quote monday

                                                                   May Day!

There can be no one better than yourself, 

so be the best version of you... because,

 no one is born to represent another.

                           -unknown

Happy Monday!

Happy May Day!

~norma~

Usually when birds make nests on top of this brick column, they just pile a few messy twigs up there and hope for the best. The "usually birds" I'm talking about are the doves and it seems they are not the best birds at nest making or baby hatching.  But this little nest maker...she is the Martha Stewart of nest making! She added some of the flowers off one of the native bloomers and some greenery off of a decorative asparagus plant (at least that is what we've always said it was) to make her nest extra pretty. Hopefully, she will have good luck and raise her babies until they fly away!

color wednesday

 Today, because we are enjoying another beautiful blue sky and because the temperatures are rising, which can give us the blues when it reaches one hundred and doesn't stop...I'm featuring the color blue.

Like the blue in this peacock painting that Rachel did a few years ago. 

                          Or the cute blue dress Leah wore one day, also a few years ago.

That amazing blue glass sculpture that was at the Botanical Gardens one time when Mom was visiting. Oh, and I guess I should mention her pretty blue top that happened to match it nicely.

              That old blue house. Although, against the winter sky it looks bit greenish. But it's blue.

                                                                    This butterfly!

This orb. It was a feature at the Botanical Gardens as well. This time during the holiday light exhibit.

          Any one of the interesting blue skies we get to see quite often around here, just before sunset.

His car. One of the girls' high school friends from Montrose nicknamed it the Chuckmobile.  The name stuck and now that he traded that car for a new one...the Chuckmobile is missed.
Mostly the name I think.

And this car. Not the car he traded his Chuckmobile for, but this is a pretty sweet ride.
We spotted it in Santa Fe.

  My pretty stained glass window that a dear friend in Montrose made. She gifted it to me when we first moved in to that old blue farmhouse. Technically, the house was green when we moved in, but I knew I wanted to paint it blue as soon as we could. And we did.  It hung in our kitchen window the entire time we lived there and when the morning sun would shine through the beveled glass, rainbows would reflect on the wall across from it. I always said they were Jane's rainbows.  I happen to love tulips and the color blue so, this is one of my favorite things.

  The blue of the ocean when we were lucky enough to spot dolphins swimming in front of out boat. We spotted them on a sunset whale watch in Hawaii.

 The reflection of the sky in the water of this gravity run water feature we saw on a tour...also while in Hawaii. The grounds of this plantation were just beautiful. This being an example.

                                    I hope the color of the sky is shining down on you bluetifully today!

quote monday

                                               Our souls need time 
                                                     to think, 
                                                           dream, 
                                                              and reflect.
                                                                                                          -Jo Ann Davis

Happy Monday!
~norma~


I spotted this wonderful mirror while we toured a mining museum in Bisbee. It's pretty great!
When you stand close you can see yourself three-ways. That is why they call them three-way mirrors.

1. To think  
2. To dream
3. To reflect    



Take time to think about what is... dream about what can be, while reflecting on what was.

color wednesday

The month of March would have been a good time to feature green on a Wednesday, but April will have to do. Some good friends drove in from Colorado yesterday and we had a discussion about how green things are in this part of Arizona. A little out of the ordinary. We can, once again, thank the extra rain we had this winter for the beautiful green that has blanketed the desert landscape. Makes me feel a little nostalgic and perhaps a bit envious of the green that other states have all the time. We do have a lot of green and other pretty colors with the plants and flowers that are abundant in this warm climate, but the general vibrance of green is not always this plush.

    So, with the talk of green last night, I thought it would be a good color to feature here today.

This scarf that Rachel's dog Luna likes to wear when she's being real active and adventurous-like.

                     The amazing lawn behind me at the Morton Arboretum in Chicago last fall.

                                                        Palm trees lit up for Christmas.

The cute handprint tree on my Mom's sweatshirt that I made for Christmas, quite some time ago. Austin, at the bottom was six. Rachel was two and Leah on the top was about 9 months.
                                                          Grandma still wears it.

The Venice river in the watercolor painting Chuck did for his Mom.

                    The leaves on the tree and the muted green reflection on the water in Kauai.

                          Nifty old garden tools. I'll be posting my garden space re-model soon.

                  This mineral we saw in Bisbee. My science teacher daughter will be bummed
                 that her own mother can't remember what it is called. She'll forgive me though,
                                   because I've at least learned to NOT call them rocks!

                           But if I were to call it a rock, I'd say it's a pretty sharp one!

quote monday

                       

                                                Once you learn to see 
                                    some amount of beauty in everything
                                         you will learn to appreciate 
                            every little thing that happens in this universe.
                                                                              -unknown

Sometimes it is so very hard to see it.
And sometimes, so very hard to believe it...
but learning to appreciate, might just bring more beauty.

Happy Monday!
~norma~


A little known fact about me: 
I have always had and sometimes still... have night terrors.  I wake from a sound sleep of horrible dreaming... screaming or shouting out. Loud. The first time, after Chuck and I were married, (and I failed to mention such a detail to Chuck before said marriage) I woke with my blood curdling scream. Chuck, wanting to protect his new wife(and wondering why he almost wet the bed) grabbed me in a hug. WELL...having never had someone immediately grab me in that situation, resulted in an even scarier moment for the two of us. 

Fortunately, at this age, he is use to it and by the time he is shhh-ing me I'm already to the next phase, which is giggling. Embarrassment I guess. I use to cry when I was young. Thanks Mom for always coming to my room. 

So, the other night...only minutes after we laid our heads on our pillows, something flew through my hair and landed on my face! As I gasped and jumped up ...Chuck, thinking it was one of my 'episodes' (however I've never had one that early into the sleep-night) was doing his shhh thing. Well, I flipped on the light to see a moth flitting around the bed. Chuck, again protecting his wife, swatted at it, causing it to disappear between the mattress and the headboard. I said..."great! We don't know where it is or if it is alive"!! He assured me that he got it and I shut the light back off and proceeded to get back in bed and fall asleep. Until I woke the next morning. And that is when I saw it on my pillow. I even had time to reach for my phone and snap a pic without it moving. And then it found a new life out the back door.

It's beautiful how the morning light is shining through its wings isn't it?
I can appreciate that.

color wedensday

Well, my Monday post had pink flowers from our orchid tree as the quote photo. After I posted it I thought, silly Norma, you should have saved those vibrant pink flowers for a color post on Wednesday. But, I didn't...so let's just say it was a pink preview for today. Especially since my sister Helen commented that the flower reminded her of the pink cactus flower pic I sent to her the other day. You'll see it at the end of these pink photos. I commented back to her that the pink reminded me of the photo she texted me of the poison ivy on her arms. I won't post that pic here Helen. 

You're welcome! I'll just say..your arms look itchy awful!

A hibiscus flower.

           The bright pink field of flowers photo that Leah sent me last fall from Argentina!

The pink sun spot that accidentally showed up in the photo I snapped last fall in Santa Fe.

This incredible pink blossom I spotted in Hawaii. The tree was loaded with these blooms.

Pink stools in an empty vintage diner we saw in Bisbee, Arizona.

 That middle scoop of ice cream painted on the side of the piano Austin sat down and played last spring in the middle of downtown Denver.

Those two scoops of ice cream my sister Karen and I shared while she visited 4 years ago. 

Yes Karen...four.

            The pretty lei that I made in a lei making class while in Hawaii. That was right before my     ukulele class.  I did much better with the blossoms than I did with the tunes.

 This is a star lily that grows and blooms rampantly in Hawaii. I have the same plant that blooms with a white flower (read about it here) which right now happens to have the tallest stalk , as yet,  in its bloom' life .

                        The cute drawing of "A Pig" that Rachel did when she was four. Yep, I said cute!

         And last...the cute little pink flower that was peeking out between these prickly cacti.

                                                   So now...for the love of all things pink...
          I hope there is something that is blooming pink or otherwise cheerful in your world right now.

quote monday

    

              Spring translates earth's happiness 
                        into colorful flowers. 
                                                                        -Terri Guillemets






Happy Monday!
~norma~