Dogwood Tree Blossom, The Other Side, Mars, PA
As you stretch and reach
and open yourself
to the sunshine
after the rain
I admire your beauty
from underneath
And wonder if its really much different
on the other side?
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Dogwood Tree Blossom, Day Dreaming in Monochrome, Mars, PA
Dreaming of
far away places
that are soft
and light
and free.
Maybe I’ll go there.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Up Close & Personal with Flowers/Weeds in My Lawn, Mars, PA
“Weeds are flowers too…
Once you get to know them.”
— A. A. Milne, Author of Winnie the Pooh
May you see flowers in all of your “weeds.”
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Earth
Once upon a time
a little girl was born
to the best Grandma
in the entire universe.
As time passed,
the little girl grew,
but her admiration
for the best Grandma
in the entire universe
never waned.
The grandma knew
she wouldn’t be able
to stay forever
and share her love
with the little girl
who became a woman, a wife, and a mother
who she still so greatly adored.
So she gave the woman
a plant to remember
her everywhere she would go
wherever she went
for as long as she lived.
And every May
the little girl
who is now
soon be a Grandma herself
remembers the love
from her special Grandma.
The gift of life
The gift of love
the gift from the heart
A bleeding heart.
A heart that knows
A heart that understands
A heart that consoles
a little girl, a grand-daughter,
a mother, a soon-to-be grandmother.
With admiration
beyond compare,
with love and a bleeding heart
from one little girl, mother, grand-daughter, grandmother
to another.
I love you, Grandma
now and forever.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
(My Grandma gave me this Bleeding Heart plant before she passed away many years ago. I have moved it twice. Every Spring, I shed a tear of joy, of sorrow, of love, of loss when it blooms and reminds me of one of the greatest ladies , role models, “mothers,” I have ever known. I believe it to be the most beautiful flower on the entire planet.)
Male Goldfinch, Mars, PA
A Little Birdie told me….
Stop waiting
for tomorrow,
or the weekend
or a rainy day,
or a sunny day.
Joy is found
when you stop waiting,
and start realizing
the joy in the moments
of every day life.
Cherish the moments
of a gentle breeze,
a warm smile,
a soft embrace,
a kind word.
A little birdie told me
life is short,
grief and hatred and sorrow exist,
but love conquers all,
joy exists,
happy moments must be grasped.
Cherish the moments.
A little birdie told me.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
The Old Dogwood Tree, Mars, PA
You are a late bloomer,
and I worry every year
if you will make it through
and blossom and bloom.
Such a welcome site
on brittle branches,
your fragile flowers
make their appearance again.
Welcome Spring
from the Old Dogwood Tree.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Bloom where you are planted.
There’s no better place to be.
Right exactly where you are
is where you’re meant to be.
Bloom where you are planted
for all the world to see.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Forsythia Growing Around a Split Rail Fence on a Country Road
Today is National Healthcare Decision Day. This is something quite near and dear to my heart and something I am passionate about.
National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) exists to inspire, educate and empower the public about the importance of advance care planning. NHDD is an initiative to encourage individuals to express their wishes regarding healthcare and for healthcare providers to respect those wishes, whatever they may be. The theme for 2016 is “It Always Seems Too Early, Until It’s Too Late.”
The National Healthcare Decision Day website has a multitude of resources that I highly recommend you check out at this link. I also recommend a project that I helped work on called the Journey GPS (Getting Plans Started) Guide. You can download it free at this link. It is a great resource for starting the conversation and carrying out your wishes for the way you want to experience your journey at end of life when that time comes. The #NHDD theme this year is so poignant and true: It always seems too early, until it is too late!
Take some time today to consider your choices, and let your loved ones know. You deserve to have the right care at the right time in the right place no matter where you are in this crazy journey we call life.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Why does there have to be
So much fighting…
So much hatred…
Politics.
Religion.
In a world where
you can be anything,
Be Kind.
It’s really not that hard.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
(pink rose from my anniversary bouquet)
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay
watching the……
geese and birds and fishermen and rowers,
cars and bikers and joggers and walkers.
Soaking up the early Spring sunshine after a fun little field trip day with hubby on Saturday.
We stopped by the Three Rivers Rowing Association Youth Boathouse in Pittsburgh.
As I snapped photos, I was drawn to this beat up ole’ beauty that sat alone
amidst all the sleek and shiny new sweep and sculling boats.
It’s beauty caught my eye the most.
Kind of like people.
Youth is sleek and shiny and new and beautiful,
but the real beauty that more often catches my attention
is the kind that emanates from the wrinkles on the face of the older woman
who has spent decades loving and smiling and laughing
with her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
or the rough and calloused, knotty, sun-spotted hands of an old man
who worked hard all his life to support his family.
Hands with map-like veins protruding as if telling a story of the places he’d gone and the things he’d done.
Hands that hurt, yet gently stroke his wife’s cheek, guide his children’s path, and cradle his grandchildren.
Yep – sittin’ on the dock of the….. river….
wasting time?
Maybe not.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Photo submission for the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Half-Light: Share a photo inspired by a poem, verse, song lyric or story. Also in loving memory of “Poops” Pap McKinney, who we remember lovingly today on his birthday.
the creative life in between 