Duck
Duck
Goose
Duck
Goose
Wordless Wednesday
The Weekly Smile
My husband never learned to play an instrument s a child and decided 7 years ago to take up piano. He continues to take lessons once a week and enjoys it immensely. Two years ago after attending a concert, he decided he wanted to try to learn to play the violin. He found a teacher, bought a violin, and has been taking lessons once a week. He picked up the violin fairly quickly considering it is a very difficult instrument to play. The violin needs to be in a correct position under the chin, the bow must be held correctly at a certain angle, the bow must rest against the strings in a certain place, the fingers must press the strings with enough force to get a clear sound, all this while reading the music you are supposed to be playing, and then playing the correct string. He does love it and it is a pleasure to hear the strains of Vivaldi or Bach coming from the living room on any given evening.
The violin teacher invited her students to a small holiday gathering to play together this past Sunday. I think she was surprised when we walked in, not really expecting him to show up with all the 10 and 12 year olds. But show up he did and got right in there with them to play. I have to say it was my smile of the week seeing him standing there amongst the kids, enjoying every minute of it.
Here they are playing a traditional Chanukah song called Maoz Tzur (Rock of Strength)
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Share Your World
What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?
Ice cream is one of my favorite foods- I love just about any flavor. My very favorites are Coffee Chip or Mint Chip.
If you were to treat yourself to the “finer things” what would you treat yourself to?
I suppose “finer” means different things to everyone, and I am pretty content with the things I have. I would like to go for a spa day once a month and get a facial and a massage.
Have you ever been drunk?
Good one. Who can forget the first time they got so drunk they threw up? I was 17 and had one too many Tequila Sunrises (Tequila & OJ) the room began to spin and oh was I sick. Never touched Tequila again after that. 
Complete this sentence: My favorite supposedly guilty pleasure is…
Spending endless hours on WordPress, Facebook, and shopping online.
Path of Hope
The end of the year always brings thoughts of where we have been and where we may be going. Hope for the future and the paths we may encounter. To do better in the coming year.
Dr. Jerome Groopman wrote a book called The Anatomy of Hope, which is one of my favorite reads. Here is a small bit of what he had to say about Hope:
Hope is the elevating feeling we experience when we see–in the mind’s eye–a path to a better future. Hope acknowledges the significant obstacles and deep pitfalls along that path. True hope has no room for delusion. Clear-eyed, hope gives us the courage to confront our circumstances and the capacity to surmount them. Hope can flourish only when you believe that what you do can make a difference, that your actions can bring a future different from the present. To have hope, then, is to acquire a belief in your ability to have some control over your circumstances.
Hope is the ballast that keeps us steady, that recognizes where along the path are the dangers and pitfalls that can throw us off; hope tempers fear so we can recognize dangers and then bypass or endure them.
Travel theme: Paper
This week Ailsa has asked us to show her Paper.
While visiting a local public garden last year, I happened upon a “craft time” activity room filled with papers and other mediums to create whatever you wanted to. Never one to pass up anything crafty- I sat right down with the 6 year olds and got to work. There were punch outs that let me make butterflies and leaves, and sponges, grass and tissue paper to add dimension. My artwork hangs on my kitchen wall and always makes me smile.
The Changing Seasons: December
Gray skies and bare trees
The ever present Chickadee-never fearing the cold of December
First snow of winter
First night of Chanukah
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Mirror Images or Reflections
While holding my camera in one hand, I accidentally pushed the shutter and captured this photo of my other hand holding my cell phone. I lked the reflection of the trees in the screen and decided to keep it.
A perfect reflection creating a mirror image of trees on a pond at the end of day
Thursday’s Special: Minimalism
Wordless Wednesday
One Word Photo Challenge: Doll
She looks so sad and forlorn- but that is because she has managed to survive through so many years. I had another that matched her in a different dress, but she disappeared somewhere along the way. This one has managed to remain with me since 1961, that’s 55 years. 
And here she is brand new
Song Lyric Sunday
The theme for Song Lyric Sunday is to post a song that makes you feel better.
These days most of the music I listen to is in the car when driving. Either the radio or CD’s I have made with my favorite music on them. I love to sing along or blast the volume depending on my mood. When I saw this week’s theme, Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road came to mind. I was a big Bruce Springsteen fan when he first arrived on the music scene in 1975, when I was 18. I attended his concerts sometimes a few nights a week and with the guy I was dating at the time, we traveled up and down the Northeast coast to concerts for many years. The energy in his songs is infectious- you can’t help but get up and move or sing along. I suppose it is not only the energy of the music that makes Thunder road a “feel better” song for me, but also the memories it conjures up, taking me back to a time when life was still laid out ahead of me and deciding which concert to attend was my biggest decision. The image of driving down a local highway in my boyfriend’s father’s 1971 blue convertible Cutlass Supreme with my hair wild in the wind and Springsteen blasting from the radio can’t help but make me smile. The memory, the music, all together always makes me feel better- or just plain makes me smile and sing.
Well now, I ain’t no hero, that’s understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey, what else can we do now?
Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
Well, the night’s busting open, these two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, heaven’s waiting down on the tracks
and the car has been passed down in the family- still running strong!
Travel theme: Shimmer
Weekend Again!
I have had a cold all week which turned into a bad cough, and I decided to stay home from school yesterday. I did go back this morning as Friday is a half day and felt well enough to make it through. I was greeted with a bunch of get well cards the kids in my 1st grade class had made for me. This one stood out among them, and I wanted to share it because I thought it was just so sweet.
The part I love the most is the drawing on the right.
A snowstorm is expected tomorrow so I plan on doing nothing other than concentrate on ridding the germs from my body. The good news is the temps are supposed to rise and the snow will turn to rain! Beginning in December with the passing of each day I always say we are one day closer to spring. So far so good in terms of lack of snow too. Here’s the snow we had yesterday that lasted for all of 5 minutes and then the sun came out
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Hope you all have a great weekend- I’ll leave you with some captures from a walk I took last weekend
Feathers on Friday
The House Sparrow is so common I think it is overlooked by everyone. I spotted one blending in with the bush it was perched upon and decided to take some shots of him. He deserves some attention too.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Animals
I took these photos at the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New York, where shelter is provided for animals who have been rescued from cases of abuse, neglect and abandonment.
seen on the rear windshield of a farm volunteer’s car
The Weekly Smile
In 2004 I volunteered in a “Big Sister”/Mentoring program. I was paired up with a young girl who had a troubled home life and needed some time away from it once a week after school for a few hours. This young girl was 10 or 11 at the time, and we would go out to eat and talk, or go shopping and then out to eat. Sometimes we went to the library and did homework, but she was not a child who needed help with it really, she was very bright. It always amazed me how she was able to rise above the dysfunction of her home. There were 6 kids in the family and a mother who couldn’t really handle it, a father rarely home, the house was a mess, no order whatsoever. The older kids seemed to be keeping things running. Her age belied her maturity- she was introspective about the home situation and accepting of it, her intelligence allowing her to see the bigger picture and make sense of it all. I stayed in the role of “big sister” for about 4 years until she was a teenager and busy with school and going out and her friends. I have not thought of her in years, actually forgetting about this volunteering of so long ago-that had ended in 2007 or 2008 – until today.
I took in the mail to find a wedding invitation with a return address name I did not immediately recognize. I opened the invitation to find the young girl I had mentored was getting married- and had invited me. Yes this is my weekly smile, but in truth it made me cry. I was touched and so surprised that she had not only remembered me but had taken the time to send me an invitation. We never know the impact we may leave on someone, the difference we may make. This was for me a reminder.
The front of the invitation-the Hebrew initials of their names form the rose
Cee’s Which Way
One Word Photo Challenge: Dog
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Chutes and Ladders
Wordless Wednesday
Share Your World
What is your favorite smell? What memory does it remind you of?
Hard to pinpoint a favorite but I do love the smell of pine trees and I love the smell of baking bread. Neither conjures up a memory they are both just “good smells” to me.
What type of pet do you have or want to have?
We had 2 Cocker Spaniels from 1996 until 2012- both lived to a very old age-and emotionally I am not ready to open my heart again to another dog. Maybe someday – but for right now I am enjoying the freedom that comes with not being tied down to the house and a set time to get home.
Are you usually late, early, or right on time?
I am usually early but I am learning to get to where I need to be on time rather than waiting around because I am early. I grew up with the mentality that you had to be at an appointment 15 minutes early, but as I have grown older I no longer do that. I am usually kept waiting and getting there early just makes the wait longer. I loathe being late- it is just not in my DNA.
For recharging, would you rather meditate, swim, walk, listen to music, write, read, yoga, qigong other?
My first choice is always to go for a walk in nature- to my favorite local park and look at the beauty around me and the birds.
Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Grateful everyday and thankful for the friends I have that offered support and feedback when things got challenging in school last week.
Black & White Sunday: Artificial Light
Weekend Coffee Share
If we were having coffee I would tell you to come in quick, it is 24 degrees outside and too cold to stand there! I’d say to take a peek out the window at the birds in the feeder, I feel so bad for them when it is so cold outside.
I want to show you what came in the mail yesterday from a fellow blogger, all the way from the state of Washington to New Jersey. It was from Kathie at chosenperspectives, a blog I highly recommend you check out. She said she thought of me when she saw these and sent them.
It was the nicest thing ever, and warmed my heart. I love the way blogging connects us together, how we come to know one another and think of each other even when not blogging. Friendships are forged through our writing and sharing of ourselves- I just love it.
If you are ready for another cup I am too, I usually have 2 to start my day. Later I will stop at Dunkin Donuts as they are having a special if you come in 5 times before 11 am they’ll add 100 points to my rewards card. Can’t pass that up!
I’d tell you about my week in school but would rather not seeing as it was a bit challenging this past week. On the positive side I subbed for the head teacher Friday and we had a great time creating our own word searches using the week’s spelling words. I think the kids felt empowered hiding all those words amid the graph, writing them backwards and forwards and diagonally, so excited to take it home and have their sibling or parent search for the words. It was great fun.
It’s time to get the day started, laundry and vacuuming are calling – but first I will venture out into the cold for a walk. Hope to see you next week!
Weekly Photo Challenge: New Horizon
The horizon at sunrise brings with it the opportunity for something new to come with the day
and as the sun sets on the horizon it brings the opportunity for something new tomorrow
A Day In The Life 
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