paying attention

This barn is exactly 3.68 kilometers from my house.....(or 2.3 miles for my southern friends;)

I know this,

 because it stands on the side of the road up on a hill on my Country Road Running Route.

I had never paid it attention before, 

until  I had to drive in to this particular  yard to drop something off one September day.

I often wish I could move around a bit more, 

see new things, 

experience life somewhere else.

But the closer I look, 

the more I concentrate on detail...

 newness is around me everywhere I look.

Funny all the little things I miss and sum it up as routine.

I'm just not paying attention.

~Linking to Barn Charm this evening~

on vision and mind

"What is seen by the eye is transformed and 

colored by the vision of the mind."

-   Robert Wade  
~~~

I have an enormous aversion to barbed wire.

It has been the cause of many mishaps around our place...all of which include "my girl and her horses."

It seems a brutal and medieval type of material...and for the life of me I cannot figure out why any would be used when there are safer, less harsh, (and prettier) means to fence something in.

On a walk I came upon this rolled up bunch of the dreaded stuff.

I disdainfully cast it a glance.

It made me wonder just how many times our thoughts 
on matters get clouded by what we hold in our minds.

My conclusion ended up being...

"I will always prefer barbed wire rolled up in a heap,

 no matter how nice it may seem in the light of the setting sun.
Barbed wire is STILL... barbed wire."
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplicity

In all the moments of your today~

make sure to bring it back to something simple.

Sometimes,

 one can make life more complicated than it has to be.

companions of character

~Linking in with  Barn Charm~

To live in a Lighthouse

I once spent the night in a Lighthouse.

It was so close to the ocean I thought that the waves were going to crash through the window.

The sights one can see from the top of a Lighthouse  makes you feel you are on top of the world.

Or at least...on top of the sea.

This little replica of a lighthouse was found on the edge of Lake Havasu.

I kept thinking it was a perfect size for me.

I sure wish there was enough time in my life to live in all the places I wished to be:)

Burst your Bubble

Truth is tough. 

It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day likea football, and it will be round and full at evening.

-Holmes, Oliver Wendell~~The Autocrat of the Breakfast  Table, ch.5.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Missing the REAL in connection

(Warning: Rant post)

It used to be that "back in the day"....one would fly in to one of these to make a call.

These would stand on street corners or hang on walls outside convenient stores.

As long as you had the change~ or knew how to place a collect call....you were safe.

Now...they sit for decorative reasons...to remember what life used to be like.

When you didn't have to charge a phone, 

find a spot for it in your pocket, 

be attached to everyone and "connected" to everything at 

every 

single 

moment.

Funny thing is- for all the ways we have to "Connect" today?? 

I feel more disconnected than ever.

My "real phone" only rings with telemarketers requests.

My mail box only holds flyers every afternoon at 4pm, and instead of running down to it with anticipation - I sit in front of a screen wondering if my "email box" holds a line.

And connection now means...

"Shooting an email"

"Facebook me"

"I'll text you when I get there"

"Did you read his Tweet?"

{"Didn't get the email? 

I texted you last night to say I sent it..."}

{Walking into a coffee shop last week....

5 out of the 8 people sitting down were all on their laptops or staring at their phones.}

{Sitting down to eat and a phone beeps.

 Is that me? Or you? 

Hold on....It'll just take a second.}

Yes. It used to be a pain to find a quarter and a phone booth. But I miss it.
I miss real chatter.
Letters to hold in my hand.
I miss hearing voices and seeing faces.

For all the "connectedness" we supposedly own today~ why is it everyone seems so disconnected from one another?
(sigh)

Why have we become content to be "facebook friends"...but not get together in real life?
Why do we resort to texting a heartfelt sentence, when we could pick up a phone and use our real voice?
Email is so easy. But what does one have to hold in their hand and read, and store away in a ratty old box, to pull out and show those who come after....but their computer screen.

(I warned you this was a rant.)

On that note....I feel the need to stuff a mailbox full of letters and cards!
I want to go back, if only for a few moments, and see if I can use a pen and remember how to address an envelope.
I want to go buy a sticky square of a stamp and place it in the corner...
open the lid on a mailbox and stuff the envelope inside.

And then....just for fun, if I perhaps happen to come across a forlorn looking phone booth with a ratty old phone book hanging from a cord, I may just dig out a quarter and call someone. Just to hear a real voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND NOW....for the point in this post where IRONY and the fact of the matter comes out:

EMAIL me your address.
I would love to mail out some Christmas cards and I want to send you one.
I guess you could also text me with your address.....
Hey! You could also send me a DM on my Twitter account....

{There are so many means to stay connected, 

and yes, 

can be convenient and good.

I guess it's just the REALNESS I miss.}

Seriously....my email is dawnr@hotmail.ca
I would LOVE nothing better than to send you a card  through snail mail.
(That is.....if I remember how)
:)


~Linking with ~Ruby Tuesday~ over here....even though it's  a Thursday post:)

It's the Little things

As in every family...there seems to be a member who is the smile~giver.

The one who...even when he doesn't mean to, or even realize that he does it,

brings a feeling of joy.

 Joy you didn't know was there because you  felt you were in a valley moment, and were oblivious to it.

It was in one of these moments when that little smile~giver pulled something out of his pocket.

He loudly proclaimed to the ones sitting in their own little worlds...

"Let Me WARM Your Spirit!"

And with that...gave this a loud and happy blow:

 He carried on as though nothing had happened....but little did he realize- 

warming my spirit was just what he had done. 

His childish and innocent proclamation was simply perfect.

~It's the little things.~

"About Yourself"~ Blog Award

Thank you....

I have recently  been given this award from Flora over at

This and That.

I am supposed to pass it on to 15 other bloggers, but as I don't know if I can pick just 15....

I hereby pass this Award on to all of my fellow bloggers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess my 7 Things About Me would read like this:

1.   I love being outdoors more than indoors. 

Even as I write this, I am sitting in a chair outside the front door, while my kiddos are sitting warm inside. It's just so beautiful out....with the moon shining down and all;)
I often wonder how I came to live in such a cold place, when I know there are places in the world where I could live outdoors all year round. My family knows if I haven't been outside during the day--(sadly)- by my attitude. 

2.   I love all food...but Spicy Hot Food of any kind is my ultimate choice.

Foods that make my eyes water and feel like I'm choking? The Best.

3.   I have the 4 most wonderful kiddos in the world....a boy, girl, boy, boy.
My oldest just turned 17, which is strange because I swear I am only 23!  I was in labor for 39.5 hours with him before they FINALLY decided to do a c-section. All the others were born that way too. Not my first choice, but I'm here to blog because I had them that way:)

4.   My Bucket List is long and ever-growing.
My top 5 things on the list of many:   To do full Ironman, a bike trip across Italy, to run a Marathon in Greece, learn to scuba dive, and to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

5.   Coming home from a trip- I don't usually sleep unless I unpack and start laundry.
It drives me insane to go to bed with suitcases at the door...unless it's a suitcase at the door waiting to leave somewhere. Somewhere warm. :)

6.    Something I DESPISE about me...I'm indecisive. And fearful.
I see the 2 often going hand in hand. I am fearful, weigh the options, my fear adds more options, thus I cannot decide. I am trying to conquer this...but it's a hard thing to battle. I can't decide just how to go about doing it...;)

7.   I would rather clean a bathroom than cook (or even be in a kitchen)!
I have often dreamed of hiring a cook...or exchanging cleaning for cooking with someone. I cannot STAND cooking!!! Give me a house to clean any day, and I'd be happy to hire a (cute) chef!

(Proof of #6. 

This was a glass floor in a city building that you could walk on. 

It took me forever to decide to walk (or in my case- crawl) on to it. 

My heart raced the entire time. 

I don't know if I would do it again. Fear of heights and all....

guess I would have to decide if I ever go back.  ;D)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well.....if you're still here- thanks for reading. I could add probably a 100 more things to this list- NOT because I'm interesting...just because I like to ramble. (I guess that would be #8.) :D

Now grab the award and tell me 7 things about you!

Charmed~ I'm sure

Out on a walk with friend one day, I looked over from our in-depth conversation 

and saw this 'charmed barn'.

My dear friend had to pause our walk and conversation while I  went to take captures 

with my phone camera. 

~Friends are treasures~

just as 

~Old Barns are Charmed~

I'm sure of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Linking in to  ~Barn Charm~  this evening

If only it could talk.....

In

Lake Havasu, Arizona

I found the

 ~London Bridge~

A man named 

Robert P. McCulloch bought the bridge

and had it transported in pieces to Lake Havasu City...a city he founded.

When Robert was asked by customs what it was he was transporting

his reply was;

"one antique".

Each piece was numbered before dismantling,

 and then reconstructed by number when it was rebuilt.

First built in 1831....to span the River Thames in London.

Dismantled in 1967,

 then rebuilt and finished by 1971.

It now spans the Bridgewater Channel Canal.

If this bridge could talk, I wonder just what it would say.

People have crossed on hurried feet.

Wars have waged and the flash of lights have reflected on the stone.

 Hearts have been captured and then broken along its edges.

Does it find people to be different from one place to another?

Do times change who we are and what we do?

I can only imagine the things this bridge has seen.

What has crossed over it....

or floated beneath it.

If only it could talk.

Mornings and Nights ~somewhere else

I'm a sky watcher.

No matter where I am- I always catch myself looking up...head in the clouds I guess you could say.

This week I'm in Arizona.

No...I am still being loyal to my Canadian (cold)~~

but felt the need to absorb some warmth before winter really begins.

~~~~~~~~~

This was the sunrise which greeted me

as I  opened the hotel door early yesterday:

This was the sunset~ (or rather, Moon~rise), 

coming back in from my hike last evening:

No matter where I am....{cold or warmth},  the sky holds incredible beauty.

~~~~~

It's really not such a bad thing to walk 

around with your head in the clouds.

travel time

"Up from Needles and over a burned range, and there's the desert. And 66 goes on over the terrible desert, where the distance shimmers and the black center mountains hang unbearably in the distance."

~ The Grapes of Wrath

I'm currently reading "The Grapes of Wrath"-
the classic by John Steinbeck.
 Unfortunately I have never picked it up~ until now.



















Part of Route 66 lies just past this train track- the last section of the "Mother Road" before the families would finally end their cross-country journey. It's desert. It's barren.
And supposedly....hope lay just beyond this last stretch of the road.


All I could think of while passing by the Route, was that
it's too bad "The Grapes of Wrath" didn't wait for a few decades.


Travel would have been much kinder to all them folks now.

Fall Photo....Finish

It seems that our lovely Fall we have enjoyed, has decided to come to an end.
I awoke this morning to wind, snow, ice,
and sported a head of frozen hair after I left the pool this morning.

And so it begins.

BUT:
I promise I will not complain.
I will do my utmost to be loyal to my prairie province and Canadian country.
I solemnly vow I will tackle the white with  grace and as much "positivity" as I can muster.
And I will continue to be thankful for the ability to enjoy each season as it comes.....-40 Celsius and all.

(and someone out there HAS to promise to remind me of this vow I am making:)

~Have a wonderful weekend~

Crying over You

I remember this walk through my yard one summer day.

Of course we had more rain than sun, so this was a normal view through my camera lens.

As I sit here tonight listening to the wind bang on my window....telling me that snow could arrive tomorrow, I am trying not to cry over a summer that didn't fully appear this year.
(I AM grateful for the days we DID have....but somehow I feel a bit ripped off;)

I am a lover of all things full of color, and looking out my window today I noticed that the white sky of Alberta winter is headed this way.
Yet again.

Thankfully  I took MANY pictures of color over the last few months....despite raindrops in my eyes...and I am going to pull them out to stare at them when this white world closes in on me for another 6 months.
~i swear winter only left a few weeks ago~

One can always find some sort of  bright side: 

My skis have been loudly yelling at me to take 

them from their shed storage~

 I will soon be able to quiet them down.