Friday Bouquet #23

 

Val Boyko of Find Your Middle Ground is a professional life/career coach and a yoga teacher whose posts I’ve enjoyed for some time now.

In her own words:

I believe that we can all contribute to world peace. It starts with being kind to ourselves and finding peace within ourselves. Helping others is a good place to start, but the real work is ours to do for ourselves. We must find that peaceful, nourishing and inspiring place…

One morning I woke up with these words in my mind:

“Life is a series of highs and lows

Be grateful for the highs

Be graceful in the lows

And find contentment in your middle ground.”

I am highlighting the following post because I love the idea of receiving a lesson from dogs on how to overcome the ego.

Stop Trying to Let it Go

findyourmiddleground.com
findyourmiddleground.com

I’ve disabled comments here in the hope you will comment on Val’s blog.
If you do, please tell her Jennifer sent you.

 Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

❤

Friday Bouquet #22

 

Karen at Healing Your Grief knows all about the enormous shock of suddenly losing a precious child. She lost her nine-year-old son to a car accident, and found a way to journey through the pain by writing about it in her blog.

In her own words:

When we tragically lose one of our children, our entire world comes to a grinding stop and everything we have ever believed is questioned.
Through understanding this journey you have been given, my wish for you is to connect to a new hope and to a process of complete healing.
You may at first not understand how you could ever survive this loss, that there can be no way out of this pain, yet over time, I promise, there is a way through.”

I have chosen to share her first post because it explains how she is courageously surviving such a profound tragedy.

My Journey – Walking Through Grief

shamanismandhealing.wordpress.com
shamanismandhealing.wordpress.com

Comments are closed here in the hope you will visit Karen’s blog.
If you do, please tell her Jennifer sent you.

❤

Friday Bouquet #21

 

Carrie Rubin is a pediatrician who also happens to be the author of an award-winning medical thriller I recently enjoyed. Besides that, she is a blogger with a fine sense of humour.  I follow her blog, The Write Transition, and she keeps me smiling over on Twitter as well.

From her About Page:

“Physician, public health advocate, writer. I believe every experience is worthwhile, even if our paths deviate from where we started.

I am the author of The Seneca Scourge, a medical thriller. This blog chronicles my transition into the writing world, all with a dose of humor, because to me laughter is one of life’s necessities.”

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Have a look at this recent post of Carrie’s, especially if you are guilty of using, ahem, big words:

Careful, Your Frasier Crane is Showing: Using Big Words In Writing When Smaller Ones Will Do

Comments are closed here in the hope you will visit Carrie Rubin’s blog.
If you do, please tell her Jennifer sent you. 

Have a great weekend, everyone ❤

Friday Bouquet #20

 

I only found A Novel Journey recently and am just beginning to explore this beautiful blog. Rhonda is a writer, a published author, and an avid reader who “live(s) in Colorado, but was born in northern Minnesota. My husband likes to say you can take the girl out of the woods but you can’t take the woods out of the girl. Though Colorado is now my home and it surrounds me with majestic beauty, my heart will always belong to the lakes and forests of Minnesota.”

More from her About Page:

“A Novel Journey was born by my desire to live a life of grace, through the grace given to me daily, by reaching out to others through words and story. A Novel Journey. Novel–“new” and “books.” Each “new” day is a “novel” one. One in which to live with abundant gratitude and grace, for there is so much to be grateful for in this life.”

I have highlighted the following post for my readers because of its wisdom.
Check it out for an insightful lesson for succeeding in life.

Appreciate The Struggles

I’ve disabled comments here in the hope you will comment on Rhonda’s blog.

 Have a terrific weekend, everyone.

❤

Friday Bouquet #19

The World According to Dina is a photographer’s dream. Her blog includes a breathtakingly lovely collection of images from Norway, though she and her helpers “blog about everything that we connect with the North (Scandinavia)– from nature to culture.”

In her own words:

I am Dina. Actually, my name is Hanne and some even call me TofFeeFee. I come from Fredrikstad in Norway, the most beautiful land of the trolls, the fjords and midnightsun. If you take a closer at my blog, the natural beauty of Norway will present itself.”

I have chosen to highlight the following post because I am longing for summer here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and I was struck by the similarities of many of the scenes to my home province.

A True Summer Dream – Hvaler, Norway

I have disabled comments here in the hope you will comment on Dina’s blog.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Jennifer’s Journal

Ephemeral

To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty. ~ H. P. Lovecraft

Captured from our doorstep last weekend…

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…and a few minutes later.
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Photo Challenge: Ephemeral

Friday Bouquet #17

I’m shaking things up for Friday Bouquet this morning. Usually I award it to a fellow blogger found doing something wonderful in the blogosphere, but this time I am throwing the bouquet to my sister and the therapy dog program.

Lynn is an assistant professor and nursing instructor at the Memorial School of Nursing in St. John’s, but her contribution to health care and humankind hasn’t stopped there. Please click on the link below – wouldn’t you know it, a WordPress blog by Eastern Health Story Line – to find out what she and her little dog Abbey have been up to, and be sure to look for their photos. All of my animal lover friends are sure to enjoy it. 🙂

http://storyline.easternhealth.ca/2015/03/19/canine-therapy-a-warm-and-fuzzy-feeling/

Have you had any experience with canine therapy?
What about the health benefits of spending time with other animals?

Here are two other sisters wishing you a warm and wonderful weekend. ❤

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zzzz…
Maisie & Vivian
Maisie & Vivian

Weekly Photo Challenge: Walls – Part I

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Siena, one of our beloved destinations during our trip to Italy,
is a walled city in Tuscany that has preserved its medieval, gothic appearance.
This World Heritage Site seemed a fitting showcase for this week’s Photo Challenge.

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Surrounded by olive groves and the vineyards of Chianti, Siena is set on three hills,
drawn together by winding alleyways and steep steps.

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It offers a bustling life throughout its streets and squares with its many boutiques and shops, cultural events, theater, and a range of sporting activities.

 

The centre of Siena is accessible primarily on foot.

Cars, other than taxis and police, are prohibited, but motorcycles and scooters are allowed.

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Come back tomorrow for a look at some other walls. Arrivederci!

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Friday Bouquet #16

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One Wild Word is an excellent blog and a trove of information for developing wordsmiths and published authors alike. Cousins Carol Despeaux and Carly Sandifer both have MFA degrees and writing careers, yet still find time to offer tips covering all things literary. Their advice is proving helpful to my writing applications, and could do the same for you. In their own words:

About Us
Are you looking for a jolt of inspiration, a new way of approaching your writing practice? Maybe you’re stuck on a scene or looking for a way to describe the nuance of a character. Sometimes all it takes is one wild word to make a poem sing or a sentence fly. In that spirit, we’ve created this blog in hopes you’ll find a dose of wild writing mojo to fuel your next sentence.

I’ve chosen the post below, as it is one of my favourites:

Freshen Up Your Manuscript With This Exercise

Comments are disabled here in hopes you will comment on the writers’ blog.

Have an inspired weekend, everyone. ❤

Friday Bouquet #15

Mark Bialczak is a prolific blogger, writer, veteran journalist, and columnist in the Syracuse, New York area. He shares his thoughts on a variety of topics such as community, music, movies, sports, life, and he even offers himself as an advisor. Being an avid movie lover myself, I have enjoyed reading his reviews on a number of current films.

Today, however, I share a link below from his periodic feature, Free Advice.

In Mark’s own words:

My qualifications: 57 years of open eyes and ears but no stalking charges…Four decades of writing in public about people, places and things. Send questions to markbialczak@gmail.com. Anonymity is assured.”

 “When’s A Flirt Not A Flirt?” — Confused

Comments are disabled here in hopes you will comment on Mark’s blog.

Heck, why not send him that question you’ve been struggling with and need advice on? 🙂