Tested Friendship

HANDS IN CIRCLE

The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.” (Ulysses S. Grant)

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Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth,and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.” (George Washington)

 

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WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon

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HORIZON

I struggled last year, last month, yesterday; but all of that is passed away.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW DAY!

I tried and failed too many times; I fell and rose, but fell again.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW BEGINNING!

I wasted talents, time, and gifts, not purposely, but effectively.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW GIFT!

I loved, but lost and cried in pain, and swore I’d never trust again.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW PROMISE!

I gave up hoping things would change; just walked away and vowed to never try again.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW HOPE!

I chased my dreams but never seemed to catch them. And still they stretched for miles too far away.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW DREAM!

I squandered opportunities that came along my way. I feared and let them slip on by unclaimed.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW CHANCE!

Last year’s future stared me in the eye and challenged me to be all I could be. I didn’t try.
The sun breaks on the horizon: I have A NEW FUTURE!

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Visit the WordPress Daily Post to take part in the challenge:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/weekly-photo-challenge-horizon/

 

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I’ll Be Looking at the Moon, But …

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 One of my favorite songs of all time:

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(Author’s note:  I know this moon photo is the same as the one I used for the “Skywatch” post above, but I just couldn’t resist sharing the moon with the “Skywatch” site as well.)

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Friday Fictioneers – 10/25/13 — ‘Requiem’

This week’s Friday Fictioneers challenge just cried out for a poem rather than prose, so I’ve told my story in verse this time. The photo is compliments of our hostess, Rochelle Wiseoff-Fields. My story is below the picture.

dismantled keyboard

REQUIEM

What? You ask how did it happen?
Torn asunder piece by piece?
I admit it was my doing:
Thought perhaps my pain ‘twould ease.

For I cannot find my music;
Cannot hear the melody.
Cannot feel the beat, the rhythm;
And, of course, no harmony.

Still, my soul keeps searching, reaching;
Won’t believe the gift is gone.
It once coursed throughout my being;
Every breath exhaled a song.

Every heartbeat set a tempo;
Notes cascaded from my mind;
Even in sleep, my dreams invaded —
Nocturnes delicate, sublime.

Now, I’ve only fleeting memories
Of creating symphonies.
Tragedy beyond my bearing:
There’s no music left in me!

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(Author’s note: For the sake of my wonderful friends who might worry about whether I’m going through such a tragedy personally, the answer, gratefully, is “No.”  But I can imagine how devastating such an experience would be for any musician/composer.)

Join in the fun:
http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/25-october-2013/

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Pages Good Enough to Eat

It is no secret to any of my regular blogging friends that I LOVE Christmas. And one of my favorite sites on the entire Internet is the Vintage Christmas Catalog page:  http://www.wishbookweb.com/

I’m feeling a little sad right now because that page is going through some kind of technical problems (hopefully temporary) and cannot be accessed. So … alas … I must try to console myself. I figured the best way was to post a nice big picture of one of the candy pages from a 1957 Sears Canada Christmas Catalog. I especially like this particular page because it also features another of my favorite food groups: fruitcake.

 I hope all of you enjoy this yummy page as much as I do.

SEARS CANADA - 1957 - CANDY 2

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Twice Blessed

Well, I’m a little excited.  Last year, in December, I think I mentioned that one of my Azalea bushes had started to bloom a second time – even though we were in the middle of winter. I felt especially blessed by that event. It wasn’t as if the bush hadn’t bloomed in the spring as it’s supposed to do. In fact, I experienced one of the most overflowing blooming seasons of all my flowering plants last spring and have hoards of photos to prove it (many of which I’ve already shared with you folks out there).

Again this spring, all of the plants and bushes bloomed lavishly, but now – to my delighted surprise – this same Azalea bush is blooming a second time in the middle of October. The trees are turning gold red and brown all around it, but this one bold Azalea is blooming it’s lovely lacy-white petals as if it didn’t notice autumn in the air at all. I am twice blessed again this year. Happy Me!

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English-Speaking Signs Say a Lot More Than Meets the Eye

I originally wrote this article on my “Happy Patriot” blog a couple of years ago, but tonight I found myself re-reading it — and feeling stirred up again to bring this troubling situation into focus once more. The problem has not gone away. It still exists and is still being forced down the throats of the American people. So I’m taking the opportunity to re-blog it on this site and thereby vent my anger and frustration without losing my temper.

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: The Hue of You

This week Word Press has challenged us to come up with photos that focus on the hue (color) that represents us. I love color. I’m happiest when my world is full of color. When I moved into the house that is my current home, all of the walls in the house were white. With the exception of the tiny bathroom, we painted every one of those walls a bright color, and it’s been a joy to live in those rooms for the past 13 years.

I would like to say that I love every single color in the world, but — well — there is one exception: orange. Now if we’re talking about the succulent fruit, I definitely want my oranges to be “orange.” But in every other instance, orange seems to grate on my soul. I feel bad about it. I feel that I’m being unfair to orange, but there it is — might as well be honest.

All of my life my favorite color has been blue — with yellow running a very close second. That’s not surprising, since blue and yellow have been scientifically proven to have the most positive effects on the human psyche (barring some weird abnormality) of all the colors of the spectrum. And their effects are even more positive when both colors are used together. As an author, I learned a long time ago that when planning book covers, including the colors of blue and yellow will automatically add significant appeal to the cover and cause a positive reaction in the viewer.

What has surprised me somewhat over the past three years, however, is that I have grown to have a strong affinity and affection for the color green. For some reason, unknown to me, green has sort of eased its way more deeply into my soul and taken up residence very near the top of my color palate. When I am in stores and I need to choose a product that offers a choice of color in the material or the packaging, I find myself reaching for green about 90% of the time these days. And last April, when I took part in the NaPoWriMo challenge, I found myself creating a poem about the color green. Go figure.

So for this week’s photo challenge, I am sharing four pictures of the color that, to my surprise, best represents me this year: GREEN.

First in line is one of the great loves of my life: Big Blue, my gorgeous Blue Spruce tree, that I planted when he was merely 5 feet tall. He’s green, of course, but each spring, when the brand new buds begin to burst forth, that special brilliant green that signals new life sends me running for my camera.

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Second, is a picture of my Christmas wreath from this past Christmas. I was definitely into green; hence the brilliant green Poinsettia that decorates the green wreath.

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Third on my list is a book cover. I authored a new creative writing curriculum this year, and for the cover, I chose — yep, you guessed it — a GREEN typewriter.  I fell in love with this green typewriter shortly before I completed the book, and there was just no question in my mind about using it as the artwork for the cover.

CURRICULUM COVER

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And last, but hopefully not least, is the poem I wrote last April, in honor of the color that spoke to me so strongly back then and still does so today.  

GREEN SWATCH - LARGE w. slanted text

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I wonder if there’s any significance in the fact that green is made up of a mixture of blue and yellow ….

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To join in the fun, hop over to this site:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/hue-photo-challenge/

Jingle Bells Bracelet

Merry Christmas, World!'s avatarMerry Christmas, World!

I checked out my jingle bells bracelet this evening
to make sure it’s in tune for Christmas.

Only 71 days now.

Get your bells on!

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