) in the
tunnels under the
beautiful hydrangea
I've shared here previously.

If you have suggestions won't you
please enlighten me?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For others who 'Blog Their Blessings'
check the BYB Sundays Blogroll near the bottom of my sidebar here
at Sacred Ruminations or click on the logo at the top of this post.

* * * * * * * *

For those who participate in Sacred Life Sunday
click the logo below:

Daily Meditation from
Keepers of the Wisdom
Reflections from Lives Well Lived
by Karen Casey

"I know this: It's not just experience in age;
whatever you can do best will bring itself to light."
Eva Wines

"Perhaps you don't feel that you do anything well. Often times, we make only half-hearted attempts at whatever we do. Then, we have ample evidence that we're not doing so well. We can change that experience, though. A bit of effort and a measure of patience will nurture noticeable improvement. But what does it mean that whatever we can do best will come 'to light'?

We get urges to try our hands at something every now and then. Mostly we ignore them. If we're attentive, we're aware that the urges repeat themselves. They are coming 'to light.' We then must make the choice to follow them or not. What's in store for us, if we actively acknowledge them, is fulfillment like we'd never known before. It's not accidental that we are called to do certain things. No one else has exactly the gifts we've been blessed with. We must offer ours to the world for its realization, and ours, too."

"I can point to many accomplishments in my lifetime.
What brings me the most pleasure is undoubtedly
God's special assignment for me."

Thought for Today
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." G.K. Chesterdon

HF #42 & One Single Impression - Week 12

The prompt for Week 12 is: Bleeding

Thanks to Scylla at Law & Motherhood for this cool Haiku button

~ ~ ~

In a novel the
author imagines the life
of Dinah based on

a brief Biblical
reference ... providing a
glimpse of women's lives

from an era when
mutual support evolved
within The Red Tent.

Mothers, sisters, aunts
gathered regularly to
take 'refuge' and 'bond'

while menstruating
or giving birth ... following
ancient tradition.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Click for Volume #41
at Small Reflections
and for others participating this week:
One Single Impression

~ ~ ~

For a Mr. Linky to other Haiku Fridays
go to A Mommy Story or
Playgroups are no Place for Children.

To see more previous Haikus,
click on the Haiku Friday label below this post
or in the sidebar under About Me.

Thought for Today
"It is terrible how much has been forgotten, which is why, I suppose, remembering seems a holy thing." This quote is taken from the novel's prologue as Dinah introduces herself as both narrator and protagonist as she 'fulfills an oath to her mothers to remember and honor them.'
Spark Notes.com

Belatedly BYBS#4 & almost Wordless Wednesday

ALMOST

(This makes #27 for me and you'll find
#28 at Small Reflections today)

Now you see it
(the post behind the deer)

Now you don't ;--)

Do you have old photographs like this?

I'm not finished yet, but
look at the amazing transformation thus far!

Yes, I'm aware it's Wednesday (not Sunday) ... but I'm 'catching up' and I'm almost Wordless today as I share the latest thing I learned in my Photoshop Elements class. I'm feeling grateful for the learning opportunities available in today's world and delighted to be blogging as time permits. FYI ... I signed up yesterday for the intermediate class to follow this one later this summer and will most likely take the advanced class after that. Retired life is good indeed!

For the 4th time thus far ... (albeit belatedly)

Find others participating
in Wordless Wednesday this week
and for those who 'Blog Their Blessings'

check the BYB Sundays Blogroll near the bottom of my sidebar
here at Sacred Ruminations or click on the logo above.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For those who participate in Sacred Life Sunday
click the logo below:

~ ~ ~

Thought for Today
"Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back." Chinese Proverb

Haiku Friday #40 - Photoshop Lessons Learned

Thanks to Scylla at Law & Motherhood for this cool Haiku button

Tuesday was the first
day of my Photoshop class
and we learned to fix

'Red-Eyes' in 3 ways
each a tad bit different
but all effective.

In addition we
learned to zoom & crop photos
... saving them 'resized'

This woman holds a
sheet of commemorative
stamps and Thursday I

learned how to 'select'
and 'enhance' that portion to
adjust the colors

without altering
anything else ... that seems a
useful thing to know.

Thursday I learned to
modify a photograph
highlighting someone's

head & shoulders then
'feathering' the edges and
changing the background

experimenting with
various colors and shapes
using diff'rent 'tools'

playing with a few
possibilities like these ...
and taking an old

'ragged-edged' picture
like the one below to 'fix'
and 'restore' ... Nifty!

All these techniques seem
very 'cool' and practical ...
well worth getting my-

self out of the house
and to 'class' by 8 o'clock
2 mornings each week.

~ ~ ~

Click to see more 'illustrated' lessons
shared at Small Reflections today
in Volume #39
showing features introduced
in Photoshop Elements
this week.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For a Mr. Linky to other Haiku Fridays
go to A Mommy Story or
Playgroups are no Place for Children.

To see more previous Haikus,
click on the Haiku Friday label below this post
or in the sidebar under About Me.

Thought for Today
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." James Joyce

(Almost) WW/OSI - Warm Sunsets

ALMOST

(This is #27 for me)


The prompt for Week 11 - Warm

Beautiful Sunsets
over oceans ... glorious
warmly colored skies

arid desert scenes
as the day draws to an end
warmly colored skies

amazingly bright
vivid oranges, pinks & reds
warmly colored skies

everywhere on earth
marvelous remembrances ...
warmly colored skies!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Click for my other (almost) WW/OSI Week 11
post at Small Reflections
and for others participating this week:
One Single Impression
Wordless Wednesday

Thought for Today
"Come watch with me the shaft of fire that glows
In yonder West: the fair, frail palaces,
The fading Alps and archipelagoes,
And great cloud-continents of sunset-seas."
Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Blog Your Blessings #3 & Sacred Life Sunday

Happy Mother's Day ;--)
My 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea

didn't die last winter as I'd feared

and this is what it looks like today.

I'm most relieved
at it's amazing recovery!
It's small but colorful already
and it's only mid-May.

Click to see what it looked like on April 30th.

* * * * *

For others who 'Blog Their Blessings'
check the BYB Sundays Blogroll near the bottom of my sidebar here
at Sacred Ruminations or click on the logo at the top of this post.

* * * * * * * *

For those who participate in Sacred Life Sunday
click the logo below:

Daily Meditation from
Keepers of the Wisdom
Reflections from Lives Well Lived
by Karen Casey

"I believe that things just came to me.
I did make use of them; however,
I didn't go looking for them."
Maria Regnier Krimmel

"Most of us can look back on our lives and concur that we took advantage of opportunities that came our way. Certain opportunities may have slipped by us, for a time, but it's likely they returned, too ... perhaps in a somewhat different form. It is believed by many that whatever we did with our lives was quite necessary, unique, and part of a much wider plan that involved the lives of everybody in our circle. We can find comfort in that idea.

If our past was purposeful, then our present must also be intentional. Just knowing that we haven't outlived our worth gives us pause to rejoice. But many of us struggle in this stage of our lives to figure out what we should be doing next. We struggle simply because we haven't yet mastered how to listen to our inner guide. Much of our lives we 'accidentally' followed our calling. There is no shame in that; however, we can more confidently move into the future if we practice listening for guidance in the present. Making an adjustment such as this in our daily lives can offer us real excitement, too. It isn't the same humdrum process that we'd grown accustomed to, or maybe even become bored with. Let's practice."

"I have always had a guide.
I'll be more conscious of it today."

HF #38 - Poetic Trio in a Single Post

Thanks to Scylla at Law & Motherhood for this cool Haiku button

Earlier I shared
thoughts in 37th
volume of Haiku

focused on thinking
and a T-13 posting
at Small Reflections.

Now I offer these
'haiku' responses to two
photographic prompts.

~ ~ ~ ~

Click for details about
Pensieve's Weekly Photo 40 Challenge

Theme for ...
Week 2 - Clouded View

Robin writes: "From my earliest memory I was fascinated with clouds--vaguely recalling my first flight around age seven, I wanted to "catch" some white puffies and keep them in my shiny, new, black patent leather pocketbook bought especially for the trip. Eventually I settled for cotton candy. Do you "see" anything in these cumulus formations? Are you lost in rumination on cloudy days? Are you compelled to write poetry? Whether a simple title for the photo or a 40-syllable soliloquy, you have 40 words or less to share your response to this photo taken somewhere over the Caribbean on our 20th Anniversary trip in October. Have fun--don't over-think it!"

My entry appears beneath the photo.

Can you see her stand
wearing a wide-brimmed hat while
waving at her 'fans'?

Watching the parade
floating across azure skies ...
lying on the grass

laughing with my friends
who imaginatively see
differently than me ...

~ ~ ~

Click for other participants in
Pensieve's Friday40PC

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Visit Laura Salas for details.

stormy weather's passed
ship-wrecked survivors await
hoping for rescue

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For a Mr. Linky to other Haiku Fridays
go to A Mommy Story or
Playgroups are no Place for Children.

To see more previous Haikus,
click on the Haiku Friday label below this post
or in the sidebar under About Me.

Thought for Today
"Poetry is what gets lost in translation." Robert Frost

One Single Impression #10 - Deserted

ALMOST

The prompt for Week 10 - Desert or Deserted

when he left ... I walked
a stretch of beach frequently
feeling deserted

gradually I
rediscovered myself and
experienced joy

how did I forget
all things work together for
good ... blessing us all

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Click for others participating this week in ...
One Single Impression or
Wordless Wednesday

Thought for Today
"Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness." James Thurber

Blog Your Blessings on Sunday #2

and Sacred Life Sunday
Appreciating & Extending Personal Creativity

Combining BYBS with Sacred Life Sunday last week was an 'experiment' that seemed to work well ... so I'm doing it again today.
I enjoyed visiting others who 'Blog Blessings on Sunday' last week, and look forward to repeating that this week. I appreciate the warm welcome of the BYBS participants who visited here at Sacred Ruminations and left generous comments after my first effort to share.

I'm posting a bit later in the day than I did last week ... mainly because I wanted to 'catch up' with One Single Impression posts from Week 9 before reading the prompt for Week 10 and considering what I might contribute. In addition, I participate in Camera Critters and Unconscious Mutterings on Sundays on my other blog ... and those visits took time today too. Finally, Molly is not a pooch to be ignored so naturally we've engaged in 'play time' and taken a couple of walks already.

It's been about 6 months since I started blogging, and last Wednesday, I reached my 200th post at Small Reflections. In preparing that 'milestone' post, I spent some time revisiting pieces I'd published previously on each of my blogs, and highlighted a few with links to share.

Many of the comments visitors left for me there touched my heart and felt like gifts to my spirit ... and mirror comments left for me on this blog. For those who may be 'new' here, I'm a 63 year old 'happily retired' educator with lots of 'discretionary' time. Many visitors marvel that I can keep up with two blogs. The simple fact is that I've made blogging a priority and devote considerable time to this 'virtual' world activity. It is as simple as that!

I realize my inner critic seldom gives me credit for being creative and I'd like to change that. Perhaps with continued feedback on my blogs I'll learn to be kinder to myself and more appreciative of what I generate. So ... today I'm grateful for a growing awareness of and appreciation for my 'creative talents' and skills which permit me to publish items of interest in this 'virtual' world ... and I'm reminded of a passage I'd like to share with all who pass this way ... so please read on.

* * * * * * *

For those who participate in Sacred Life Sunday
click the logo below:

Daily Meditation from
Keepers of the Wisdom
Reflections from Lives Well Lived
by Karen Casey

"Many people think they can't paint, but I think everyone has artistic ability of some kind." Eva Wines

"Many of us probably don't agree with Eva, particularly if we haven't tried to paint or weave or write or throw pots. We mistakenly think that others have talent, never ourselves, but that's because we misunderstand what talent means. Talent is really just an inclination; it develops from a desire to pursue some activity that we then proceed to cultivate with a passion. It's not mysterious. It doesn't just happen. We persevere because we feel good when involved in the activity. When we define talent this way, we realize how right Eva is. It's just that many of us haven't followed our passion yet.

One thing we all have plenty of in this later stage of life is time. While raising children or working, we seldom allowed ourselves much time off to explore the more playful side of our nature. But time is what we have most of now, and we are free to use it as wisely or as frivolously as we choose. Coming to understand that we do, indeed, have talent, that it has simply lain dormant until now, is perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of our lives presently. If we haven't yet realized this, dare to believe it now. it will change every minute of the rest of your life."

"Today is a good day to pursue one of my dreams."

* * * * *

In closing today, it's clear to me that I've been 'pursuing one of my dreams' as I've created these blogs. I'm no longer the 'closet writer' I used to be and for this I'm exceedingly grateful. In a comment today at Small Reflections, Karen asked if I'd considered writing 'fiction' ... and I responded something to the effect that writing in 3rd person isn't my forte. Perhaps it's time for me to 'challenge' that belief and experiment playfully with the possibility ... just as I've done with my blogging ... and see what happens. Thank you Karen! I'll let you know what happens.

Thought for Today
"Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination." William Arthur Ward