neptune

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.

~Albert Einstein

growing texture

Symbolism is no mere idle fancy...
it is inherent in the very texture of human life.

~Alfred North Whitehead

hippo

Faith is to believe what we do not see;

the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.

~Saint Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430)

oranged winged

Only nature has a right to grieve perpetually, for she only is innocent. Soon the ice will melt, and the blackbirds sing along the river which he frequented, as pleasantly as ever. The same everlasting serenity will appear in this face of God, and we will not be sorrowful, if he is not.

~Henry David Thoreau

me 'n jack

guest photographer: jack's mom

If friends were flowers, I'd pick you.

tears

The tears fall, they're so easy to wipe off onto my sleeve,

but how do I erase the stain from my heart?

hanging on

If you're still hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday,
laying flowers on its grave by the hour,
you cannot be planting the seeds for a new dream to grow today.

~Joyce Chapman

balance

The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it.
Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.


~Albert Einstein

perspective

Eternity begins and ends with the ocean's tides.

last rays

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”


~Robert Brault

conserve

Everywhere water is a thing of beauty gleaming in the dewdrop,
singing in the summer rain.

-John Ballantine Gough

reflection in fisherman's wharf

Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

yosemite falls

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.


~Ansel Adams

zen

Don't center on your anxieties...keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs.

~Master Jinn

the three graces

"Boy, these people didn't wear many clothes around here, did they?"

~Taylor Ford
while visiting Hearst Castle

california sunset

When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon,

my soul expands in worship of the Creator.

~Mahatma Gandhi

mission

The world is in chaos. Honorable dealing is deteriorating, good friends are few, truth is held in disrepute, good service is underpaid, poor service is overpaid. Whole nations are committed to evil dealings: With one you fear insecurity, with another, inconsistency, with a third, betrayal. This being what it is, let the bad faith of others serve not as an example, but as warning. The real danger of the situation lies in the unhinging of your own integrity: accepting less than your best, being overly tolerant of stupidity, forgiving incompetence, fraternizing with the nonspiritual. The man of principle never forgets what he is, because he clearly sees what the others are.

~Baltasar Gracian, a Spanish Jesuit scholar who lived from 1601 till 1658

(photo from San Xavier Mission, Arizona)

oasis

Faith is an oasis in the heart which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

~Kahlil Gibran

stink eye

stink eye, n., it's like the evil eye, but a little less evil and a lot more stink.

~Urban Dictionary

the marston house

The Marston House, Clinton, Louisiana, c. 1837

Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson