I'm Thinking! Does It Hurt? Ask Me Again Later.

Flowering dogwood, traditional white (Cornus florida)
(Click picture for larger view)

"To see a hillside white with dogwood bloom is to know a particular ecstasy of beauty, but to walk the gray Winter woods and find the buds which will resurrect that beauty in another May is to partake of continuity." ~ Hal Borland (1900 - 1978)

Last week Bob-kat left a cryptic message about a surprise and I love surprises, or at least those that don't involve changing life situations or bills or.... let's just say I love "nice" surprises.... and this was. She tagged me for a "Thinking Blogger Award" and I am honored. There are so many more out there more deserving with eloquent words and a better eye for photos.

The participation rules of the award are simple:
1) If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think
2) Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3) Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

When I tried to think of who to tag, I found that Carmi, Judy and Utenzi had already been tagged. They always make me think, gasp in awe at their pictures and laugh at times I need a laugh. So before someone else tags them, here is my list.

Vicki at Outside In, or as it is now known... A Mark On My Wall. She is a psychologist, zoo docent, mother to two starter persons, married to her soulmate (lucky girl)and caretaker to two cats, McCloud and Sophie. She recently moved from her lovely home in Michigan to Chicago and spends winters now (when she is not jetting to Hawaii or other parts of the world) in Florida. She packs more into one day than I could cram in a week and still manages to grace us with pulled together posts and glorious pictures. (My Mr. Rhett is particularly fond of the pictures of his heartthrob Sophie.) Our daughters have given us similar numbers of gray hairs even though she is older than I am...oops, perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned that.

Paul N. at Writing From The Hip is a wonderful storyteller. His posts never fail to move me to tears or, more often, make me laugh hysterically. He weaves tales with such clarity and depth of character that it leaves you wanting more in the end. He is a bit of a joker as well and I have been lulled into believing a tall tale written to pull our collective leg. Now, I just enjoy and don't worry about the specifics; he will eventually tell us if it was true. I love how he is a grandfather, loving father and extraordinary husband to the lovely lady he calls "his first wife." She certainly is special and I hear she makes the best fried chicken in the Southwest.

Karen, at Pondering Penguin always keeps me up to date with news that isn't printed or aired in the mainstream news media, or at least not without a left wing slant. I am conservative and believe the country took a turn for the worse the day we let God be banned from schools and legalized the murder of millions of unborn babies. Karen gives us items to think about even if you don't agree completely. Her site is human, empathetic and brutally honest. She probably doesn't agree completely with my views but we are similar and besides.... she loves penguins...! Her son is about to enter that last senior year of high school so she will be approaching the "starter person" whirlpool soon. Bless you, Karen.

AC, at Sonnets of the Hermit is a fabulous Tennessee gardener who grows blackberries and raspberries and tomatoes and all these things that I wish I could grow. She has gorgeous pictures of walks with her dogs and her flowers and she has a daughter just a year older than mine. Her daughter is a photographer, graduating from college this spring and one of the many "not quite sure about what to do now" group. This is not unusual and truthfully, I seem to find myself in that situation as well. She and I share a similar past with an ex-husband that has been and continues to be a less than hands on dad. (This is really trying to be nice) So we understand each other completely. And she is left-handed!

Beverly, at Lacooche Kid is a wonderful, loving, Christian lady in Florida. She writes inspirational pieces about her lovely children, now grown and her beautiful and brilliant granddaughter, Ella. Through the hardships of life; losing a beloved husband and discovering that dear Ella has cystic fibrosis, Beverly keeps her eyes on God and fully depends on his love and care and spreads cheer to all those around her. She is involved in the Sweet Adeliines and her church and posts about her years as a missionary in Haiti. She brings us inspirational stories of God's power working in the lives of others and is always a blessing to visit. I am very jealous that she and Vicki have met... sigh! I know that she is a prayer warrior and that she will be there for anyone in need. And she loves baseball!

Those were my five but I have to add two more. These two lovely ladies don't post as often as I would like them to, but the entries are worth the wait and always leave me with something to savor and ponder.

Bonnie or Babette's Feast as she calls herself is an absolutely amazing woman. She has a huge loving family and is more pulled together and organized than I could ever hope to be. Her spirit is gentle, kind and her posts are magnificent with art and music history... I always learn something new. She pulls together this information and relates it to her daily life...it leaves me speechless! She creates limericks and short poems with hysterical play on word lines.... she is very "punny"! Her signature sign off includes the words of wisdom... "call your mother".

Lori, at Thoughts of Laurel, is the mother of two teenagers who writes the most beautiful memories... thoughts of her children, her childhood, her family, her God. Her photographs of family and nature are spectacular. Each post is filled with such a calmness and joy, they never fail to inspire and I can feel the love she has for her family in her words.

So there it is. There are more wonderful sites out there with inspiring stories and wonderful artistic pictures than words to tell about them. So, go forth and find them and ..... report back, please!

(end of post)

Easter Dogwood

Flowering dogwood. Cornus florida, 'Cherokee Brave var.'
(Click picture for larger view)

The Legend of the Dogwood
At the time of Christ's crucifixion, the dogwood tree was as tall as the oak and other forest trees. Its wood was so strong and firm that it was chosen for the cross. The tree was very distressed to be used for such a purpose and Jesus understood. He told the tree, "Because of your regret and pity for my suffering, I promise this: never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross. And in the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints. And in the center of the flower, brown with rust and stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns – so that all who see it will remember it was upon a dogwood tree that I was crucified, and this tree shall not be mutilated nor destroyed, but cherished and protected as a reminder of my agony and death upon the cross."
~ Author Unknown

Easter in Mississippi (and Virginia for that matter) means tulip trees, azalea blooms in rose, red and white, wisteria, forsythia and of course the dogwood. The tree grows wild and some homes are graced with five or six having pink or white blossoms. These are glorious in full bloom! This picture is of a small pink dogwood in our neighbor's yard, although it is the darkest pink I have ever seen. In fact the petals are almost red; it really speaks to me of the Easter season.

Submission for SeeItSunday topic "Easter". (end of post)

"I Was Minding My Own Business , When......"

".....I was ambushed from behind."
(Click pictures for larger view)

"I don't think it is so much the actual bath that most cats dislike; I think it's the fact that they have to spend a good part of the day putting their hair back in place." ~ Debbie Peterson

"Oh, no here we go again!"

"First she wet me down and soaped me up."

"Then she rinsed me off,"

"And she rinsed me off,"

"And she rinsed me off some more."

"Now I am clean....But I am NOT happy!"

"This is how I look after two hours of blow drying and fluffing and combing and brushing. Mom says this is harder than actually washing me. She couldn't get a picture of the blow drying... as you can see, she had her hands full with the brush, comb, dryer and me. I am a handful."

"Of course I don't think she did that great of a job. No one cleans my face and fur better than I do. So now if you'll excuse me, I must work on these paws and get all the hair on my tail back in place and the hair on my tummy too. This is going to take me a while."

"I really hate having to clean up after I've been cleaned up. Ackkkk! I feel a hairball in my future!"

"The love of dress is very marked in this attractive animal. He is proud of the lustre of his coat, and cannot endure that a hair of it shall lie the wrong way." ~ Jules Champfleury

The theme for Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt this week is "clean". You can go here to "Grab the Scavenger Hunt code" and here to join the blogroll. This really cute logo is available there as well. The link to other participants is in my blogroll on the sidebar.

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The Shape Of Things

Shh! Miss Clover is sleeping.
(Click pictures to enlarge)

What is she sleeping in? It's an Amazon.com box and it's not very big!
It's got a towel in it too.

Hmm. All curled up and sleeping fine.
I guess she is comfortable after all.

"A cat will assume the shape of its container." ~ Unknown

Cats are contortionists and can force themselves into small spaces under, behind and in places you would never think to look. Well, at least the Siamese are able to do this... not so much the Ragdolls however.....


Willow is too wide to fit into the box Clover is in.. perhaps a box three or four times that size.. yes, that ought to do. (My, my! If looks could kill!)

Willow and Clover are heading out to board Friday's Ark hosted by the Modulator. They loved the boxing poster from last week's Carnival so this week's Carnival of the Cats, hosted by Bad Kitty Cats, is high on their list of places to go and cats to see. See you there.

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My Blessing From God

My little blessing at age two. (1988) (Click to enlarge)

Count Your Blessings...
Count their fingers, count their toes,
count the freckles on their nose.
Count the laughter, count the tears,
count the memories through the years.
And when you add up all of your assets,
may your best investments be
the sum of all the blessings,
hanging from your family tree.

~ Keri Lyn

It's hard to believe that this little two year old will be twenty-one in less than three weeks.... where did the time go? She was, is and will forever be my blessing from God. God blessed me with this child and together we have laughed and cried, felt immense joy and deep sorrow, reached high goals and experienced the pits of failure. We have come through the valley of the shadows of both adolescence and menopause..... at the same time.... and we lived through it. She has been fiercely independent from the beginning and that will not change, nor do I wish it to; for I feel confident that whatever she endeavors to do with her life, she will succeed. I love you Nyssa.

Submission for PhotoFriday topic "blessing". (end of post)