CHOCOLATE - How it affects my LIFE and FUNNY BONE

                 PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]

(12 APR 2011 -- Life is not ALWAYS what you perceive with your eyes, feel with your hands, or hear with your ears; BUT the heart ALWAYS sees TRUE!!   LIFE is full of the unexpected and surprises -- hopefully delightful ones!  THE SURPRISE HERE IS NOT WHAT YOU MAY BE EXPECTING !!  The photo above is actually a photo of 'mud' -- that's right 'mud'.  Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011)

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Below are some of my favorite quotes relative to Chocolate (my FAV flavoring) -- ENJOY!!

LIFE IS NOT LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES, IT'S MORE LIKE A JAR OF JALAPENO'S.

WHAT YOU DO TODAY, MIGHT BURN YOUR BUTT TOMORROW!

OKAY, it might not be Patriotic, but you have to admit it is pretty good!  [borrowed from Jean E.- 5JUL2010]OU DO TODAY, MIGHT BURN YOUR BUTT TOMORROW! Okay ~ it might not be Patriotic, but you have to admit it is pretty good.

"IT IS BAD TO SUPPRESS LAUGHTER.  IT GOES BACK DOWN AND SPREADS TO YOUR HIPS! 
I thought that was just chocolate that did that."  [borrowed from Jean E. 2011]

"All you need is love.  But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." 

[- Charles M. Schulz]

"Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power.  It is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits."  [- Baron Justus von Liebig]

"Life is like a box of chocolates ... You never know what you're gonna get."  [- Forrest Gump, as portrayed by Tom Hanks]

If life is like a box of chocolates, then it's time for me to buy another box, I seemed to have already devoured all the good ones! 

[– unknown]

Life is like a box of chocolates, the best ones are half eaten!! [– unknown]

"There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles."  [– unknown]

Chocolate causes certain endocrine glands to secrete hormones that affect your feelings and behavior by making you happy.  Therefore, it counteracts depression, in turn reducing the stress of depression.  Your stress-free life helps you maintain a youthful disposition, both physically and mentally.  So, eat lots of chocolate!  [-Elaine Sherman]

This guy found a bottle on the ocean, and he opened it and out popped a genie, and he gave him three wishes.  The guy wished for a million dollars, and poof!  There was a million dollars.  Then he wished for a convertible, and poof!  There was a convertible.  And then, he wished he could be irresistible to all women... poof!  He turned into a box of chocolates.  [– unknown]

I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process....  It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?  [– unknown]

Chocolate flows in deep dark, sweet waves, and a river to ignite my mind and alert my senses.  [– unknown]

Chocolate doesn't make the world go around ... but it certainly makes the ride worthwhile!  [– unknown]

Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can. 
[– unknown]

Seven days without chocolate makes ONE WEAK.  [– unknown]

In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips.  [– unknown]

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My Neighbors -- The Robins

                     (PHOTO SOURCE:  American ROBIN GOOGLE online images)

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(10 APR 2011 -- There are several robins that live near my home and visit my backyard foraging for food and nesting supplies.  I very much enjoy their many songs and birdcalls that are cheery and something like whistling.  It is the nicest way to start my day and wake up to.  They seem to begin their songs early in the morning hours; and when I am outside doing my gardening, I enjoy their company.  I see them often with small twigs and grass in their beaks gathered from my yard, and then they fly to the house next door where there are some tall trees.

They visit daily and it seems forage all day long, although I have NOT taken many good PIXs of them.  However, they are just so healthy, 'fat', and beautiful that I wanted to post something here on my BLOG page.  I will try to get some good PIXs and even video this season to share.  These birds are truly wonderful and so beautiful!  Dorothy Hazel Tarr - 2011)

NESTING

It is amazing to watch the ROBINs in my backyard as they forage and gather small twigs and grass to build their nests.  Their nests seem to snugly 'fit' the body of the adult ROBIN perfectly.  This it seems is the best way to keep the nest insulated with the ROBIN's body so the warmth it provides stays in the nest.  The size of the nest is such that it will hold up to FOUR ROBIN eggs and growing chicks.  The nest is round and I wondered why!  After reading some websites, I learned that the robin in the nest hunkers down -- almost looks like it is bending in half.  It is at this time that it is using its wings to beat down and press the twigs in a circle as the ROBIN turns around in a circle in the 'growing' nest.  The ROBIN flaps its wings very fast - thump thump thump – and you can hear this sound if you are close enough (if they let you that close to their nest) and/or have a recording device near the nest.

SOURCES

I have posted a sampling of some WEB SITES here that have LOTS of great info, so I will only include my personal observations in this space.  AND, later I will post some PIXs of the ROBINs as they visit my backyard, and maybe 'capture' some of their bird songs.  The LEGENDS and STORIES that surround these wonderful ROBIN RED BREASTS are heart warming and have ties to FAITH and RELIGION.  


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SOURCE website (has ROBIN quotes):
[ http://www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Robins/1/index.html  ]

SOURCE website (has sound sample):
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin  ]

SOURCE website (has sound samples and MORE):
[ http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_robin/id  ]

SOURCE website:
[ http://www.all-birds.com/American-Robin.htm  ]

SOURCE website (has video samples and MORE):
[ http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/Robins.html  ]

YouTube

SOURCE YouTube (just a sampling of Robin singing):
[ http://youtu.be/98DFgHAe-Qw  ]
[ http://youtu.be/UwnhwF9_x2Y  ]

SOURCE YouTube (ROBIN in nest making the THUMP sound while turning in circle):
[ http://youtu.be/fqgPmnW8yCU  ]

SOURCE YouTube (just a sampling of Robin egg hatching):
[ http://youtu.be/FDKgLfWheoI  ]
[ http://youtu.be/Ko8E4b0bYFo  ]

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(PHOTO SOURCE: GOOGLE online images -- American ROBIN blue eggs)

THE CHANGING SEASONS

(Photo Source: Google online images)

(9 Apr 2011 – Where is it written that Time moves slowly in times of Trouble and quickly in times of Joy?  Who is the record keeper of Times Passage?  My mirror holds many stories and many secrets.  dht)

The changing seasons mark the passage of time on NATURE's Landscape,

even as the lines on my cheeks mark the hourglass of my life's journey.

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr]

           (Photo Source: Google online images)

NATURE'S HOURGLASS

[PHOTO SOURCE: National Geographic online images]
(Weathered clothes pins on clothes line in an outdoor setting)
 

Our middle years are the best of times and proffer a chance to take 'stock' of where we have been and where we want to go. Down the road of tomorrow, the ravages of age will line the face and make us frail. However, these are but layers of time cocooning the child that lives in happy wonderment of making it to another birthday. [~Dorothy Hazel Tarr-2011]

Each year is a special gift that you can hold and put into your Heart's Treasure Chest nestled with all the treasures and memories of yesterday. [~Dorothy Hazel Tarr-2011]

Below are some quotes that touch a special place in my mind and heart. (dht) 

Old Time, that greatest and longest established spinner of all!.... his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his hands are mutes. [~Charles Dickens]

A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called an old man for the first time. [~Oliver W. Holmes, Sr.]

You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. [~Ogden Nash]

They say that age is all in your mind. The trick is keeping it from creeping down into your body. [~Author Unknown]

The other day a man asked me what I thought was the best time of life. "Why," I answered without a thought, "now." [~David Grayson]

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. [~Author Unknown]

Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people, the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life. [~Charles Dickens]

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. [~Mark Twain]

It's important to have a twinkle in your wrinkle. [Author Unknown]

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. [~Samuel Ullman]

There is always a lot to be thankful for, if you take the time to look. For example, I'm sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt. [~Author Unknown]

Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle. [~Bob Hope]

The years teach much which the days never knew. [~Ralph Waldo Emerson]

In youth the days are short and the years are long; in old age the years are short and the days long. [~Nikita Ivanovich Panin]

A man's age is something impressive, it sums up his life: maturity reached slowly and against many obstacles, illnesses cured, griefs and despairs overcome, and unconscious risks taken; maturity formed through so many desires, hopes, regrets, forgotten things, loves. A man's age represents a fine cargo of experiences and memories. [~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. [~John Barrymore]

Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart. [~Caryn Leschen]

Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age. [~Victor Hugo]

Years ago, we discovered the exact point, the dead center of middle age. It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush to the net. [~Franklin Adams]

Everyone is the age of their heart. [~Guatemalan Proverb]

Youth is a disease from which we all recover. [~Dorothy Fulheim]

There was no respect for youth when I was young, and now that I am old, there is no respect for age - I missed it coming and going. [~J.B. Priestly]

I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now. [~Author Unknown]

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old. [~Oliver Wendell Holmes]

Age is a high price to pay for maturity. [~Tom Stoppard]

The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible. [~Judith Regan]

The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity. [~Mark Twain]

The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion. [~Doris Lessing]

There is still no cure for the common birthday. [~John Glenn]

Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces into their hearts. [~Martin Buxbaum]

You can't hide your true colours as you approach the autumn of your life. [~Author Unknown]

I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates. [~T.S. Eliot]

Whatever poet, orator, or sage may say of it, old age is still old age. [~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]

TWO SIDES OF A COIN

(Photo Source: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/File:Universeglass.JPG

(The inside of a weird glass cup, making it appear to be a constellation of stars. {GFDL})

(3 Mar 2011 -- This BLOG posting was a difficult one for me to 'post' and I almost did NOT post it, and then when I did post it I ALMOST deleted it!!!  NOW, I feel REALLY GLAD that I overcame my "..." , for the comments proffered were very meaningful to me personally!  THANK YOU !!! dht) 

                   [Photo Source: Google online images]

Knowing something and feeling something deeply are two sides of a coin.

Some things that happen are so devastating that they eclipse everything else until healed.

Some things are so wonderful that it's hard to relinquish them.

Two different feelings.

Two different perspectives.

Both powerful responses in a different landscape.

Polar opposites—

sunset – sunrise

night – day

rain – shine

cold – heat

wet – dry

dying – living

death – birth

moonlight – sunlight

endings – beginnings

goings – comings

goodbye – hello

low – high

short – tall

ugly – beauty

old – youth

dull – sharp

sour – sweet

hate – love

down – up

far – near

left – right

east – west

north – south

false – true

fake – real

push – pull

passive – aggressive

JUST A TOSS OF A COIN!

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr] 

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In this offering: What do you notice about the words? Their meaning? 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! ---------------

What will today bring?

Are events and circumstance just a toss of the coin in one's life?

If there a choice, on which side of the coin will you live?

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COMMENTS:

'Polar opposites', the balances of life.
"Some things are so wonderful that it's hard to relinquish them" = parenthood.  Even though we remain parents after our child has left (as we want them to do), the longing for the child remains. Today's poem/reflection (to me) is all about family and especially about children -- and also about 'changes' that occur regardless of whether or not we want them.  The question is always:  Will we be able to adapt [to our life's changes]?  Or will the changes encompass us, drag us down and spit us out [a more weary, fragile, and wary person]?  Good points to ponder.

This reminded me of a quote:  

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something. [~Richard Feynman 1918-1988 an American physicist]

{~CAMV 4 Mar 2011}

[Photo Source:  Google online images]
(Just a note about this image.  THERE are TWO perspectives to this PIX (a- a women in her Winter years, and b - a women in her Spring years. The chin of the young is the nose of the old. The necklace of the young is the lip of the old. Which perspective did you see first in this PIX?  Do you see the negative or positive perspective first in Life?  LIFE is how you 'see' it.)

NATURE'S SECRETS

                  [Photo Source: Online images National Geographic]

(3 Mar 2011 -- Twice BLESSED are ye who see the heart where time and 'stance masks!  dht)

WHAT sweet poetry of NATURE'S anthem

resides in this inhospitable shell

WHAT mental stream of consciousness

keynotes a monologue of regret

WHAT creature exists on Earth's plane

at the changing mercy of NATURE'S whimsy

WHAT awaits the searcher

at the gong of life's end clock

WHAT unanswered calls of yesterday

go unsaid today and forgotten tomorrow

WHAT new dawn foretells

of fortunes lost on yesterday dreams

WHAT spent passion wounds

there cauterized by heartache

WHAT layers yet to unfold

reveal repeating patterns of yesterday shadows

WHAT sweet NATURE does restore

the balance and chase away demons

WHAT instrument NATURE's brandish

doth level the sharpness of lingering regret

WHAT rich nectar of NATURE does sustain

through moments of despair with assurance all's well

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr]

 

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In this offering: What do you notice about the words? Their meaning? 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! ---------------

WHAT patterns do you see in this PIX?

WHAT mysteries of NATURE come to mind?

WHAT phantoms, demons, shadows await the explorer?

WHAT season is this?

WHAT time of day's cycle?

WHAT abode? Permanent? Temporal?

WHAT are you? Participant? Observer? Advisor? Companion? Uninvolved? Disinterested?

Don't give a 'hoot' or 'whistle'?

JUST an interesting PIX and some jumble of syllables?

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