tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34132414500909859102024-03-05T01:44:39.015-05:00Heart Hugs on the journey.......What if we send heart hugs of love from our heart to others....knowing... as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, "If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life such pain and suffering to disarm all hostilities" ......
extending those thoughts to one another, and not just enemies, as was suggested.
We are all children of one Creator.
Sending some pictures and thoughts along for you to enjoy...hope you like them.Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-19278516504380514832011-07-17T08:13:00.005-04:002011-07-17T08:25:22.912-04:00The Treasure Within<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7tFFTZQxQqHunes1JnlLNeUIZlcCrjQMagTq5KsPasvQCI53BazIKApQ8PbqnPQ0QJz1_7h1L9EuSTOfzewbQU1RdN5YZtr_-U37QgxaMgVeiF2dYWamm1qh-CY9ZW2ie2vO5P9MaCA85/s1600/100_2391.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7tFFTZQxQqHunes1JnlLNeUIZlcCrjQMagTq5KsPasvQCI53BazIKApQ8PbqnPQ0QJz1_7h1L9EuSTOfzewbQU1RdN5YZtr_-U37QgxaMgVeiF2dYWamm1qh-CY9ZW2ie2vO5P9MaCA85/s400/100_2391.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630295123872994930" /></a><br />This is a reprint of an article written in Alan Cohen's July 2011 Newsletter sent to me by a friend. I think it well worth printing again and sharing with you all. Notice taken especially to the areas I have highlighted and italicized.<br /><br />The TREASURE in YOUR BASEMENT<br /> <br />Earlier this month the nation of India discovered a nearly unbelievable treasure locked in the basement of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum. The cache of gold statues, diamonds, and jewels was accumulated through donations to the temple by wealthy families over a period of 500 years. Locked in six tightly secured rooms, no one has viewed the booty for over 150 years. <br /> <br /> The value of the find is currently estimated at a minimum of $22 billion, perhaps much more. Indian leaders are now deciding what to do with the treasure, the sum of which exceeds India’s annual budget for education for the entire nation of nearly 1.2 billion people.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Since what you see outside you, including public news, represents what is happening inside you, the news is good for all of us. You have an extraordinary treasure hidden in your basement. You own a royal fortune of talent, insight, creativity, vision, love, and connection to universal wisdom. Like the treasure at Padmanabhaswamy, your cache has largely been locked away. Yet the day comes when the riches are liberated and put to good use. No one benefits from gold sitting in a dark chamber, especially when circulating it can improve the world. How many people in India can be fed for $22 billion? How many homes could be built for the many impoverished there? How many children could be educated so they can create better lives for themselves and their families?</span></span><br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">I think it symbolic and appropriate that the greatest hidden treasure of all time has been unearthed in one of the most overtly poor nations on the planet. No matter the appearance of lack or bleakness the outer world shows us, there exists an invisible gift to offset it. The issues of the world seem insurmountable: the ecological crisis, financial deficit, war, hunger, and social and moral decay. Yet there are answers and healing for all of these pressing issues if we just look below the surface, and go within.</span></span><br /><br /> The deity of the Trivandrum Temple, Padmanabhaswamy, represents the Hindu Lord Vishnu asleep. Perhaps Lord Vishnu is waking up as an inspiration for all of us to join him.<br /><br />To read the rest of the article, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/07/06/137627235/some-22-billion-in-gold-diamonds-jewels-found-in-indian-templeNancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-43836021439484010322011-07-05T15:23:00.004-04:002011-07-05T17:02:22.520-04:00The Anthony Case<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0-oc9t0gw5edt8rO7cvUOUibFzIAFsGWCfmFG10mDfzcQagImB0HIgvWPvMBmZUZRSlpt7qjEd0XC7cg5ZBXKyLjQ4FE_9h9uqkwkbUNijHijr25afJDnzZtP95fUnqE98oo0YPd1HQf/s1600/100_1803.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 362px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0-oc9t0gw5edt8rO7cvUOUibFzIAFsGWCfmFG10mDfzcQagImB0HIgvWPvMBmZUZRSlpt7qjEd0XC7cg5ZBXKyLjQ4FE_9h9uqkwkbUNijHijr25afJDnzZtP95fUnqE98oo0YPd1HQf/s400/100_1803.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625970175803349762" /></a><br />Casey Anthony was found not guilty today of murdering her daughter, Caylee. I'm not writing to talk about whether the verdict was right or wrong; that was left up to the jury to decide and they have declared their verdict.<br /><br />What I would like to comment on was people's reaction to the verdict and my take on their reaction. It appears we have a lot of angry people out there. I've never heard so many people say, "She deserves to die," as I have heard during these proceedings. Those are very strong, judgmental words. I, personally, did not watch the trail...did not want to watch it because of the drama involved. It seems the more people watched, the more outraged they became as the days progressed. Did any of those people who were outraged have any control over what the outcome was going to be? The jury already had been selected. It was out of every one's hands, except those selected.<br /><br />But the bigger question I have is, if this is a Christian nation, as so many propose it is (and would be the first to say they are Christian when asked their belief), would not Casey Anthony be forgiven by God for any misdeeds, if done, according to what Christ did for the children of God (everyone on earth) at the crucifixion? And yet, so many wanted to crucify her before and after the verdict???? Why? Is it so hard for us to realize that life sometimes is not fair...we are powerless over so many things. Is it hard for us to wrap our minds around what Christ accomplished on that cross? Is that a much greater love, than in our humanness, we are capable of perceiving? We, in our humanness, don't know that depth of love. Those are times when I have to say, "God, I can't..... but I am willing to allow you to do it through me."<br /><br />Does this point perhaps to the spiritual sickness that pervades our land....where we want to take vengeance into our own hands out of our own anger at what are seemingly injustices. Anger is nothing more than wanting to change a person or a situation....so I understand that. So....what is it that so many want to change? <br /><br />Have we forgotten who we are? We came from Love and are here to be examples of love and forgiveness to one another...examples of Christ's love to all (according to Christian belief). Christ told us in Matthew, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Those are difficult marching orders when you get in the trenches of life, and especially have to follow to the love and forgiveness part. <br /><br />I question whether the anger expressed is really unspoken anger that perhaps a lot of people have toward their own parents, caregivers or authority figures for how they were treated as children...and perhaps have never talked about and that is ready to be released. This certainly has given them a safe direction to vent their anger...one that is less confrontational...one that perhaps feels safer. <br /><br />The question is this, however, venting the anger in the direction of Casey Anthony will do nothing to address the depth of anger within or the reason that it is there. It will only lie dormant until it gets tapped into again in another news happening, or something that pushes "the button". <br /><br />We are, in history, an angry, vengeful nation. We even stalk down those who in other lands have done something we perceive as incorrect or doing things not according to "our beliefs". We declare war on them. When were we ordained the earth's police department. <br /><br />I've often said we are still like the early settlers, who were as rebellious teenagers, running away from that which no longer worked for them. Would it not have been better for them to confront their situation of lack of religious freedom...rather than run to this land, and do the very same thing when they arrived here to the Native Americans' beliefs? The settlers did what had been done to them in their native land. They forced their religious beliefs on the Native Americans.<br /><br />It is time to come home....... come home to ourselves, deal with our internal wounds individually, and collectively, so that we can move through the pain, that has been stored within our individual and national soul. Otherwise we will recreate it over and over in circumstances trying to make sense of the original wounds. <br /><br />It is time to return to the Love, from which we came, remember who we are and heal not only ourselves....but our land. It is time to build bridges of understanding amongst ourselves, First, however, what did not work has to be torn down in order to rebuild. Our foundation has been built on unstable ground. It has to be rebuilt on different ground, with different values. Our values have brought us to where we are today. Is your life working for you?Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-70597527725348897312011-05-18T18:49:00.003-04:002011-05-18T18:58:47.114-04:00Full moon in Scorpio....hiding...May 17th, 2011..taken at 5:45 AM in FL<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQ0nEvr72l491IyRe4LqMDdvQ_G5_d1c4jd048EjW56vIetBQV9cqbpqqQ2iaMMzvGmJnrAauRgvax40VSMG-mqsB5JEGtD09TFMTU2j1LsBrp7gzFgt-Pzf5ld6THGW93sOqLVkoG5s8/s1600/100_2019.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQ0nEvr72l491IyRe4LqMDdvQ_G5_d1c4jd048EjW56vIetBQV9cqbpqqQ2iaMMzvGmJnrAauRgvax40VSMG-mqsB5JEGtD09TFMTU2j1LsBrp7gzFgt-Pzf5ld6THGW93sOqLVkoG5s8/s400/100_2019.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608192503929221666" /></a>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-18953297332343974782011-01-20T17:03:00.003-05:002011-01-20T18:40:48.433-05:00Walking the walk..not talking the walk<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhki_sFE2fGETP7yE4TnQeokzmQCfkUeQ2ZBc3gQuGCiv6Ue21fd0Ta08YjipAQBt_Au__JLoE4DbsFrRRk722tP7vE_p7ucpdCemDcsPkvOpaxZpPeqE7gcxLWaogDxfbHZM2hyphenhyphenhLotlI_/s1600/100_1082.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhki_sFE2fGETP7yE4TnQeokzmQCfkUeQ2ZBc3gQuGCiv6Ue21fd0Ta08YjipAQBt_Au__JLoE4DbsFrRRk722tP7vE_p7ucpdCemDcsPkvOpaxZpPeqE7gcxLWaogDxfbHZM2hyphenhyphenhLotlI_/s400/100_1082.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564415027660092386" /></a><br />AL's newly elected governor, Robert Bentley, has sure made an impression with his comment, "So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I'm telling you, you're not my brother and you're not my sister." <br /><br />Gosh, if I was standing on the outside looking in, I'm not so sure I would want to come in where he is at. Bless his heart, I guess he forgot that, in Christianity's beliefs, we all stand at the foot of the cross....none is righteous, no not one. Perhaps he didn't get that memo yet. I don't think I would be interested in the example of the God that he purports, because that is not an example of the loving God that I know. I didn't see where Jesus excluded anyone or pushed them away....except the self righteous religious people of the day. I just find it sad. And we wonder why there is such division in our country, why there are such differences and divisions. How can we be <span style="font-style:italic;">one </span>when Governor Bentley's "club", for example, is one of exclusion, rather than inclusion. How can we reach a place of agreement, and go beyond our differences, about things that face us as a country, when a man who serves sees "differences" among those he SERVES, rather than a oneness. This is only my opinion, but when you serve as a leader in government, I think you are to serve all the people of your state/district the same, black, white, yellow, red, rich, poor, saved, not saved, different faiths etc....they are all the same.. they are just the people of your state/district. You are a representative of the people...not some of the people. Isn't there enough hatred in our world, without adding more fuel to the fire? <br /><br />I've gotten so grieved hearing out all the shootings, differences in our government, etc. while listening to our news, that one day this week, as I was getting ready for work, I turned on Heart radio, LBC News 1152, hoping to get a break from the usual. What I heard was more about the troubles between the blacks and whites, and the economy etc. in Europe. You can't get away from it anywhere! It occurs to me that we, as a people <span style="font-style:italic;">of the world</span>, are addicted...yes, addicted. We are addicted to doing things the same way as we always have done them and it seems like it is the time to face those addictions and "get sober". <br /><br />Back in the 90's, while working at an A&D treatment center, I learned that way of doing things was called insanity...doing the same things over and over expecting different results. I was amazed when I heard a young man in his 20's talk at a meeting one day about how he, being from Tennessee, was taught by his dad to hate blacks and Yankees. This young man did not feel right inside about that and it was causing him great turmoil to hang onto that hate and it was one of the "beliefs" that he often drank over. And that hate still prevails today....just because it was taught. And not just taught in our country, but every where that man inhabited, as evidenced in the news "from across the pond". Hating someone who is different is the lazy man's way. Learning about another to reach understanding takes time, an investment of ourselves, and setting aside of our differences to see our "sameness". Perhaps holding onto the hate gives a sense of feeling powerful, when in reality, we as humans, are really powerless in so many ways when it comes right down to changing things about ourselves. That is where we have to call on our Creator's help. We've messed it up. We are one family...the human family and we bicker and fight like a bunch of banty roosters and look where it has gotten us. The point is....<span style="font-weight:bold;">is it working for us, as a human family<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>...I don't think so. Our system, our way of living thus far, is broke. It is time we stopped doing things the way we have always done them and ask for a different way from our Creator to do things to bring about harmony and peace. We don't know how to make that happen! Guns don't bring peace.<br /><br />I heard a recent report regarding Representative Gifford's assailant having done something quiet inhumane. If we truly are spiritual beings on a human journey, then I would say it was a humane action...not of Jared Loughner's Spirit actions, but of his human actions. We all have a light and dark side, representing the Spirit and human parts of our being. He was just not in touch at that moment with his Spiritual side at all. His spirit was not running his life at that time, anymore than when the dad was teaching his son to hate blacks and Yankees. Check out the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control... When we are acting anything other than those things from Galatians, we are acting out of our humanness and not out of who we were created to be. We were created in God's image...that means we are Spiritual beings...that means with those "fruit of the Spirit". We have forgotten who we really are. <br /><br />In our country, we don't have a religion problem, we have a spiritual problem, a forgetting problem. We have had too many people "talking the talk, and not walking the walk." It is time to humble ourselves and lay down our differences, our hatreds, all that separates us and become the one family that we are. We have to remember who we really are if we are to survive. If we can't do it in our own country (our home), how can we expect to bring peace to other countries. It is time United States walked the walk.Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-89055844794410234442010-12-05T07:44:00.008-05:002010-12-05T19:50:35.009-05:00Believers versus Non-Believers at Christmas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcY-hzFnrmRa5S7n-Q_89uWBTIqrWxMk-LGBBssbf5V69wjtqvudWp3HJZsFdqB394hfqpn4rsyLtCiSojC0vRu57s9whoZmBQqzF9gFh1Md6R1QmMst-FQ_zRXuuvkVdZxKVAsqUgVFw/s1600/100_1484.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWcY-hzFnrmRa5S7n-Q_89uWBTIqrWxMk-LGBBssbf5V69wjtqvudWp3HJZsFdqB394hfqpn4rsyLtCiSojC0vRu57s9whoZmBQqzF9gFh1Md6R1QmMst-FQ_zRXuuvkVdZxKVAsqUgVFw/s400/100_1484.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547186835810875362" /></a><br />I was listening to the news this morning regarding the billboards posted around the country on behalf of the non-believers/atheists/humanists etc. wanting a balance during a time when Christianity's beliefs seem forced on our nation. What I found most interesting was the way the believers are combating it...and that is to have a billboard war stating their beliefs. <br /><br />Let's look at this a different way. Non believers in God just have not had a spiritual EXPERIENCE to make God real to them personally. There is nothing wrong with that...it is not their fault...they are stating where they are at. I don't think they are saying, "You should not believe as you do." They are talking more about their own personal experience and just wanting to be heard. Perhaps a more loving way...because that is the premise of what Christianity is about....love.....would be not only to pray for them to have a personal experience that made God real to them, but also for believers to LIVE MORE their beliefs, rather than TALK them. <br /><br />If you are secure in your beliefs, you don't have to convince anyone else...your experience is your experience and no one can take that from you....in other words...you know what you know. If however, you are coming from a place of believing because someone else told you to believe this way, you come from a place of trying to force your beliefs on someone to <span style="font-style:italic;">help you feel more secure about your own beliefs</span>. No one can take our personal spiritual experiences away from us...they are what they are. We don't need others to believe like us to feel more secure. If we need to do that, we are not all that secure in what we believe to be true. Also, beliefs change over time, as someone matures spiritually. There is a natural questioning time that comes, sometimes after you have accepted someone else's beliefs as your own. Perhaps there has been a parent that you have respected that believed a certain way and you adopted their beliefs as your own out of respect for that person. Then you may come to a time where you question what you "bought" as your own, which is only a time of integrating your beliefs from your head to your heart....a normal part of spiritual growth. Or you may say, "You know what, this doesn't work for me."<br /><br />So let's stop fighting of any kind this season about our beliefs. That is not going to coincide with the "feeling" of the season. LIVE the "feeling" of the season...don't talk it. Let your beliefs come from a place, as Alcoholics Anonymous talks about, "a program of attraction, rather than promotion." Walk your beliefs, don't talk them.Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-74186273278467913962010-11-28T10:39:00.003-05:002010-11-28T11:05:42.410-05:00Where Have I Been?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKD8mgJtexs43Kz0GbWW3DFZGrI4KP73BIs3rhdKxgt4AEznGbmFc0lJsw-8_Y9WVwhcOF4tXMV7T_fwyCiwtlE-687YbXUBkY2WC3KVkm8EayriLk39yB-CmM4zxGsBu3NnwO43seKt1/s1600/100_1445.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKD8mgJtexs43Kz0GbWW3DFZGrI4KP73BIs3rhdKxgt4AEznGbmFc0lJsw-8_Y9WVwhcOF4tXMV7T_fwyCiwtlE-687YbXUBkY2WC3KVkm8EayriLk39yB-CmM4zxGsBu3NnwO43seKt1/s400/100_1445.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544631875236046786" /></a><br />A month has passed since my last post I just noticed. Where have I been? How did I lose a month and not realize it? What have I been doing? Do you ever lose track of time...weeks of time? I'm sure at this time of year many of us lose track of where we are. This time seems to be a time of confusion among all of us...not just me...and not just because of the holidays. Have I been in such an "accomplishment" mode, that when I am not "accomplishing", I don't feel of value? Besides, are the accomplishments that I have accomplished of any value in the grand scheme of things? You know....a 100 years from now are these accomplishments going to be of any worthwhile value? <br /><br />Where are we going now...where are we headed? I have at times felt like I'm an egg in the many scrambled egg mixture being beat up. Sometimes I feel beat up....really beat up. Sometimes I don't know what the "next right step" will be, and yet, I keep putting one foot in front of the other. There were times in my life when I felt like I knew where I was headed. This is not one of those times. The things that have been done previously feel outdated or do not work. In listening to the news, our governmental system seems to be saying the same thing. The Democrats didn't like what the former administration did, so we changed. And now, the Republicans don't like what is happening in the current administration, and so we changed in this election also. We keep changing back and forth, back and forth....but the methods have not changed...they've been the same for ions. So what are the answers? Where are we headed? Or is this just me feeling this way? <br /><br />The attached picture kind of reminds me of where I want to be....out of the water for a moment, to take stock of what is going on in life...a regrouping time. I found it interesting about the perhaps many generations, many species of turtles on the drainage pipe that day. It reminded me of the grandfathers perhaps....and the fathers....mothers...and the children....all observing life from a different perspective...all with a different take on it. It seems to be a time we need to listen to every one's take on life. We all have our perspective, and all have a measure of truth in what we have to offer. The mission is to sort the truth out for ourselves, not just because someone else has said it is the truth. We have to listen to what resonates within ourselves. The only true journey is the journey within, it is said....and that is to listen, and "to thy own self be true."<br /><br />This seems to be a time where I find myself asking for knowledge, wisdom and discernment to live life, as I don't know the way right now, or am not feeling confident about what I have done in the past and its success in the "now". I'm not looking for anyone else to tell me...because then it is "their truth", but I need to listen to my own inner voice, the voice of wisdom for me, for my next right step. We need a fresh new vision. As we bring our visions to the collective table, perhaps we can chart out a new direction for humanity.Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-19971973767503159302010-10-24T03:50:00.006-04:002010-10-24T04:21:03.705-04:00War Is A Racket - Peace Lily Flower<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhecuEzQHCqL5l0C0FROwuNHq9wju5mgDLzdM10N3SmIYw0Yevj4T5G1DW7GGWObGe74zvA3NJgbExyqxda0WBJWueL2FkCzaQl6mBptrED_YTcTB0WXe-7fSyiuSNNwMl_SejowWpJVeOu/s1600/100_0235.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhecuEzQHCqL5l0C0FROwuNHq9wju5mgDLzdM10N3SmIYw0Yevj4T5G1DW7GGWObGe74zvA3NJgbExyqxda0WBJWueL2FkCzaQl6mBptrED_YTcTB0WXe-7fSyiuSNNwMl_SejowWpJVeOu/s400/100_0235.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531522416026766322" /></a><br />As the war continues abroad, I often wonder the validity of all the lives that have been lost. I am attaching a picture of the flower of the Peace Lily plant. To me this plant says, by its flower, <span style="font-weight:bold;">we are all one</span>. Do we realize what we are doing to others <span style="font-weight:bold;">and ourselves</span> by being a part of the war machine. Below is one man's thoughts, who was at the time, (now one of only 19) twice awarded the Medal of Honor. The rest of this article is from Wikipedia for your information....and thought. <br /><br />"Smedley Butler was the most honored man in Marine Corps history. He wrote and spoke that the purpose of US wars is millions and billions in profits for America’s leading “bankers, industrialists, and speculators.” War is a “racket:” a deception whereby its purpose of blood money from American taxpayers to “insiders” is always disguised as noble and necessary ventures to keep Americans propagandized into paying again and again.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">General Butler in his summative book, <span style="font-style:italic;">War is a Racket</span>, on the costs of war to ordinary Americans: </span><br /><br />“This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations….<br /> <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">But the soldier pays the biggest part of the bill.</span><br /> <br />If you don't believe this, visit the American cemeteries on the battlefields abroad. Or visit any of the veteran's hospitals in the United States. On a tour of the country, in the midst of which I am at the time of this writing, I have visited eighteen government hospitals for veterans. In them are a total of about 50,000 destroyed men – men who were the pick of the nation eighteen years ago. The very able chief surgeon at the government hospital; at Milwaukee, where there are 3,800 of the living dead, told me that mortality among veterans is three times as great as among those who stayed at home.<br /> <br />Boys with a normal viewpoint were taken out of the fields and offices and factories and classrooms and put into the ranks. There they were remolded; they were made over; they were made to "about face"; to regard murder as the order of the day. They were put shoulder to shoulder and, through mass psychology, they were entirely changed. We used them for a couple of years and trained them to think nothing at all of killing or of being killed.<br /> <br />Then, suddenly, we discharged them and told them to make another "about face"! This time they had to do their own readjustment, sans [without] mass psychology, sans officers' aid and advice and sans nation-wide propaganda. We didn't need them any more. So we scattered them about without any "three-minute" or "Liberty Loan" speeches or parades. Many, too many, of these fine young boys are eventually destroyed, mentally, because they could not make that final "about face" alone.”<br /> <br />…Yes, the soldier pays the greater part of the bill. His family pays too. They pay it in the same heart-break that he does. As he suffers, they suffer. At nights, as he lay in the trenches and watched shrapnel burst about him, they lay home in their beds and tossed sleeplessly – his father, his mother, his wife, his sisters, his brothers, his sons, and his daughters.<br /> <br />When he returned home minus an eye, or minus a leg or with his mind broken, they suffered too – as much as and even sometimes more than he. Yes, and they, too, contributed their dollars to the profits of the munitions makers and bankers and shipbuilders and the manufacturers and the speculators made. They, too, bought Liberty Bonds and contributed to the profit of the bankers after the Armistice in the hocus-pocus of manipulated Liberty Bond prices.<br /> <br />And even now the families of the wounded men and of the mentally broken and those who never were able to readjust themselves are still suffering and still paying.”<br /><br />His recommendation to remove wars' profit motive. “Let the officers and the directors and the high-powered executives of our armament factories and our munitions makers and our shipbuilders and our airplane builders and the manufacturers of all the other things that provide profit in war time as well as the bankers and the speculators, be conscripted – to get $30 a month, the same wage as the lads in the trenches get.<br /> <br />Let the workers in these plants get the same wages – all the workers, all presidents, all executives, all directors, all managers, all bankers – yes, and all generals and all admirals and all officers and all politicians and all government office holders – everyone in the nation be restricted to a total monthly income not to exceed that paid to the soldier in the trenches!<br /> <br />Let all these kings and tycoons and masters of business and all those workers in industry and all our senators and governors and majors pay half of their monthly $30 wage to their families and pay war risk insurance and buy Liberty Bonds.<br /> <br />Why shouldn't they?"<br /> <br />They aren't running any risk of being killed or of having their bodies mangled or their minds shattered. They aren't sleeping in muddy trenches. They aren't hungry. The soldiers are!<br /> <br />Give capital and industry and labor thirty days to think it over and you will find, by that time, there will be no war. That will smash the war racket – that and nothing else.”Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-23995745577134701632010-10-18T17:47:00.008-04:002010-10-18T18:21:36.102-04:00Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtC0j_NQaeQvWRL9agsyceLIH-bu7oAaR-ebaWex1vG9DVA_T-16JaR9y84s7NHkYoLV_1F6q-iY4jTb7b21Gzh-9L71hJA76SYy1p4uXKMeqatWlJTCAbosz80xKgtVJKy2QvbKp0rpI/s1600/100_2712.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmtC0j_NQaeQvWRL9agsyceLIH-bu7oAaR-ebaWex1vG9DVA_T-16JaR9y84s7NHkYoLV_1F6q-iY4jTb7b21Gzh-9L71hJA76SYy1p4uXKMeqatWlJTCAbosz80xKgtVJKy2QvbKp0rpI/s400/100_2712.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529513874201194594" /></a><br />Today another piece of my puzzle was put together. Do you ever have those moments when all of a sudden you understand why things happen. Today was one of those for me. I love those words above from the song, Me and Bobby McGee.<br /><br />I was a twin...however, my twin was stillborn and I didn't know until last year that I had never grieved that loss. You see, I was in the process of a divorce and the judge wanted us to get some therapy before she would grant the divorce. During the session, the therapist had us do a guided meditation. I can not to this day tell you what the meditation was about, but I know somehow he took us to the womb. He didn't know my history before that. We were new clients to him. But anyway in that meditation, he went on past the womb...but I never left that space, I heard him going forward, but I did not. I could not seem to go forward. I was stuck. When he brought us out of the meditation, he asked, my then husband and I, our experience. I said I could not get past the womb. And then he asked what happened there and all of a sudden the grief of 60 plus years came flooding out.....grief that I never had processed. I was amazed. Who would have known that would have come to the surface. If we are really willing to look deeply at our "case", we find out all sorts of interesting things we have experienced....and stuffed! It is kind of like being locked back in that space in time...locked in that grief of having someone I wanted to come forward in life with me, but was not going to...much the same as I felt about my husband, who had decided not to come forward in life with me. It is amazing to me how all things work together for good and how they all interlock. If he had never chosen to leave, and the judge told us to go to counseling, I would have never got in touch with all that painful grief that I was holding inside. What a gift came out of such a painful time.<br /><br />Today, there was another trigger of that piece...someone triggered my "story" that it was all my fault. Now I have come far enough down this road to be able to recognize when I get triggered. Do I like it, no, but you know I signed up to have that person trigger that for me so I could heal....if I chose not to blame them for triggering me. So today the part that it was "my fault" that my brother did not come forward with me was just one card in the stack, that like a bunch of dominoes, fell down. How freeing it was to know it was not my fault about a lot of things....it just was "what was" at that moment in time. That thought was hitched to a bunch of other circumstances about my thinking it was my fault....and those cards fell as well. What a gift to have been triggered today....and what a gift that same therapist we had gone to, had a cancellation. So...I am back on the freedom road again. <br /><br />Whenever I don't feel myself, I like to live in the solution to the problem and take steps toward my freedom. There is no sense in mucking around in the muck and having a big pity party....because no one wants to show up, and partying is no fun by yourself!! No one wants to hear me whaaaa, whaaaa, whaaa. So I like living in the solution, as it makes me feel as though I have power...something that I was not feeling when I walked in the door to his office today. I do have power over some things in life about what I choose and today I chose life!Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-3466924704891111342010-10-17T15:54:00.005-04:002010-10-17T17:07:31.099-04:00Things Hard to Swallow<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiy3Ju6N3T974t8ugzKg4qjxx6CN6iqZttzxw-xp_YhU9QkwYCzzeEljMYIVdueG5__MpmuLM8LYBm9ZCmwgkNFzryhHO9bgePcEVkxXDjtx0r1enthL4YFBhuulJghZdYsHk-lp1i6tE3/s1600/100_1246.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 383px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiy3Ju6N3T974t8ugzKg4qjxx6CN6iqZttzxw-xp_YhU9QkwYCzzeEljMYIVdueG5__MpmuLM8LYBm9ZCmwgkNFzryhHO9bgePcEVkxXDjtx0r1enthL4YFBhuulJghZdYsHk-lp1i6tE3/s400/100_1246.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529117191141853362" /></a><br />Do you ever have things in life that you find "hard to swallow", as they say? When I saw this Blue Heron and the way his neck is crooked, I wonder if he ever has problems swallowing things at times. <br /><br />You know the hard to swallow concepts, ideas or opinions that just seem so far out there that you can't wrap your mind around them and figure out where someone is coming from. I find that at times they make no sense at all. For example, all the hoopla about Michelle Obama's upper arms. Now if I had good looking upper arms like that, you can bet I'd wear sleeveless dresses too! And I have read how she works out to get those upper arms. Now if that is her thing, God bless her. But the hoopla of all the people out there saying that she, as the First Lady, should not be dressed like that. I guess there must be Presidential/First Lady Fashion Police out there whose job it is to discuss, place judgement and ridicule things like that. Evidently that is their main job. <br /><br />I recently had to ask a friend, a self-proclaimed Christian, to stop sending the hate emails to me regarding the current administration, immigrants and Muslims. Again, why? Do you have nothing else to do in life, but to criticize those who are different from you. I asked what he was afraid of and he said he was afraid of nothing. I then said if your money, possessions and guns were taken away, would you feel the same? I just don't see where Jesus of the Christian religion packed a gun or told us to do so. There just are some things that I just don't understand and find hard to swallow and wrap my mind around. Some things just don't seem logical. I don't understand how blanket emails can be sent saying the reason we are in such horrible financial straights in our country is due to all the money we pay out to illegal immigrants. Really? Do you really think that? Are you keeping a running tally of every dime that is spent, have you got inside information that the rest of us don't have....or.....<br /><br />Do these mindless emails just get sent as a way to express anger about something else within (because on some level you have an axe to grind about something) and shoot it to all those on our list that will join your herd mentality of anger. A friend and I are going to paint black spots on dry white beans, put them in a plastic bag, and market them as "instant herd", for those who want to be part of one. I don't think all the anger that is being expressed "out there" right now is about the current administration, the Muslims, or illegal immigrants. I think if they began writing about their anger and wrote, and wrote, and wrote....they might get to the bottom of a lot of what they feel....powerless and scared perhaps and probably what everyone would feel powerless and scared about is something different. I always felt wars were nothing but young men going to war because of old men's fears. There is nothing wrong with feeling powerless and scared, as long as you take it to the next level, and that is surrender....just surrender to those feelings and then perhaps, WHAT YOU FEAR WILL NOT COME UPON YOU. You aren't going to die because you feel powerless or scared....but you will die...as a result of the anger you are camped out in and the effects that can have on the body. I just don't think anyone thinks when they send those emails out. That is poopin' in our American nest...please stop...it is getting very smelly! <br /><br />Perhaps it is our grandparents saying that, "idle hands are the devil's workshop," is the case here. Are we a country of so many conveniences that we have too much time on our hands to think up these "awfulisms"....and then we pass them on ???? Just think about what you pass on...."Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things"....from Philippians. I think the key is if it is ADMIRABLE.....EXCELLENT AND PRAISEWORTHY. We live in a beautiful country, filled with many beautiful people....let's keep it beautiful.Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-45788966993709024432010-10-11T18:24:00.005-04:002010-10-11T18:56:31.002-04:00Changes....ch..ch..ch...changes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhRXZ-y7rLCcpHav5IrnDWDivuhe_b7xZJ5USMHS8Le3bmzHgEyzEu8onSczxIF0xk6SqqdKa1Nu7kQt5guRbO9OrR4vNOta1J0OmjfOAnX87CK-tFkJ_29QE6qtVFMKR1xl3FULfiKuk/s1600/100_1224.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhRXZ-y7rLCcpHav5IrnDWDivuhe_b7xZJ5USMHS8Le3bmzHgEyzEu8onSczxIF0xk6SqqdKa1Nu7kQt5guRbO9OrR4vNOta1J0OmjfOAnX87CK-tFkJ_29QE6qtVFMKR1xl3FULfiKuk/s400/100_1224.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526925574052382066" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(128, 0, 128); font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;font-size:20px;">"Sometimes love is for a moment, sometimes love is for a lifetime,<br />sometimes a moment is a lifetime." Martin Luther King</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;font-size:6;color:#800080;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:20px;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Changes...how do you adapt to change? I know how I adapt. I write....and I write and I write and I write and I write some more until I get it all out of me. I write about how I feel about the change, I write about what I don't feel about the change and in between those thoughts, I might write about the things I have to do that day...take a book back to the library, work out at the gym after work, go to the grocery store....just write and write and write and write and write until I get empty...until there is nothing more to say...kind of like I am writing right now...not paying attention to punctuation or grammar....who cares...it's just for me.....just writing and writing and writing. I find then I become an empty vessel where other thoughts and feelings have a way of entering my soul. It is my soul that is talking as I write and write and write and write and write. This isn't school....we are not being graded on what we write or how we write....we just write. It is better if you do it long hand...get one of those juicy gel pens that just flow on the page... and don't write on the computer. There is something about doing it long hand that has another level of cleansing...as if your words are art on a page....and it is your art...your expression on life's page. Don't worry about your penmanship. It is not even important if you can go back and read it.....the thing that is important is to let it flow.....and keep flowing...don't stop....just keep writing and writing and writing...even if you say, "I can't think of anything to write,"....write that down too. It is a cleansing of your soul. Picture yourself cleaning a room of your soul. You know....how you do a thorough cleaning of a room, for example. You move everything out....clean the floors, the walls, the window, and the woodwork.....and sometimes you may even find treasures in the corners that you thought you had lost....or a special article or magazine that you wanted to keep.....</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Then you move back in the things that you want....the things that are important....the things that have value. And sometimes, when I move things back in, I put them in a different place...kind of like looking at the change in the relationship or situation from a different prospective.....a fresh new thought...that comes like a breath of fresh air...like feng shui of the soul. Put your thoughts in a new position...a new location....perhaps you decide you didn't like that piece of thought furniture anyway. Now how can you do that unless you clean out all your "thought furniture, belief carpets and memory drapes" from your soul. Move everything out.....clean house. Write until you get down to the little kid space with no expectations, and everything just "is"....that innocence....that wonder about life.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You can do this about everything that bothers you. You can do it at any time of day, no matter where you are. You can carry a little notebook around that is just for you and Spirit....just where you write about your inner most thoughts, even if it is about emptying the cat box when you get home...or cleaning the bathroom....or anything....just write it down...or I am stuck in a traffic jam and nothing is moving.....just write and write and write. </span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(128, 0, 128); font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;font-size:20px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(128, 0, 128); font-family:Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;font-size:20px;"><br /></span></div></div></div>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-52422888668384550732010-10-09T05:50:00.008-04:002010-10-09T07:06:08.504-04:00New Beginnings<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD3gze-1A2fIt_gn90jIfd9L2nvNjCBS0xnkjpk1OcfRMkPCtyfOXv57YMONJPZr0h0kdu8cyuS1HSi6npv-O0Rqb4pZYNiOS85447OVwSvWmJRrpJ5n3lITmNgVZYXiZWKAd-l4kSTsv0/s1600/100_1210.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD3gze-1A2fIt_gn90jIfd9L2nvNjCBS0xnkjpk1OcfRMkPCtyfOXv57YMONJPZr0h0kdu8cyuS1HSi6npv-O0Rqb4pZYNiOS85447OVwSvWmJRrpJ5n3lITmNgVZYXiZWKAd-l4kSTsv0/s400/100_1210.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525991902607757586" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i>Morning, such beautiful time of reflection and quiet. I love the mornings where I look to the day with hope and new beginnings. Another day to be in the "now" of life, as this little one was one morning when I went out the door to work. Evidently he had had his daily bath in my bird bath, and was beginning to start his day, a new beginning. He almost looks as though he has a smile on his face, doesn't he, anticipating what life has to bring? I just had to set my things down and capture that moment.</i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i>A friend at work and I were talking just yesterday about relationships. He has had some rather painful times in his relationship when things have been said that were hurtful and painful. He recently went away for a couple of weeks to attend a wedding back home. He talked about how he missed his mate while he was gone and how everything he was doing, he kept thinking...I wish he was here to share it with me. We talked about how if you want to have good relationships, you really need to leave the yesterdays and tomorrows out of the picture. The yesterdays can be riddled with things that were not peaceful and loving days we want to remember. Looking to the future, with all the expectations that we want to create in it, can bring premeditated resentments when the future does not turn out the way we expect.</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i>The now of life is where Spirit is and dwells. Getting to the "now" is a process...a process of bringing yourself back to the now. Sometimes we split off from being in the now, because something happens in the "now" that is too painful to feel or experience. Or we may find ourselves so far down the road of the future in expectations of how it will or should be. I know for myself, on my process to get to the <b>now</b>, I had to go back and get the "me" I left at those times. I had to embrace those circumstances and feelings that happened, as a part of my reality, and love them, as it was part of my "nows" that I did not want to accept as real. I also had to go to the one who was so far down the road in expectations, that she was way ahead of Spirit and rushing life.</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i>Sometimes I find it helpful if I close my eyes and picture myself as that person, in that time and space that I am running from or to, like a stranger that I am observing. I look at her, look at what she had experienced or wants to experience, hear the things she is saying, without her talking. After observing her till I had get the full picture in my mind, I then go to her, as someone who had been hurt or is not being heard about what she wants or needs. I put my arms around her and just hold her to my heart. Sometimes, I break down and cry. Sometimes, all she was needs is just to be heard, as on some level I had not heard what she was experiencing or wants in life. I find those times most healing. Sometimes I find I need to write in my journal either before to get to a place of willingness to even go there. I often write in my journal after, as a way of cementing in my mind the touching of each other's lives in that special way that day. I don't know why it is much easier to envision it as a separate person, but it is, and it works...and brings freedom from the past, or from our expectations for the future. I guess it really is a place of separateness within me that I am experiencing. It seems to then integrate those parts of me and bring a sense of one-ness to my soul. </i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><i>Love those parts of yourself today that either hurt from the past....or from a "future" that is not happening the way, or as fast, as you had planned. That way you can come into the now..the now where Spirit is. And you can make it today, no matter what you need to face...no matter what you need to embrace. You are a courageous soul to even have come to this plane of life. You will reach a place of saying, "So what!" That will not be said in a sarcastic way, but in a freeing way like picking yourself out of the disappointment heap you have found yourself in....dusting yourself off, and walking into the next moment of life and all the miracles that it can bring. It is a new day and you can make it! </i></span></div>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-78158989639128052282010-10-07T16:47:00.005-04:002010-10-07T17:26:45.343-04:00Letting Go<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9W8F2NjVD0JxxvtCuMi92RzfHwc_59PkEiEVu0vzIn6mSxl_GeGB-tF2E6NmlbQWW4jpgi7TU0O6WNmwtRZJ1ocZEIsZbCR3236EvefLZsmRr8cdEOykkafY3R0j62D9Na8n2nEoKXZDS/s1600/100_1215.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9W8F2NjVD0JxxvtCuMi92RzfHwc_59PkEiEVu0vzIn6mSxl_GeGB-tF2E6NmlbQWW4jpgi7TU0O6WNmwtRZJ1ocZEIsZbCR3236EvefLZsmRr8cdEOykkafY3R0j62D9Na8n2nEoKXZDS/s400/100_1215.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525417940822345874" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Relationships are not always easy....especially when a person </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">is taken from you in death, or </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">decides they need to take another path, instead of the one you have walked together. Letting go is such a process, an often painful process, showing how our attachments to things of this plane of life have us hooked. To love and reach the place of acceptance, we truly have to let go....and allow the other to be who and what they need to be in this moment in time. </span></i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">For one who grew up with "the happily ever after stories", letting go seems to be such a drawn out process even though I say, "I am willing to let go" and even sometimes say, "I am willing to be willing to let go". Honesty about where we are at in that process takes time, peeling back the layers of denial to that place of alone-ness...that same alone-ness as experienced when we enter this life. There is an innocence in that alone-ness...of trusting what is ahead, even when you cannot see what is ahead....and that, My Friends, is "where the rubber meets the road". It seems like the trenches, as I sometimes call them. I don't know about you, but I hate those pat things people say when you are mucking through the trenches, like "people come into our life for a reason, a season or a lifetime". When I am mucking, I emotionally want to lash out...as I don't want to hurt or grieve anymore...as the pain is too much....cause that is what letting go is...grieving and it hurts. For those of you who believe in reincarnation or heaven, a belief that </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">you will see them again </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">does not even seem to bring salve to your wounds at the time. You want them in your life now! You miss them...you miss everything about them...their smells, their mannerisms, and even the things you had a hard time tolerating. </span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">For me, I have to go back to the basics at that time. The basics for me are a level of willful trust, and for one who started out with my twin dying in the womb, being a forceps delivery, and other yucky circumstances in my family going on, I don't always feel like I do that gracefully. Trust does not come easy. The basic memory of alone-ness was frightening and often still feels dark. But life has a way of bringing a new tomorrow, a new thought, a new book to read, a new friend, and the list goes on and on that takes us away from our sorrow. We are courageous, powerful and overcoming beings of Spirit, when we are able to take a deep breath and just let go into the river of life. </span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">You can make it I tell myself! </span></i></span></div>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-69572470430310394622010-09-09T13:20:00.001-04:002010-09-09T13:22:17.678-04:00Hidden in the arms of a tree<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF1m36bm-RPLucr96FUhcO7WNEaOezLLLWxiyfRdAGTFbCoL0A6FVPocDa8AZuracbn5-TYIZ18ZWVBFZRswxEpR8ZzrChT8nZtxeXQqigIRJ3Hv61VLgt4z7xpSx-X3f9fKPVLbzUZSUI/s1600/100_1054.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 380px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF1m36bm-RPLucr96FUhcO7WNEaOezLLLWxiyfRdAGTFbCoL0A6FVPocDa8AZuracbn5-TYIZ18ZWVBFZRswxEpR8ZzrChT8nZtxeXQqigIRJ3Hv61VLgt4z7xpSx-X3f9fKPVLbzUZSUI/s400/100_1054.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514965310892682562" /></a>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-84560960779389680402010-09-09T12:53:00.002-04:002010-09-09T13:13:52.502-04:00A Macaw That Caught My Eye<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWI23GrzFFfUIu2ZU9jwcZNgJlHLMvwWZ3TqELPPNlWtUV1Edi7dS7HcFYdlv7Jk1KTkRUdHrIX6ylwXM0pVQL6pEscN8hn15xNBJ1FVAPkrMii8ULYI0KVfDs1s9nh3JGNazYIBplTBC/s1600/100_0968.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWI23GrzFFfUIu2ZU9jwcZNgJlHLMvwWZ3TqELPPNlWtUV1Edi7dS7HcFYdlv7Jk1KTkRUdHrIX6ylwXM0pVQL6pEscN8hn15xNBJ1FVAPkrMii8ULYI0KVfDs1s9nh3JGNazYIBplTBC/s400/100_0968.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514963038466341970" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">This beauty was at Butterfly World in FL and was sitting with other beauties waiting to be photographed.</span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-46522153245057072472010-09-09T12:40:00.005-04:002010-09-09T12:52:05.583-04:00State Wildflower of TN<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkJ-3dWgeEbkGS22s7HbBhbEY7e0VAVifks0OskDeipLbLGZ5FI8SZ82X24ih4_dSixlmY90HSjEtSxM9aEhL-32jL2Z95LO0Pr_02PSOUoaohAUBas3RU0pq7Hmjx7pTTtCsExd4_ZRA/s1600/100_1044.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkJ-3dWgeEbkGS22s7HbBhbEY7e0VAVifks0OskDeipLbLGZ5FI8SZ82X24ih4_dSixlmY90HSjEtSxM9aEhL-32jL2Z95LO0Pr_02PSOUoaohAUBas3RU0pq7Hmjx7pTTtCsExd4_ZRA/s400/100_1044.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514955939192474994" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;">I remember the first time I ever saw this flower. It seems like it was yesterday....one of those memories that stops time and you remember it forever. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;">We were driving on the New Deal Potts Rd near Portland TN. I saw this purple flash out of the corner of my eye. I asked my husband, at the time, to stop. Whatever it was, was in the weeds along the side of the road. I wanted to see what had caught my attention. When I got out, picked it and brought it in the car, I wept as I looked at it. I had never seen anything so beautiful...so intricate in design. I was totally amazed at its beauty. </span></div>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-55566497367977585282010-08-16T16:33:00.004-04:002010-08-16T17:55:15.559-04:00Peace Lily<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJLu_VVqQsrYUpH-xjIT7r0d8vVGNCsyAa5kYZKJm4NYtDJVfjjtNQm-mYBmTyvKY_lqLp907XGUkficEa-ira6RMA5j9in0KXMTRmOqy50R8tI1cMIxUmKWb5ajluz0fYgBW4VuZZLMd/s1600/100_0235.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 234px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyJLu_VVqQsrYUpH-xjIT7r0d8vVGNCsyAa5kYZKJm4NYtDJVfjjtNQm-mYBmTyvKY_lqLp907XGUkficEa-ira6RMA5j9in0KXMTRmOqy50R8tI1cMIxUmKWb5ajluz0fYgBW4VuZZLMd/s320/100_0235.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506127739991681042" /></a><br />I seem to read so much lately stating protests about the mosque possibly being built at Ground Zero. I would like to suggest a non-denominational building for the purpose of <i>remembrance</i> of <i>all</i> the people and <i>all </i>the faiths represented in those who lost their lives that day. This building would have <i>no religious symbols in it or on it, </i>but just be a sacred hall where one could pay homage to those who perished, maybe have pictures of all who died there..perhaps a picture from their childhood. Call it a remembrance building for lack of a better term, leave all the religious symbols out of it...they only separate...they do not unite. We were united that day... united in our suffering. There were people of all faiths, all colors, all nationalities who lost their lives....everyone with their own personal story of why they were there that day and why they found themself in the US. The bottom line is they were all children of someone....and all children of one Creator. Their parents may be who they "<i>came through"</i>, but their lives didn't "just happen". Perhaps if we saw each one as a child, our heart would soften our differences. Separate the <i>behaviors</i> of those who piloted those planes and picture them as human beings gone astray because of wounds to their hearts, however, them feeling totally justified in their position. Why return hatred with hatred....where does that get us? Somebody's got to take the high road. Have we become so callous that we don't notice when another soldier dies or another person loses their life on our streets, because of <i>differences</i>. Our best thinking over many years has brought us to where we are today. Are any of us happy with it? Does it work? Do we need to see more bloodshed to wake up and say "THIS IS NOT WORKING"? I wonder how the parent, of all of us <i>children, </i>feels to look at the <i>sibling rivalry</i> that goes on here on earth? We all came from Love, are here to love and it is each of our own responsibility to move in that direction, clean up our own room in the house, and not wait for someone else to make the first move. We seem like a bunch of teenagers that are saying, "Look at what he did, or she did, (finger pointing) and I'm not going to do this or that....why should I have to?!!" There is not one of us who created this world, so who do we think we are to be capable to "run it." Have a natural disaster happen and that truth comes home quickly! (Maybe I need to ask my neighbor or someone else if they would be responsible for making the sun come up tomorrow morning...what do you think?) We have forgotten who we really are....let us work together at remembering our common heritage instead of the dots on the map where we were born.Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-90118981081324620142010-08-08T09:29:00.004-04:002010-08-08T09:37:09.602-04:00You are almost there!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpXIzvIvd7628wMrCpSynLOYzQ2chwQgx6e2vho4JutJT-AqPmJAWM5UIf5TrVRnwgW3zMidA75DNIKwTdzZTbOstSHq7VHjocGY4TdOdjw-mptR8hikdvFDYhvLz1_ZmA0ohNDFsy0oZ/s1600/100_2716.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 357px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHpXIzvIvd7628wMrCpSynLOYzQ2chwQgx6e2vho4JutJT-AqPmJAWM5UIf5TrVRnwgW3zMidA75DNIKwTdzZTbOstSHq7VHjocGY4TdOdjw-mptR8hikdvFDYhvLz1_ZmA0ohNDFsy0oZ/s400/100_2716.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503031605892460978" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#003300;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Wherever "there????" might be...which in reality is the next moment of life in that statement..something in the future! I received that message on a Facebook fortune cookie.<br /><br />There was a moment in time where I would have clung to that "you are almost there" as hope, being in a space at the time that felt so hopeless and not where I wanted to "be"....and yet life goes on, as it always has, bringing its joys, its sorrows and all the various complexity of feelings that "life is". I clung to the feeling that there was a brighter day or a new tomorrow. And yet it kept me from today and all its "presence of beingness".<br /><br />Now I trust the "there" in life...in God, or whatever presence you call that entity in time and space which is bigger than us.... knowing whatever happens in the "there", I will "be" and I am... and for me, "God is". Have a great day in your "beingness"!</span></span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-76127734776697429312010-07-02T14:43:00.004-04:002010-07-02T14:49:32.752-04:00Gentleman, start my engines!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jbEno1cM6YeRZ3yIUCXWHRxxcaEMQhsBdRVjqY9N21bUhW4YnHmmYYktAFjRwyJ6RUaotMpWiHIJFY5_r93DvbOYQw0HwUK43FgW5Jq9pcBxdzkNG5NeH-lAju6chkZ_puvRiY9s9bRe/s1600/100_0342.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 343px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jbEno1cM6YeRZ3yIUCXWHRxxcaEMQhsBdRVjqY9N21bUhW4YnHmmYYktAFjRwyJ6RUaotMpWiHIJFY5_r93DvbOYQw0HwUK43FgW5Jq9pcBxdzkNG5NeH-lAju6chkZ_puvRiY9s9bRe/s400/100_0342.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489382074238075234" /></a><br />This young Blue Jay sat on the bird bath for about an hour. I don't think he could make up his mind whether he wanted to fly or jump down. So cute.....the mama came and swooped in an fed him. Perhaps if he had something to eat, he would have the courage to fly.Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-87017552057121790062010-05-23T08:20:00.003-04:002010-05-23T08:23:19.394-04:00Lotus Blossoms<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3QISx7RMLsQVJOMoaCmQbwaAvNtQuecayZmw_yWyneyErO5cKmU1am8TR-T33xYaYZ7tZilv_X3OBz0fgk4B5rzbZ0N38ZIzyXmfqVjCyoXo1pPU5PaSu74Ep7z0k6PS09jstoI5kf-z6/s1600/100_0238.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3QISx7RMLsQVJOMoaCmQbwaAvNtQuecayZmw_yWyneyErO5cKmU1am8TR-T33xYaYZ7tZilv_X3OBz0fgk4B5rzbZ0N38ZIzyXmfqVjCyoXo1pPU5PaSu74Ep7z0k6PS09jstoI5kf-z6/s400/100_0238.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474439468543561186" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Humanity is but a pond full of lotus blossoms, wanting to let go of its fear and suffering. It seems that we really don't know HOW to let go of fear and suffering.... but somewhere deep inside we remember whom we REALLY are.... and gently let go.... a little at a time....opening all of our petals to expose the beautiful individual lotus flowers that we really are.</span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-59310225177542324482010-03-29T17:52:00.003-04:002010-03-29T17:55:01.584-04:00Fishy in the pond<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQyLDOKWiTSIjW68SxrfW-pGhjOA6Pwm2uoVvx1ztQp-aAxq7EExLd-ccCflx6wmSlOU5GR3Oavr6IQHtkDOqsbgq2Nz6QNpjtnks21iszS_1TD7Bem3E0HYz-WqXmxCzBFbsCROVnJsR/s1600/100_0120.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 360px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQyLDOKWiTSIjW68SxrfW-pGhjOA6Pwm2uoVvx1ztQp-aAxq7EExLd-ccCflx6wmSlOU5GR3Oavr6IQHtkDOqsbgq2Nz6QNpjtnks21iszS_1TD7Bem3E0HYz-WqXmxCzBFbsCROVnJsR/s400/100_0120.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454177216408031090" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333399;">I love the picture of this fish in a nearby pond. When looking at the water in that natural, you don't see the beautiful colors, however, these came out in the picture once uploaded. I'm not sure what kind he is.</span></span></span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-1485527051664230422010-03-29T17:46:00.003-04:002010-03-29T17:50:21.226-04:00Azaleas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNO3LtzrMpuTC4Hv0-bfWaeM6RQXkgdiXhfyOJSZl97LcHypLEUK6msqREOmSqKruurCoyirQDjTZBRnXU1TKUBceEqQLrP6N0UPeW5kEdHZajuhOd65uJ8RydBkHUtyXbPUtklS6MtxS2/s1600/100_0142.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNO3LtzrMpuTC4Hv0-bfWaeM6RQXkgdiXhfyOJSZl97LcHypLEUK6msqREOmSqKruurCoyirQDjTZBRnXU1TKUBceEqQLrP6N0UPeW5kEdHZajuhOd65uJ8RydBkHUtyXbPUtklS6MtxS2/s400/100_0142.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454176023346618210" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC33CC;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';">The azaleas are especially beautiful this Spring. I think they actually needed the cold winter we have had in Florida this year to bring out their beauty. The bushes are just loaded with buds. They are such a lovely flower.</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Lucida Grande', serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre;font-size:11px;"><br /></span></span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-87862452269829905922010-03-29T17:42:00.002-04:002010-03-29T17:46:01.583-04:00Resident window hugger<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihf8V6GzO5gUsbH_3vanm7Pe_COnfVmaU7qwJzHL73NwfIWdLiyfT033iAAsk3YysSneFoUCZIWAL00IXJjWbzlfmYRF23gIM2mJ-9Onq7GvfXrGsNGyD8lAAD4JM4ZimUJ8KLfGpk8Mom/s1600/100_0155.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 273px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihf8V6GzO5gUsbH_3vanm7Pe_COnfVmaU7qwJzHL73NwfIWdLiyfT033iAAsk3YysSneFoUCZIWAL00IXJjWbzlfmYRF23gIM2mJ-9Onq7GvfXrGsNGyD8lAAD4JM4ZimUJ8KLfGpk8Mom/s400/100_0155.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454174786074920098" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I have this resident window hugger that has stayed on a plastic vase that is stuck to the window next to my front door. He's such a cute little fella. Today he moved from one side of the vase, to his normal position that is between the vase and the window. He has been there for about four months now. I think he feels the love!</span></span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-8755265015647165292010-03-21T09:38:00.003-04:002010-03-21T09:44:54.752-04:00Alligator tears<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLQwk0wg1QyO6n55Q7UrbgpXCxjbE_dchr-pksee1DUpKJlvNj6zFLkzPWDkk6yXd1D9UfggxaQW8mFwkB6AxWmdmOKZkXzcAq6gKBCfUN1kifO-DlKQMWB3dpEjxCROfBKY24vbsqy2Q/s1600-h/100_0125.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 335px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLQwk0wg1QyO6n55Q7UrbgpXCxjbE_dchr-pksee1DUpKJlvNj6zFLkzPWDkk6yXd1D9UfggxaQW8mFwkB6AxWmdmOKZkXzcAq6gKBCfUN1kifO-DlKQMWB3dpEjxCROfBKY24vbsqy2Q/s400/100_0125.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451081626253235138" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663300;">This fella was lounging in a near by park...probable crying <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">crocodile</span> tears that his body has to be so exposed to the elements to feel any warmth...in our cold Spring in FL. He would much rather us just see his usual exposure...just his head. He's about 5 to 6 feet long...and a resident of the park. </span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-13157657058880807982010-03-21T09:35:00.003-04:002010-03-21T09:38:19.435-04:00More pansy like faces<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtq-UK2TnfAPZmQAK1llKk20U97aLGUybHtFXJ0l9jhsk3RfEQ6C6psiMcmoYUkih7RanwVrrhK3vpwJkbB09QniA64NGSHZ78rz9v5RU5cJ2qEPdGFJmM_Teoc9NKN8JJJ8nFcExQCeAT/s1600-h/100_0149.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtq-UK2TnfAPZmQAK1llKk20U97aLGUybHtFXJ0l9jhsk3RfEQ6C6psiMcmoYUkih7RanwVrrhK3vpwJkbB09QniA64NGSHZ78rz9v5RU5cJ2qEPdGFJmM_Teoc9NKN8JJJ8nFcExQCeAT/s400/100_0149.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451080571012175330" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#6600CC;">Members of the pansy family...but, as I remember, called by another name. They are smaller...about the size of a quarter. Pretty smiling faces of Spring.</span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3413241450090985910.post-45954459733311829002010-03-21T09:30:00.006-04:002010-09-09T13:48:06.053-04:00Watching all there is to see<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDdMbwsZE_nvIygN9droLcne-DBRcvLVe2wV7NBDRuUxBNogekNk-Y1-0HvYj_5lbUaxsCdzvKGyrrbdQrsWTCjQUljZDr0j92jGlk2Pmtc2UIwcgzLEXols-S9k2IjHWxs19yDBCilPAL/s1600-h/100_0150.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDdMbwsZE_nvIygN9droLcne-DBRcvLVe2wV7NBDRuUxBNogekNk-Y1-0HvYj_5lbUaxsCdzvKGyrrbdQrsWTCjQUljZDr0j92jGlk2Pmtc2UIwcgzLEXols-S9k2IjHWxs19yDBCilPAL/s400/100_0150.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451079265912096786" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">This hawk was above the mailbox area yesterday when I went to get my mail. I looked up to see what was making such a squawking noise, as if to say, "Look at me!!!", as I walked to the box.</span>Nancy Jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258236389043131898noreply@blogger.com0