Smiles

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Pollen count 3939

This is how I survive the pollen

As I have severe allergies and asthma; I do whatever it takes.  Believe me people notice my bright pink mask even if I am in the car just driving by; I sure get some s-t-r-a-n-g-e looks.  But you can also believe me that it sure beats ER visits and hospital stays which were the norm before my husband bought this for me. He researched on the Internet to find one that would be effective, as we had tried the paper hospital ones and the cheap Wal-Mart shop masks which did nothing to help me.  Since I have been using this I have not had a single trip to the hospital due to pollen.  My Doctor laughed when I gave him a copy of the photo and he does not recommend it it other patients because most people will not go to these extremes to keep from being hospitalized. I think it is kind of sad that people will not use something that could benefit them so much for fear of embarasment; although I have been guilty of it myself at times. I have learned that those who know me are very accepting of my mask and will even ask where it is if I am out without in the spring.  I am learning to not be afraid to

DO WHATEVER IT TAKES

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺ 

Pollen Count 2400+

This is the price we pay here in Georgia for all the beautiful trees and flowers- lots and lots of pollen.  This is a photo of the windshield of my car first thing in the morning.  Kind of nasty to think that we breathe in that stuff.

This is the sunroof of my car.  You can see where the dew drops settled from the night before.

Front of my car.  this year when I saw my wndows start to turn yellow I started to check the pollen count only to find that for Atlanta they have changed the ratings as to how much pollen is dangerous.  Last year the top of the extremely high pollen count was 299; this year they moved the extremely high pollen count limit to 1499.  Like moving the the number would make allergy sufferers fell better.  Give me a break.

This picture is the same as the one above.  I just had some fun with it.  After the insult with changing the pollen count numbers, because by the time pollen counts get to 1499 it doesn't matter if you have allergies; that much pollen makes it hard to breathe for everyone.  I had to do something to lighten my mood so play is what I did.

I think you can see how pollen collects everywhere.

Pollen, polllen everywhere.  Even in the little time I was out taking these photos my camera got a pretty good dusting and I had to clean it when I came in. 




Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Wisdom

Check out this post for a bit of wisdom from my daughter; I am so proud of her and wish I had her kind of wisdom at her age.
http://snarkandart.blogspot.com/2011/03/sunday-school-burdens.html

Franken Moon

“See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta quote

Last night was a special kind of moon, the closest it will be for a long time.  It is supposed to cause all kinds of havoc.  Wife's tales and all that, exagerating science, yes the moon does cause the tides but when we're talking the kind of distances between here and the moon the effect may be felt but cause havoc, nah.  It was however very cool to look at.  When it came up over the horizon it was big and golden and extremely impressive.

As the moon rose into the trees it lightened in color and started to look like something out of a spooky Hollywood movie.

As it rose in the sky, it lightened in color and looked more like a regular full moon.  I hope your skies were clear and you were able to enjoy this special moon if not I hope you enjoy my photos. I have a feeling there will be a lot of blogs with moon photos today because it was indeed impressive and there were lots of fellow photographers out there taking photos.  I had people who saw me; stop in the middle of the road to tell me where better shots could be had.  I met and talked with several other photograpers and had one invite me to park in her yard so I would be well off the road instead of in the grass just off the road.  It was one of those nights that my faith in people as being good, decent,freindly, all those things that have supposed to have diminished in the world are not gone and it warmed my heart.  Perhaps that was the best part of the night.  Some wonderful Serendipity

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Two more great posts

I love British humor but even if you don't you'll probably get a chuckle out of this post
http://ladunata.blogspot.com/2011/03/gotta-love-british-humour.html
Great thoughts
http://drawingalineintime.blogspot.com/2011/03/amnesty-international-we-are-all-born.html

First rosebuds of spring

 

“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses "

 soon my roses will be in bloom

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Pleasures of living in Georgia

My life has kind of gotten in the way of my blogging.  Sunday was actually kind of wonderful.  I got to go to church, counsel with my bishop to get my head back on straight, and spend the rest of the day with my family setting wedding plans.  Just one of those pleasant days. Until.... late that night and Felicity started throwing up what she ate the night before. OH YUK!!  That wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't continued till noon Monday.  They say having a dog is like having a 2 year old and that's what it felt like.  Sleeping lightly listening for her. Getting up when I heard her, cleaning up, checking her to see if she was still hydrated.  Like most 2 year olds it's the mommy who gets to do this but unlike most 2 year olds Felicity weighs 100#.  We've had dogs with stomach problems (Akita's are notorious for it) for so long our family cookbook has a recipe in it called Dog Soup and when those outside our family see it they think it is a joke, but it is not it is what we feed our dogs when they get sick. Anyway I am no longer a young mother so the rest of Monday was shot,  I was one tired Grammie.  Tuesday I had cataract surgery, for a secondary cataract which is only a short office surgery, but still requires some recoup time.  Wow Wednesday I got up and what a difference the surgery made, everything was so much more detailed.

On the way to the pharmacy I was reminded of one of the many pleasures of living in Georgia.  I quite often make fun of living in Georgia and having a sense of humor does help no matter where you live as each place has it's own idiosyncrasies.  Every place also has it's own pleasures.  In Georgia being a temperate rain forest there are flowers and trees everywhere.  There are wild spaces and some surprising cultivated spaces.  I take an alley to the pharmacy and the back doors to the stores are landscaped.  There is even a couple of small parks and sitting areas right there on the alley.  All the photos today are from that alley yesterday.  Parking lots tend to be landscaped also.  Almost everywhere you go in Georgia there are flowers, trees, birds, and little critters.  And gardeners abound.  There are garden tours and shows.  Georgia is a beautiful place to live.

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Check out this blog #2

With all the news about Japan, check out this blog for a personal account and a way to help out     http://alphabetsoupstudio.blogspot.com/

Just for fun

Just having fun with some old photos

 Have a nice weekend

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Start to my art

This is a picture of the fourth grade me.   Of course I started drawing when I was very little as every little child does; but my first real boost in creating art came from my fourth grade teacher. I don't remember her name which is kind of odd since she did so much to boost my self-esteem and I remember all my other elementary teachers names. I even have a picture of her, but it is so blurry by the time I copied it you would not be able to tell who it was.  I loved to draw and paint and my mom would save the cardboard that came with my dad's freshly laundered shirts.  I drew on regular paper, but for the watercolors the cardboard was priceless.  We had been studying about the oceans and sea life in school. I loved the bright colors of the fish in the ocean in our textbooks so I decided to paint a picture of those bright colors and scenes. I thought it came out pretty well; so I took it to show my teacher.  I was kind of shy and it took a great deal of courage on my part.  She told me how much she liked it and took it to the back of the room and cleared off a space on the bulletin board just for my picture. She asked me if I would like to bring in some more and from then on I had my own private space on that bulletin board.  I don't know why she did that for me, as she didn't do it for anybody else but what a wonderful thing to do, a lifelong gift for the quiet little girl who loved to draw and paint.
Below is a more recent drawing of sea life. Hope you enjoy it and may it reminds you of someone in your life who cared.  I played with it on my photo editing programs just for fun.

     “Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”

     Mother Teresa of Calcutta quote

I love this quote and I think it applies to kind deeds also.

 ENJOY

☺☺☺ Johnina ☺☺☺

Rain, rain and little froggy voices

Today was rain, rain and more rain 

and lots of wind. 

All kinds of flower petals tossed upon the wind. 

White ones, pink ones and purple ones 

pretty pastels against the gray skies.

Drip, splash, drip, splash, drip

rush of water.

Night time settles

rain slows and leaves.

The gathering sounds 

of little frogs off in the distance.

Ahh, Spring.

Yes I know this is a toad but it was the closest pic I had.  This pic was also taken a couple of years ago.  The sound of the frogs reminded me to search for broken clay pots to make frog/toad houses for my garden.  They are easy to do- you just take a broken pot and bury the broken piece in the ground under one of your larger plants.  When you water the garden it wets and cools the pot which is why you need a clay pot and it makes an ideal residence for the little critters.  They in turn help keep the pests down in your garden.  Great recycling idea and organic pest control to boot.

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺ 

Check out these posts #1

I have so many blogs that I enjoy that I can't get to read all of them everyday, but there are times when some posts really touch my heart or stick out in my mind or support me in my encounters with life.  I would like to share them with you as I come across them.
http://geeden.blogspot.com/2011/03/are-you-excited-about-your-art.html
http://shewhoseeks.blogspot.com/2011/03/happy-international-womens-day.html
http://lifeworkandpleasure.blogspot.com/2011/03/written-word.html

Enjoy

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Springtime encounters

I don't know if spring has sprung with more zeal this year or if I am just noticing it more, but either way this spring has given me many photo ops.  I see spring and it's beauty everywhere.  I have been enjoying it and I have concentrated on finding the beauty around me as I have been sick for so long.  I believe that beauty and nature heals.  Now that I am feeling better I have had the time to edit some more photos to share with you.  I hope you enjoy them.

 ENJOY YOUR DAY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Time to Mow...

The Onions

Here in Georgia before the grass turns green and starts to grow the wild onions grow.  Quite often the first time the lawn gets mowed in the spring is not for the grass but because the onions have  grown too tall.  In the spring when the lawns get mowed there is a distinct smell of onion in the air.  As the summer comes on and the lawns fill out the smell of fresh mowed grass prevails but there is always a hint of onion in the air, too.

Just one of the oddities of living in Georgia.

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina☺☺☺

Signs of spring- mating calls

Many of my spring pictures look peaceful and quiet.  But this is only an illusion because I mostly just take photos of flowers.  The reality of my early mornings are that they are very noisy.  We have many kinds of birds in our yard and the nearby woods, bluebirds, robins, sparrows, cardinals, mockingbirds, crows, blackbirds, vultures, hawks, geese and we used to have whip-o-wills and bob whites.  All in all they add up to a lot of noise especially this time of year as they start their mating calls.  We also have an animal rehab place nearby and shortly we will hear the lions with their mating calls.

All my spring photos have been taken within a couple of days of posting.  These were taken yesterday.

ENJOY

☺☺☺JOHNINA☺☺☺

Favorite trees

This is one of my favorite trees.  It stands in the corner of the neighbors yard and I see it almost every time I go out my front door.  It is a tree whose limbs have a lot of character; some are straight and some twisted.  The bark has a lot of color to it from many different shades of light gray and green from the lichen to the many shades of brown from the bark.  These show up real well in the winter.  This tree is the first to bud and bloom in the spring and with the flowers on it and it's bent limb it looks like it is waving Hello to me as I walk out my door.  What a nice springtime greeting.

ENJOY

Johnina :^D

Pass it along- Mail art

I am a firm believer in spreading the good; of putting out good 'vibes', that in doing so you can make the world a better place.  I have found the old adage "What goes around; comes around" to be true, although I don't worry about what's in it for me.  Mail art has given me an opportunity to share my art with not only the recipient but with everyone who handles the mail in between.  I used to do it a lot more than I have recently and I have decided that instead of doodling and sketching in a journal that I would once again use it to decorate my mail; where all could see it.  How often do we send a beautiful card in a plain envelope?  While the person who received the card might enjoy the beauty or cheerfulness it really limits the enjoyment that could have been created by that piece of art.  When I was doing it on a regular basis the postal workers were always glad to see me and see what I had done and I was always greeted with a smile.  It didn't matter that it was dinosaurs that I had drawn for my grandson or flowers for my daughters and friends, I even spray painted boxes and stenciled them.  The postal workers were always curious to see what I had done.  Now postal workers may get paid pretty well but they are never going to get rich on their salary and if I can bring a smile into their day it makes me feel happy too.

Think about what you could do to bring a smile into another life even if you never see it.  I do not see most of the people who handle my mail.  Try it, make it a habit and see how your own life will change.

ENJOY

☺☺☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺☺☺

Goodnight

 

 

“This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.

 Edith Wharton

 

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

 Rabindranath Tagore quotes (Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)

 

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.”

 Mary Anne Radmacher quotes

     “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely...”

     Ralph Waldo Emerson quote

This has been kind of rough day but it sure ended beautifully.  Just thought I would leave you with the beauty of the day and some words to think about. Sweet Dreams ☺☺☺☺☺