Another Day, Another Nature

                   [Photo Source: National Geographic online images]

[This PHOTO illustrates to ME by its imagery, that ALTHOUGH I may look different on the outside while among you, IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, you will see how much we are the same—IF YOU TAKE THE 'TIME' TO LOOK CLOSELY!  dht]

(26 Feb 2011 – TODAY was a life-changing day for me.  So I am posting these sayings that seem to 'fit' my new perspective with a photo that pairs with the 'new'!  MY FAV saying and the one that most 'fits' me today is the last quote by Donald Miller!  dht)

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(My grandmother used to say “If you can't change something, change the way you think about it."  [-Maya Angelou] )

 GRAMs always 'know' best!  Dorothy Hazel Tarr]

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”  [-Maria Robinson]

 “Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends.”  [-unknown]

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”  [-Flora Whittemore]

 “Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.”  [-Keri Russell]

 “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”  [-Pericles]

 “There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”

[-Winston Churchill] {Sir Winston Leonard Spencer -Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS (30 Nov 1874 – 24 Jan 1965) was a British politician and statesman} (my Cousin, THAT's right!)

 “Life can either be accepted or changed.  If it is not accepted, it must be changed.  If it cannot be changed, then it must be accepted.”  [-unknown]

 “You've changed so much.  I guess that's what happens.  I wish you knew how much you changed me.  I wonder if I changed you, if your life is different because of me.  Because mine's different."  [-unknown]

 “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  [-Reinhold Niebuhr]

“Change is the essence of life.  Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”  [-unknown]

 “Everything in life is connected somehow.  You may have to dig deep to find it but it's there.  Everything is the same even though it's different.  Somehow, everything connects back with your life.  The faces in certain places may be different, but the situation is the same.  Irony is a hidden factor that creeps around us in life, letting its presence felt only after it has left.  Picture back to a year ago and the situations you were in.  Look at how things are different yet somehow everything is still in some way cognate [alike].  Everything connects together to form the balance of life, to maintain structure.  Change is and always will be inevitable, but everything is relative, and all the moments and times in your life will come back around again, you just might find yourself on the other side of the coin.  Things are always changing, as fast as everything stays the same.”  [-unknown]

“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret, and depression.  Do not repeat them in the future.”  [-Swami Sivananda]

 “Life is change.  Growth is optional.  Choose wisely.”  [-unknown]

 “We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love.  It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.”  [-William Somerset Maugham]

 “It is always the simple things that change our lives.  And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen.  Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so.  You feel like running, but life is on a stroll.  This is how God does things.”  [-Donald Miller]

  

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Brandy Rose -- SPRING TIME in my Garden

[Photo Source: My camera, my photo, my yard, Mother Nature's Gift of a beautiful Brandy Rose – one of my favorite roses]

(Monday, February 21, 2011 -- One of the sure cures for melancholy is immersing oneself in the vast landscape of Nature – be it Nature's creatures or Mother Nature's beauty and bounty.  For me, working in my garden is an honor – I am the steward of the small portion of land where upon I live.  I wrote this after seeing SPRING begin in my backyard through my living room window.  I hope you who read it will be able to feel this wonderful moment as I use my words to share my feelings and thoughts.  dht)

I hear the remembered sounds of a spring dawn in my garden.

Bird song tempts me closer to my window -- camera at the ready.

I thrust back the draperies to reveal the restoration of my garden in full progress.

Spring has arrived!

Flower blossoms greet the welcome blessings of sunlight.

Butterflies flirt on petals.

Bees conduct honeyed business.

Hummingbirds anoint and twitter

Robins forage and primp

A WALTZ is played -- the tune, the lyrics, and the rites of SPRING!

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr]

DAY's VENUE

 [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

 

(20 Feb 2011, Sunday --  Just a few words to go with this PIX.  It is astonishing how a few short phrases pierce the gray of your world with a single beam of light. dht)

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WHERE goes the day

Down yester night's passage.

How blind today's privilege

Lost fast in yesterday's grasp.

Tomorrow's dream a pledge

Whence nature's precedence assures.

Breast expanse upon deep breath

While shallow essence sums life's interval.

What key holds true for grantor's trust

Whilst surety and worth stand anon.

Time bespoke metered sameness

Whose vowel foretold spoiled fortune.

Ribbons linger as fragments

Where once whole, a heart full.

Shattered spectrum of hopes

Cast away on ocean's tears.

Love's gamble played and lost

Age of regret the debt.

Once concealed by life's chains

Now released by nature's bail.

What hostage behind the threshold

Where compromise affords release.

What sound the closing door

What venue the open window.

What knock insures a beggars entrance

What token barters the price.

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr]

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In this offering:

What do you notice about the words?  Their meaning?  Punctuation?  Sentence structure?  Pairing of Sentences?  First word, middle, or last words of Sentences?  What words could be substituted?  What connection words added for clarity?  What meaning of your own would you assign to these words, phrases, sentences?

--------------- OR, Why didn't you just say so! ---------------

 

Today is just a memory that has passed into yesterday.

Thoughts of yesterday blind you to the beauty of today.

Tomorrow is a new beginning as sure as the sun will rise.

Now the lungs expands, as if you had been living with too little air for a long time, where before your breaths were shallow and the pain too great for deep breathing.

What is the secret to giving your trust to another, while other(s) do nothing to earn and secure your trust?

The rest of your life will be nothing but more of the same ... misfortune.

The ones you LOVED the most in this world, have all cut away a piece of your heart, until all is left are tattered ribbons of melancholy and despair.

A bright future so full of a kaleidoscope of hopes lays shattered, lost and washed away with oceans of tears.

It may be better for some to LOVE and LOSE, than never to LOVE at all; but what price must be paid and for what duration.

The years of aching emptiness and pain are camouflaged in life's daily routine, but soon there will be an end to the pain as nature ends its hold to death's surrender.

Where are the words of forgiveness and compromise that release pain's grip on a broken heart?

The silence of the closing door confuses the opening of a window; as the lack of plain speaking confuses the path to understanding.

What will it cost the one who knocks; and what more must the one who knocks surrender?

 [Dorothy Hazel Tarr] 

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WINDOW DREAMs

How sharp the contrast between

the heart's abode now worn with time's despair

and the gaping mawe of fate with

its distant vistas casting new shades of meaning

on another world (another life, another time, another place)

filled with vibrant colors, sweet breaths, soft gentle breezes,

and LOVE's warm embrace.

 [Dorothy Hazel Tarr] 

MY HEART'S ABODE

            [PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

(Friday, February 18, 2011 --    How quickly one's mood swings on Life's pendulum where memories of yesterday bring a misty veil to the eye and sorrow of regret to the Heart.  Then a smile, a kind word, a thoughtful gesture tilt the pendulum  and joy fills the Spirit and lightens the burdens of a heavy Heart.  dht)

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Whence yesterday dwelled within, a tale of woe

Where familiar depths, an oft'd washed valley of tears

Where life's essence, a camouflage of passion's malaise

Where a heart chained, a cloak's regret

Where laughter's kiss, a poignant foible

Where spirits sag, a sad intrusion

Where doubts confound, a confidence tried

Where comforts refuge, a heavy departure

Where shifting days, a joie de vivre (a certain love for life)

How the years sped, as on fleeting wings

How bittersweet smile, as lips curve in memory

How shattered dreams, a pathway borders

How affection's crumb, an infrequent touch stone

How spectator's lassitude, a day's perfection

Then Suddenly perspective tilts,

Then Winter's regrets, now replaced by summer' promises

Then vagueness escapes, as senses awaken

Then birdsong boast, as sorrow takes flight

Then bees flirt on blossom's scent, as fears escape

Then rose buds unfold to sun's kiss, as loneliness departs

Then soft breezes whisper in tree boughs, as hugs not offered are forgotten

Then my heart soars in praise, as dawns such a beautiful day

Then tall grasses dance, as to wind's waltz

Then humming birds perform, as aerials on blossom bow'r

AND, Then somehow the beauty of the garden infiltrated my soul.

AND, the mystical journey of my life is paved with the flowers of my hopes to the Camelot of my dreams.

AND, My Life suddenly is full of light, warmth, beauty, bird song, soft breezes, smiling faces, potential, dreams, rainbows, courage, joy, and poetry.

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr] 

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PERSPECTIVE. PERCEPTION. PERFECT?

(PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic internet images -- Luxembourg Garden, Paris, France)

TRICKY QUESTION:  HOW MANY statue(s), figurine(s) and/or non-living things do you see in this PIX?  dht

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(17 Feb 2011 -- DOT your "i's" and cross your "T's" -- OR, it's all in the details!  dht)

PERSPECTIVE.  PERCEPTION.  PERFECT?

UNDERSTANDING   the world around us and the many things we are exposed to daily can be a challenge.  Perspective can lead to different versions of the world or a situation.  Your ability to be flexible and to examine (or re-examine again and again) situations, events, people, and your 'take on things', may allow for a richer and fuller appreciation for your life and your place in the world.

HERE are two examples where punctuation and emphasis change the meaning of the words!

In the first example, there are two versions illustrating the change!

In the second example, YOU CAN make the changes and SEE how many versions YOU CAN DISCOVER and OBSERVE how YOUR perspective changes your conclusions and observations!  

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr] 

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An English professor wrote the words:

"A woman without her man is nothing"

on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All of the males in the class wrote:

"A woman, without her man, is nothing."

All the females in the class wrote:

"A woman: without her, man is nothing."

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Women Drivers

This morning on the Interstate, I looked over to my left and there was a Woman in a brand new Cadillac Doing 65 mph with her Face up next to her Rear view mirror Putting on her eyeliner.

I looked away For a couple seconds... to continue shaving  And when I looked back she was Halfway over in my lane, Still working on that makeup.

As a man, I don't scare easily.  But she scared me so much; I dropped My electric shaver Which knocked The donut Out of my other hand.

In all The confusion of trying To straighten out the car Using my knees against The steering wheel, It knocked My Cell Phone Away from my ear Which fell Into the coffee Between my legs!  Splashed, And burned Big Jim and the Twins, Ruined the damn phone, Soaked my trousers, And disconnected an Important call.

Damn women drivers!

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LOVE THEMEs

[PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

LOVE is what makes two people sit in the middle of a bench when there is plenty of room at both ends.  [unknown]

   

(14 Feb 2011 – LOVE can be as complicated as anything you could possibly imagine, with millions of definitions, flavors, depths, textures, lengths, sizes, temperatures, volumes, and silences.  ON THE OTHER HAND, it can be as SIMPLE as three little words – I LOVE YOU!  HAPPY VALENTINE DAY!!  X-O-X-O-X-O  {X=kiss, O=hug} Dorothy Hazel Tarr)

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WHAT is YOUR definition of LOVE?

WHAT does LOVE look like?  Feel like?

WHEN does LOVE begin?  End?

WHERE does LOVE live?

WHY does LOVE lift the spirit, WHILE drowning the heart?

DO you have a saying that fits your LOVE?

Below are some LOVE quotes that may reveal or inspire!

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr] 

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WHAT IS LOVE?

A description of love from the movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin:

"Love is a temporary madness.  It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides.  And when it subsides, you have to make a decision.  You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.  Because this is what love is.  Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, and it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion.  That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.  Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.  Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."  [~St. Augustine]

 

“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart.  It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.”  [~Judy Garland]

 “The love that lasts the longest is the love that is never returned.”  [~William Somerset Maugham]

 
“You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she'd want: 
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”
[~David Harkins, British Poet and Painter]

One of the hardest things in life is watching the person you love, love someone else.  [unknown]

 

“If you love somebody, let them go.  If they return, they were always yours.  If they don't, they never were.”  [unknown]

 
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.  [~Francois de La Rochefoucauld]

Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.  [~C. S. Lewis]
 

As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.  [~William Shakespeare]

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.  [~Plato]

It breaks your heart to see the one you love is happy
with someone else, but it's more painful to know that
the one you love is unhappy with you.  [unknown]

Who do you turn to when the only person
in the world that can stop you from crying,
is exactly the one making you cry?  [unknown]

He taught me how to love,
but not how to stop.  [unknown]

Give her two red roses, each with a note.  The first note says 'For the woman I love' and the second, 'For my best friend.'  [unknown]

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

Love...  What is love?  Love is to love someone for who they are, who they were, and who they will be.  [~Chris Moore]

Love is a language spoken by everyone, but understood only by a heart.  [~ Shirley Rindani]

Never say goodbye when you still want to try.
Never give up when you still feel you can take it.
Never say you don't love a person when you can't let go.  [~Dons]

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