I had posted this once before, but am doing so again. I had almost forgotten I had even done the picture. It was done several years ago.
Do you remember this song? Once you hear this song, you never quite forget it. The words stay with you. They did for me.
I had to illustrate what the song was saying to me.
A little girl dancing down the road to her future, not knowing all that lies before her, but dancing anyway.
I hope you like this. 🙂
I Hope You Dance
Here is a video that I remember watching from one of my husbands Steve Covey dvds awhile back. Just the way the music, images and words go together, it is moving and is unforgettable. Please watch, and change the way you think, because after all…life is short.
I have nothing new to show you (for now), so I figured I would put up an older picture I did about the love of simple things. This quote reveals so much about how I feel about materialistic things in my life. It is true that you could give me an expensive watch as a gift, and I would be afraid to wear it and so it would stay in a draw forever. But give me flowers, or a simple clay pot that I could put candles and greens in as a centerpiece, and I’d be happier.
I am sure I am not alone in this and so I thought I would share this quote with you. Hope you like it…to all who have not seen this yet!
I’d rather Have Roses
Here is another popular reblog. I feel it is appropriate right now because of Halloween approaching and the whole cemetery thing. I hope you enjoy this. It really makes you think.
The Forgotten Ones In Autumn
The Forgotten Ones
The view from my second – story bedroom window is a humbling one. It reminds me how precious life is everyday. The view is of a simple cemetery, not quite historical, but dated, none-the-less.
I don’t mind the cemetery at all. Our house is separated from the cemetery by a stockade fence, a steep slope and railroad tracks that sit down below. These tracks are not for an Amtrak, but for an occasional slow-moving train transferring goods. I take comfort in the fact that know no one will ever build over there, and as neighbors to us, they never make a fuss. The geese fly low overhead and it is very peaceful.
The view to me is comforting, almost like an old friend, now. The same stones greet me every morning when I open up my blinds. Sometimes the view can look rather eerie when there is a low fog rolling in, and then sometimes, it can look overwhelmingly beautiful, like just after a snowstorm.
There are times I have been depressed and sat on my bed feeling hopeless about a situation, and then through teary eyes, I’ll glance over at the solemn view, and my mind starts reeling. Someday that will be me, nothing more than a name on a stone. Who will remember me? The things I liked, the friends I knew. The things I’ve done? Will it all have mattered? Did I make a difference? An impression? Then suddenly, my current problem doesn’t seem so important after all. That could be me over there.
Those stones sit there everyday and I see no one. Not one visitor. Maybe on a very, rare occasion, I’ll see a lone person sitting on a stone having lunch like they are sitting with an old friend, or a car will sit there and someone may get out and wander. I mostly see joggers and walkers, and the occasional person walking their dog, only to have it relieve itself on a stone. Now. that’s a memory I wish not to have when I am gone.
The church in the distance rings out the time at 9:00, 12:00 and 6:00, and I think to myself, how odd that is , especially for those in the cemetery who don’t care about the time anymore. And the stones sit there day after day, alone in the rain…in the snow…surrounded in leaves…and then sometimes, the miniature flags come out, like for Memorial Day. It looks slightly alive for awhile.
I wonder when the cemetery was first new, how many family members must have come to visit here. Year after year, with flowers and small gifts. I can picture groups of families, probably crying and hanging on to each other. Ill bet it was very busy for a long time… and then it just slowly got forgotten. People got older and passed on, moved away or something. The visiting stops and the stones just sit there and look like they are waiting. Waiting for someone to just remember them. The people there. They were here once, talking and laughing. They had families and memories and pasts. How sad. I don’t want this to be me someday, but I guess it will be inevitable.
So, one day, I’ve promised to buy a rose or two. I’ll walk through the plots and read the names and imagine the lives of the ones that lie there. I’ll place a rose on top of a stone, stand back and smile… and maybe, I will even say a prayer.
Then, I will say
to myself, “No, you are not forgotten…not today”.
The Forgotten Ones In Winter
I am posting a poem that my mother had me read a long time ago and it stayed with me…almost haunting me. It is by Oscar Williams and it is especially perfect for today, with all the war and terrible tragedies going on in the world today. Although it mentions the Jews, you can put yourself or anyone else in their place. It really makes you think, and it is almost impossible to imagine a world without war, but it is beautiful to imagine. The last stanza gives you the hope you almost are afraid to wish for, for you cannot imagine it ever happening, but it is nice to think about. Read on and dream…
One Morning the World Woke Up
One morning the world woke up and there was no news;
No gun was shelling the great eardrum of the air
No Christian flesh spurted beneath the subtle screws,
No moaning came from the many agony-faced Jews,
Only the trees in a gauze of wind trembled and were fair.
No trucks climbed into the groove of an endless road,
No tanks were swaying drunken with death at the hilltop,
No bombs were planting their bushes of blood and mud,
And the aimless tides of unfortunates no longer glowed:
A break in the action at last…all had come to a stop.
Those trees danced, in their delicate selves half furled
And a new time on the glittering atmosphere was seen; The lightning stuttering on the closed eyelid of the world
Was gone, and an age of horizons had dawned, soft, pearled.
The world woke up to a scene like spring’s first green.
Birds chirped in waterfalls of little sounds for hours,
Rainbows, in miniature nuggets, were stored in the dews,
The sky was one vast moonstone of the tenderest blues,
And the meadows lay carpeted in three heights of flowers:
One morning the world woke up and there was no news.
Lone Soldier
Here is another reblog on a great old movie for this time of year. Go watch it today! 🙂
Early in the summer, my daughters and I went to the park not far from us that is right on the water. We love to go there when the air is still and it’s not too hot. Then it is perfect. If you go during the week, it’s even a bigger plus because you don’t get all the noise from kids and loud motorcycles and such. Just perfect quiet. The boats glide out over the water and the only noise you hear is the water hitting the rocks on the wall.
What I really think is neat when I go there, are the strange trees that are just grouped together in the picnic area. They are not too tall, very light in leaves, and their trunks are “wavy”. I think they are beautiful, but I’ve never seen trees like this. I keep telling myself that it was probably the wind that made their trunks grow like that, when they were growing. I don’t really know. Anyway, they make for some very interesting pictures…as you see here.
The Very Interesting Trees
Now this day that I brought my camera, I did the usual shots of the kids, the water and then the trees. Although the trees were beautiful, there was something else in those pictures that was just as beautiful, that I captured almost by mistake. Look closely….. Do you see it???
The Other Beautiful Picture
Yes, that picture was perfect. I could not have taken a better picture. I hope my husband and I are just like this couple here in the years to come. So cute!
So, next time you take a picture, look closely…you might just find another treasure there. I did! 🙂
I don’t know what it is about the Walton’s tv show, but to this day, when I watch the show, I am oblivious to anything going on around me. The only thing that startles me to reality (unfortunately) is the commercials! I loved the show in the 70’s when family shows were all the rage, and I wish they still were. TV shows today are so outrageous that I can’t even compare them to the more meaningful ones from the 70’s. I mean, I know they all weren’t the best, but at least we had something!
When I watch the Walton’s today, a strange sense of calm comes over me. A feeling of being less stressed in a simpler time.
Almost the way I felt growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, before technology went crazy. I liked coming home from school and relaxing before doing homework, leaving the stresses of the day behind me and not having to see my classmates until the next day. Not with facebook! It’s in front of you 24/7. That would have driven me insane. And the bullies that harassed me by day, I’m sure would have found me on facebook. No thank you! I also loved my “one and only” rotary phone, to “TALK” to someone…not text or e-mail and somehow try to figure out if the words in the text were meant to be sarcastic or mean in any way. We worked out many problems and disagreements over the phone! OOOps, I’m sorry, I’m getting off the subject…I wanted to talk about John-Boy Walton…my hero.
Like I said, I loved watching the Walton’s and how they solved their own family problems, ate together at mealtimes with Grandma and Grandpa, and even took in strangers with difficult hardships and fixed their problems, too. They just took life as it came with all it’s different experiences and learned from them, together. Always together. It sounds silly, but I always came away from the show feeling satisfied, like I could survive the next day’s troubles all because of how I felt inside after watching the show for an hour.
Now, I do have an older sister and our relationship reminded me so much of the relationship between Mary-Ellen and Erin. The little spats and also the sisterly love. I also have 3 younger brothers, but I had always wished for an older brother. An older brother who would protect me from the cold, harsh world and show me right from wrong, without getting mom or dad involved. Someone I could go to for all kinds of advice and know that he would always be there for me if things didn’t quite go my way. I’m sure he would’ve somehow made me feel like the sun would surely shine again in the morning. It would all be okay. And yes, he would’ve been a writer and write poems and share them with me. Poems about love and romance and life in general. Of course, I would appreciate that, because I am an artist and write poetry, too. Yes, that was John-Boy.
Ahhh…it is nice to dream…
But I have always loved John-Boy, or Richard Thomas, since he played the part, and I think he would think it was funny that there is still women out there that have secretly admired him all these years. He just looks like he is a very nice person to get to know. I never read anything bad about him. He just looks like a pleasant, very nice person.
Flashback: One day on our Honeymoon in Washington DC ( in 1985 ), my husband and I were at this very nice restaurant. As we were eating, my husband told me that Richard Thomas had just walked in. I did not believe him! But it was him!!! He and another actor were starring on a stage production nearby and they were eating out together. He was only tables away from me!!!Oh my God! I’m thinking….autograph..no… he will think I am stupid…no. I really would have loved to go over to him and tell him how much I loved his work, but I probably would have drooled instead, so nevermind. I still remember what he was wearing and how he just strolled in like he was my next door neighbor. Unbelievable.
Anyway, that’s my story. Now you know my secret crush, oh well. I’ve held it in for so long, it just had to come out someday.
So if you ever happen to see Richard Thomas in your travels, let me know,and see if you can’t get that extra autograph for me, ok??? 🙂
Goodnight John-Boy!
John-Boy
Richard Thomas
Here is a reblog on one of my older posts I went through and found. I just felt it should be read again. Hope you like it! 🙂
Hello again.
Since my married name is McNulty, and my single name was Riley, and today is St. Patrick’s Day….I need to write a blog that has something to do with St. Patrick’s Day, right?
Well, if not only about St. Patrick’s Day, I can write about the illustration here I did awhile back with a quote about four leaf clovers, which I believe totally.
Friends are sure hard to find, especially the ones that stick by you. Through the bad times as well as the good. I just know you really need friends, especially when you are younger. I am 50 and I may have one friend, but plenty of family members on my husbands side that I could call my friends. That seems to happen as you get older, friends don’t seem so abundant anymore. Everyone is doing their own thing or live far away. But that’s ok, family is a good substitute. At least they can’t really run out on you. I also have an older sister in my own family that is like my best friend, I wouldn’t change that for anything either. She knows me the best. When we were growing up, we shared everything, and that made life seem so much more bearable. Boyfriend troubles, family arguments, money issues, feelings…you name it. All the tough times seem easier to deal with if you have a close friend.
My husband is like my best friend, also. I can tell him anything. I would feel lost if I didn’t have my husband to share with. You definitely need someone you can call friend. Someone. Anyone. Even Rover, your dog. I don’t care. If they make you feel better…they’re a friend. In my book anyway.
Okay, now getting back to St. Patrick’s Day…who’s having corned beef and cabbage…say “I”. Who’s having irish soda bread…and maybe some drinks :)???
The only part about corned beef and cabbage is finding a decent package of corned beef that doesn’t have a chock full of fat on it and that doesn’t cost something like a gold nugget!!!! Come on…you need to buy 4 of those packages just to make a meal for 4…they shrink when you cook them too, like cotton in the hot wash…holy cow!!! I always panic when I have a table full of people waiting on my corned beef and I take it out of the oven and it looks like the size of a meatball! Talk about cutting your slices thin! Thank God for potatoes and soda bread! Let’s hope your sitting among good friends and loving family members so they don’t make fun of your “tiny” meat. Hopefully they will have few drinks by then..and no one will notice anyway!
Well, go and have a good St. Patrick’s Day…and think of me at dinner…friend:).
(Also, to plug a good movie about the Irish..”.The Devil’s Own ” with Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford. A little violent, but more of an Irish feel. Good story.)Enjoy!
Best Friends Are LIke Four Leaf Clovers
Cherylmcnulty's Blog 