Day Fifty-Eight -- LOVING this new camera of mine!!

Copyright 2010.  The Locust Tree in our backyard.

*Trust me, it's paradise.  For mine is a generation that circles the globe in search of something we haven't tried before.  So never refuse an invitation.  Never risist the unfamiliar.  Never fail to be polite and never outstay your welcome.  Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience... and if it hurts, you know what?  It's probably worth it.*

-- The Beach --

Day Fifty-Seven -- Gray Skies are gonna clear up :O)

Copyright 2010.  Taken today... the sun is FINALLY shining again :O)

*All we really need in life is love,

and in my time I've had more than enough.

But somedays I'm not satisfied,

it happens to me every time,

I look around instead of looking up.

A better believer would look to the sky,

shout 'Hallelujah' with tears in his eyes,

open his heart and start givin' it all away.

When I take a hard look at myself,

and count my blessings,

I can't but help, but wonder

if there's been some kind of mistake.

This life of mine should belong to a better believer.*

-- Dierks Bentley --

Day Fifty-Six -- I'll Have my cake and eat it too!

Copyright 2010.  Banana cake with chocolate buttercream icing - yum!

*My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start.  So far today, I have finished 2 bags of M&M's and a chocolate cake.  I feel better already!*

-- Dave Barry --

Day Fifty-Five -- Rainy Days and Mondays...

Copyright 2010.  First picture with my brand new Cannon Rebel :O)   -- The rain... yech.

*Sometimes it's easy to feel like you're the only one in the world who's struggling, who's frustrated, or unsatisfied at barely getting by.  But that feeling is a lie.  And if you hold on... just find the courage to face it all for another day... someone or something will find the way and make it all okay.  Because we all need a little help sometimes, someone to help us hear the music in the world.  To remind us that it won't always be this way.  That someone is out there... and that someone will find you.*

-- One Tree Hill --

Day Fifty-four -- "Say hello to my little friend"...

Copyright 2010.  Our buddy the morning dove hanging out on our windowsill.

*Sometimes I wonder about my life.

I lead a small life -

well... valuable, but small.

And sometimes I wonder,

do I do it because I like it?
Or because I haven't been brave...*

-- You've Got Mail --

Day Fifty-Three -- April Showers... Wet "Whirly Gigs".

Copyright 2010.  We call these 'Whirly Gigs'... in the rain.

*If the rain spoils our picnic, 

but saves a farmer's crop...

who are we to say it shouldn't rain?*

Day Fifty-Two -- One Year... (and more flowers... because I love them!)

Copyright 2010.

Today marks the one year anniversary of my diagnosis with stage III Endometriosis...

*I learned a lot this year.  I learned that things don't always turn out the way you planned, or the way you think they should.  And I've learned that there are things that go wrong that don't always get fixed or get put back together the way they were before.  I've learned that some broken things stay broken.  And I've learned that you can get through bad times and keep looking for better ones, as long as you have people who love you.*

-- Jennifer Weiner --

Day Fifty-One -- Another pretty flower...

Copyright 2010.  An escapee in the bushes.

*Life changes.  You get it all lined up just the way you like it and then something beyond your control comes along and bumps you off center.  How nice it would be if you could get everything just the way you want it and say, 'Okay, now stay.' 

But nothing stays the same.  You grow up, make friends, lots of friends, go to college, lose track of people, meet new ones, and sometimes you ask yourself why.  But all I can tell you is that every single experience you go through like this changed you in some way.  Every new person wo comes into your life changes you.  Every moral dilemma or emotional experience you come up against changes you.  It's your job.  You decide how. 

That's how character is developed.*

-- LaVyrle Spencer -- 

Day Fifty -- The Color Purple.

Copyright 2010.  Petunia on my front porch.

*I heard a thousand blended notes,

while in the grove I sat reclined,

in that sweet mood, when pleasant thoughts,

bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link,

the human soul that through man ran.
And much it grieved my heart to think,

what man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower,

the periwinkle trail'd its wreaths.
And 'tis my faith that every flower

enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopp'd and play'd,

their thoughts I cannot measure.
But the least motion which they made,

it seem'd a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan

to catch the breezy air.
And I must think, do all I can,
that there was pleasure there.

If this belief from Heaven be sent,

if such be nature's holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament,

what man as made of man?*

-- William Wadsworth  --

Day Forty-Nine -- Pretty in Pink!

*The more things change, the more stays the same.  I'm not sure who the first person was who said that.  Probably Shakespeare... or maybe Sting.  But at the moment, it's the sentence that best explains my tragic flaw.  My inability to change.  I don't think I'm alone in this.  The more I get to know people, the more I realize it's kind of everyone's flaw.  Staying exactly the same for as long as possible... standing perfectly still... it feels safer somehow.  And if you're suffering, a least the pain is familiar. Because if you took that leap of faith, went outside the box, did something unexpected, who knows what other pain might be out there waiting for you.

So maintain the status quo.  Choose the road already traveled and it doesn't seem that bad.  Not as far as flaws go.  You're not a drug addict.  You're not killing anyone... except maybe yourself a little. 

When we finally do change, I don't think it happens like an earthquake or an explosion, where all of a sudden we're like this different person.  I think it's smaller than that.  The kind of thing most people wouldn't notice unless they looked at us really close.  Which thank God they never do.  But you notice it.  Inside you, that change feels like a world of difference... and you hope this is it.  This is the person you get to be forever.  That you'll never change again.*

-- Everwood --

Day Forty-Eight -- In honor of my best friend's 2nd anniversary...

Copyright April 2008.  Taken by me at my best friend's wedding. 

*You ever heard the expression; "The best things in life are free?"  Well that expression is true.  Every once in a while, people step up... they rise above themselves.  Sometimes they surprise you and sometimes they fall short.  Life is funny sometimes.  It can push pretty hard, but if you look close enough, you can find hope in the words of children, in the bars of a song and in the eyes of someone you love.  And, if you're lucky - if you're the luckiest person on this entire planet - the person you love decides to love you back.*

-- One Tree Hill --

Day Forty-Seven -- A hope for the future...

Copyright 2010.  My Goddaughter "Caydeebug" -- April 2010.

*Perhaps we are all refugees from something.  But I see now, there is nothing to fear.  That the world we hold onto, the lives we cherish, are a part of something greater... something more.  When I look at my children I see it so clearly - that hope - that chance of life - and I know it's worth fighting for.*

-- Beyond Borders --

Day Forty-Six -- An Ordinary Miracle...

Copyright 2010. Lilac bush in blossom in our backyard.

*It's not that unusual

when everything is beautiful,

it's just another ordinary,

miracle today.

The sky knows when it's time to snow,

don't need to teach a seed to grow,

it's just another ordinary,

miracle today.*

-- Sarah McLachlan --

Day Forty-Five -- The Beauty of Lonliness...

Copyright 2006.  Another old favorite - Nags Head NC.

*The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet - alone with the heavens, nature and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simply beauty of nature.*

-- Anne Frank --

Day Forty-Four -- Flip Flops and Sidewalk Chalk

Copyright 2007.  An old springtime favorite - 3 years ago this month.

*It is so small a thing

to have enjoyed the sun.
To have lived light in the spring,

To have loved,

To have thought,

To have done...*

-- Matthew Arnold --

Day Forty-Three -- Simply Beautiful.

Copyright 2010.  Taken at the park by our house on Wednesday.

*To find the universal elements enough;

to find the air and water exhilarating;

to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter;

to be thrilled by the stars at night;

to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring --

These are some of the rewards of the simple life.*

-- John Burroughs --

Day Forty-Three -- Just watching life pass us by...

Copyright 2010.  Caydee at the park on Wednesday.

*Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.*

-- Winnie the Pooh --

Day Forty-Two -- Quiet Moment...

Copyright 2010.  Connor yesterday at the park.

*When you're little, you like to think you know everything.  But the last thing you really want is to know too much.  What you really want is for grown-ups to make the world a safe place, where dreams can come true and promises are never broken.

And when you're little, it doesn't seem too much to ask for.*

-- Taken

Day Forty-One -- These Small Hours...

Copyright 2010.  Connor and Caydence today at the park :O)

*Let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder,

don't you know, the hardest part is over.
Let it in, let your clarity define you,

in the end, we will only just remember how it feels...

All lives are made in these small hours,

these little wonders, these twist in turns of fate.
Time falls away, but these small hours,

these small hours still remain.

Let it slide, let your troubles fall behind you,

let it shine, til you feel it all around you.
And I don't mind if it's me you need to turn to,

we'll get by.
It's the heart that really matters in the end.

All lives are made in these small hours,

these little wonders, these twist in turns of fate.
Time falls away, but these small hours,

these small hours still remain.

All of my regret will wash away somehow,

but I cannot forget the way I feel right now...*

-- Rob Thomas --

Little Wonders

Day Forty -- So many bright pretty colors!

Copyright 2010.  Tulip in the backyard... I love spring!

*I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me.  But it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world.  Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much.  My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst and then... I remember to relax and stop trying to hold on to it.  And then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.  I know you have no idea what I'm talking about... but don't worry... you will someday.*

-- American Beauty --

Day Thirty-Nine -- Prayer of St. Francis

Copyright 2010.  The St. Francis statue in my backyard... my favorite...

*Make me a channel of your peace,

where there is hatred let me bring your love.

Where there is injury, your pardon Lord,

and where there's doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace,

when there's despair in life, let me bring hope.
When there is darkness, ever light,

and when there's sadness, ever joy.

Oh Master grant that I may never seek,

so much to be consoled as to console,
to be understood, as to understand,

and to be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

in giving to all men that we receive,

and in dying that we're born to eternal life.*

-- Song of 

The Prayer of St. Francis --

Day Thirty-Eight -- There is Beauty Everywhere...

Copyright 2010.  The beautiful tree right outside my window :O)

*Sometimes this kind of story turns out to be something more.  Some glimpse of life that expands like those Japanese paper balls you drop in water and then, after a moment, they bloom into flowers.  And the flower is so marvelous that you can't believe there was a time when all you saw in front of you was a paper ball and a glass of water.*

-- Adaptation --

Day Thirty-Seven -- Dream Big

Image is a photo I took of the cover of the Children's Book "Dream Big"

by Ian Falconer, which I read to my preschool kids today.

*You know a dream is like a river,

ever changing as it flows,

and the dreamer's just a vessel

that must follow where it goes.

Trying to learn from what's behind you

and never knowing what's in store,

Makes each day a constant battle

just to stay between the shores.

And I will sail my vessel

til the river runs dry,
like a bird upon the wind,

these waters are my sky.
I'll never reach my destination,

if I never try,

So I will sail my vessel,

'til the River runs dry.*

-- Garth Brooks --