Springtime in Central Park

The flowering trees are just past here in my little city. Everything is very dense and green. The flowers have moved north. Feel like following them. [Inga Sarda-Sorenson photo]



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Playing with food

This reminds me of breakfast buffets at fancy resorts in the tropics.



[photo via Creativity has no limits.]

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A magic confluence

Found on the internet. Have no idea where this is but I really want to go there and see this in person.



[photo via awesome cretativity]

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Stormy weather

I once had a dream of walking the entire coastline of Great Britain. You can actually do that. I have a book of walking trails. Think I'm probably getting too old to do the whole thing. But I would love to see this in person. Sunset over Skye, Scotland.



[photo via Matthew Ward]

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Fish gotta swim

I don't have any pets. It's not that I wouldn't love to have one. It's just that my life never feels settled enough to commit to taking care of any helpless creature. Sometimes I think I should at least have a goldfish. They're pretty easy to take care of and they're soothing, even if they're not quite as cute as this.



[Via Buzzfeed ]

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Bleeding hearts liberals

It's true I'm proud to be a long time bleeding heart liberal but my love for this flower goes back to the earliest days of my youth. My love for them has been enduring. They're a great flower. They bloom early and they keep blooming for a really long time. Oddly I've never grown them myself, mostly because they're perennials and I've never felt rooted enough in one place to plant them.



[photo via Mystic Path.]

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Chasing rainbows

An internet friend bathed in rainbows from the windows at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.



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Words and Pictures

I love the English Language.



[photo via] [Photos are better if you click on them to embiggen.]

Heart of the matter

No idea where this is, but it seems perfect for Earth Day.



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Here's looking at you kid

No idea what kind of bird this is, but who could resist that sweet little face?



[photo via Respect Your Pet]

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A rose by any name

Chrysler Imperial rose from my friend Maeve's garden. Swear, when she posted this last night, I could smell it right through the computer. Not shown in frame are six hummingbirds buzzing overhead.



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April showers

Happy hibiscus. [source unknown]



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Monkey around

A rare Monkey orchid from Ecuador. So cute. I would move there just so I could grow these.



[photo via PopSugarHome]

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Sacred spiral

This makes me want to buy a piece of land so they can build this for me. Created by Kim Harwood Stonework



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Fruit salad

Don't normally post food pictures because most of them are pretty boring, but this is possibly the most beautiful fruit salad I've ever seen in my life. [photo via Dreamscape Designer]



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When I first saw it, this song immediately came to mind.

Blissful tiger

Not even sure how Noman Shabbir of Pakistan became my friend on Facebook. Guess I friended him back when I first joined and was willing to let strangers into my timeline. But he seems like a decent sort and he often posts cool pictures. Pretty sure he didn't take this one, but how happy does that tiger look? Had to save it.



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Wonders of the world

It is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world and it is by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world. The Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.



[photo via Old Moss Woman]

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Blue bird of happiness

Found on Facebook. [source unknown]



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Koga's resting place

Koga was a parrot. She lived for 22 years. [Jennie Bolton photo]



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Room with a view

A view from Ibiza



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Earth songs

Cave of Melody, Scotland.



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Cool green water

What a beautiful place. Pamukkale Turkey.

A good deal

[Graphic via]

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White bird

One of my favorite birds in the world. [Charles Glatzer photo]



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Springtime in the city

Central Park, Manhattan. [source unknown]

Scenes from my past - Part Seven

There were many ways to walk to downtown from the home of my youth. Sometimes I would take this route just to see this house. The internet tells me it is considered the best octagon house of the 12 that survive in Connecticut. This photo was apparently taken in 2008 after it was refurbished.

It was much shabbier when I was young. In fact the whole neighborhood was pretty run down. It was vaguely scary. You wouldn't walk there at night. But in the daytime I would always stop and admire its oddness. That house had a presence that demanded attention.

When I was teenager a friend knew someone who lived there. His name was Lance. He was older than us and had really long hair. Sadly, he never invited us inside. Probably just as well. He felt slightly dangerous.



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Scenes from my past - Part Six

When I was growing up we lived about a mile from Main Street. There was a city bus stop just a block away from the house but I often walked instead. Streets were safe and nobody thought anything about a ten year old wandering them alone. There were several different ways to get there but West Street was one of my favorite walks. There were stores along the way and all the houses were nice. I think I almost recognize these porches.



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Scenes from my past - Part Five

This was the view from my mother's hat store on the Main Street of my youth. We were on the second floor. The lawn on that white bank with all the stairs was always perfectly manicured like an illustration in a fairy tale book. It was always the same length. I don't recall ever seeing anyone mowing it.



The store had a huge bank of large windows across the front. There was step up platform in front of them wide enough to stage a five piece band. We used it to stage the fancy hats on clear acrylic art deco hat racks. And to hold the custom mades awaiting pick up.

Sometimes when I looked out I would see our best customer on the steps of that bank. Her signature color was chatreuse. And by that I mean, every ensemble she wore was chatreuse. All chatruese. All the time. It suited her. I want to say she also had at least one little dog, maybe two, also dressed in little chatreuse coats. But I may be making that up.

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Scenes from my past - Part Four

When I was young, we had a thriving Main Street. Everybody hung out downtown. Shopped there. Ate there. On the weekends there were teen dances featuring the hottest local bands and the occasional nationally famous performers. It was a great downtown to grow up in. This is what it looked like in 1963.



The big store that's disappearing into the far right of the photo was Genungs. Biggest department store in town at the time. They would have the best promotions. Remember once they had well dressed women handing out perfume samples in beautiful little bottles. Another time a Walt Disney cartoonist gave a drawing demo, and then drew a huge cartoon for you to take home. I asked for Daisy Duck because nobody else did and I feel sorry for her.

You can't really see it, but my mom's hat store is in that picture somewhere down the block from Genungs.

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Scenes from my past - Part Three

When I was kid, we had the best neighborhood playground. A beautiful park with a baseball diamond and a horseshoe pit, and a big old pond at the bottom of the hill surrounded by a little woods and a big swamp beyond that. And they had fun equipment. Big metal slides and seesaws and monkey bars. The one we had looked just like this. The big deal was when you were brave enough to do flips over that middle bar at the top and then hang upside down by your knees and wave your arms in the air.



In the summer they had an arts and crafts program. We made lanyards out of plastic strips and potholders on those little looms that you can still buy today. I made dozens of potholders. Pretty sure my mom still has a couple. And the other really fun piece of playground equipment was this merry go round thing. Everybody would grab a bar and run and then jump on while we waited for it to slow down again. Then we would jump off. Whoever jumped off first won the game. The big kids always won.



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