Small Reflections: 4th of July - Camera Critters

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, July 4, 2009

4th of July - Camera Critters - Mosaic Monday

Make Time for Small Reflections
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend!

I'm behind again because spent most of last week (and much of the holiday weekend) watching TENNIS at Wimbledon, but I'll be catching up in the 'virtual world' over the next few days.

Click Mosaic Monday logo to embiggen for better viewing

This is my 79th

Misty Dawn started the meme and explains the rules here.
4th of July Parade-Downtown Huntington Beach, CA

Click to embiggen for better viewing

and for others participating in Camera Critters & Mosaic Monday this week.
See more parade photos & Camera Critters at
Sacred Ruminations in Shadow Shot Sunday.

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
" You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." Erma Bombeck

18 comments:

Mike Golch said...: Great photos,I hope that you are having a great 4th.; July 4, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Brooke said...: Just a fun collage of shots!; July 4, 2009 at 8:50 PM
i beati said...: patriotic critters and lots of them sandy; July 5, 2009 at 7:01 AM
Joy Des Jardins said...: What great photos of the 4th of July...love them. Hope you have been having a wonderful weekend Virginia. Love, Joy; July 5, 2009 at 7:34 AM
Mary said...: Your mosaic is really summery and cheerful, your fourth of July pictures are really nice. And the baby ducks are adorable! :O) Mary @Boogieboard Cottage; July 6, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Leslie said...: WOW! Lots of great photos that you were able to get. Looks like a fun weekend!

Happy Monday!; July 6, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Puna said...: This is wonderful and I particularly like the Erma Bombeck quote. I just love the Fourth of July.; July 6, 2009 at 12:13 PM
Karen at Nittany Inspirations said...: Any photo that has a Bichon Frise in it is a great photo. Your parade mosaic is really nice, too - very patriotic.; July 6, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Carolyn said...: Love all your colorful mosaics!
Carolyn; July 6, 2009 at 1:14 PM
Kathy said...: What a beautiful colourful parade you have there and what lovely mosaic you have created, happy Monday, Kathy.; July 6, 2009 at 1:36 PM
at the cottage said...: What great photos and mosaic. I love the summer and all the colour. :)

Thank you

Deb; July 6, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Suzy said...: You gotta love a parade! Excellent mosaics. I love 4th of July. Cute pups too!; July 6, 2009 at 3:27 PM
Heather said...: Wonderful Critters and Photos!!!; July 6, 2009 at 4:59 PM
NatureStop said...: Great pics and lovely mosaics!!; July 6, 2009 at 9:15 PM
Martha said...: Looks like an AWESOME 4th!; July 7, 2009 at 4:22 AM
Sue said...: The horses are beautiful :) Thank you for stopping by, and your comment :); July 7, 2009 at 5:30 AM
Unknown said...: What a GREAT parade!! So many critters!; July 7, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Alberta Rencontres said...: I am never visiting something like this, The parade look very good, may be next 4th July I will be there :)); July 10, 2009 at 5:07 AM

Currently ...

... I'm thankful to have encountered the 'Food Court Flash Mob Hallelujah Chorus to share here at Small Reflections. I've also shared a Beautiful Meditative Video and a delightful Random Act of Culture (that happened at Macy's) at Sacred Ruminations ... just because.

I'm also grateful that I've created a personalized 1st edition 'Labyrinth Journal' for my friend Susan. I've written a second version that I plan to publish & share with others very soon.

My sister & her husband arrived in town on Wednesday, November 17th and will be around for a few months ... so that's pretty 'kewl' too!

Remember ... you can find me sharing at Giraffe Journal and Labyrinth Journal when you don't see anything from me posted here.

Hope all's well with you and yours!
Hugs and blessings,
Virginia

FYI - My previous Gratitude Lists can be found at Happily Retired Gal, at WordPress. It is my intention to keep this 'Daily Gratitude List' in my sidebar indefinitely because I believe it makes sense to focus on what's right in our lives regularly. Click for:
2010 Lists - July, June, May, April, March, February, January
2009 Lists - December, November, October, September, August, July June, May, April, March, February, January
2008 Lists - December, November

More About Me

Click to learn ...
How I Became a Blogger

Evolution of my blogs
Late in October of 2007, I started playfully exploring possibilities here and at SacredRuminations ... the site where I joined Carla's Sacred Life Project. I published daily on both sites initially, but in mid-January of 2008 I gave myself permission to cut myself some slack & rethink things. Since committing to Blog 365 at Small Reflections, I've continued to publish daily here, but I'm thinking about alternating days and/or experimenting a bit with a variety of possibilities in an attempt to balance my online activities with my "real life" ... without giving "short shrift" to either blog. Therefore, it's all a work in progress, and I hope you'll bear with me.

In October of 2008, I celebrated my 1st Blogoversary here at Small Reflections on the 22nd & at Sacred Ruminations on the 23rd.

I completed Blog 365 in 2008 with a total of 378 posts here at Sacred Ruminations, 234 at Sacred Ruminations, 20 at BlogRolls, Bling & Blurbs, and 30 at Happily Retired Gal for a grand total of 662 ... all in 366 days!

In 2009, my sister & her husband returned to So Cal for 4 months and I had less time to blog. Even though they're on the road again, I'm finding it challenging to recapture a daily blogging habit. Click for more specifics about this.

In October of 2009 I celebrated my 2nd Blogoversary here at Small Reflections & at Sacred Ruminations and in November of 2009 I celebrated my 1st Blogoversary at Happily Retired Gal. Little did I know what would follow when I entered this 'virtual' world.

Click to find ...

My Blog Blasts for Peace:
Sacred Ruminations- The Strength of Gentleness
Small Reflections-A Revolution of Music
Blog Rolls & Bling - What if? (a Colorful Alternative to Bombs)
and last June:
Thirteen Thoughts on the Topic of Peace
Peace in Every Step

My Peace Globes are below
Clicking on them will take you to the related 'Bl0g Blast' post also.
"It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear .... It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to." Marilyn Ferguson

Food for Thought

(or reminders for myself)

"it takes courage to become who you really are." e.e. cummings

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

"How you handle the situation IS the situation." Stephen Covey

"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you." Lao-Tzu

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." William James

"At mid-life more than any other time, we have renewed opportunity to create health by expressing our creativity fully." Dr. Christiane Northrup

"It is never too late to be who you might have been." George Eliot

"Things are only impossible until they're not." Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

"Go forth into the busy world and love it. Interest yourself in its life, mingle kindly with its joys and sorrows." Ralph Waldo Emerson

More thoughts

"We have been so eager to give our children what we didn't have in life, we have neglected to give them what we did." Anyonmous

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. ... You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." Eleanor Roosevelt

"There are events in life that cannot be explained or changed. I acknowledge them, feel them, and I release the rage, guilt, loss, anger, and grief." Dr. Christiane Northrup

"Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win." Bernadette Devlin

"The first and the simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind is curiosity." Edmund Burke

"In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us." Virginia Woolf

"The really great writers are people like Emily Bronte who sit in a room and write out of their limited experience and their unlimited imagination." James Michener

"If you think you can, or think you can't -- you're right." Henry Ford

More Thoughts ...

"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do." Georgia O'Keefe

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true." Richard Bach

"Telling stories causes others to remember what they have always known." Anonymous

"Character is the bridge between our beliefs and our behavior. Character is the glue of personality, the connective tissue that makes a person whole, integrated, a person of integrity." Joan Konner, journalist

"What you choose not to look at in life, rules your life." Lynn Andrews

"Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit." Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"When a woman changes her life for the better, her entire family (whether or not she has children) generally benefits. She sets the tone. The well-being of the family and of society itself depends upon women becoming and remaining healthy. So we owe it to ourselves to put ourselves first and take the time we need to heal." Dr. Christiane Northrup

Saturday, July 4, 2009

4th of July - Camera Critters - Mosaic Monday

18 comments:

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