Passions

Love your passions and live your life. Don’t let your passions turn into obsessions. “Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.” Lao Tzu

Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for If i made a list it would reach the floor God has blessed me through all the hard times Never wavering with his love always kind So as i say a prayer of thanks for his love He knows how grateful i am for his blessings from above Rosemary

Fool The Eye

Trompe l'oeil is a fascinating "method of art" it is a french phrase which means "to fool the eye". This is a technique used by artists to trick the viewer into believing that they are seeing something three-dimensional before them. It takes great talent and much practice to achieve this method. I remember the first one i attempted, playing the lights and darks, working for hours, but alas i gave in to my frustration. The time after that and the time after that, it got better. I did a small mural on a wall at the end of a hallway. Folks thought it was great, but i knew it was not as i would have liked it to be, but then they didn't see what i saw. This picture is a magnificent Trompe l'oeil.

Life

If life was all happiness and joy we wouldn’t know what happiness and joy were, as we’d have nothing to compare them to. If we never made mistakes, how would we know we were even learning anything? What would a life be without the experience of learning? What would it amount to?

Perceptions

We fill in a lot of blanks with our minds. If we have incomplete perceptions, which we practically always do to a certain extent, our minds fill in the rest. Perceptions vary from person to person. Different people perceive different things about the same situation. But more than that, we assign different meanings to what we perceive. And the meanings might change for a certain person. One might change one's perspective or simply make things mean something else. There is no fixed meaning to anything. You can always change perspectives and change meanings. Why not change them to what you prefer them to be.

Imagination

To realize is to make an imagined thing real or concrete to oneself, to grasp fully its implications, to realize the extent of one's folly. Imagine, conceive, conceive of, realize refer to bringing something before the mind. To imagine is, literally, to form a mental image of something. To conceive is to form something by using one's imagination. The world view is the result of arranging perceptions into existing imagery by imagination. Imagination is needed to make sense of perceptions. Without imagination man would still be...well, that also takes imagination!

America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war. America's at the Mall. If you don't stand behind our troops, PLEASE feel free to stand in front of them!

Jack Of All Trades

Jack of all trades and master of none is an old saying, but i would rather that than, Jack of all trades and master of only "ONE" In Mandarin they say, “All trades known, all trades dull”. The more poetic Cantonese version sounds like lyrics out of a Radio head song, “Surrounded by knives, none are sharp”. Estonia takes the most stern approach with their saying, “nine trades, the tenth one - starvation”. Pretty intense. I find that when I learn something new it also improves my other skills so "master" is not of importance.

Reasoning

The concept of rationality has its roots in a historic philosophical conception of human beings as creatures of reason. To act on the basis of reason is to act on the basis of reasons, which in turn implies a process of reasoning. An objectivist conception of rationality sees its essence as lying in the use of reasoning processes that conform to appropriate logical norms.

Outside The Box

A friend once told me, "Life is a journey" this is true, you never know where it is going to take you. Life is short, so take advantage while you can. Live "Outside the box" as in not the "Norm". Folks are creatures of habit. They always go out to dinner on Friday night, or always go to a certain place on vacation and so on. They never go outside the box. Until something happens as in an life altering illness as some i know, you think, "I should have, could have, wanted to, never tried, wish i had". Life is full of regrets, if you go outside the box, try new things, experience new adventures, if only small ones, maybe there will be less to regret. Make a "Bucket list" and try and see how many things you can check off. Take a fear and keep trying to conquer it. Tradition, as in, passing on, handing over, may become boring or your family may only do it as to please you. Let them go outside there box without guilt. Don't give up your dreams, life may alter them, or change direction, but never let go of it. If you are passionate as i am, in many ways, never let that go, it is who you are, what you love. Don't hold back on the hugs, saying i love you, never regret not telling your children, grandchildren and friends how much you love them. If you are not a verbal person, go outside the box and try. Little by little, "outside the box".

The Pots

The big pots i planted in spring what happiness did they bring Now the frost comes in the night when the sun comes they try to fight They try to spring up but weaker they are only a few leaves can make it that far I give them the most loving care but they continue to go bare No matter what i do they continue to die Nature is there Mother not I Rosemary