Merry Christmas

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.  They must be felt with the heart."  -  Helen Keller

The Last of the Fall Colors

"Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go."  -  unknown

I kept looking out the window as I was washing the breakfast dishes.  I wanted to get outside. 

Cauliflower

"Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie"  -  Jim Davis

"Aren't they beautiful?" The off-the-clock employee commented, as she stopped to admire them with me on her way out the door.

Some Little Things...

"I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful - an endless prospect of magic and wonder."  -  Ansel Adams

A Foggy Morning

"Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves that all of life is not black and 

white."  -  Jonathon Lockwood Huie

The morning fog didn't last long, but it was long enough to get me thinking...

Fall

"...and all at once, summer collapsed into fall."
 -  Oscar Wilde

There is a slight chill in the air...

On Safari...Sort Of

"Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is."  

-  Anonymous

Going on an African safari has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. 

Busy as a Bee

"Delight in the little things."  -  Rudyard Kipling

Fall? Already?  How did that happen?

Just One Chair

"The joy of flea market shopping comes not only from a great find, but also from that moment when you figure out how to breathe new life into an old piece."  -  unknown

A Quiet Week

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more."  -  John Burroughs 

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."  -  Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's been a quiet week.

Along The Way

"Live simple, love well, and take time to smell the flowers along the way."  

 -  Mark Twain

We weren't to our final destination quite yet...but we found some little treasures.

Fins to the Left...

     "I love people who make me laugh.  I honestly think it's the thing I like the most, to laugh."  -  Audrey Hepburn

We were laughing uncontrollably.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

"People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.  This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves."  -  Salma Hayek

Spring

"Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat." 

 -  Laura Ingals Wilder
"My favorite weather is bird chirping weather."  

-  Terri Guillemets

A Little Magic...

"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."  -  Roald Dahl

I wasn't looking for it...but I found a little magic.

A Chilly Weekend

"We were meant to explore this earth like children do...unhindered by fear...propelled by curiosity and a sense of discovery."  -  unknown

Slowing Down

"Without patience, we will learn less in life.  We will see less.  We will feel less.  We will hear less.  Ironically, rush and more usually means less."  -   Mother Teresa

"Slow down and enjoy life.  It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."  -  Eddie Cantor

Bloom

"Bloom where you are planted."  -  Mary Engelbreit

This is the first time it has happened in several years...my Christmas cactus bloomed. 

A Long Weekend

'There is always a sunrise and always a sunset and it's up to you to choose to be there for it,' said my mother. 'Put yourself in the way of beauty.'  -  Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Shades of Brown

"When you train your eyes to see the magic and miracles in the little things, you open the door for your whole life to shift."  -  Carol Woodliff

The warmish February afternoon was perfect for shooting.  Megan grabbed her bow and arrows.  I grabbed my Nikon.  

My Daughter's Portrait

"A daughter is one of the most beautiful gifts this world has to give." 

 -  Laurel Atherton

"Daughters hold our hands for a little while but hold our hearts forever."  

 -  unknown

Focus

"Where focus goes energy flows...shift your focus toward where you want to go and your actions will take you in that direction."  -  Tony Robbins

Breakfast

"What nicer thing can you do for somebody than make them breakfast?"  

 -  Anthony Bourdan

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."  

 -  Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Is there one ingredient in your kitchen cabinet which you always add a little more of to the recipe than it recommends?

Sisters

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning

 of life."   -  Isadora Jones

I love my big sister.

Traveling

"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted."  -  Bill Bryson

"One's destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things."  -  Henry Miller