Wild Abandon

Take your shoes off. Go outside. Feel the earth under your feet. Throw a tennis ball for your dog. Admire the trees and be thankful for the oxygen they give. Look up at the sky (not while driving … haha). Laugh uncontrollably. If there’s even the slightest chance of getting something that will make you happy, risk it.

Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, those with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world a better than you found it.

It just might be time to live with wild abandon.

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

 

Aspen Eye

Looking out of my dining room window, I noticed for the first time the all-seeing “eye” on one of the Aspen trees.  Now that I know it’s there and watching me, I will probably have to have conversations with it.  Please don’t call the guys in the white coats just yet, OK?  I’ll let you know how I and the “eye” get along.  Namaste’

Regina (Reggie) Arnold is a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger.

I Meant to Post This

This is a “galaxy feeling” shot that I took before Halloween and I meant to post it but didn’t, so it’s my stand-in for today.  Busy day; lots to do.  I’m taking a short vacation to meet up with my gal pals for six days and will resume my posts in about a week.  I won’t have access to a computer and will make it up later.  Yeah, we’ve all heard that before, right?  I will; really I will 🙂

Can’t wait to see my friends (one I’ve known for 49 years!!!) … I know we’ll probably eat too much, drink wine, shop, see some sights and just catch up with each others’ lives.  But having a maid to clean our rooms will be oh, so nice, since we are normally the ones who provide the maid service at our homes.  Namaste’

 

Meet WS

OK, by now you all know who WS is, right?  Wonderful Spouse of mine, of course.  Here he is in all the get-up he uses to trim this one particular tree.  It does look really nice but it’s so stinkin’ hot outside, I wish he would wait until it cools off.  But nooooooooo.  Is it me or are men just plain stubborn when it comes to this stuff?  Click photos to enlarge.

Hope you’re having a glorious Friday.  We’re all set up to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics tonight.  It might be hard to top the ones that took place in Beijing four years ago but I’m looking forward to seeing whatever it is.  I’ve heard that there’s going to be a WOW moment in the first 15 minutes tonight.  Starts at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time.  Namaste’

Last Sunset

IF WHAT I SAY RESONATES WITH YOU, IT IS MERELY BECAUSE WE ARE BOTH BRANCHES ON THE SAME TREE ~ W. B. Yeats

I meant to post this yesterday but got caught up in efforts to save the donkeys from the roping competition in Van Horn, TX, and I’m happy to say that all of our combined efforts worked.  Take a look: http://www.the7msnranch.com/

A while back I posted a picture of a eucalyptus tree in our back yard that was dying.  At one time it was so beautiful and gave such great shade, but alas, no more.  This is the farewell image; the last time the sun set on our tree.  They came to cut it down and now it’s firewood.  But we asked it to remove its spirit and transfer its energy somewhere else before the chain saws started in.  Bittersweet.  Namaste’

Close, Closer, Closest

Today’s images are close, closer and closest shots of some blooms that I’ve been wanting to get for some time but there’s always been too much traffic.  Why is it the best shots seem to be on the road?  Today I was lucky; I found a way to make a quick u-turn, pull off onto a side road and then hike up to where the plant is.  Even the cars cooperated 🙂  And yes, I was very careful to watch for rattlesnakes.  I respect their space, believe me!  As for what kind of plant this is, I really have no idea.  If you do, would you let me know?  I’ve Googled it and produced no results.

Click to enlarge.  Namaste’

If Your First Priority Was …

The question posed to me in an email this morning was:  “What would you be doing differently if your first priority was living today to its fullest?”  The answer came to me as I looked out the window of my office … I would spend more time in nature.  So I did.  Even though it was just a few minutes more than yesterday.  And I would exercise more because that makes me feel better.  So I took out my weighted hula hoop, turned on some of my favorite music and hooped my way through a couple of songs.  It was a lot of fun and I burned more calories than I have in a while.  Now that I’m home for the day, I think I’ll do it again.

With the weather predicting to change drastically tomorrow, I thought it was time to gaze through my sunroof again.  I like what I saw.  Palo Verde branches beginning their bloom against a clouded but brilliant blue sky.  Nice.  Namaste’