INSPIRATION

Leonora - Light

Tea, dark and strong,
bearing a type of beauty
in its shadowy depths.
My jaded spirit rises
on wisps of steam.
I feel the Leonora of my spirit,
right, faithful and true,
not some sleepy sprite,
but a song of focused certainty
leaking out of my brain
one word, one line at a time.

Yea! New Book Published

Book CoverI just indie published a new book. 25 Days of Christmas, An Advent Journey rejoices in the birth of Christ through poetry. Words and phrases that evoke Advent, a time of expectant waiting for the Child of Wonder, inspired each poem. The accompanying scripture reflects on the promises of old, when prophets spoke of a Son, a King, a birthplace, a promise.

25 Days of Christmas, An Advent Journey contains poems in the acrostic style with the first letter of each sentence based on the title. The poems were shared on my publishing blog, www.oneroofpublish.com in December 2015. A friend asked if the poems would be available in printed format. The seed was planted and has grown to be this small offering of celebration.

Now is the time to buy this short book of poetry, which also provides a space for you to add your thoughts about the season and what it means to you. It’s a fabulous gift idea for pre-Christmas giving or as a gift for 2016. It is evergreen in that as an Advent calendar, it can be used in any year.

I am also available to talk to groups about indie publishing and, of course, about my latest book. My schedule currently is to be at Noon PagesKiwanis on June 1, and Rotary on June 28. Contact me at fsvandermeer@gmail.com if you are interested in a foray into indie publishing.

Order info:
Title: 25 Days of Christmas, An Advent Journey
Price: $7.50
Available: Online at amazon.com.
Available: Sharon Vander Meer (A discount will apply to books purchased directly from me when the purchase is for multiple copies.) When *ordering directly from me, type New Book in the subject line.

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­*Shipping costs will apply on orders outside Las Vegas, NM.

Painting With Brush Strokes & Words

Dwelling PlaceNew Mexico award winning artist, Linda Wooten-Green is a painter of Landscapes, Portraits, etc., with a contemporary abstracted point of view. Her work is in public and private collections throughout the United States.

She received an MS in Art Education from Wayne State University in Wayne, Nebraska. She has done graduate work in Studio Art, Art History, and Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Minnesota, Duluth, University of Guadalajara, Mexico, and Hartwick College, New York. She received a BFA from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

She was an Art Teacher, Chairperson of the Fine & Performing Arts at West Point Public Schools in West Point, Nebraska for 17 years, and has been exhibiting her work in solo and group exhibits throughout the country for 36 years. Bio provided by the artist

Q. You have two quotes on your website about landscape and the earth. Talk about how and why you are influenced/inspired by natural settings.
A.
The primary purpose of my landscape work is to give homage to the places and spaces in which we dwell. As much as I like people, and the excitement of city life, there is a very real desire in me for solitude and the need to feel a kind of kinship with the natural landscape. Using paint, I delight in exploring movement, shape, pattern, form, and color in nature amid seasonal changes.

For example, a twisted, somewhat deformed cottonwood tree (featured image) becomes a metaphor for the struggle to live, survive and offer shade and shelter to a myriad of living species. My layers of painted, scrubbed, and glazed surfaces express my own explorations in rendering what this painted living object might evoke emotionally, spiritually, and aesthetically. My personal search for meaning uses the creative processes inherent in making paintings that allow me to explore who I am, what I mean, and what I feel.

We are the landscape of all we have seen. (Isamu Noguche)

If I pollute the earth, the land, the water, etc., either personally or through corporate collusion, I ultimately destroy healthy life on this planet for myself and future generations.

Q. When did you decide to become and artist, or is it a calling?
A.
I wanted to be an artist from the time I was old enough to hold a pencil or a crayon. I’ve always liked to draw. I looked forward to Friday afternoon “art” class in the 1st Grade. Poetry and literature were areas of study I’ve treasured as well. Words portray imagery through the mind’s eye.

I can truly claim that I have done “art” at some level throughout my life. For nearly 20 years, I taught art (history and processes) at the junior and senior high levels, as well as at adult level workshops. If one chooses to respond to an inner need in a visual manner, then I believe that one is “called” to do so.

Q. I noticed you have poetry paired with some of your paintings. Talk about why and how words and art express emotions in different but complimentary ways.
A.
Most days, I spend time in my studio working on paintings or projects. Recent autumn trips to Bosque del Apache in Southern New Mexico became an inspiration for new paintings, as well as the enjoyment and appreciation of unusual yucca plant forms in a friend’s garden. The discovery of a fishing lake near Albuquerque led to the appreciation of exquisite water lilies that danced across the water like spiraling ballerinas on reflective surfaces. I use tools at my disposal: oil pastels, charcoal, and cameras to record via plein aire, and through photograph images used to inspire creative work. I continually read about both historical and contemporary art and artists.

An example: Looking southwest from my studio window, I contemplate the olive tree bordering the acequia and the empty field beyond.

Dwelling Place

 The ancient Olive tree stands sentry
a minutes march from my studio window.
Its gray green branches reflect myriad glints
of bronze and silver,
as light changes course across the arc of the day.
Whitened limbs bend and bow,
breezes play with flickering leaves.
The tree’s sturdy rootedness and easy flexibility
amid wind shifts and weather changes
leave daily grace notes —
reminders of my aging body
within nature’s landscapes.
The tree’s shapes and patterns and range of motion
offer an edge of awed silence
and wonder at movement and form —
A sense of sacred presence.
A Dwelling Place.

Linda Wooten-Green

The tree becomes a metaphor for my own aging body and in turn a deeper appreciation for the gift of life, at any age. The painting of the same tree is an abstracted way, though inspired by the olive tree, gives way to a kind of metaphoric sunset experience. The tree inspires word with an emotional twinge with references to age, flexibility, and weather changes, as well as being a metaphor for my own feelings.

The painting of the tree suggests, hopefully, the sunset time of life, silver flickering leaves in changing life situations with light and color.

Q. What artists do you most identify with and why?
A.
I admire and appreciate the work of so many artists, both historically and in contemporary life, that I hesitate to name them. The “breakthrough” work of Paul Cezanne and his recognition and response to patterned forms in his Mont Sainte-Victoire paintings; the impressionistic landscape work of Claude Monet; the early 20th Century work of Georgia O’Keefe and Charles Burchfield; the abstracted landscapes of Richard Diebenkorn, and the landscapes of Fairfield Porter.

Q. What’s your strongest memory of your childhood that shaped you as an artist?
A.
I treasure the gentle support of both my parents. My mother loved to see me sitting at the dining room table working on drawings. I also recall a large print above the living room sofa of a pastoral rural scene featuring grazing cows in a serene setting. I could look at the scene and create an imaginary narrative about it.

Q. What do you most want people to know about you as an artist?
A.
I want people to appreciate the beauty, health, and fragile sustainability of the earth as a living organism. If one truly loves the land, and that which grows and depends on the land for survival, then anything that poisons the land, renders and threatens animal life toward extinction, should not be tolerated.

Q. If you could go anywhere and paint anything, what would you choose, and why?
A.
If I could go anywhere and paint anything? What a difficult question! At present, I would hope to visit and spend time working in Costa Rica, and perhaps Ecuador, for the sheer multitude of temperate zones and array of wildlife dependent on the zones available in those countries.

Q. You will have a show at the Plaza April 1-May 31. How do you select pieces from your body of work when you mount an exhibit?
A.
The Plaza show at present is in the vestibule bordering the ballroom: April 1-May 31. The work in this exhibit represents scenes of abstracted landscapes of the Southwest. The pieces are generally done as part of a series in a similar style and motif.

Q. What are you most proud of as an artist, and why?
A.
In 2001-2002, I painted a series of rural images in the Midwest area (Iowa/Nebraska) that represented areas of the landscape suffering from the Farm Crisis. My husband Ron (a writer) had been working on a well-researched manuscript dealing with chemical contamination of water and soil, connecting this practice with the eventual sickness and death of young women diagnosed with cancer.

My work for this project consisted of about a dozen rural scenes. The images were interspersed with my husband’s narratives from his manuscript on the subject. The exhibit was featured at several galleries and health center in the Midwest. It was also featured through the Nebraska Arts Council at the Governor’s Mansion in Lincoln, Nebraska for a month.

The exhibit at the Plaza Hotel is an open venue available for viewing throughout the day. For more information about the artist and her work go to http://www.lindawootengreen.com

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The exhibits at the Plaza are part of the Las Vegas Arts Council and Plaza Hotel ongoing partnership to support and promote the arts and artists of Las Vegas and the area.

Generations: With Art There is No Divide

Eloise LindeborgGenerations: The Art of Eloise Lindeborg and Chris Casey, A lifelong artist and the grandson she never knew, on the 100th anniversary of her birth

That’s the title and subtext of the proposal Richard Lindeborg presented to the Las Vegas Arts Council in the interest of curating an exhibit showcasing the work of his mother and his nephew. The two have had different life experiences and never knew each other, but the bond of art connects them to each other and to the gift of creativity. Below are responses to questions about the show, which will be up at Gallery 140 for the month of April.

Q. Aside from the obvious, expand on the theme “Generations”. What are the differences in styles and subject matter of Eloise and Chris?
A. (Richard) I can only tell you what I see – not what a person trained in art and art history would comment on – but my mother and nephew clearly come from different generations, and not adjacent generations. Some differences between their work, reflect the 60 to 70 years between their careers. They both have a certain formalism in their work, but it is revealed quite differently in each. Chris uses formal shapes in his pottery, almost classical in many ways. My mother’s early work was formal portraits and still life paintings, probably reflecting the training of her professors. Despite this formalism, the art programs in the Big Ten, where she was trained, were not regarded by some of the East Coast schools as sufficiently grounded in the academic tradition. Chris’s decorations – and his graphic works – build on formal curve and lAbstract by Eloise Lindeborgine combinations in a free form way. Some of my mother’s works from the 1950s are pared down combinations of the same elements.  Chris’s comments about his own work indicate that he starts from a simple idea and improvises on it until he is satisfied with the result. He admits the possibility of unexpected results. My mother seems to have had a mood or a message in mind and designed the whole piece to convey that feeling through shape and color.
A. (Chris Casey) The Generations theme is significant to me both because I grew up surrounded by Eloise’s art and more importantly because, as the only other practicing visual artist in my family, she provided a precedent for pursuing a life (of) making art. Her abstract works were my favorites growing up and they’ve undoubtedly had an impact on the work I make currently. I believe the biggest difference between the art world she existed in and the one I inhabit is the incredible power of the digital age and the access to resources and exposure it can provide.

Chris CaseyQ. Do you believe the artists in this show were/are influenced by the world around them, and if so, in what ways?
A. (Richard) My mother was influenced by the natural world of scenery, objects, and people and by the social and political forces of her time. Her earliest works reflect the Pre World War I training of her major professors and are rather academic. The work she produced while studying in Europe at the start of World War II are much more contemporary than academic, even reflecting some of the ideas current in Germany at the time. By the 1950s she had evolved into a much looser style, focused on people and places familiar to her. Psychological and political influences started showing up in her work in that decade and in the 1960s. Chris’s sensibility is much more modern.   He was very into computer games and computer game design at one point, and his work clearly comes from his generation’s experience. He uses lasers and computer graphics – tools not available to my mother.
A. (Chris Casey) I’d say I’m more influenced by technology in general over video games, especially these days. I try to embrace technology in any way I can whether it be through software like Photoshop or through hardware like 3D printers. However, as an abstract artist, I do make a conscious effort to exclude overt portrayals of people and objects in my art. I see the function of my art more as an escape, a place to rest, than as a critique of modern life.

Q. Eloise Felledwas your mother; Chris is your nephew. Chris never had the experience of knowing his grandmother, but grew up knowing about her art. As curator of this show, did that influence the work you chose for exhibit?
A. This is going to be a 50-50 show, in that it features two artists, and two different sensibilities in the curating. Chris is representing himself. How much he is influenced by his grandmother’s work may, or may not, show up in how he selects his work. My mother has no choice but to be represented by my selections. I grew up with many of these paintings and have had 45 years to reinterpret them since her death.

Chris grew up living in a house that featured his grandmother’s art and visiting his grandfather at the family home here in Las Vegas where her art was always on the wall. I’ve been preparing for my mother’s part of this show for more than 15 years now, photographing and cataloging her work. My wife, Susan, knew my mother and has known her art for more than 50 years. She helps me choose and steers me away from my prejudices. Chris has witnessed this process over time and with varying degrees of interest. I suspect he has taken some aspects of his grandmother’s art to heart.

Q. This is personal for you. Does that make it harder or easier to select the works that reflect the artists?
A. My mother died when she was 56, and without getting to the point in her artistic career when it was time to start thinking of a retrospective show. I don’t have very many clues as to which pieces she would have chosen for such a show, so I have to make my own choices for the most part. I’ve lived for a long time deciding what I like and don’t like without her guidance, so I don’t labor over the choosing anymore.

Q. You grew up watching your mother create. What would you want people to know about her that reflects who she was as an artist?
A. Art has to stand on its own merits subject to ever-evolving public tastes, but many people are fascinated about the hardships some artists face and about psychological factors that might have influenced their work. I am keenly aware of how the duties of raising a family affected my mother’s career; how the male domination of the profession limited her opportunities, and still limits the opportunities of women artists; and how her poor health limited her energy for producing art and shortened her career. Her weakened lungs and circulation forced her to give up painting in oils and drawing in pastels, but she moved on to other media. Life was not easy for her as an artist, but she was driven to create and she kept at it as long as she could.

Q. Chris seems to have an eye for form and movement in his sculpture; his 2-D work reflects the same. In selecting work for the Generations show, did you want the two generational bodies of work to complement or contrast and why?
A. If there is a point to be made in presenting Chris’s work and his grandmother’s in a single show, it will be made by the art itself. The show may reveal continuities that only a joint show would uncover. It may reveal previously unseen discontinuities caused by time or temperament. Once the show is up, we can all judge for ourselves.

Q. When will the show be up and will there be an opening reception?
A. The show will be from April 2 to April 29, 2016, with an artist’s reception on Sunday, April 10 from 2 to 5 p.m.  Normal gallery hours are Tue., Wed., Thu. and Sat/ 1-4 p.m. and Fri. 1-7 p.m.  Call the Arts Council at (505) 425-1085 to confirm hours.

This is the first time a significant number of my mother’s pieces has been exhibited in Las Vegas in nearly 50 years. It is the first time Chris’s work has ever been exhibited in Las Vegas. And it is the only time their work has been shown together. That makes the show unique times three. All the work is of high quality and visually stimulating – and all of it will be for sale!

Chris Casey’s work can be found at www.chriscaseyart.com
Eloise Lindeborg’s work can be seen at this Facebook link.

The Authority

Christmas Cactus

 

Trust in the Lord.
Faith is as simple
– and complex –
as that.
My life’s work
is best accomplished
when I tell of God’s place of prominence
in my life.
My trust in the Lord is singularly individual;
it is between God, and me.
In the dark of night
or the light of day,
He is the secret ingredient in my life,
But He isn’t a secret at all.
He is the authority,
granted to Christ,
indwelling in the Spirit,
Three-in-One,
omnipotent and Holy.
And yet –
Christ died on the Cross –
broken in body, deeply in pain.
But he knew,
authority is only as effective as the wielder.
Christ could have – but did not – save himself.
In Christ we have hope.
This side of Heaven we live in trust–
trust in the mighty and compassionate God of all
whose authority is an anchor in every storm,
even when madmen kill, and call it just.
Christ died. Christ was buried.
Christ triumphed and lives anew.

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This Christmas Cactus on our patio blooms twice a year, Christmas and Easter. This image seems appropriate with this poem, written today with a hopeful heart for better tomorrows and in solidarity with all who mourn the deaths and injuries of innocents at the hands of hate. Prayers lifted for the people of Belgium.

I am old, but that’s okay

Amaryllis in Bloom

Every once in a while I catch my reflection in a store window and am puzzled by the stranger looking back at me. Yes, I do look at my reflection every day when I’m putting on makeup, but that’s different, that’s a feature by feature application that doesn’t require looking at the whole picture, the big picture you might say.

It’s those unexpected sightings of myself when I stop and think, “Who is that old woman?” And then the rude awakening, “Oh, right, that’s me, the girl who used to weigh 97 pounds soaking wet (yeah, that’s been a while ago), and the one with – at varying times – dish-water blonde hair, black hair, blonde hair, red hair, and now nearly entirely white hair.

Being old doesn’t bother me, maySharon Vander Meerbe because I’m blessed with good health and don’t have to deal with the issues of a failing body and wandering mind, at least not right now. I’m happy to get up in the morning and look out into the patio to find an amaryllis in full bloom that’s been around for at least 50 years, its blossoms as brilliant and showy as if sprung new from the ground for the first time. It blooms twice a year without fail, with two to three spikes bearing three or four brilliant blossoms. Oh, that as I age I continue to blossom in my own way. I hope by the end of every day I have done something that made someone smile or laugh or think.

And then there are my friends. I don’t have many, by the way, only a few. Yes, I know many people, and I treasure those relationships, but a friend is someone who will listen to you blather on and pretend what you say matters. A friend is someone who will ask you the right questions without trying to give you her version of the right answers. A friend is someone who has known you for a long time and still likes you. A friend is someone who doesn’t judge you or the choices you make. A friend is someone who knows you want an honest answer to the question, “Do these pants make me look fat?” So, yeah, the only way you have old friends is if you are getting old too.

Life in general is as happy as we each want it to be. Make a conscious choice every day to be happy. If life has taught me anything it is to be forgiving, not only of others, but of oneself as well. Carrying around the baggage of discontent can plumb wear a person out. Taking on the stress dealt out by life is a time and energy waster. Guilting over past mistakes is to allow other people or circumstances to control your life, and why would you want to do that? Try to right the wrongs you can, and trust in the Lord for the rest. I learned the hard way that I can’t make other people happy no matter how hard I try, but I can make me happy, and by doing so hopefully have a positive impact. Life Lesson 101 – Count your blessings, they far outnumber your disappointments.

So, yes, I’m old, but that’s okay. I do count my blessings, and being able to write these words and share them is one of them. Aging is more than a physical process. It is to a degree mental. I agree with columnist Doug Larson who wrote, “The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.” I can’t wait for the next snowfall. I’m ready to make my pitch.

50 Life Lessons by Regina Brett

Author Regina Brett has the distinction of being an urban legend. The following column was written by Ms. Brett in the Plain Dealer, when she turned 50. It originally appeared on  Sunday, May 28, 2006, when she turned 45. The internet has done a fine job of aging her in one fell swoop by someone changing the ’50’ to ’90’. Why that would make the content anymore meaningful to whomever did it, I’ll never know; these lessons are applicable at any age. So, here it is, from Regina Brett, who is NOT 90 years old. Used with her permission.

Regina Brett

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here’s an update:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

Artistic Adventure

Artists at WorkNote: I don’t have names of the people in these photos, but they were having as much fun as we were at the “Wine and Paint” event held on Saturday at the El Fidel Restaurant. Lots of interpretations and lots of laughs.

More years ago than I want to remember I took painting lessons. I gave up because I could tell right away that “great artist” wasn’t something anyone would ever call me. Not even “mediocre artist.” Bob, who was far more talented than me, took lessons as well, back when he was in the Army. He should have stuck with it, but that whole thing of being an optometrist got in the way. He concentrated on his patients and didn’t pick up a paint brush again until recently, when he started taking lessons from gifted artist Duffy Peterson.

So, along comes this thing called “Wine and Paint,” a fund raiser for the Media Arts Club at Highlands. It looked like fun and a neat way to support a worthwhile organization. And it was something we could do together. So we paid the very small fee ($35 per person with all the supplies provided), and entered into “Wine and Paint,” with a boatload of trepidation. Would every one there be a really good artist? How would it work? Would we be the only “mature” (okay, old) people there?

From the minute we arrived our concerns disappeared like a bad painting under a thick coat of gesso.

It was just plain fun. We were the only – ahem – older folks there, but the HU students and one HU prof and his wife made up a congenial group.

The cat's meowWe found out pretty quickly the instructions were simple; the application perhaps not so much, but it was fun anyway. We laughed. We complimented each other. We ordered wine and food. We painted. We laughed.

The El Fidel Restaurant staff members were gracious and the food was yummy. Not every one ate. Bob and I had the fondue with bread and apples. It was fantastic! The wine and food where not part of the fee, but all in all, it was an evening of entertainment for very little cost.

We learned two important lessons (or at least I did, Bob probably already knew both): water is your friend, and you write with your wrist, you paint with you elbow. Okay, if you don’t get it, all I can say is you had to be there.

In the end we all came up with a variation on the painting we were recreating, or interpreting. One person who said she didn’t much like cats, painted stylized flowers using the color palette provided. Another did gargoyles.

Bob said his cats looked like they’d been out all night and had a time of it. I said we should title the painting, “We might look like we’ve been in a cat fight, but we won!” I have to say his cats and my cats sort of resemble us. His were thin and scrappy, mine – umm – plump and complacent.

We asked Angela Meron, the instructor and an assistant professor in Media Arts at Highlands, to let us know when the club has another event. We want to be there.

This is not thWine and Painte only paint-a-painting in a single session opportunity in Las Vegas. Melody Perez of Running Horses Studio has a similar program. Paint Out is designed for beginners and first time painters, with full instruction and all materials supplied. To find out more about Melody’s great opportunities  check out her website at www.runninghorses.org. We will likely do one of her classes soon.

For us, the main thing is to enjoy life, and this painting thing is one way to do it. Now we have two – hmmm – rather interesting paintings to show for our experience, and you know what? Every time we look at them, we smile.

Deer Me

The Connection
Well, hello there

There you are, sleek and beautiful
a creature amazing and graceful,
stippled brown and buff,
your tail a fluffy white flag.

Long of leg, powerful and swift,
your gaze penetrating, full of light.
Wary and wise, watching for danger
survival instinct evident in your awareness.

Your eyes find me behind a plate of glass.
No scent to tell you I am there
but you know, and look up.
I am breathless!

I think for a moment
my heart beats in cadence with yours,
creation in tune for a span of time,
until you cut our connection and bound away,

Leaping, it seems, straight up
as you fly over the fence
followed by your family,
seeking solitude and peace.

Three's a Charm
Are you looking at me, girl?
Away We Go
And away we go!

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(c) Photos and poem: Sharon Vander Meer

Collected Wit & Wisdom

AsimovPeople who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.  –Isaac Asimov

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. –Don Marquis

When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity. –Albert Einstein

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man. –Lana Turner

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month. –Theodore Roosevelt

Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. –Jim Carrey

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full. –Henry A. Kissinger

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement. –Ronald Reagan

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Source: http://www.brainyquotes.com
Just for the heck of it