Showing posts with label flickr Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flickr Friday. Show all posts

Friday, 28 August 2015

The Daffodil Principle - revisited


Daffodil Day is today - it is the largest fundraising event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and a day all Australians unite and lend their support to the fight against cancer.

Please show your support for Daffodil Day -
Your donation helps fund cancer research, prevention programs and support programs.
Help make a difference for those who have been affected by Cancer and let us dig deep for a cure.

I've personally been affected now 3 times in 3 years with 3 different cancers - breast cancer, sarcoma and most recently Melanoma -insitu on my face. I need more minor day surgery soon to have this fully treated.

This week I also had a hysterectomy  to reduce my risk of uterine cancer.  I'm very sore though recovering well. Sneeze , cough or laugh and I cringe !

Nothing is going to stop me doing by bit by volunteering today to sell merchandise and daffodils and promote the work of the Cancer Council.


The Daffodil Garden



1. Beginnings. . ., 2. Daffodils., 3. daffodils in window, 4. Shine on you crazy diamond, 5. a moment of joy, 6. 03Apr18 Daffs, 7. Daffodils in Skagit Valley, 8. Daffodils, 9. Early Narcissus

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

There it was, The Daffodil Principle.

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

(Now there are 100,000 bulbs so the Fact sheet reads )

It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time often just one baby step at a time-and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.

When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn.

"What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time'through all those years.

Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

by Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards --- author


NOTE: There is a real garden by Mrs. Gene Bauer
Anyone can visit during peak bloom time, early March to early April. The garden is located below Running Springs,California, in the San Bernardino Mountains.

The Legend of the daffodil




Author unknown ...we convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with.

We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation, or when we retire.
The truth is there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.
Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special; special to spend your time with and remember that time waits for no one. So, stop waiting
until your car or home is paid off.
Until you get a new car or home.
Until your kids leave the house.
Until you go back to school.
Until you finish school.
Until you lose 5kg.

Until you get married.
Until you get a divorce. Until you have kids. Until you retire. Until
summer. Until spring. Until winter. 
Until you die...(too late Huh !)

There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you
don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt. And
dance like no one's watching.




I received the daffodil principle and the above by an email several years ago. Today was a good day to re-post.

How can you put this to use today?
What are you waiting for ?

Have you entered to WIN = DAD a fabulous Bosch $149 Cordless Drill



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Saturday, 25 June 2011

Grateful for Cake


It's the start of another birthday week in our house with the twins 5th birthday on Friday and mine the following.
My talents do not extend to the above creations.How cool are they !
I am grateful for cake, these are pretty to look at but I wonder how good they taste. I go for taste over waste!
I am grateful too for Open houses ...they force me to clean.
I am grateful for my gorgeous Sister in laws. One is minding the boys tonight while we attend the 40th birthday party of another. The other is flying down from Queensland on Thursday for the boys birthday.
She snapped up some cheap flights and we'll love seeing her again. 

So, what's making you smile today?
... Please add a link back to Maxibella in your post. Blog hop to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine.
  

I'm also welcoming back Flickr Friday - I loved this photo meme from 2008. Saturday Morning Ogre Mum is reviving it. Make your own mosaic and link up.

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Friday, 11 July 2008

Thankful Flickr Friday - extra news

There is no Flickr Friday today but I still did a small one because ...I saw Leigh at Crazy Meezer has started the Bloggest Loser Challenge.*see credits below
  • The Challenge started on 7th July - I hope it isn't too late ...
Rules are easy, weigh in will be on Sundays, so the first week is a bit of a warm up, so you can jump in when you can. The challenge will run for 12 weeks, starting tomorrow, the 7th July.
To join in, just make a post about the challenge and leave a comment and I will link to you from the challenge page (work in progress) In your post let us know your goals for the challenge and how you hope to achieve them. You don’t have to reveal how much you weigh if you don’t want to…just how much you wish to lose and your loss each week
  • I have enjoyed being able to eat a lot while breastfeeding my gorgeous little milk monsters (it will come to an end one day) . I have a wider bottom half than my top half so I am keen to tone up and lose a few kilos ... because my jeans are too tight the weight is slowly creeping on. I am joining in to be encouraged and give encouragement too.
  • I want to reduce a few cms off my calves (?) and thighs too. Mainly, want to get fit.I plan to continue riding my exercise bike , reduce my chocolate/sweet white cr@p and chips intake and eat more vegetables.I will ride my exercise bike and walk a few times a week (pending the weather).
What do you have to lose ?
UPDATED

52 Blessings to be Grateful ... TWO A new birth S

  • My friend T's little Kai, was born today safe and well . He is the cutest little guy born @37 weeks and weighing in at 3kgs or so . I saw him when he was barely two hours old. A VB with no drugs ...but the gas . I saw T in the midst of a contraction 5 mins before K was born and she almost ripped the mattress apart. I knew she was close.
  • T's daughter ~Charlie~ was stillborn 3 years on 9th July ...so 2 days ago was the anniversary. T was in hospital ready - as in moments - to have c/section and they found there was no heartbeat. The c/s was canceled and C was born sleeping the next day a VB so as not to cause scarring for future pregnancies. They say it better that way emotionally too ... as if there is a no better way to give birth to a dead baby.
  • T & I met later at a pregnancy loss support group.Today at our support group there were 5 of us (& social worker) ...4 of us having given birth to living children after our first babies died during pregnancy.There was a little girl 2 weeks old and a boy 6 months old present.
  • We were all teary talking about what it meant to go through a subsequent pregnancy after the loss of a baby and our hospital experiences. 3 of us had our 2nd (3rd) babies earlier than planned by emergency c/s due to various complications .
  • The 5th mum's little boy died 3.5 years ago and she is now 29.5 wks pregnant - hanging in there by a thread ( she has a stitch in her cervix) with a precious little girl. At her baby shower on Sunday she had us in tears saying how this baby girl is a long time coming and we all knew what she meant. A day she never thought she would see ...she is in our prayers.
  • T also has a little boy 22 months old so we were pregnant together for a while in 2006 and our little guys attend playgroup together. I am just so glad Kai is here safe. We all are.

Sat morning Update :
  • Another friend C, from my pregnancy loss support group delivered Hamish this morning after a quick labour -she is even in the same hospital as T. Thank God for another safe arrival.
Apologies if the formatting was lost when you read this something in Blogger in draft completely stuffed all formatting.It has taken me 1.5hrs to fix this and still didn't work till I used bullet points. I still have no idea why - I can't see or find the HTML code causing the error.
*1. Tape Measure, 2. Diet, 3. scales don´t lie, 4. Lost: Weight(not my photos LOL my feet are ugly)

Friday, 4 July 2008

Flickr Friday -Umbrellas

~ A very fitting choice by Kate @Lazycow designs ...

1. Summer Fun, 2. When it rains out come the umbrellas even on the boats, 3. Brolly on the ground, 4. Umbrella Blues, 5. day 228: sunshine and showers, 6. Bali Paradise, 7. P4080415.jpg, 8. il mio augurio, 9. Cycling through the rain


It was very cold today (ok I am whinging a little - we don't get cold enough for snow - boo). I didn't even have to persuade the Brothers to leave their woolly hats on.

As soon as I finished putting 3 loads of washing on the line ... it started to rain.

The line we installed under our new awning is broken ...it was old 2nd hand and the knob is broken.I called the Tool Man home to fix it.He did eventually.

Then the sun came out and he said the sun is shining. So I left them on the other line. So wrong ! Then the rain came down.

I love umbrellas - I wish I had a big one for my clothes line. Those with rotary (like umbrella shape) can get them.

So what do you call it an umbrella or brolly ?

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Friday, 20 June 2008

Flickr Friday - Trees

Credits
1. stretching boughs, 2. beyond the grey stump, 3. sky orchestra, 4. milsons point view, 5. Koala, 6. Bridal Veil Falls, 7. World Wide Web, 8. Street of Jacaranda Trees, 9. Picture 391, 10. Dripping Springs Trees, 11. Framed opera house, 12. ONE LAST LEAF..., 13. Kookaburra

I used Compfight and Big Huge labs to make this mosaic.
Click on the links to see them larger or whole image larger.
Thanks to Kate @
Lazycowdesign for hosting this fun meme -go sign her MR Linky