Miscellaneous Monday Memes and Musings

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Scroll down for Macro Monday

“Education is hanging around until you’ve caught on.”
Robert Frost


Straight out of the camera above
Poster Edges below

Click to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Today's Flowers,
Mosaic Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday

“Never interrupt someone
doing something you said couldn’t be done.”
Amelia Earhart

As I began writing notes in my belated Christmas/Easter cards to family & friends over the weekend, I realized that I lost my address database list when the Inspiron 9100 hard drive crashed ... so I'll need to scrounge up addresses from hither and yon then create a NEW list in Word 2010. I'm hoping I can figure out how because I don't think my right arm is going to cooperate if I have to address all those envelopes by hand.

I enjoyed visiting blogs over the weekend to do some 'catch up' from last week when taking breaks from note writing to rest my arm, but realize this morning that I never got around to Blogging my Blessings yesterday ... so methinks I'll take a few minutes this morning to do so.

"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."
Cherokee Indian Proverb

1. Our weather this past week has been lovely and I enjoyed sitting on the patio as planned (adding notes to the cards I plan to send this week) ... visiting with passers by who stopped to admire the colorful view. Here's my first strawberry of the season:

2. The fur-kids kept me company and Molly enjoyed greeting folks & playing with a variety of fur-friends in the neighborhood.

3. My Veterans Honor rose seems to be doing just fine on the parkway. I'm watering it every other day for a couple of weeks as the gardener suggested. It's been pretty dry here lately (though some rain is predicted for later in the week). I'm planning to water the whole yard this morning before I head to my Windows 7 class at 11:30.

4. One of my Amaryllis plants has a 5th bloom instead of the usual four ... I wonder how unusual this is?

5. Methunk I'd seen my last purple & yellow iris this year ... but another has joined the one I shared in my previous post here as the yellow ones begin to open too. Pretty kewl ;-)

6. My hen & chicks continue to bloom ...

and the cactus I though had died seems to be sprouting new growth. Will wonders never cease?

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and for others participating in Macro Monday

See my Daily Gratitude List
in the sidebar at Small Reflections
and the lists I've transferred to Happily Retired Gal

What are some blessings in YOUR life currently?

For others who 'Blog Their Blessings'

go to My Blog Rolls and/or click on the
Blog Your Blessings logo
above Really Good Things.

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

Blessed Be ... and so it is!

Thought for Today
"If you don't appreciate what you have in life right now, whatever it is, you will never realize your purpose. Without appreciation, you will never become strong enough to respect yourself." Caroline Myss

Wordful Watery Outdoor Wednesday

1. I've always liked this pretty blue fountain in my neighbor's garden, but it's especially pretty surrounded by colorful Spring flowers ... yellow Kalanchoe, purple & yellow Irises and an Amaryllis getting ready to bloom are just a few highlights right now.

2. My own yard looks colorful too (see yesterday's post for a view of yellow & orange Nasturtiums and pink Amaryllis in bloom. Here are a few more views ... just because:

One last purple & yellow iris
before the yellow ones take over this area

LOTS of buds on my Just Joey rose
about to burst forth ... and a yellow iris bud
ready to open in the foreground

My first red rose bud of the season ...

Remember the unusual 'unknown' white bloom
that I shared a while back? Here are some more of the same
... methinks they're Allium, in the Onion Family

3. I'm delighted that the folks at Dell Tech Support have finally figured out how to make my Inspiron 1720 laptop bright enough to use on battery power. After having me download & install new drivers updating my WLAN card and system BIOS that 'stabilized' my system, I used the 'Set Up' Menu (tap the F2 key repeatedly as you start your computer) to check the Brightness where we discovered the 'battery setting' at 3 of 8. Changing this to 8 of 8 then saving before exiting this menu made all the difference. Now when I unplug the laptop from AC, there's no change in brightness on the monitor even when the settings are for 'Balanced Power' usage and I get about 3 hours of use before I needed to plug in again. After a while the screen does dim a bit (especially when you stop working), but holding down the Fn key (located between the left Control key & Windows logo on the keyboard) and pressing the 'up' arrow brightened it right up again. It only took 20 months to make my Inspiron 1720 functional, but I'm not going to complain because I'm happy it finally works as intended and I might even update the system to Windows 7 when I have the money to spare.

4. I gave brief thought to returning the Sony Vaio to Costco (since I have 90 days to do so) but have decided that since my Inspiron 9100 bit the dust, keeping the Vaio makes sense, in a whimsical sort of manner, and that's what I've decided to do ... just because.

5. Regular reader might recall that my HP Photosmart 6180 'All-on-One' printer developed problems last December when I tried to print my Christmas Cards. After doing just about everything imaginable to solve these problems, I decided to take advantage of the offer to turn it in to Staples for $50 off a new printer ... and I'm now the proud owner of this Canon MX780 'all-in-one' printer:

I'm hoping it will work reliably for years to come
and plan to print 'belated' Christmas cards
to send when time permits!

In case you missed it ... feel free
to snag a copy of this button if you wish

Click for others participating in
Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, and
Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus

Remembering & Reflecting

45 years ago today Martin Luther King gave the 'Arc of the Moral Universe' or 'How Long, Not Long' speech on the steps of the Capitol Building at the end of the 3rd (and finally successful) 54 mile march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama

Regarding the passage & signing
of the Health Reform Act

If you missed it, I offer this link to last night's Rachel Maddow Show and a nifty timeline of health care legislation in U.S. history (found at the Maddow Blog) ... just because.

Hope you're having a delightful day!

Thought for Today
"The basis of leadership is the capacity of the leader to change the mindset, the framework of the other person." Warren Bennis

Colorful Spring blossoms to share ...

Nasturtiums abound
yellow, orange, and hybrid hues
thriving on neglect



I don't plant these seeds
they lie dormant in the ground
sprouting on their own



"Everything has beauty,
but not everyone sees it." Confucius


"Laughter is a tranquilizer
with no side effects." Arnold Glasow

Click any image to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Mellow Yellow Monday,
Color Carnival, Today's Flowers and My World

"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today."
Cherokee Indian Proverb

1. I've enjoyed spending a good portion of today catching up on blog visits and am hoping to get to the rest tomorrow morning since my Windows 7 class doesn't start until 11:30. Molly will get a MORNING walk for the first time in a while, so she should be a happier pooch when I have to leave the house.

2. I managed to dig up and transplant quite a few shrubs over the weekend to create a space for my Veteran's Honor rosebush on the parkway. I plan to pick up a bag of potting soil and leave it on the patio next to the rose hoping my gardeners will remember that they promised to plant it for me on Wednesday. They'll probably come while I'm at school so I won't be here to remind them.

3. Two of my Amaryllis plants are almost in full bloom and several more are well on their way. One last purple & yellow iris opened today ... the yellow and white ones should bloom soon. I'll share more photos another time, but it's 8:30 and I'm about to turn the computer off because I'm tired and Molly needs some attention.

4. I've shared more blessings (and a few challenges as well) in my Five Faves at Happily Retired Gal and Just for the JOY of it at Small Reflections this past week ... just because.

See my Daily Gratitude List
in the sidebar at Small Reflections
and the lists I've transferred to Happily Retired Gal

What are some blessings in YOUR life currently?

For others who 'Blog Their Blessings'

go to My Blog Rolls and/or click on the
Blog Your Blessings logo
above Really Good Things.

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

Blessed Be ... and so it is!

Thought for Today
"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them." Kahlil Gibran

Finding Beauty - HF Sky Watch

Scroll down for Haiku Sky Watch

We'nesday walking with
my sister out on the pier
in Huntington Beach

yielded beautiful
views of blue skies ... wispy clouds
surfers, birds, people

enjoying the warm
unusual temp'ratures
on St. Paddy's Day,

and Catalina
off the coast of Southern Cal ...
not always in view









Click images to embiggen for better viewing
and for others participating in Finding Beauty,
Haiku Friday and Sky Watch

Thought for Today
"Life is not made up of great sacrifices and duties but of little things: in which smiles and kindness given habitually are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort." Sir Humphry Davy