Colorful!

Chihuly at The Children's Museum, Indianapolis.  The light shining through the colored glass is glorious!

LINKS:
Chihuly
Indianapolis Children's Museum

photos by me © 2017

delightful Spring

iris

wildflower

rhododendron

mountain laurel

baby blueberries

What a joy it is to observe the earth bursting with color!  I've been spending a lot of time in North Carolina lately taking my new granddaughter on walks.  Bird song fills the air as we cruise the neighborhoods.  Every day bring new discoveries.

What Springtime delights have you been particularly taken with this year?

photos by me (iPhone) © 2017

early Spring

relishing the sights, sounds, and smells of lovely Spring as the earth renews itself...

Oh what a glorious deep blue sky!

blueberry blossoms!

an unknown (to me) Spring bulb


LINKS to previous Spring posts:
It's Spring!
Spring!

My Blogging Business Artisans team on etsy hosts a new Challenge every month.  The purpose is to encourage us to explore our creativity, to stretch our imaginations.
Sharla of Beaded Tail set for the following Challenge for the month of April:

Spring is here - what does that mean to you?   Share.

I've been been so blessed to spend loads of time with my beautiful new granddaughter, born in November.  This has meant lots of travel for me since she lives about 6 hours away by car.  As I drive south and through the mountains I've noticed the gradual greening of trees and the the gorgeous redbuds flirtatiously decorating the roadsides.  As I push her stroller up and down the hills of her neighborhood, I've been privy to the unfolding parade of glorious flowers and budding trees.  All the while, birds chip merrily, going about their birdie business.  Squirrels scamper.  Bees buzz.  She is particularly taken with azaleas--capacious, riotous, pink.



photos by me ©2017   all rights reserved

beach sunset

Sint Maarten, NA 

This post is for SkyWatch Friday hosted by Yogi.  Come join in this awesome meme and meet folks from all over the globe.

photo by me © 2010   all rights reserved

November Reflections

Ah November!   when glorious Earth shouts a last hurrah! 

and beauty fades to a more tattered and well-worn form.

when whoosh!  leaves abandon trees

and the wind in a blustery whirl bites cheeks

I'll sit by the fire contemplating and dreaming of what is past and what is to come

and hope for life's miracles to reveal themselves.

Soon silence will have passed into legend.  Man has turned his back on silence.  Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.

~Jean Arp

My Blogging Business Artisans team sets forth a new Challenge every month.  The purpose is to encourage us to explore our creativity, to stretch our imaginations.  Perhaps we are re-working something we've done in the past or still do.  Perhaps we're making something entirely new.  
It's always fun to see how others interpret the Challenge!

The Blogging Business Artisans team Challenge for the month of November was created by me.

November is a time of changes.  In much of the Northern Hemisphere, the weather turns colder and we begin to look inward.  Through your art, express what this means to you.

I am inspired by beauty in the world-- and relationships.  Instead of being specific, I am encouraging myself to reflect and letting my imagination run and my dreams percolate.  I am hoping for renewal of spirit and mind.

QUESTIONS:  
What inspires you?
What renews your spirit?
How do you reflect?

photos by me © 2009-2016   all rights reserved

nature's sculpture

As the world begins to sleep, nature reveals her faded beauty.

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy

A Southern Daydreamer

ABC Wednesday  This week's challenge is the letter S.  S is for nature's Sculpture.




photo by me © 2011-2016  all rights reserved

Grand Canyon sunset

lovely early September sunset at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

This post is for SkyWatch Friday hosted by Yogi.  Come join in this awesome meme and meet folks from all over the globe.

photo by me © 2016   all rights reserved

moody November sky

This post is for SkyWatch Friday hosted by Yogi.  Come join in this awesome meme and meet folks from all over the globe.


photo by me © 2012   all rights reserved

woodland path

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

~John Muir

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy  (napping)

A Southern Daydreamer





photo by me © 2012   all rights reserved

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast cancer is such a serious, scary illness affecting many women--and men--across the globe.  Too many of my friends have been diagnosed with this devastating disease.  This issue has become close to my heart.  Because of this, and wanting to give to the cause, I created a tie dye shirt for my etsy shop.  A portion of the sales of my Charity Pink T shirt goes to breast cancer research.

Charity Pink tie dye T shirt 

(available in adult and youth sizes, short and long sleeve)

I thought it would be fun to see other T shirts being offered on etsy (more).  Because who doesn't want love and comfort and even some glam during this time?!  

Embroidery by Sharon

LoveBucketCo

T and G Apparel Designs

The following links are not the usual resources.   Those abound.  I wanted to provide something different.
LINKS:
The 19 Best Breast Cancer Blogs of 2016
I love this one-- My Breast Cancer Blog
Do Today Well a blog by Jen who got cancer at age 32, as a young wife and mother.  inspiring spiritual journey!
Today story: Meet the tattoo artist making breast cancer survivors feel 'whole again'

tie dye shirt photo by me ©2010  other photos © by the individual owners   all rights reserved

flower and bee

bee on caryopteris (bluebeard or blue mist)

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy

A Southern Daydreamer

ABC Wednesday  This week's challenge is the letter P.  P is for purple.





photo by me © 2009   all rights reserved

Autumn colors

early September off-roading in Dixie National Forest in beautiful Southwestern Utah.  What glorious Autumn colors!

This post is for SkyWatch Friday hosted by Yogi.  Come join this awesome meme and meet folks from all over the globe.


photo by me © 2016   all rights reserved

rainforest path

from a hike in Olympic National Park September 2015

LINKS:

Olympic National Park

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

ONP Facebook page

Wordless Wednesday/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy  (kitty taste test)

A Southern Daydreamer (beautiful asters)

ABC Wednesday  This week's challenge is the letter O.  O is for Olympic.




photo by me © 2015   all rights reserved

Grand Canyon sky

Point Imperial

 elevation 8803'--highest point in Grand Canyon National Park (September 2016)

This post is for SkyWatch Friday hosted by Yogi.  Come join this awesome meme and meet folks from all over the globe.


photo by me © 2016   all rights reserved 

mums!

Wordless/Wordy Wednesday--where I linked up:

Create With Joy (Kitty photo bomber!)

A Southern Daydreamer  (time for the fair!)

ABC Wednesday This week's challenge is the  letter N.  (stretching just a little!) N is for Nature.




photo by me  © 2016  all rights reserved

nature wandering

On a beautiful Fall day, my husband and I meandered around the Cincinnati Nature Center.  We inhaled October's loveliness and delighted in its abundant gifts.   

Here are a few snippets from that hike.

                                              

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

~ L M Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

LINK:

Cincinnati Nature Center

photos by me © 2016   all rights reserved