I swear this cardinal is blowing a raspberry at us saying “Na Na Na Na Poo Poo – It’s Monday Again!”
Oh Monday…
You are a beginning,
and you are an end.
Like a glass that is half empty to one,
and half full to another.
You are just another day,
but oft with dreaded suspension.
Let us hang on to the hope,
that comes with your inception.
– – – – – – – – – – –
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
Sometimes we blossom and bloom and exude radiant brilliance.
Other times our thistles and thorns protect us and guard us and hide us.
Reach, stretch, discover, grow.
Bloom where you are planted.
Evolve with your seasons.
Never be afraid to express yourself.
This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge asked us to post a photo to “Express Yourself.”
As I contemplated the subject, this photo I took a few months ago on a walk spoke to me. It inspired me to express myself – as this thistle – in all of its ages and stages does.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
So it’s Friday night – though you are reading this sometime after 6:00 am EST on Saturday. (If you haven’t caught on yet, I schedule my daily posts for 6 am EST, but I typically write them the evening before.) 😉
And for this particularly exciting Friday evening (as I am fighting off a head cold that is trying to get the best of me and a little bit of a sore back – did something at the dang gym – grr!), Marty and I ate Chinese take out (I indulged in my favorite 8-treasure rice from Jimmy Wann’s and a nice glass of Red Zin – my first all week!) in front of a warm fire… and I got to pick the movie.
I rarely even care what is on television, but I love to pick a movie on Friday evening for some reason. ( I know – really exciting stuff – eh?!)
So, as I write this, I am not only sniffling from the nasal drip of this cold, but from literally bawling my eyes out.
We watched “The Fault in our Stars.”
I know – a little late to the game on this one – eh? But – wow – what a beautiful story…
Ok – maybe a little mushy, a little cliche, a little predictable.
But also so life affirming, thought provoking, and a reminder of how precious life is.
A story that shows us how we need to discover that a good life does not mean we have to be famous or accomplished or published or world-renown ….
One of my favorite lines is when 16 year old cancer patient, Hazel tells her boyfriend Gus, an 18-year old young man who is dying and disappointed that he didn’t do something greater with his life:
“You say you’re not special because the world doesn’t know about you, but that’s an insult to me. I know about you.”
My BFF, Jill, and I have often said to each other throughout the years, “What’s it all about?”
I think it’s about loving…
Loving life – and the people that are in our life…
And isn’t that enough?
So what a coincidence that I had made this (yet another – been on a crafty kick this week) card with this crazy little bird that I can’t even tell you what colors I used, because I kept combining and mixing and blending a million colors until I liked it, from the SU stamp set called – of all things – “Love Life.”
So Discover how to love life.
It is worth it. Every cherished moment.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
And P.S. I’ll be baking tomorrow… look for a new recipe I’m trying for Orange Slice Cookies.
Day dreamin’
While the rain is freezin’
With a look in his eyes
That longs for blue skies.
Mikey McKinney – 7 years old
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
I don’t know about you? But I’m all screwed up….
In our part of the world, we switched time.
Yep – just like that, we are supposed to change the clocks – Fall Back, Spring Ahead – Daylight Savings Time – on – off – and just adjust….
But the challenging part is – the older I get – the harder it is to adjust to the time change.
For days weeks, I will say, but it is really XX time, even thought it is XX time. SERIOUSLY! Can an hour really do this to a brain?
Yep.
But I digress…
The topic of this blog was supposed to be what can we do with that extra hour….
and…. it was supposed to be posted on Sunday – the day we got that extra hour.
But – hey – whatever – I had other stories to tell and recipes to share, and I’m just getting to this….
(I have a card I am DYING to share, but holding off until tomorrow because I am worried you will grow weary of my silly cards – even though I am super-excited to share this one (for the Paper Players Vintage challenge 🙂 )
Sunday gave us an extra hour.
What did you do with it?
I stacked firewood. And I’m proud to tell it.
Very exciting -right??!!
Well – it was a beautiful day – and who knows what I was doing?… Oh I remember – cleaning off the porches/deck for the upcoming winter season 😦 …
Marty and Nick were cutting and chopping and stacking firewood so that we can keep warm, wonderful fires burning all winter long in the fireplace to keep us toasty. (As I wear t-shirts through this lovely menopausal period of life!)
I decided to help. I heaved and hoed and bent and snapped — anybody get the reference here??!! 🙂 — and tossed and stacked like the best of them.
And it felt good! Then….
Legs are a bit sore two days later. WIMP!
But I helped (for a change) my guys with the “physical” work that gets done around here; and it felt good, and it was nice to be a part of it.
What did you do with your extra hour? What would you do if you had one?
I spent it with a couple guys I so greatly appreciate and love even more!
Thanks for all the hard work you do to keep our home warm and comfortable and cozy, my dear Merv and my sweet Nick!
Cheers & Warm, Toasty Hugs,
(while I turn up the ceiling fan!)
Jodi
The #Writing101 Group I was in had such an engaging group of people from all over the world, and I was sorry to see it end. I really enjoyed the challenges and felt they stretched me as a “writer.”
So I was super excited that several of the members took the initiative to carry on and continue our team support by forming a new group to offer writing challenges called #TheWritersHub. Our current challenge is to write a six-word story.
I combined mine with this photo I took on my Walk with My Camera today. My story sums up my life right now.
Looking up
at
life in between
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
You discover a letter on a path that affects you deeply. Today, write about this encounter. And your twist? Be as succinct as possible.
————————————————————————
Well – of course its a love letter 🙂 …………
Bear with me, friends, on a fiction challenge.
————————————————————————
It was just like any other Friday morning in September.
Mikey and I were on our morning walk.
The sun was bright, the breeze light, the air crisp, and the crickets chirped their Autumn lullaby.
Mikey saw it first – or most likely smelled it first, and he tugged on the leash I was leisurely holding.
“What now,” I thought.
Then I saw it.
I couldn’t resist picking it up.
I unfolded the tattered composition paper that was tucked into the torn and faded yellowing envelope.
“My Dearest Love,” it began.
“I miss you more than the number of stars in the sky. I miss you deeper than the depths of the sea. The only thing that makes this time away from you bearable, is knowing that you are there, waiting for me, praying for me, longing for me – as I long for you. I am the most fortunate man in the entire universe, because I know in my heart that you are…..”
The page was torn. The rest of the story is lost – – – lost in time, lost in space.
Maybe it belongs to one of our neighbors.
Or maybe it has traveled for hundreds or thousands of miles – floating through the winds of time.
Mikey and I will never know.
He trudges ahead, sniffing and searching for the next treasure.
I smile and wonder…. imagining…. dreaming…. hoping…. longing…. for a happy ending.
(The card pictured here was designed for The Pals Paper Arts Color Challenge PPA213. The challenge was to use: Blackberry Bliss, Brown Sugar, Cajun Craze, and Always Artichoke.)
The thing I love most about it is the tiny gold embossed hearts amidst the plethora of random dots. It’s like the hidden treasure – in the mass of chaos.
Kind of like life…
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 