picturingpositive

Winter Wednesday ❄️

Posted on November 16, 2022 by Beth W.

While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best.
Tom Allen

While it is technically not winter, to me once it snows, winter is here. ❄️ Time to bundle up! ❄️

Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Posted in Nature, Seasons, Winter | Tagged bundle up, cold weather, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, snow, Tom Allen, Winter, winter Wednesday | 12 Comments

The Magic Thread

Posted on November 10, 2022 by Beth W.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

Maybe it is the colder weather and darker mornings that make me long for the weekends so I can sleep in and enjoy time with my sweetheart. At work my coworkers and I often ask the question posed by the frazzled little kitty above, “Is it Friday yet?” As I wished last night that the week would hurry up and end, I thought of one of the stories I read as a child that made an impact on me.

I found a link to the story for any of you who love fairy and folk tales as much as I do. For those not inclined to read, the gist of it is that a young boy named Peter is gifted a magic ball of thread that represents his life. With a tiny tug, he can make a day fly by. A harder tug sees the passing of a week, month or even a year. As you can guess, his life quickly flies by because of his desire to get through all the mundane tasks. As he nears the end of his life, he realizes that by skipping past all the moments he thought of as tedious, he has missed many special moments as well.

Peter and the magic thread

We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.
Bill Watterson

In the end, Peter discovers that life is lived better by being in the moment and not waiting for a far off day when all will be perfect. Life, after all, is made up of both little and big moments, happy and sad moments. We need to experience ALL of these moments to have a full and complete life.

I can’t say that I still won’t grumble about Mondays and celebrate Fridays, but I will try to appreciate that both are needed to create a lifestory worthy of looking back on. ❤️

It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Posted in patience, persevere | Tagged fairy/folk tales, Fridays, The Magic Thread, wishing my life away | 5 Comments

Wordless Wednesday 11/9

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Beth W.

Posted in Beautiful, Carpe Diem, Nature, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged Metolius River, Nature, Oregon, Wordless Wednesday | 2 Comments

Expand Your Horizons

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Beth W.

Last week my honey and I went to see “The Book of Mormon” at our local civic center. I discovered that night that this would be the first musical he has ever seen. He hasn’t even seen Sound of Music….crazy, right?! 😅 He was a good sport and even though I know it wasn’t his thing, he accompanied me and I think he may have even enjoyed it just a teensy bit. 😅

Last night, I joined him at a Queensrÿche and Judas Priest concert. My musical taste is fairly eclectic, but metal is not my music of choice. In fact, when my sweetie and I were first communicating, I questioned if it was worth continuing to get to know each other once I found out metal was his favorite genre. Sometimes I am guilty of what Cognitive Behavior Therapy calls “fortune telling”. It refers to predicting a negative outcome without realistically considering the actual probability of that outcome. Imagining a future of screaming metal songs blaring in the background was definitely not a realistic outcome. My daughter challenged me that evening when I said I didn’t think we were compatible. She provided a voice of reason for me and said that it was just one thing and if I liked everything else about him, I should give the relationship a chance.

I am very glad I took my daughter’s advice. My honey has introduced me to songs by metal bands that are a bit less head banging than what he generally listens to. We even started a shared playlist on Spotify where we add songs to expose each other to new musical tastes. Through that playlist, I discovered a song from Queensrÿche that I liked and ended up listening to and adding a couple of their songs to my personal playlist.

Variety’s the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor.
William Cowper

When I saw that Queensrÿche and Judas Priest were touring, I thought, “fair is fair” and decided that I needed to expand my horizons and so I got tickets for the concert. I prepared for it last night by dressing in my best “rocker chick” outfit. I actually enjoyed Queensrÿche even though I’m sure the pulsing volume did a little damage to my eardrums.🎵🔊🎶While Judas Priest is an extremely talented band, they are a bit too heavy for my taste. Even so, I am glad, that I saw the show.

In the time we have been together, I have come to appreciate our differences as well as our similarities. Variety is the spice of life, after all and it keeps life interesting. I’m looking forward to the future and the new things we can learn from each other. 💕

Posted in Carpe Diem, Dating, Music, relationships, variety | Tagged Book of Mormon, concert, expand your horizons, Judas Priest, learn from each other, Music, musical compatibility, Queensrÿche, variety | 3 Comments

Happy Halloween! 👻💀🧙‍♀️🎃

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Beth W.

My little monsters that will welcome tonight’s Trick or Treaters! 🎃

But I love Halloween, and I love that feeling: the cold air, the spooky dangers lurking around the corner.
Evan Peters

Posted in Celebrate, spooky | Tagged decorate, Evan Peters, festive, Halloween, spooky, trick or treaters | 11 Comments

Thoughtful Thursday…10/27/22

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Beth W.

Last Tuesday when I came home from work, I was filling my bird and squirrel feeders. Just before I went out there were four squirrels running around the trees, playing and chasing each other. It was the cutest thing. Of course, once Romeo got out, they went scrambling for the trees and made their way to the neighbors’ yards. I put my puppy inside and continued filling the feeders. While I was filling my new peanut holder, I heard a little chatter and looked over to see one of my squirrels tottering above the round bird feeder.

Since I had a peanut in my hand, I very slowly turned and stood for a minute. When the squirrel stayed in place, I ever so slowly lifted my hand and held it nearer. The little cutie came about a foot closer so we were less than a foot away from each other. It started to reach out towards the peanut, but reconsidered and backed up. This went on for several minutes. I finally had to go and get other things done, but it gave me hope that there may yet come a day when I will earn his trust and he will let me give him a peanut. It was very sweet being able to be up close and personal with him.

That evening, my encounter inspired me to create the little drawing above. I like the saying because I think this little guy was a blessing sent to brighten my day. Thank you, God!

Every day I feel is a blessing from God. And I consider it a new beginning. Yeah, everything is beautiful.
Prince

Posted in anticipating good, Carpe Diem, drawing, Nature, Thoughtful Thursday | Tagged blessings, drawing, Jim Elliot, Prince, squirrel, Thoughtful Thursday, zentangle | 8 Comments

Wordless Wednesday…Oct.26, 2022

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Beth W.

Posted in Wordless Wednesday | Tagged cemetery, church, Loch Lomond, Luss, Scotland, Wordless Wednesday | 4 Comments

Throwback Thursday – Halloween Costumes 🎃

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Beth W.

Now that my kiddos are grown enough that they don’t dress up for Halloween anymore, it’s fun to travel back in time to relive the good old days. I found Geoffrey and Aurora’s pictures, but I can’t find the one I want of Nathan. He had a Grim Reaper costume that I think was his standard for at least 5 years. 😄 I did manage to find a VERY old one of me and my sister and brothers back in the day.

I love that in celebrating Halloween, we can get lost in the magic of make-believe and fantasy no matter what age we are!
Natalya Neidhart

Romeo will tolerate costumes for a very short time.

Looks like Susan and I opted for the homemade costumes and Michael and David went with the plastic over the coat costumes.

Did you have a favorite costume that you or your kiddos wore for Halloween? Please share if you’d like.

Posted in Throwback Thursday | Tagged dog costume, Halloween costume, homemade costume, Natalya Neidhart, Throwback Thursday | 6 Comments

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Beth W.

To those who grew up in the 70s, no words are necessary. 😊

Posted in Nostalgia, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged 70s toys, childhood, Fischer Price Little People, Nostalgia | 11 Comments

Words of Wisdom

Posted on October 17, 2022 by Beth W.

Posted in drawing | Tagged donkey, drawing, Plato | Leave a comment

When NO answer is the best answer.

Posted on October 16, 2022 by Beth W.

I recently received a nasty text message in which the sender expected that I would be bothered enough to answer. Instead, the message was quickly deleted and the messenger blocked. Negative people are not worth the space they wish to take up in our heads.

No response is a response and it’s a powerful one. Remember that.
Malbro Kingston

The lovely Fall colors of Spearfish Canyon🍁

Because the cool weather will be here sooner than we like, we made a trek to Spearfish Canyon to see the Fall colors before the leaves are all blown away and gone. While we did see some bare branches, there were lovely leaves still hanging on.

I’m very glad I chose to put the message and the messenger out of my mind. Spending the weekend with my honey and breaking in his truck with a drive through Spearfish Canyon was a much better way to pass the time. We were even lucky enough to see a mountain goat momma watching over her baby as he made his way up a hill across the road.

I hope your weekend was wonderful as well. Happy Fall! 🍁😊🍁

Posted in Beautiful, Carpe Diem, Let it go, Nature, Pets, Seasons | Tagged Fall, Fall colors, Let it go, new truck, no response is a powerful response, Romeo, Roughlock Falls, Spearfish Canyon, weekend | 21 Comments

Tourmaline’s 2022 Halloween Challenge-10/14 – Spooky

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Beth W.

Some of my favorite zentangles are spooky ones. I made this little guy a few months ago. I thought he was a perfect submission for “spooky”. Check out the other great entries at

https://toy.photography/2022/09/11/tourmaline-s-2022-halloween-challenge/

#tshalloweenchallenge

Just because you get to a certain number doesn’t mean you have to roll up into a ball and wait for the grim reaper. We were put on this earth to do something! If you stop using your brain, at any age, it is going to stop working. It’s like if you stop using your hand, it will atrophy. I think doing nothing is a curse.
Iris Apfel