5:27 am. And Inspired.

sun,light,sun light, flower,yellow


Good Wednesday morning. I’ve been on a siesta the last few weeks with my inspiring posts of the week.  We’re back.

Kurt Harden @ Cultural Offering with his post titled You Sir at Pump 16….   I watched this clip three times.  Susan watched it.  The kids watched it.  We all loved it.  Do yourself a favor and start your day with a smile.  Hit this link.

Rian @ Truth and Cake with her post Forget The Blueprint, Ride the Mechanical Bull: “…Often, we’re so hellbent on getting it right that we miss the point entirely. The right career, the right school, the right spouse, the right restaurant, the movie with the good reviews, wearing the right outfit and snagging that just right opportunity and hopefully doing something really meaningful and perfect with our lives: these things obsess us.  I can look back on a (very large) handful of times in my life when I was given an amazing opportunity or experiencing something really great that, in retrospect, I stressed way too much over. Will I blow this? Will it work out? Where’s the next opportunity going to come from? What if people think I’m crazy?…Read more of this great post from a Freshly Pressed Blogger @ this link.

Seventhvoice with her post A Childless Mother, Is still A Mother. Though her arms may be empty… her heart never will: “Mother’s Day has always been an incredibly difficult day for me. Filled as it is with  mixed emotions but not for the reasons you might think. It’s not a difficult day for me because I have a son with Autism or a daughter on the spectrum. In many ways their presence here helps to counteract the whirlpool of emotions that this day normally stirs up in me. Mother’s day is hard for me because I am, or at least I would have been, had everything gone to plan, the mother of seven children. You see, four of my lovely ones never made it kicking and screaming into the light of this world…”  Read more of this moving post @ this link.

Continue reading “5:27 am. And Inspired.”

5:02 am. And Inspired.

Florida, butterflies, orange


Good Wednesday morning. Here are my selections of the inspiring posts of the week:

Jon-Mark Davey, South Florida Wildlife Photography kicks us off with his photograph of a orange butterfly shot at Rock Springs Park, Apopka, Florida.  Check out one amazing shot after another at Jon-Mark’s site at this link.

Annabel Ruffell @ Journey For Earth with her post titled I am Enough: “But…Often in my life I have felt that I am not enough.  I am not being a good enough mother, a good enough friend, a good enough person…I am not doing enough, being enough, am just not enough…”  Beautiful post.  Read more at this link.

Bonnie @ Pagekeeper with a letter to her her son titled Not All At Once: You, growing up, is a long game and even though you and I both want it to all be ok for you right now, let’s both try to remember that you need to take your own time with things.  I want you to know that everything I do is for you – so that things are better for you.  So that your easy laugh and smiling eyes are always what people see first when they meet you...”  Moved.  Inspired by this post.  Read more at this link.

Coach Bill Moore with his share in a To Run – A Prayer for Boston: “I will take you…on in the street…Every breath of mine…I will consume your hate…I will run straight into you…as if you were a finish line of joy…picking up the fallen…along the way…you will never stop me.”  Wonderful.  Read full poem by Scott Poole at this link.

Continue reading “5:02 am. And Inspired.”

4:14 am. And Inspired.

Tulips


Good Wednesday morning. Here are my selections of the inspiring posts of the week:

Anneli @ Words From Anneli kicks us off with her post La Conner Tulip Festival.  That’s her shot above.   Check out more great shots at this link.

Luggage Lady with her post titled We Can Never Go Back: “Every summer growing up, my family journeyed from Chicago suburbia to my grandparent’s farm in southern Illinois. They called us “city kids,” and we couldn’t wait to indulge in the expansive freedoms of country life…Woven into the daily demands were simple pleasures, like piling onto the front porch swing at the end of the long day. Grandparents first, followed by a layer of grandchildren, and topped off with the latest litter of purring kittens. The swing’s chains creaked in time with chirping male crickets claiming their conquests. An occasional freight train rumbled down nearby tracks as we kids marveled at stars not visible back home. Sometimes, a puff of cool air bored through the wall of humidity, teasing us with anticipation of a brewing storm…

Kurt @ Cultural Offering. with his post titled Friendly Advice where he shares excerpts from a Peggy Noonan interview with the “founder” of Singapore:  U.S. is still ‘a frontier society.’ ‘The American culture . . . is that we start from scratch and beat you.’ They would settle an empty area, call it a town, and say, ‘You be the sheriff, I am the judge, you are the policeman, and you are the banker, let us start.”  And then Kurt shares a wonderful story about Margaret Thatcher leading from the front among a group of men.  This post is titled: Margaret Thatcher R.I.P.

Continue reading “4:14 am. And Inspired.”

All-Blogger Alert!

blog shoo inHere are links to notable blogging/writing posts in the past week:

Kurt Harden @ Cultural Offering with I Love a Tradition and Ray Visokski @ A Simple Village Undertaker with Officially A Tradition where they invite bloggers to a face-to-face meeting in Newark. (I was reading too fast.  I thought they meant Newark, NJ which would have been a no-brainer.  The idea has me thinkin’.  Maybe something smaller and more local? Yes, Brenna, me too – way (way) out of comfort zone. On the other hand, YOLO?)

Madame Scherzo: The 10 Most Commonly Misunderstood Words In English.  (Got me on “Enormity” and several others.)

Michael Hyatt15 Resources For Pro Bloggers (Or those who want to be).  (I’m not a Mac user but there are solid tips in his post.)

Caitlin Kelly @ BroadsideBlogHer 2012 — was it worth it? “Three days of full-on intensity, 5,000 bloggers in one midtown Manhattan hotel, about 80 percent of whom — maybe 90 percent — were female, and under the age of 40…”

Continue reading “All-Blogger Alert!”

A Blogger’s Gift to A Blogger…

blogger giftI was flipping through emails after lunch today when I came across an email from a fellow blogger, Alex Jones @ The Liberated Way.  Alex is from Colchester, 60 miles Northeast of London in the UK.  Not unlike most other blogger relationships, I’ve never met Alex.  I’ve never spoken to him.  We have traded comments and links over the past month or so.  I’ve come to appreciate his posts and his frequent and insightful comments on mine.  And the wheels on the blogger bus keep turning.  So, when I read Alex’ post this afternoon, I was movedI was grateful.  I was touched.  I was humbled.  What a wonderful, thoughtful and unexpected gift on Father’s Day.  Thank you Alex.  You made my day.

Alex’s post reminded me of the great bloggers who had recognized me for various awards. I’ve been a non-participant in the awards process (grist for another future post) – – so, we have Alex to thank for pushing me over the tipping point.

Continue reading “A Blogger’s Gift to A Blogger…”