With Enthusiasm!

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.  

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

You are probably wondering what the title of this post, the quote, and the clouds have to do with each other.  Well..... as I was walking along one of my favorite trails I saw these clouds and I thought to myself ... "those clouds look like an exclamation point".  (you have to use your imagination a bit) You see, I have a "thing" for exclamation points.  If you have a blog and I've commented on it - you know that I am VERY GENEROUS with my exclamation points.  I don't think of them as a "shouting" mark but as a mark to get my point across that I am enthusiastic about something.  So I kept thinking to myself ... should I post this, will my readers see it as I do, or am I just being fanciful.  In the end, I kept coming back to the pic ..... and it won the battle waging in my mind!  Now tell me..... do you see it?

For some interesting info on the Exclamation Point from Wikipedia 

Click HERE

I especially like the theory of it's origin :) 

Look Inside

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.  

~ Lao Tzu

Available at Fine Art America - HERE 

Great Blue Heron Hiding Behind the Leaves

Life isn't about finding yourself. 

Life is about creating yourself.

~ George Bernard Shaw

More of my Great Blue Heron Images - HERE 

On Royal Wings - Monarch Butterfly

We're all travelers in this world. From the sweet grass to the packing house. Birth 'til death. We travel between the eternities.  

~ Robert Duvall, Broken Trail

More of my Monarch images - HERE 

A Friend May Be Waiting

A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face. 

 ~ Maya Angelou

My FACEBOOK Page - HERE 

More of my Insect Images - HERE 

Keep Trying

Keep trying to do what is necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you're doing the impossible. 

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Some butterflies have tattered wings .... yet they still manage to survive. 

We can learn a lot from butterflies.

Chase Your Dreams

Chase your dreams until you catch them...and then dream, catch, and dream again!  

~ Dee Marie

Print Available - HERE 

Eye Of The Tiger

The more of me I be, 

The clearer I can see. 

~Rachel Andrews

Oh, this quote speaks volumes to me!   

Start Blooming!

You don't have to be like anyone else. 
You just need to learn more about your own creative self 

and start blooming. 

~ Deborah Day

Embrace your creativity!  


Slightly different version available - HERE

and it also makes a beautiful TOTE!

Strands in the Web Of Life

 The Earth does not belong to man; Man belongs to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.  

~ Chief Seattle

Follow me on my FB Page - HERE 

4 Little Words

Peace of MInd

You get peace of mind not by thinking about it or imagining it, but by quietening and relaxing the restless mind. 

~ Remez Sasson

A walk in nature always helps me find Peace.

Taken along Heritage Park Trail - Blacksburg, VA 

Create It!

Painted Lady Butterfly

Dance above the surface of the world. Let your thoughts lift you into creativity that is not hampered by opinion. 

~ Red Haircrow

Nothing Is Impossible

Embracing The Simple Things

 Sometimes, the simple things are more fun and meaningful than all the banquets in the world ...

  ~ E.A. Bucchianeri

Today Is A New Day

Today is a new day! 

Many will seize this day. 

Many will live it to the fullest. 

Why not you? 

~ Steve Maraboli

Linking up with Camera Critters

Simple Things and Great Pleasure

I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn't cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick very large blueberries after a summer rain Walk through a grove of cottonwoods, open like a park, and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of the leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you've peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things. 

 ~ Richard Proenneke

I'm adding to his list of simple things:  

Birds Singing, Bees Buzzing, Butterflies Fluttering

What are some of the simple things in life that bring you great pleasure?

Available as a NoteCard -  HERE  

Become The Poem

This is what you should do: 

Love the earth and sun and animals, 

Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, 

Stand up for the stupid and crazy, 

Devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, 

Argue not concerning God, 

Have patience and indulgence toward the people... 

Reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, 

Dismiss what insults your very soul, 

And your flesh shall become a great poem.

~ Walt Whitman

I Just Can't Resist

Once my heart was captured,

 reason was shown the door, 

deliberately and with a sort of frantic joy.

 I accepted everything, I believed everything, 

without struggle, without suffering, without regret, without false shame. 

How can one blush for what one adores? 

~ George Sand 

I just can't resist trying to capture "flight" shots.  Whether it be 

butterflies or birds or bees.  

Nature has captured my heart!

Beauty and Grace

The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there. 

 ~ Annie Dillard

Available - HERE 

Feeling a Little Sluggish?

There is more to life than increasing its speed. 

~ Gandhi

After the rain these fascinating creatures were out in abundance.  I did a bit of research on the Slug and found out some very interesting info on Wikipedia - HERE

   

Hummingbird - Miracle in Flight

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. 

~ Walt Whitman


More of my Hummingbirds - HERE  

Great Blue Heron Stalks a Dragon

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. 

 ~Attributed to Zig Ziglar

I watched this Great Blue Heron for over an hour one day.  He kept "snapping" his beak at things..... I realized when I got home and downloaded the shots that he was eating the dragonflies.  It looks like he has his "eye on the prize" above.  Do you see the "dragon" flying to the left of him?

The Sun Rises - Begin Writing a New Page

If you want your life to be a magnificent story 

Then begin by realizing that you are the author 

And everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page 

~ Mark Houlahan

My Website:  HERE

My Facebook Page: HERE 

Happiness Is - Eye To Eye with a Turtle

Happiness starts within. Be real, appreciate what you have, enjoy every moment, spread the love. If everything comes back, consider it as a miracle. 

 ~ Cherryl Anne Lintag

Available - HERE 

Hope Blooms

Where flowers bloom so does hope.

 ~ Lady Bird Johnson


A Slightly different version - HERE 

Renew Yourself!

Renew yourself. 
Release that attachment. 
Today is a new day! 

~Steve Mariboli

Tussock Moth Caterpillar Close-Up

We are all in the process of becoming. 

~ Audre Lorde

Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar Gateway Trail, Blacksburg Virginia

Print Available - HERE 

Horses At Dawn

Every day a million miracles begin at sunrise! 

~ Eric Jerome Dickey

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT VERSION - 
AVAILABLE - HERE 

Sunrise Greetings

How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains! 

~ John Muir

This image does not do justice to this beautiful sight as the sun was coming up over the trees.  There was a light fog sitting in the valley and the entire scene was an amazing sight to behold.  

Tree Swallow in Flight

Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark. 

~ Bryce Courtenay

Explore Dream Discover

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.

~Mark Twain

Skink Close-Up

I have to admit to being startled when these little guys dart out in front of me as I walk along a trail.  

You only realise how small your world is, once you start to make it bigger 

 ~ Haanim Galvaan

I believe this is a Six-lined Racerunner skink. (ID help appreciated)

Seen in North Carolina - 2012 Vacation

Friends are .....

Kind friends - I appreciate your visits and comments! 

Wishing you a WONDERFUL Day!

Available as a Print/Poster/Pillow/Card 
- HERE 

Katydid On A Leaf

Every new day is a once in a lifetime event. How much more exciting would our lives be if we embraced this truth and lived accordingly?!  

~ Steve Maraboli

Print Available - HERE