Uphill idealist

From winding roads... To sun-shimmering mornings. From apples red as red can be, to beagles' happy to sniff a tree. To skies looking gloomy and threatening snow, and wood fit for wild things to grow... Autumn days are here. Sit near. Grab a good book. Happiness awaits if only you take a look.

On Monday I had some time to wander around a local greenhouse a capture some photos of the lovely flowers that were growing there. They are called Hibiscus and vary in color. These were growing about 4-5 feet in height with blooms at least a foot wide.                            Here are a few examples or their beauty.  For the white, and fuchsia and all the colors in between - I'm thankful. Fuchsia by  Katrina Vandenberg That summer in the west I walked sunrise to dusk, narrow twisted highways without shoulders, low stone walls on both sides. Hedgerows of fuchsia hemmed me in, the tropical plant now wild, centuries after nobles imported it for their gardens. I was unafraid, did not cross to the outsides of curves, did not look behind me for what might be coming. For weeks in counties Kerry and Cork, I walked through the red blooms the Irish call ...

"Where some see weeds, some find beauty." (Me) Where do you find beauty, that is missed by others? Where do you miss beauty, and others find it? What do the commonalities and differences say about us as individuals and as groups of people? Here are some quotes to help you ponder these ideas more from, the 'Quote garden'. Which one is your favorite? : A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. ~Doug Larson A weed is but an unloved flower. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else. In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit. Weeds are people's idea, not nature's. ~Author Unknown Weeds are nature's graffiti. ~Janice Maeditere (I like this one!)

Just when you thought everything was all gray - some sunshine and snow show you different. Photo taken at Strider Field in Jamestown NY/February 2010

Image found at Shepherd Pics . S eeing the trees heavy with new fallen snow, this street looks like something totally new. T aking a deep breath and watch the exhale as it curls and hangs like smoke in the air. I nside my mind the whirring wheel of worry begins to slow down. L ight is dim, but it bounces off the snow like glow-in-the-dark stickers. L etting go of concerns, I let the quiet enter my heart. N othing is moving, except the snowflakes that dance through the sky and land on my hat. E very house seems to begin waking up, to coffee machines and dogs that need to go out. S tillness surrounds me. S tillness comes to me in the gift of a new day wrapped up in an almost-Christmas snow. T.L. Eastman 2009'

This last weekend I had the privilege of helping with a local community beautification and clean up projec t in Jamestown, NY. The group cleaned up debris and painted under a train bridge and then got to work on the start of a mural 12 feet high by 20 feet wide that will be fixed to a central area of the downtown. The mural is the first of what we hope to be many community art projects to help build home-town pride and to help dissuade the graffiti tagging that has been occurring at increasing rate recently. When the dump truck pulled away from the underpass on Saturday, it was filled to the brim with dirt, garbage and debris that had built up over time. This underpass is located close to our city's high school and many students pass through it each day. This morning, I wonder what their reaction was as they walked through a cleaner, freshly painted path in contrast to what it had looked like prior to the hard work of the volunteers on Saturday? Sometimes you have to see some dirt ...

Image found at nataliedee.com or everygymsnightmare.com I've been feeling a little like a storm cloud this week, so I thought I'd give myself an assignment to acknowledge the light, happy and joyful things of life. It's not quite 9am and I've already seen and heard some hopeful things. Today's assignment: Look around and see the beauty that surrounds you. Open you eyes and let the light and color wash away the greyness from your heart. Take note of all the beautiful and uplifting bits and pieces of life and give thanks for them. This practice is kind of like fresh fruit for someone with scurvy - it provides the vitamin c nutritionally necessary to banish the general weakness, anemia, and malaise of the condition. The glorious sunshine. The smell of caramel coffee brewing. Getting that extra half hour of sleep. (Thanks Ian for taking H. to school today.) Hearing the sound of my neighbor's jack russell pup's feet padding quickly down the sidewalk with his le...

As for those who gave their opinions on what hair-do to 'do' last week, I decided to go with a blend of cut #1 and #2. Here's the result (above)of my time of cut and then later decided color at the salon, as well as my niece Carlie's handiwork (second photo) on my make up for the dessert night I went to on Saturday evening. Hope you all like the results! Lamont

I love looking for, getting and thinking about getting a fun new hair cut. For most of the summer I'd been growing out a shorter shag cut to more of a bob, but now I've come across some really cute hair ideas that I'm having a time considering the scissors yet again. At present, my color is my natural dark brown with slices of light blond mixed in and I'd like to keep the color this way for now. But here are the hair cut ideas that I'm pondering and I'd like your opinion on what to do for a cut next... 1. The emo bob 2. The sassy European brunette bob (but not so short in the back) 3. The choppy emo bob 4. The red just-right-layered inverted bob. 5. and an-oh-I-wish-my-hair-was-curly-and-I-would-do-this-in-a-minute inverted bob. I am such a girl about hair. So which one do YOU think would look the best on me? Choose your favorite quick - I'm heading to the salon soon! Thanks for your help and happy hair cuts to all. Thanks to the blog Hair Obsessed for the ...

Photo found at Photo.net Mr. Squirrel lives in the maple tree at the back of my yard. He really lives in multiple trees as the branches are so far reaching that they touch the branches of the neighbor's maple across the street. Mr. Squirrel spends most of his time leaping from limb to limb and scurrying away whenever he hears a noise that frightens him. Mr. Squirrel rarely looks beneath him to see what is going on at ground level. I think he's to easily frightened to ever look down and take everything in. This morning as I was brushing off the cars to prepare for taking the kids to school and heading off to work, it was early enough to be able to hear the stillness of morning. There was a blanket of fresh snowy sparkling everywhere. The wind was blowing glittering waves of swirling snow across the yard and down the street. There seemed to be a fresh, beautiful stillness everywhere I looked. There was so much to see that I even looked above me to look at the snow covered trees o...