Sacred Ruminations: Photo Hunt and Today's Flowers

About Me

1st Blogoversary Post
2nd Blogoversary Post
101 Things About Me
2007 Blog Review
Top 7 in '07 Small is Beautiful Review
My 100th Post
A Milestone Missed?
Why I Blog

My other blogs
Small Reflections
Happily Retired Gal
Bling & Blurbs

My Blog Rolls - have been moved to a Blog of their own.

I appreciate all of you who visit, and I enjoy the comments many of you leave behind. I do my best to respond to any questions in a timely manner if your email is available. In addition, I do my best to visit your blogs and leave comments as time permits.

Click to learn ... How I Became a Blogger

Late in October of 2007, I started playfully exploring possibilities here and at Small Reflections. Initially I published daily on both sites, but in mid-January of 2008, I gave myself permission to rethink things.

Since committing to Blog 365 at Small Reflections, I've continued to publish daily there, but I'm considering alternating days and/or experimenting a bit with a variety of possibilities in an attempt to balance my online activities with my "real life" ... without giving "short shrift" to either blog. Therefore, it's all a work in progress, and I hope you'll bear with me.

Food for Thought

(or reminders for myself)

Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away.
Barbara De Angelis

"Whatever can come to a woman can come to me
Whatever can happen to anyone can happen to me."
Muriel Rukeyser

"I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."--Mother Teresa

"It is better to ask some questions than to know all the answers." James Thurber

"Forgive yourself for everything you did not know in the past but do now. Don't waste any of your precious energy beating yourself, or anyone else, up. Your power to change your life is in the present, regardless of your past."
Dr. Christiane Northrup

"Your purpose is to heal yourself first in mind and intent. Declare this principle to yourself -- I intend to walk the highest path to my awakening. I am fearless in the face of learning to discipline my mind and actions so they are attuned to my true divinity." Doreen Virtue

"Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself, and know that everything in this life has a purpose." Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

More thoughts ...

"It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker." Henry David Thoreau

"It is no small task to change one's focus from what can go wrong to what can go right and to empower women to shift from destructive behaviors to those that are generally associated with health. I want to awaken that still, small wise, intuitive voice in all of us, that voice of our own body that we have been forced to ignore through our culture's illness, misinformation, and dysfunction. I want to give you the courage to listen to that voice and act on it." Dr. Christiane Northrup

"No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place." Maya Angelou

"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. Diane Ackerman

"No one needs to know that you've shut the world out and are meditating as you stroll down the street. Twenty minutes to a half-hour every day is a good amount of time to restore a sense of serenity." Sarah Ban Breathnach

"One of the marks of an intelligent person is to be able to distinguish what is worth doing and what isn't and to be able to set priorities." Anne Wilson Schaef

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love." Sophocles

More thoughts ...

"Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength." Sigmund Freud

"I need to understand the dynamics of effort & success. I will spend my energy on things & and activities that bring me the most fulfillment. I will spend less energy on the "stuff" that ultimately has no meaning to me." Dr. Christiane Northrup

"However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do if you do not act upon them?"
Buddha

"The greatest contribution that you can make is the aliveness that comes from simply being yourself, living your truth, and doing what you love. The passionate expression of who we are will heal the world." Shatki Gawain

"It is in solitude that we discover that being is more important than having and that we are worth more than the result of our efforts. In solitude we discover that our life is not a possession to be defended, but a gift to be shared." Henri H. Nouwen, theologian

"I am ready to supply the earth's needs with my riches. I seize upon my wealth within and give freely as I am replenished." Doreen Virtue

"... perception can be given a new purpose. ... Follow His Light, and see the world as He beholds it. Hear His Voice alone in all that speaks to you. And let him give you peace and certainty which you have thrown away, but Heaven has preserved for you in Him." A Course in Miracles

More thoughts

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." Rumi

"I believe I'm here to speak my truth and that's all I have to do. I don't have to make people understand it... I just have to speak the truth." ~Anne Wilson Schaef

"A woman is like a teabag-only in hot water do you realize how strong she is." Eleanor Roosevelt

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever."
Mahatma Ghandi

"...We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. ... And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Nelson Mandela

“Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise.” - Maya Angelou

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
Rumi

"A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place, but a seed to be planted and to bear more seeds toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea." ~ Henry David Thoreau

"I have lived long enough to learn how much there is I can really do without.... He is nearest to God who needs the fewest things." Socrates

Welcome to Sacred Ruminations

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Photo Hunt and Today's Flowers

This week’s theme is YELLOW
This hibiscus grows
on my neighbor's balcony
and finally bloomed!

Single blossom from
several views and a bud
soon to bloom as well.

Over time I have
snapped photos of this cactus ...
watching buds open.

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and other participants in
Photo Hunt and Today's Flowers this week.
See also my Today's Flowers posts at Small Reflections
and Happily Retired Gal this week too.

If you'd like to see
more yellow you might enjoy
Drowsy Monkey's meme.

Thought for Today
"Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed." Walt Whitman

28 comments:

Unknown said...: Beautiful. I haven't seen a photo of the hibiscus yet this week. That's nice.; March 21, 2009 at 7:38 AM
Ladykli said...: Very lovely. I think we shall see lots of "yellow" flowers this week. I did flowers too!
Come take a look.; March 21, 2009 at 7:42 AM
Rebecca Mecomber said...: I'm getting to see plants and flowers from all around the world today!!!

I did yellow today, too! I hope you can come visit.

http://ilovenewyorktravel.net/photo-hunters-yellow/

Have a great weekend!; March 21, 2009 at 8:11 AM
Brita said...: Great take on the theme! Such beautiful flowers.; March 21, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Mojo said...: The shots of the balcony are wonderful! also loved the cactus blooms in particular.; March 21, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Susan Cook said...: Beautiful flowers. I love the color yellow.; March 21, 2009 at 1:29 PM
annalarssonphotography said...: Beautiful flowers! :)
I love all the yellow you captured!

Have a great weekend!; March 21, 2009 at 1:54 PM
Carver said...: Those are beautiful flowers. Great take on the yellow theme.; March 21, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Nature seems to provide lots of yellow and all are beautiful...; March 21, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Ari_1965 said...: Wow. How beautiful. I can't wait until some flowers start showing here. It's supposed to snow a bit next week, but then I'm hoping it's spring for good.; March 21, 2009 at 3:35 PM
srp said...: I don't think I have ever seen a yellow hibiscus before. Just lovely. It seems to flower before many of the leaves come out... quite like the ornamental plum trees. Very nice collages! Thanks for visiting.; March 21, 2009 at 4:09 PM
Alisha said...: Lovely photos! I especially love the photos of the buds opening.; March 21, 2009 at 4:51 PM
Anonymous said...: It's wild the way the flower in the first shot pokes up over the railing. I love it.; March 21, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Anonymous said...: The yellow hibiscus really stands out against the stark building. Great photo. Thanks for visiting my photo hunt this week.; March 21, 2009 at 5:21 PM
EG CameraGirl said...: I'm always surprised to see such lovely flowers on a cactus!; March 21, 2009 at 5:27 PM
YTSL said...: Thought hibiscus were red? Anyways, that's what they usually are in Malaysia and Hong Kong!; March 22, 2009 at 5:07 AM
Liz Hinds said...: Those are great cactus photos.; March 22, 2009 at 6:44 AM
Gill - That British Woman said...: what super photos, so pretty.

Gill in Canada; March 22, 2009 at 3:58 PM
Naturegirl said...: You must be in a warm climate! Love the yellow photos and that barrel cactus I recognise as I see them flowering here in the Arizona desert!! Happy TF!!; March 22, 2009 at 4:27 PM
Joyce said...: Oooh! Cactus flowers! So lovely. :); March 22, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Arija said...: I love the pretty peek-a-boo balcony flowers.; March 22, 2009 at 4:47 PM
George said...: Beautiful flowers. The yellow is so spring-like.; March 22, 2009 at 7:48 PM
Carletta said...: I didn't know the barrel cactus - I love it!
As always your collages are well done. The many angles of one flower worked perfectly for you.

Carletta’s Captures.; March 22, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Anonymous said...: They look so different from our hibiscus here. This one seemed to be multi-layered and very cool color.; March 23, 2009 at 5:09 AM
Dick said...: Wonderful close-ups of the cactus flowers, nice work.; March 23, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Baba said...: Thanks for your visit to my place. I love looking at your flowers.I have some hibiscus plants , but they are not blooming at this time..I love the cactus plant.. it is very unusual; I wouldn't mind having one like yours!!! Have a good day.
Hugs, Baba; March 23, 2009 at 1:03 PM
SandyCarlson said...: Your yellows are gorgeous! Drops of pure sunshine.; March 29, 2009 at 5:06 AM
Daisy said...: Wow! Do you have any daisy photos? I really love how you present the images in a collage manner.; March 31, 2009 at 3:41 AM