Monday, June 25, 2012

Happy Monday!!

Bath-time for Ozzy ~ he loves it!!  Happy Monday!!

xoxo ~ Kathy

"Man is the only animal that blushes—or needs to." ~ Mark Twain

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Damselflies, Rocks, Rivers & Mushrooms!

 I don't know about where you live, but everything is going crazy around here!  The fireflies are insane at night, the damselflies are everywhere, butterflies are everywhere:
 mushrooms are everywhere:
We've gotten quite a lot of rain lately and the humidity has been fairly high.  This combination has really gotten the mushrooms and mosses growing like crazy.  
 It's so beautiful!  I love this time of year!!  I just wanted so share.  
 And these are brand new!  I'll be listing them for sale in the shop soon ~ they are for sale in the shop!!  So cute!  The perfect gift for a Teacher, Artist, Doctor, Massage Therapist, Yoga Instructor, etc.
I love them!!

Happy Thursday!!  Love & peace always ~ Kathy


 "I saw a Damselfly go by and I followed it to see...
...if I sit still and not make noise, perhaps it'd light on me." ~ Kathy Hardy

Monday, June 11, 2012

And the winner is...

...[insert drum roll here] ~ Patsy!!!  Yay!!  Patsy [my sweet aunt] won those awesome Brass Ball earrings from my last post!!  I know she'll enjoy them!  Thanks for all of the great comments everybody!  And no, I still haven't called the eye doctor, but I will, I promise!!  So, I bet you are curious about the cactus proverb!?!  Here's why:
I bought this cactus 2 years ago and it was pretty full of blooms at the time.  But then, last year it didn't bloom at all and started looking sickly.  I thought it was dying.  I kept it inside all winter and just kept it warm and watered and made sure it didn't die.  When the threat of frost had past, I put it outside again and then noticed all of these little red shoots coming off of it.  And now those red shoots are starting to bloom...the flowers are absolutely gorgeous and the plant is full of them.  Here's what I woke up to this morning:
And all from this:
 So the morel of this story is...never give up on something, just a little kindness and "tlc" can turn someone's life around.

Happy Monday!!!

love & peace always ~ Kathy

"Why always "not yet"?  Do flowers in spring say "not yet"?" ~ Norman Douglas

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Random Act of Kindness...

So Monday, after leaving the Dr.'s office, feeling somewhat defeated in my last 8 weeks of working out and losing weight, only to end up screwing up my back, and on my way to Earth Fare to get groceries and realizing it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and that I had only eaten a banana around 9:30 that morning, couldn't help pulling into the Chick-fil-A for a 3 piece chicken strips and coke, silently feeling guilty since I hadn't had anything fried in two months, but still patting myself on the back for resisting the french fries. I knew if I didn't eat something soon that I would spend my whole month of grocery allowance on one trip to Earth Fare and it was only June 4th. The girl at the drive-thru told me my total...4 dollars and some change [I can't remember exactly how much], so I dug out the money, finding exact change in my coin purse, after dropping three dimes back in that I thought were pennies and then thinking about how bad I needed to go the eye doctor [I'll call tomorrow]. I drive around to the window and hand her my money and she says "you don't owe any money today, I picked you for my Random Act of Kindness and all you have to do is pay it forward". I was like, "really!" And she handed me my order and this card. That one little card made my whole day and turned my whole attitude around. I immediately felt better and when I got to Earth Fare, instead of treating myself to a hunk of cheese, or a bag of chips [I did get a nice bottle of wine], I got some yummy "Coconut Crushed Pearl" body butter. It smells sooooo good!!! I slathered some on that evening, breathing in the sweet smell of fresh coconut and noticing how fast my skin drank it in and how sparkly it was and then I realized it was "sparkling bronzing butter" and that I couldn't read the small print on the tube while in the store, since I didn't have on my reading glasses and thought, once again, about how bad I need to go to the eye doctor [I'll call tomorrow]. But now that I look at my arms, they needed a little bit of a sun kiss...or, in other words, a random act of kindness.  And so today, my lovely readers, one of you will be lucky enough to receive these:
Beautiful Brass Ball earrings!  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, or on my Facebook page.  Ozzy will be picking the winner Monday morning!  Good luck!!
Before I go, I have to share this gorgeous cactus flower that is starting to open on my cactus.  The plant is literally full of blooms and I can't wait to see it when they are all opened up!  It's gorgeous!  I call this one "seeing the sun for the very first time" ~ hope it made you smile!  Don't forget to leave a comment, so your name will be entered in the drawing and don't forget to pay it forward and do something nice for somebody for no reason at all ~ A random act of kindness.

Happy Saturday!!

love & peace always ~ Kathy

P.S.  If you ever feel like reading great stories, check me out on Cowbird, along with peeps from all over the world!  It's a wonderful, wonderful website :)

"If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction." ~ Martin Kornfeld

Saturday, June 2, 2012

In my backyard...

Hello hello!!!  Wow, where did May go?  So Monday we went for a drive and a look/see and saw two black snakes crossing the road.  One of the snakes had almost made it to the other side, so we just paused in the car to make sure he got safely across.  The other one [smiling from above] was just sitting in the road petrified.  I think several cars and gone over him and he didn't know what to do.  His whole little body was rigid and stiff.  In an effort to calm him, I laid in the road and talked softly to him [and took his picture] and then I gently nudged him with a stick, until he crawled safely across the road and into the grass.  Later, we had a really nice and refreshing rain shower that had everything wet and glistening.  I was standing in Wayne's office talking and just so happened to look out the window to see a little box turtle down by the garden.  Of course, the first thing I do, is grab my camera and go flying out the door:
We've lived here five years and I've only seen two turtles in the yard, so I mean what are the chances?  Especially seeing one from the window!  And you know, we do live in the forest, so the chances of seeing a small turtle from the 2nd story window is pretty darn slim.  But, low and behold, there she was and seeming to enjoy the rain that was gently washing her dusty shell.  I got closer and closer with my camera and she didn't seem to mind...but then I noticed that her back legs were stuck straight out, so I looked behind her:
Yep!  She had dug out a hole and was laying eggs!  Can you believe it!  I was squealing in the yard, rain and all!!!  Why oh why or how did this little turtle know that I would see her and that yes, I would build a little chicken wire cage to surround the nest and keep the eggs safe from harm until they hatch about three months from now.  How did she know?  I think this little guy may have told her:
This is a grown up version of the Red Spotted Newt ~ so cute!  He was hanging out in the garden with this beautiful little mama Wolf Spider that had her babies on her back:
And where can you see things like this, you may ask?  In your own back yard!!  Happy Saturday!!  Keep your eyes open wide :)

love & peace always ~ Kathy

“I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore that I can do, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it. For I shall never pass this way again” – Etienne de Grellet