In the dead of winter, these succulents manage to survive, growing out from within a rock wall.
Share Your World
Complete this sentence: I’m looking forward to….
Winter Break from school next week!!
What is your favorite comfort snack food?
I snack on nuts a lot, as I am gluten intolerant and also stay away from sugar.
What was one of your first moneymaking jobs (other than babysitting or newspaper delivery)?
I worked in a summer playgroup as an assistant with 3 and 4 year olds from age 12 to 16. I went to work right after college, my first job in a jewelry store in a local mall. I wrote about the man who helped me get that job, as I had no experience, and how it led to my career, here
What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?
I was inspired by an artist named Jessica Rohrer who uses drones to photograph her neighborhood, and then paints from the images using ink. The perspective from above is truly interesting, and the tiny detailing was amazing to see. I find it inspiring when someone changes something up and tries something new to allow them to grow more.
I appreciated the bright blue sky on Sunday as I walked the grounds of a local park overlooking the Hudson River, on the New York side. It was freezing cold, but the warmth inside the greenhouse and the beautiful blooms made me think of spring!
Cee’s Which Way
Black & White Sunday: Still Life
Martin Luther King Jr. Through First Grade Eyes
Last week we spent a good deal of time learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in our first grade class. We read a few books about him, we watched a youtube video that talked about his life and also contained real footage from Dr. King’s speeches and marches. We did a writing project using words to describe Dr. King’s character and traits. We talked about emulating what he taught about equality and freedom. How he preached freedom by use of non violent means.
As we started telling the students about the changes in freedom and equality that Dr. King made, I was struck by the questions the students asked. They were dumbfounded that Blacks and Whites were not treated equally. They could not even fathom the concept. They could not understand how there could be separate water fountains, bathrooms, they asked “but how did people know which to use??” and then became more mystified when we told them they had been marked “Colored” (the term used then for Blacks) only, or Whites only”
I was very young in the 1960’s and only really learned about Dr. King after the riots and speeches and marches had taken place. I grew up in the first town in the United States to voluntarily integrate its schools, so was made aware of the changes Dr. King had brought first hand. For six year olds today though, the concept of segregation is unfathomable. It was during these discussions in the classroom that I realized how far we really have come. They don’t see color, and can’t even believe that people could be treated differently because of it.
To bring the point home we did an experiment in class. One brown egg and one white egg. We cracked them open to reveal that both yolks were exactly the same, despite their different color on the outside. Just like people- we may look different on the outside, but we are all the same on the inside.
We talked about the dream Dr. King had, the words he shared about that dream, which are important to remember when we struggle through times of racial tension throughout the country.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident:
that all men are created equal.”
Here are what some of my first graders wrote when asked about their Dreams
Thursday’s Special: Traces of the Past
Convention Hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey was built between 1928 and 1930. Considered an historic entertainment venue, it has hosted legendary performances by Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, and the Rolling Stones, to name few. Adjacent to the Convention Hall is the Paramount Theatre; both are connected by a Grand Arcade. Both structures are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Whenever we take a trip to the NJ Shore and walk along the boardwalk we end up at Convention Hall. Beautiful in the sun or fog, or decorated for the holidays, a trace of the past in the present.
Nurturing Thursday
Faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
A strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
No matter how you view faith, through a religious lens or just as a feeling of trust, it is what gives us hope that things in life have the potential to work out when they are not going so smoothly. Keep the faith, a common adage used when times are hard offers one the hope of a brighter outlook.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered
A weathered old barn
With small holes in its wall…Is there something inside there?
There appears to be….
why yes there is!
and in another hole in this weathered barn….
Wordless Wednesday
Brilliant
Baby It’s Cold Outside
Temps like this are quite unusual for where I live. We’ll get into the teens for a few days maybe, but then go back to more moderate temperatures, in the 30’s. We have been experiencing single digits for close to two weeks, with a blizzard thrown in just to add to the fun.
I have been feeding the birds constantly, the poor things are wind blown and freezing and hungry.
Hey! It’s cold out here!
Huddling together to keep warm, and puffed up for insulation
A Female Cardinal finds shelter from the wind in the branches
A White Throated Sparrow pauses to save energy
And there is plenty of seed to go around
Sparrow
Male Cardinal
Junco
Blue Jay
Nurturing Thursday
Thursday’s Special: Pick A Word
Paula invites us to pick a word as we begin the new year with Thursday’s Special. Here are my interpretations of the words she gave us.
candescent: glowing with, or as with, heat.
My step daughter on her 8th birthday
algid: comes from the Latin word algēre, meaning “to feel cold.“
Bet you feel cold looking at this snow 
angular : having angles or sharp corners.
These beams were once part of the World Trade Center in New York. They now rest in Liberty State Park in NJ alongside the memorial there for the victims of September 11th.
auricomous: Having golden hair; yellow-haired.
festive: cheerful and jovially celebratory.
Past Meets Present
Becky at The Life Of B has invited us once again to join her in a new challenge, Past Meets Present.
- Post at least two pictures, they don’t need to be #square!
- One of them though must have been taken by you and the second needs to be of the same view (or similar) as the first but taken days, weeks or years before.
- The second picture doesn’t need to be taken by you it can be a postcard or a painting.
- Don’t forget to use the tag #pastmeetspresent, and to link to her blog
This barn is a few miles from my home, situated on historic grounds that George Washington travelled through during the Revolutionary War. I visit it often, and below you can see it in two different seasons. 
End of Year-Beginning of New
I took an early morning walk on December 31st, even though the temperature was 15 degrees with a windchill making the “real feel” 4. It was the last sunrise of the last day of the year, which also happened to be my birthday, which this year had a big zero as part of the number. I was still having a hard time getting my head around the number, hearing over and over from everyone, “it’s just a number” but wondering how it seemed so suddenly I had arrived at this “just a number.” I needed the cold to clear my head.
I walked a mile until I realized my feet were just too cold and turned back towards the car. As I walked I could hear the cell phone in my pocket pinging with text messages. Inside the warmth of the car I checked them, one after another wishing me a Happy Birthday. Some from friends I haven’t seen in a long time, but they remembered and took the time to send me a wish. It made me smile and feel grateful for having these friends in my life. I arrived home to find a message on the phone, an old familiar voice singing Happy Birthday to me. The voice was that of someone I have known since high school. We were always good friends, never romantically involved, but spent a lot of time together through high school and even when he went away to college. His voice still so familiar, I wondered once again where those years in between went. I called him back and posed just that question. We reminisced about the time we spent one evening first going out to eat in New York’s Chinatown, then heading over to the Lower East Side for Jewish Deli, and finally dessert in Little Italy. Just one of many adventures together. Where had 42 years gone to? So much life in between, but still feeling like that same person from then.
September 1978 September 2012
September 1978
September 2012
Today I spent the afternoon at my best friend’s New Year’s Day party. She and I have been friends since we were 12. I asked her,(again) how is it we are now as old as our parents? We were just teenagers. She and I have been there through the years of high school, college visits, traveling together for years while we were single, getting married, family drama, deaths of our parents, and the good, the bad and the ugly that life may have thrown our way. Grateful and thankful I am once again.
New Year’s 1975 New Year’s 2018
I suppose when a person reaches a certain age they can’t help but look back and realize the way the numbers work out, they are shorter on one end than on the other. The bigger number behind, less out in front. Mortality becomes more apparent. But that’s not all it is. It is melancholy at knowing the past is just that, not that I would want to go back, but perhaps just slow things down. Savor the time more. When you’re in it you just keep going and moving forward. When you’re in the midst of living your life it’s easy not to take stock of what’s going on at that time. And then you are on the other side wishing to recapture some of those moments in time.
A large box arrived in the mail this week. Much to my surprise it was from a blogging friend, who lives in another state, whom I’ve never met. She remembered it was my birthday and sent a beautiful pillow she had made, and 2 coloring books. To say I was touched is an understatement. Thankful, grateful, blessed, fortunate, all words that came to mind, for the old friends, and the new ones, and knowing to savor not just the special times that come, but just the everydays too, because looking back it is those everydays that it turns out I see now, that are special.
One Word Sunday: Multi-coloured
One Word Sunday: White
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Water
Square Skies in December
Becky at The Life of B has gone square again for the month of December. Her daily photo challenge – a square photograph, and the theme is sky.
Here is my final sky for the month. An early morning sky the day after a snowfall.
Square Skies in December
Becky at The Life of B has gone square again for the month of December. Her daily photo challenge – a square photograph, and the theme is sky.
It’s 11 degrees here but feels like 0, so I need a reminder of summer skies! 
Square Skies in December
Becky at The Life of B has gone square again for the month of December. Her daily photo challenge – a square photograph, and the theme is sky.
This sky was taken as we were crossing a bridge right after a rain storm had ended and was moving West. You can still still the rain cloud cover, but the sun was breaking through. Being on the bridge gave me the advantage of capturing the entire sky in this phase.
Thursday’s Special-2017 Favorites
Paula has asked us to post for Thursday’s Special what we consider to be our best shot this past year. Quite an impossible task for me, as I am critical of myself and find it hard to find a “best” as I keep confusing favorite with best. I have chosen my favorites/best for each month, combining the WordPress 2017 “favorites” challenge beginning January 2017, ending December, below. July and December would be the ones I would choose for “best”
Wishing everyone good things in the coming year. 
Nurturing Thursday
Square Skies in December
Becky at The Life of B has gone square again for the month of December. Her daily photo challenge – a square photograph, and the theme is sky.
This is one of my favorite captures of a sky. I took it while sitting on a bus on the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City. The cloud cover that enveloped the sky was positively beautiful, with the NYC skyline below it.
Wordless Wednesday
A Day In The Life 
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