Beauty is my home

shirley gives us
a peek of her hometown
my goodness, she has a way
with words~~

Beauty is my home

by Shirley

The river: It's cool water bubbling and gurgling over the rocks and fallen branches. Carrying leaves and twigs blown from nearby trees into the lake at the end of it's journey.

The ocean: It's majestic power so soothing as it crashes against the rocks. Each wave inches a little farther onto the sand. The sound is hypnotic. The smell is unique. The sight is unbelievable.

The forest: The sun playfully dancing through the branches. Foliage green and lush. Life everywhere yet unseen. Trees swaying gently in the breeze. The smell of wild flowers fill the air.

This is my home. Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1783 by the United Empire Loyalists. Population approximately 2300. It's where I was born. I have walked through that forest. I have fished in that river. I have seen that ocean.

Where do you live? City? Town? By the ocean? In the mountains? On the prairies? In the desert? I want to know what you see when you fly home from the nest each day.

I want to dedicate this blog to my Dad, Orison A. Hartman. He walked in that forest with me, fished in that river with me and stood on the sand by that ocean with me.

George Bush and OJ Simpson

our daily blog today
is from whabby
he seems to always make
us think!

George Bush and OJ Simpson

by Whabby

How do you think George Bush should be treated when he leaves office, owls?

How do you think OJ Simpson should be treated right now (assuming he’s guilty, which I do)?

These questions popped into mind the other day while I was out running. The more I turned them over, the more absorbing and connected they became. At first, I was concentrating on them from a somewhat narrow social perspective, like Jane Austen might have. But it kind of expanded from there.

What if, sometime in your future, just by chance, you happen to be in the same room as OJ Simpson, and an opportunity is obviously coming up to meet him? OJ’s in reasonable health, as far as I know, and will probably live for quite a while, so this is not a completely far-fetched idea; it actually could happen. What would you do? Would you actually meet him? Or would you deliberately avoid the opportunity as a way of expressing (in a nice, non-confrontational, passive way) your disapproval of him and his character?

And what if, instead, the person confronting you with this dilemma is not OJ, but George Bush, who also should be around for quite a while after he leaves office, and so could also be in a position to meet one of us.

I think, quite seriously, that I’d deliberately turn down the opportunity to meet either one of these gentlemen!

That got me thinking about social isolation and its implications. What consequences would there be for day-to-day living if people didn’t want to meet you, didn’t want to invite you to anything involving them, didn’t want to enter into ANY kind of professional or business interaction with you, and so on?

Some of this is part of the fabric of OJ Simpson’s life already. Obviously, no organization or group in its right mind will ever seek any kind of promotional association with him. I’m sure OJ has no speaker fee (at least, I hope fervently that he doesn’t)! Who would want to go and line his pockets and listen to him? And I, for one, sure had zero interest in reading that book he wrote even before it was yanked from the shelves. There are lots of important doors that are forever closed to OJ.

I suspect a lot of you are more or less in agreement with me, on how you’d treat OJ personally, and how you want to see him treated by society. We've made a collective judgment that has had (and will never stop having) a serious negative impact on his life.

Now, what about Bush? In addition to not ever wanting anything to do with him personally, I don’t think I’ll be supporting any fund-raising opportunities involving him (wouldn’t contribute), or any speaking engagements (wouldn’t go), or purchase a book he might write (wouldn’t read it), or, well, you get the idea!

Harsh as it might seem, I suppose that when it comes right down to it, I think OJ Simpson and George Bush deserve to be treated rather similarly after Bush leaves office. As equals, as it were.

Owls, am I being way too harsh on Bush? Should he be afforded the same social courtesies and business opportunities as any other ex-president?

What do you think?

A Step Back In Time

IT IS POSSIBLE TO REMEMBER THE 60's~~
EVEN IF YOU DID EAT THE BROWNIES!!

A Step Back In Time

by Bon'Oregon

Since we all seem to be nostalgic for the GOOD OLD DAYS (whatever days those may be for each of us), I thought it might be fun to hear what, if anything, you remember or were told of that most eventful era, the '60's. Were you "at Woodstock"? ~~ Wasn't everyone? Were you told about The Sixties by your parents? Do you remember them with fondness or sadness? Where did you live? Has much changed there since? Do you still have trash or treasures from that era?

Here's a wonderful link with almost 10 minutes of 60's memories to get you thinking. Grab a beverage, turn up the volume and ENJOY a step back in time.......

http://cruzintheavenue.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm

Creativity!

by scirish

Creativity

I have been giving a lot of thought lately to creativity and how it affects the feeling of fulfillment.

I have tried to do many things over the years; they just went bad very quickly.

I mean, how many unfinished hooked rug/pillow thingy's can one person have?

I tried embroidery…I finished one thing, and I finished that because I wanted to give it to an older friend who loved that kind of stuff and it would mean something to her. She could have done it herself in half the time..

I tried painting water colors too…I ended up with more water than color and made a mess out of the whole house in the process.

I tried writing and couldn't keep my own attention.

I tried knitting, I still have the scarf that is an inch long and has been ripped out at least five times. The yarn is starting to pill.

I tried making my own clothes….a gunny sack looks better.

I love going to flea markets and tag sales and decorated my house with "finds". I'd like to think that it works.

I started making jewelry; I'd like to think that it works also….

I think all these missteps were experiments in finding something that would "round out" my life, to balance out the linear thinking me. I don't know if it worked, but even with all the disasters, I had fun exploring/discovering my creative side ….I am a walking example of there being something for everyone


What are your stories? Have you had crafty disasters? Successes? How important is being creative to you? Or is it not important?

Thong Thursday

i always think of Thursday's as
Thong Thursday's, thanks to Tina
it started here on the nest, i think
from a joke, just don't remember
and ever since than my Thursday's
have been very thongy!

now i don't wear thong's normally
i do have a few pair and at times
i wear them, i just don't love the
stringy part in my butt i always
feel like i have a wedgy and i
certainly just can't pick the wedgy
at any given time, i have to look
around and make sure not one is
looking and pull at the string and breathe

perhaps if i was 24 with a great butt
i might like them, however at 47 and
with a swiss cheese butt, i just can't
make the switch to wearing them all
the time

i also worry about those poo stains
with the string in my butt, its like i am
walking around with toilet paper
in my butt all day, "wipe while you walk"

i am going to wear a thong today in honor
of this blog, lets see how many times
i have to run and hide to pull the string part out

i will however bring an extra pair of underwear
with be to work, cause when it just gets to be
to much, i will always have my hanes!

nope, i just changed my mind, not gonna
put myself thru that today

however i can wear my thongs on
my feet, and still celebrate this blog

so i will be flip flopping it all day, so much
better for the breathing!

what are you guys gonna do in honor
of Thong Thursday?

fun~~~

Fine Tuned!

my emotions need to be fine tuned
i go from happy to sad to crazed
all in about ten 1/2 seconds, it happens
so quickly, i don't even realize the
change until someone close to me points it out

i have thought about this often, and have
made a decision that it comes with getting
older, when i was younger so much rolled
off my back to never be thought about again

now, i pick things apart and it affects my
emotions, it also affects my thinking
because if i am crazed for whatever reason
my thinking is crazy thoughts!

try as i might to keep my emotions fined
tuned, i lose every time, the battle is ongoing

there are times, these emotions get to me
i want to be able to notice when they arrive
so i can handle them better, and not completely
freak out

there has to be a way, i just have to look
in different places within myself

i have to try

in the meantime, watch out, as you never
know when my emotions will emerge
good, bad, or indifferent it could get ugly!

New Beginnings

today is a first for
mary/mi
she is sharing a part of
her life with us, so very
happy she shared!

New Beginnings

by mary/mi

This may seem strange to some of you, but to me, last Friday a miracle happened! My younger brother Tony went to Walmart!

This may seem like a simple thing to some of you, but to my family it is amazing! My brother has been in a nursing home since a bad fall that left his legs paralyzed. Before his accident, my Brothers passion was music. He is a great singer and guitar player. He had his own gospel band for many years.

He had gained a lot of weight and became home bound. He also suffered from deep depression after his divorce. He has been treated for depression for many years, even had shock treatment.

I have made the trip to his nursing home for over 4 yrs. It always left me depressed seeing him lay there day after day , year after year. He would only sleep eat and watch t.v. He always wanted the blinds down. I noticed he wasn't able to watch t.v. very well because of his room mate. We decided to get him a larger t.v and got him a good set of earphones. This seemed to make a break through to him. He told me himself that the earphones saved him. He was able to clearly hear his favorite movie channels and connect to the outside. He amazingly started to come out of his depression and has lost over 80lbs.

His X-wife, who we adore, still visits him occasionally. Yesterday she stopped by to see him. He told her he needed a new razer, and could she please go get him one. She (I am sure has noticed his progress) told him to go get it himself. He looked at her like huh? She called Dial-a-Ride. They rolled him out with his wheel chair and they drove him to WalMart where he bought his own razer! He hasn't been out of the nursing home in 4 years!

He called and told all of us how excited he was! He is talking of going out to restaurants and maybe a few more shopping trips!

This was our Good Friday miracle! I had to share.