Nurturing Thursday
Cee’s Black & White: Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles
Wordless Wednesday
Error
This video doesn’t exist
Error
This video doesn’t exist
Share Your World
What was or is your favorite cartoon?
I don’t remember having a favorite cartoon- not on TV and not in the newspapers.
Which cooking utensil (other than the usual pots and pans etc) would you miss the most?
At this point, I can’t say I’d miss any of my cooking utensils! Years ago I cooked a lot, experimented with new dishes, and spent a lot of time baking. As the years wore on, I found myself simplifying the recipes, taking short cuts that meant spending less time in the kitchen cooking. We eat a lot of cut up roasted vegetables, and I have one favorite knife I use for everything. It is serrated and not really sharp, and I would have to say that is the only thing I would miss.
Would you dare to sleep in haunted house overnight?
It would depend on who was haunting it. If it were ghosts from my past and people I knew who have passed on, I would say yes
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?
Having time off and getting out with my camera.
Where Are You Spring?
After a surprise snowstorm yesterday that left 6 inches of snow on the ground, the sun decided to come out in the late afternoon. The roads were clear so I ventured out to take a walk. 
As I looked across the river next to the trail I like to walk on, there stood a Great Blue Heron atop some brush.
Looking for lunch, no doubt. I watched him for a few minutes until he flew across and took perch on a log in the river
They are usually very skittish and will take off when they sense the slightest movement around them. I zoomed in for a better view.
He watched the water for about 5 minutes until he took off and out of sight. I continued to walk watching the birds around me looking for food- most likely puzzled at why the ground was covered with snow once again.
I think this Blue Jay is looking for Spring too….hopefully it’ll be here soon!
Oddballs and April’s Fools
Here’s my oddball this week… it’s SNOWING! on April 2nd….and no sign of it letting up!
Thursday’s Special: Recycled
Paula tells us: This week’s Thursday’s Special theme is recycled.
Five Pipes Project
Of the tons of concrete debris dumped on the park site during the construction of Interstate 95 and I-80, five monolithic concrete drainage pipes marred the natural landscape. They were too large and heavy to remove without considerable destruction to the park and remained as a graffiti covered reminder of the history of environmental degradation.
In 2008, a local Conservancy commissioned Brooklyn muralist Eduardo Alexander Rabel to lead a group of volunteers including students from a local Middle School and AIE NJ State Council on the Arts Grant artist John Kaiser to create murals inside and without all five pipes. The murals of each pipe represent a different era in American history beginning with the Native Americans and ending with the 21st century.
Which Way
I saw a sign pointing to a trail and decided to follow it.
It was early morning and very quiet. I had seen the sign before, but in Spring and Summer the bushes were always thick and seemed impassable. With winter and everything died back the walk was easy. The no trespassing sign was there as this trail abuts a private home.
It didn’t take long to reach the end of the trail….
The river spread out in front of me, leaving me only one choice for which way to go…. back from where I came!
Share Your World
What is your favorite color of hair? You can name your hair color or a color that you just like.
I think Auburn hair is just beautiful. It is not too red or orange, but a deep rich shade unlike anything else.
List at least 5 things that you are good at.
Listening.
Growing Orchids and getting them to rebloom. 
Taking photos of birds.
Being by myself.
Being a friend.
What is your favorite animal or type of animal? (pets, dolphins, stuffed, wild cats, etc)
Oh there are too many to choose from. I love dogs. Mine are gone now, but they lived to age 19 and 17. That’s a lot of love for a lot of years.
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?
The company of friends.
Sunrise
Sunrise at the New Jersey shore. I awoke just as the sky was beginning to show signs of light and ran five blocks to the beach from the Inn where I was staying in order to see the sun come up over the ocean. Watching the sky change color and the bright orange orb of the sun appear on the horizon I always find very moving. Makes one grateful for another day to see the actual start of day.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Tilted
Being tilted doesn’t bother this Red Bellied Woodpecker at all…
My view of The Freedom Tower taken from a car on the West Side Highway made it appear tilted!
Dog Stranded in Germany
I am sharing this on my blog in the hope that maybe some of my European friends can offer suggestions. The dog, Joey and my cousin John are in Frankfurt at the moment, unable to fly out. Lufthansa claimed Joey was too agitated and they pulled him off the flight he was supposed to be on to the US, stranding him there, while my cousin flew home to St Louis. My cousin only found out the dog was still in Germany when he landed. Apparently no vet in Germany would allow Joey to take any kind of medication to allow his anxiety to lessen. He then got on a plane and flew back to Germany. My cousin is now thinking of driving to the Netherlands to get a flight from there. It is a nightmare. Here is the story and video below. Oh, and the reason my cousin was flying home was because his mother died 2 weeks ago. Any suggestions welcome….I will pass them on…
ST. LOUIS – Joey, a 9-year-old beagle and Australian shepherd mix, was supposed to fly to the United States to meet up with his family last week. But Joey is still in Germany. Now his owner has flown back to Europe to try and figure out how to get his pet here to the US.
Joey’s human, John Macenulty, is originally from St. Louis but had been living in Germany for the past year.
When Macenulty and his wife decided to come back to St. Louis last week after the death of his mother, the dog was booked to fly on a separate flight with Lufthansa.
Joey had to fly a different airline because United had recently suspended it’s pet safe program.
When Macenulty and his family arrived in the states, he turned on his phone to find out that Joey was removed from the Lufthansa flight and was still in Germany.
“They decided that he was too anxious and they were worried he was going to hurt himself,” he said.
Macenulty said the dog had flown before but was given medications to calm his nerves. But this time out, the Xanax didn’t really take the edge off the animal.
Airport officials in Germany said Joey wasn’t allowed to fly because of his behavior and had, in fact, cut his nose gnawing at his crate.
A statement sent to People magazine from Lufthansa reads, “Joey was causing himself great harm and we certainly don’t want a situation where this would continue in-flight.”
“They decided they were not going to send him and could no longer even take care of him so somebody had to come get him,” Macenulty said. “The implied threat to me was that they were going to send him to the pound.”
On Thursday, Macenulty drove to Chicago to get on a flight at O’Hare Airport to be reunited with Joey in Germany.
Macenulty said he’s considering driving to another country to see if they’ll let Joey fly with him. If not, he said he’s at a loss with how to get Joey back to the states to live with his family.
Here is a video that appeared on the news
St. Louis native flies back to Germany to be reunited with family dog
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Store Front and Building Signs
Black & White Sunday: After and Before
Paula invites us to post the same image in colour and black and white.
I used this photo last week for a black and white challenge for faces. The bird’s colors are so vibrant I just had to use it again for After and Before to share his beauty in color.
Thursday’s Special: Way
From Paula: In all the years of challenges I have never given you the theme WAY, so I thought it was about time I included it in Thursday’s Special photo challenge.
New York City can be an exercise in frustration for those visiting from other places. It really is easy to know the way once you realize the city is set up in a grid, North, South, East, West. The streets are numbered, (until you get into Lower Manhattan where it can get a bit confusing because the streets have names) and 5th Avenue is the divider between the East and West.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Alone
Sometimes you can be alone in a crowd, as the world swirls around you….
and sometimes you can be alone with yourself and that’s okay
Favorite Place
My favorite place is the Ocean. The beach. Winter or summer. Especially at sunrise. 
Error
This video doesn’t exist
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rain or Rainbow
Squared Square in March
Here’s a square in a square for Becky’s March squared
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Heads or Facial Features
Nurturing Thursday
I saw these words posted on an Instagram feed and they resounded with me….the people who took the time to encourage and share a moment with me as a child are still remembered all these years later. As an adult I have always felt I wanted to be there for those younger than me- bridging what we called when I was growing up, the “generation gap.” I never felt there had to be a generation gap- I always told myself I would not forget what it was like to be a kid, a teenager, a young adult and I never have.
Thursday’s Special: Traces of the Past
I am a week late for Paula’s Traces of the Past- but it is still Wednesday here, so I will get my post in under the wire.
This week my mind keeps wandering back to traces of my own past.. I am not sure why. I had an unpleasant occurrence at work last week-people I had trusted I found I could not, people I thought actually cared, I found did not. Most profoundly. It rattled me to my core. Perhaps it was wishing that people whose opinions I would value on this occurrence are no longer here to share them with me.
One of those friends I had known as a young girl, she was my boyfriend’s mother when I was in my early 20’s. We found ourselves connected again 35 years later when I came back into her son’s life when he was sick with cancer and he was living with her once again. One of the quotes she would use often, when the days or nights were hard was:
The whole world
Is a very narrow bridge
and the main thing is to have no fear at all.
I don’t know why those words seemed to find their way into my head throughout these past days… they brought comfort in some way, bringing her to mind, allowing me to look back, from where I came, where I’ve been, and put in perspective how small this moment was, how little it will mean years from now. Just another blip in a lifetime, that will have no bearing on some future moment years from now.
Here are the Traces of the Past from the times in my life with this friend…
Share Your World
What is your earliest memory?
I think my earliest memories go back to age 4, which I suppose is not so unusual. We still lived in Queens, NY then, moving to New Jersey when I turned 5. I have snippets of things I remember, watching Lassie in my little rocking chair and always crying at the end when Lassie put his paw up to wave good bye. Getting a plaid book bag for the start of kindergarten, I can remember what it looked like with its pockets and straps. Or the time I was wearing one of my favorite dresses- it was blue corduroy and I tried drinking a glass of chocolate milk while laying down on the couch. Genius. Live and learn- who knew it would spill all over the front of that favorite dress? My mother was a master at removing stains, so that was no problem. Ironically in the photo below, where I am wearing the dress, that is not the stain from the incident, but where a piece of the original photo peeled off. Maybe a reminder…..
Which way does the toilet paper roll go? Over or under?
Over
What makes you feel grounded?
Being in the company of friends or my husband, walking in nature, sitting by the ocean and hearing the waves.
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week?
The support of my colleagues at work, who are true friends too, and lifted me up when things were going awry last week.
A Day In The Life 
You must be logged in to post a comment.