Welcome to Small Reflections


"Nothing is ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Duck photo source: Lisa's Chaos
I hope you enjoy your visit. If you're looking for something specific, check out the links to posts by category in my sidebar and down a ways. They'll assist with tracking down different types of posts found on each of my three blogs. You might also enjoy checking out the other sites: Sacred Ruminations, Blog Rolls, Bling & Blurbs, and Happily Retired Gal.

I hope you'll look around & leave comments
then visit me at my new blog ...

Giraffe Journal

and/or website ... Labyrinth Journal
both self-hosted at WordPress
where I publish as myself
rather than under a
pseudonym.

I've not had much time for posting or blog visits, but if you're interested I hope you'll find time to check out my new blog, Giraffe Journal or my Labyrinth Journal website ... both self hosted at WordPress.

Thanks for your visit and have a delightful day ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

Saturday, May 3, 2008

PhotoHunt#2 & Saturday Special Smiley 'Stuph'


Today's theme is Time
I'm participating for the 2nd time ever
and this is today's Sunrise from my front yard



I discovered Saturday Smiley and Saturday Special
at The Daily Meme and decided to participate in both this week.

so ... if you're ready to smile and have some time, check these out for yourself ;--)

1. Joyce at Creation in Progress shared 'Girlie Wisdom' that made ME smile.

2. Joy's posts each week entertain and delight ... and this is one of my recent favorites.

3. Peajay often has heart-warming posts and stories. I highly recommend 'Is this heaven?'

4. The hilarious sign from a visit to Taos, New Mexico last summer that I shared for last week's Photo Hunt always makes me giggle. Many of the other participants last week shared unique &/or funny signs so you might enjoy checking them out ... but last week's winner by Elinor is classic!

5. I admire those who participate in Raven's Wordzzles like Akelamalu does each Saturday and reading their 'stories' always makes me smile. I wish I could be so clever myself.

Click for others participating in Smiley Saturday this week.

* * * * * * *

~Remembering Childhood~

1. As a child I loved to play...?:
2. As a child I wanted to grow up to be...?:
3. As a child my favorite thing to eat was...?:
4. As a child my favorite relative was...?:

Question One

I lived in my imagination when I played throughout most of my childhood. When there was no one around to play with me, I built elaborate 'settings' with a variety of blocks and 'linking toys' in which I occupied myself for hours. In addition, I rode a 'imaginary horse' using a pole my father gave me ... creating adventures with imaginary playmates only I could see and hear. In addition, I learned to read at a young age and lost myself in 'stories' throughout my life.

Of course, I had friends and played the usual 'interactive' games of Hide & Seek, Red Rover, Mother May I, etc. ... along with tetherball & dodgeball in our big backyard and 'team games' at the playground and park ... and we roller skated and rode our bikes in the neighborhood.

Addendum: After reading a few other's posts I was reminded how I used to play 'Jacks' with my mom on the back porch in the evening and how I loved to jump rope for hours and hours.

Question Two
I don't recall thinking much about what I wanted to do or be when I grew up. I pretty much lived 'in the present' ... aware of my 'position' as 'baby of the family' (with a brother 9 years my senior and a sister 4 years older ... neither of whom seemed 'interested' in me until I was 12-ish) but never 'limited' by that age difference ... at least from my perspective. I was an excellent student and 'advanced' in many ways primarily because I felt determined to 'fit in' and figured I should be able to do everything anyone else did. I wish someone had suggested to me that I might become a 'writer' ... but no one did. I was expected to go to college and a High School 'adviser' did tell me I could (I quote here) "... be a teacher, nurse, private secretary, or do the right thing ... get married and raise a family."

Question Three
My family didn't have much money and we ate whatever mom prepared without question. I remember 'tuna sandwiches' being a 'special treat' in my lunch at school ... and on rainy days at home I loved 'tomato soup' with a grilled cheese sandwich. Every now and then on a Sunday afternoon my brother would ride his bike to A&W and use his 'paper route earnings' to buy 'root beer' to share as the family enjoyed popcorn watching a TV show together. Red Hots and Lemon Drops were favorite sweets and Dad always had Juicy Fruit gum in his pockets at church. He'd slip me half a stick (usually as the sermon began) and let me play with his pocket watch as a distraction so I'd sit still.

Question Four
As a kid, it was easy to get 'lost' in the huge family gatherings because there was nobody anywhere close to me in age, but generally I enjoyed my dad's side of the family (Kansas born & bred) more than my mom's (proper Dutch folk) relatives because I didn't have to be on my 'best' behavior all the time. I idolized my big brother always ... and we became friends when he taught me to play tennis and water-ski when I was 12. He died 8 years ago when I was 55 and he was 64. My sister & I became close friends and started 'hanging out' together while I was in college and she was teaching Kindergarten & 1st grade.

If you decide to play either in comments here or on your blog (leaving me a link here) feel free to choose an award from my 23rd Thursday Thirteen, 200th (anything but) Wordless OSI Post, or Hot #4/ToT #5 posts.


Thought for Today
" If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it." Andy Rooney

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your answers and I love your blog. It is so interesting. I could get hooked playing Pacman at the bottom of your page. Hehe

Anonymous said...

great post nice pics for this weeks theme!

Momisodes said...

I love those sunrise photos! There's something so wonderful about watching the sunrise :) I miss seeing it as I drove home from working the night shift.

Loved your meme! Your mention of the Lemon drops and red hots really brought me back :) My grandmother also loved getting Juicy fruit!
Hope you're having a lovely Sat :)

Susan Demeter said...

Great choices for the photo hunt theme :)

Mike Golch said...

Great photos.I had to remove Small Reflections from my Google Reader.for some reasons this site would freeze up,and I would have restart the computer to get things running again.it does not happen when I come here via my site.I'm at a lose.

storyteller said...

Gina – What a lovely comment! I’m happy you enjoyed your visit to Small Reflections and I hope you’ll want to return. The PacMan game is a Widget you can add to your own blog if you wish.

Gaj38 – Thanks! I enjoyed seeing the varied ways folks responded to this weeks theme ;--)

Sandy – I love to watch the sunrise … and occasionally just have to get out the camera to capture it. I enjoyed the questions this week because they caused me to remember things I’d not thought about for decades. Glad the ‘candy choices’ resonated with your own memories.

Sue – I thought about this week’s theme for a long time today before settling on these photos. I almost skipped Photo Hunt altogether, but I’m happy I participated again. I’d like to make it a regular thing … at least for a while.

Mike – Thanks for letting me know of the problem. I’ll try to figure out what’s wrong. I’ve got both my blogs in MY Google Reader and they work fine. They show up occasionally in the Blog 365 Mega Feed and always in the One Single Impression feed too. I’m glad you’re able to visit in the ‘old fashioned’ way via your blog.

I appreciate each of you stopping by and hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend.
Hugs and blessings,

Joy Des Jardins said...

Oh those sunrise pictures are just gorgeous Virginia....they almost look like a storm coming in. Beautiful.

Thank you so much for the sweet mention and the link love...again....so nice of you. Yet another great meme....I don't know how you make time for all of them.

peppylady (Dora) said...

Thank you for stopping buy.

I like picture of sunrise and sunset.
Nice take on the theme, never would of thought of that (second time)

Anonymous said...

Nice photo hunt. What TIME was it when you took these photos?

Happy week!!

Anonymous said...

Whoof!!! Woofenderful piktures. Now that I sleep in the house I don't see the sunrise anymore like I did when I was a pup and lived outside.

Thanks fur visiting my Photo Hunters/Alphabet Photo Challenge "C" today. Don't furget to come back tomorrow fur Camera Critters/Alphabet Photo Challenge "D".

Bark!

storyteller said...

Rebecca – Thanks. I’m delighted to have this view every morning ;--)

Joy – You’re very welcome! I hope you got some new visitors as a result of the links. Thank YOU so much for your lovely comment.

Peppylady – Actually they’re all the same sunrise … the view from my front yard. Seeing the variety of what folks come up with for Photo Hunt is always fun.

Alice – I took the pictures in my front yard around 4:45am this morning ;--)

Reba – I’m happy to share my sunrise photos and am glad you enjoyed them. Ms. Kitty, Molly and I are planning to participate in Camera Critters tomorrow.

I’m delighted you all stopped by this evening. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Hugs and blessings,

Mary said...

Storyteller,

Your photos are great. Thanks so much for sharing.

I certainly enjoyed learning more about your childhood through your meme. It's a great way to learn more about our friends.

Take care and enjoy your Sunday. We are having lots of rain here but we certainly need it. Water levels are down here while other parts of Canada are flooding.

Blessings,
Mary

Anonymous said...

Wonderful eclectic mix of posts and photos. Thanks for stopping by my Photo Hunt this week. Have a great weekend.

Joyce said...

I very much enjoyed reading your reminiscences from your childhood. Thank you for sharing. :)

Anonymous said...

I LOVE sunrises. Pity I don't get to see them very often!!!! :( I also LOVE my bed!!!!! ;)

Thanks for joining in on Smiley Saturday this week. I hope you'll choose to join us again. :)

MaR said...

You sunrise pictures are beautiful!! glad you joined the Photo Hunters :)
Happy weekend :)

Unknown said...

What a marvellous saturday special!!!

My answers can be found here:

Laane on the World

Have a great weekend.

Karen said...

What gorgeous pics! And I loved the questions/responses! When I was a kid, it was always known that I wanted to write, but my parents actually pushed me toward teaching. I ended up studying elementary education in college for two and a half years, getting more and more miserable, wanting to go into the creative writing department, but horribly aware of how much money (they could ill-afford) my parents had already spent on my education. Finally, my mother came into my room one day and said, "If you are so unhappy then just quit and change your major." Ah, the relief!

Of course, when I told one of my professors, her first response was, "I hope you're prepared to starve."

Hmm...don't know why I went off with that little story...was I going somewhere with it?!

Anyway, I loved your thoughtful responses--have you ever thought about fiction writing? It seems like you have a lot of grist for the mill!

storyteller said...

Mary – I’m happy you enjoyed my sunrise photos and my ‘childhood memories’ … things I hadn’t thought about for decades actually. I hope the rain doesn’t cause too much damage. I’m saddened by the death and destruction caused by the recent tornados in Arkansas and nearby states. My sister and her husband are in Kentucky where they’re getting intermittent rain, but seem okay in their RV.

Crazy working mom – It was my pleasure. Thanks for your return visit and positive feedback on my ‘eclectic’ post. Great word ‘eclectic’ … I love it ;--)

Joyce – I’m happy you found them of interest and thanks for visiting. I know how busy your life is!

Lightening – Believe me … if I could sleep in, I would! Seriously!!! I’m just ‘wired’ to awaken early and always have been … so I make the best of it. I’m delighted to find ‘Smiley Saturday’ and will join in again for sure because spreading sunshine is high on my ‘life’ agenda.

Mar – I appreciate your visit and am happy I followed through with Photo Hunt for the second time.

Laane – Thanks for visiting Small Reflections and leaving the link to your Saturday Special answers. Seems like we have some commonalities as regards ‘imaginary play’ as children.

Karen – I appreciated your ‘little story’ … so thanks for sharing it. Methinks you were lucky to finally receive a bit of support to follow your dream. I could have done with similar encouragement. I’ve often thought the only way I’d be able to share some of my ‘stories’ is through a fictional approach. The problem is that I can’t seem to write in the 3rd person. First person ‘narrative’ is what consistently shows up on the page … so ‘memoir’ seems the most likely medium for me. Methinks the main problem I face deals with ‘confidentiality’ since even changing the names, locale, dates, and other specifics wouldn’t really protect anyone because there are too many ‘witnesses’ (as in other students in the classroom) who would recognize the events … even if I wrote under a pseudonym. Sigh! Thanks for asking however. Do you have any suggestions for me since ‘fiction’ is YOUR thing?

Thanks to everyone for your comments here and I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend.
Hugs and blessings,

Anonymous said...

Thank you for visiting my blog. You have a wonderful place here.

Mother of Invention said...

Sounds like my childhood! We had more imagination than kids do today. We made up most of our play and we played constantly...hardly any tv. You had simple food like we did too. Grilled cheese was and still is special!


(I just love your cat!! He's SO handsome!)

Anonymous said...

Great sunrise photos. Beautiful. Seeing the sunrise gives me a feeling of calm, of strength...it reminds me that I can make a change everyday. As long as the sun rises in the East.

storyteller said...

Leechbabe – Visiting was my pleasure. I love the idea of Smiley Saturday! Thanks for the return visit and the lovely compliment here.

Mother of Invention – Growing up when we did (in ‘simpler times’ than today) certainly gave me an appreciation for family and relationships and for the necessity of ‘play’ as a means to actively grow & develop our minds & bodies. Sundays were always a day of ‘rest and renewal’ … usually spent with ‘extended’ family after attending church together … keeping focus on spirit & relationships … and often ended at church again. Although we’ve more ‘stuph’ in our world today, there’s definitely been a price paid for the ‘conveniences’ and technology permeating society today hasn’t there?

Mama Meji – Amen to that! Starting the day observing the sun rise sets the tone for my entire day ;--)

Finding your comments here this morning is a pleasant surprise. Thanks so much for visiting and leaving them. Hope you have a marvelous Monday!
Hugs and blessings,

Tina Coruth said...

Storyteller,

Your photos are outstanding!

hugs,
Tina

storyteller said...

Tina – Thanks … I do appreciate the automatic features of the little Casio Exilim digital camera I own ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

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