Timeless Expression of Love

This is the gift I received from my son today while joining him and his family for the Christmas holiday:

Personally inscribed:

Miracles Happen

Love, William

& Liam

 

Indeed, miracles happen! The true miracle of the day was being able to hug and to hold my son and my grandson and to say I love you.

Light of Love

May the light of Love fly into your heart today and every day...

Visit Tumbleweed Christmas Tree for more seasonal spirit.

abitosunshine can now be found at RedGage

Yes, you can now find abitosunshine at RedGage, where I share photos, links (think backlinks), blogs, and more, and where I get paid to do so!

If you are a member of RedGage, please leave your profile link here in the comment section so I can pay you a supportive visit.

If you are not yet a member of RedGage, you can join the RedGage community now!

Teacher Appreciation Today and Every Day

Today is World Teachers' Day! UNESCO has themed this day as "Teachers for Gender Equality."

Here is my poetic contribution for the day...

No better way to show your teacher appreciation than to give a commemorative gift to your favorite teachers. I've got just what you need, available in a canvas tote bag and in T-Shirts for men and women. Each item has my poetic creation above upon it.

Visit World Teacher Day Tote for a larger view and product information on all 3 of my new products with this design.

abitosunshine Giveaway

I am sharing a bit of sunshine in a giveaway over at my Poetic Creations by abitosunshine blog! Head on over to enter to win my...

SOS Sunshine Shot Glass Giveaway!

A Bit of Love and Loss on Labor of Love Day

Today marks the day of my Aunt Martha Bell's first heavenly birthday...

To truly understand the theme of this poetic creation,

visit Loss of a Pea in a Pod

I Thank You for the Sunshine

Thank you for the Pondering With A Purpose blog hop and this week's blog post topic, Brenda. Moreso, I thank you for your friendship and the occasional ray o' sunshine you send my way.

This week's Ponder:
"It wasn't that long ago that there was no such thing as an internet -- and there was no such thing as a blog.... how do you think your life would be different now if you didn't have your blog?"



Don't get me wrong here, but my life would not be much different without my blog. (Rather, all 4 of my blogs.)

My main objective has always been to spread a bit o' sunshine into the lives of others. I did such for years online, long before I began blogging. I did same for decades, offline, long before I began doing so online.

Still, I enjoy the fact that the internet gifted me with another dimension of sharing sol across the miles. I certainly enjoy the fact that I have crossed paths with many new visitors to my blogs. Too, I enjoy the fact that many of my friends from other web groups and forums have followed me to my blogs in search of another ray o' sunshine to warm the spirit.

All of these opportunities warm my spirit as well, beaming a bit o' sunshine right back at me.

To each of you I send...

Sunshine Blessings Button by abitosunshine
Learn how to make money as an artist online at Zazzle.

A Who and a Coo for You

Sharing my response to a prompt offered up by Brenda in her weekly blog hop Pondering with a Purpose.

The prompt: SOUNDS

Brenda further stated that she loves the word onomatopoeia.

I immediately thought of an owl's "Who" and a dove's "Coo".

Walk through the wood where many a man has walked before and you may hear the wise old owl screeching, "Who. Who. Who do you think you are?"

Montage, Owl, Forest, Oregon, USA
Buy This Allposters.com

Do you think just maybe his query is one of urgency? Beseeching us to learn and to listen to the love of the dove, "Coo-coo-coo..."

Peace
Buy This Allposters.com

Voices, Vices, Victory, and Values

of Vices and Values
by Ruth Cox

Upon my shoulder sits a wee dark devil in disguise whose whisperings in my left ear often cause me not to hear the voice of the light dwelling inside of me. Yea, though I wander in the valley of this evil one's vices, I rise to claim victory when responding to the sol of my soul burning the lobe of my right ear. I hear; and, I shall live well under the guidance of sol's values from now on and forevermore.

Angel and Devil

This poetic prose is written in response to a prompt offered up by Brenda in her weekly blog hop Pondering with a Purpose. This week's prompt: VALUES

Hop right along with us this week.

Share your thoughts on Values.

2 Peas in a Pod

My Aunt Martha Bell died in the wee hours of this morn. Though she was more than ready, the loss of this lady I shall mourn.

Her granddaughter said to me this morning, "Mom wanted me to call you right away. She said you were like 2 peas in a pod..." O' so very true! I am more like her than I am my mother, her sister. It's a heart-warming thought to know they are together now...

I'll be purchasing these candles to have nearby so I'll smile and think of my Aunt Martha Bell each time I pass by them.

UPDATE: I already made the purchase of those peas in a pod and I've created a Squidoo lens in her honor and hope that you will leave a comment for us there on Loss of a Pea in a Pod. I've much to do today, but will be updating the lens for my Aunt Martha Bell as time permits.

A Sprinkling of Sunshine

For those of you who don't mind an extra click to view, I've just posted a delightful dandelion poem at Gather.com entitled "Sprinkles of Sunshine". You're welcome to comment here, there, everywhere!

A Family Rules

One word: Rules

Upon reading Brenda's Pondering With A Purpose Prompt today, I had two thoughts. The first: I visualized a ruler in the hands of a nun ... never mind that one. Second thought: Earlier, I'd been blog browsing and I'd run across the most awesome sign and had bookmarked the blog for future reference in my wishful thinking for wish lists.

The sign is simply, but beautifully created, and is appropriate for Brenda's prompt today. It's a 4-foot by 2-foot custom sign of family rules. Head on over to the Between You & Me blog and take a peek!

You can ORDER A FAMILY RULES SIGN

~or~

There is A FAMILY RULES SIGN TUTORIAL

Please come back and let me know what you think of the family rules sign and which option you would choose. No doubt in my mind, the custom-made sign will find it's way onto one of my online wishlists!

Dare to Ruffle my Feathers

Do you often find yourself in the company of someone who dares to ruffle your feathers? Do you find yourself lacking in the patience department? Here's your chance to tell the world all about it!

Head on over to Brenda Youngerman's blog post "Pondering With A Purpose - Patience" and blog hop along!

This week's patience prompt from Brenda has prompted me to create a T-Shirt I've had on my ToDo list for some time.


Not being a very patient person, I've always had a quick retort to those who say to me, "Patience is a virtue." Now, I'll have the shirt to wear as a warning to all who dare to ruffle my feathers, ha!

Patience is a Virtue by abitosunshine

Start selling my art online with zazzle.

I chose this pretty pelican and her feathers for the design on the tee because it is Brenda who prompted me to cross this project off my list ... and the pelican is quite appropriate because Brenda collects pelicans! Brenda shares her love for pelicans on her Squidoo lens "Looks and Likes".

Hello Thinking and Pondering #3

"How do you say Hello?"

That question is this week's prompt for Brenda's blog hop, Pondering With A Purpose. Immediately upon reading the prompt, I penned the poem; however, I barely finished the poetry and design combined on time! Nonetheless, I share with you my favorite way of saying, "Hello," to old friends and new...

Thinking and Pondering #2

Blog Hop:
Thinking On Thursday - Pondering With A Purpose

This week's Prompt: BEAUTY

In pondering this prompt of "Beauty" I immediately thought of Saint Augustine of Hippo's quote in The City of God, as translated by Marcus Dods:

"Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked."

The City of God






I'll not pretend to fully understand what it was St. Augustine meant by this statement; however, I shall tell you a bit about what it means to me; and, you can study it further to formulate your own thoughts on the quote.

I believe our Saint is referencing the beauty of all things created, by the Divine, as well as earthly creations, and our perceptions of these creations. Thus, the wicked would look upon beauty just as the goodly souls might -- the difference being the result of beholding beauty -- the good would treat a thing of beauty with love and respect, whereas the evil ones would not see its intrinsic beauty.

When our perceptions of beauty are motivated by external aesthetics as opposed to the whole of the thing of beauty, we may actually turn it into a thing of ugliness, a thing of wickedness or unpleasantness.

Beauty is subjective, as is Ugliness. This can be viewed by all in the story:

The Ugly Duckling
by Hans Christian Andersen.

Thinking and Pondering #1

Blog Hop: Thinking on Thursday - Pondering With A Purpose

I am really looking forward to this new blog hop hosted by Brenda of Fiction With A Purpose. If you're a writer and/or a blog hopper, you'll want to check this one out and hop right along. Each week, Brenda gives us a writing prompt and we post our submission on our blogs, then, of course, add our post URL to the linky list on her prompt post.

This week's prompt: Word Association: from the list provided, select 3 of them and tell me what they mean to you.

My 3 words: riding, embedding, landscape. I chose to write a piece of flash fiction. In actuality, it's more like factual reality, as I do visualize this on occasion!

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Healing Heels
©Ruth Cox

Yearning for the oceanic landscape, I fantasize horseback riding the foot of the foam of the sea. I imagine the strength of animal and wave allowing me to escape reality.

With a subtle kick of my heels, my imaginary horse clicks his in tandem, and off we soar along the seashore. We're one with the ocean's roar, spirits in fine fettle -- blessed by the warming rays of a bit o' sunshine.

The salty balm of the breeze of the beach soothes my soul, embedding the fantastical scene in my mind's eye. Forevermore.
 
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Hmmm... wondering if I should purchase myself a pair of these phantastical Horse Heels to go with my fantasy...
 

Yay or Nay?

Share the Love Day

Happy Love Day to all my blogger friends! I'll be headed out in a bit to spend some time with my Aunt Martha Bell at the nursing home ... just sharin' a bit o' Love!

Here's my creative offering for the day:
Share the Love on Valentine's Day

Inspiration

Every person who crosses my path is a prompt to pen.

Every critter who scurries along presents a challenge to create.

Every nuance of nature my gentle nudge to write new poetry or prose.

Every needful thing calls out for a voice of verse in which to sing its own song.
　

I know only of god and ruth

One Word - Autumn - the Fall of Truth

It is the ill litter I see in Illiteracy

And love lives on in Tweedledum and Tweedledee


And so it goes with this thing called Inspiration.


----------
The inspiration for this? My aMUSEr and his Challenge

Do you Squidoo?

If you do Squidoo I'd like to hear from you!

You can comment here to this blog post or better yet - write up a blog post of your own and post the link here in a comment and I'll visit your blog post AND your Squidoo posts.

About a year ago I signed up at Squidoo and just never made the time to do anything with it. Recently, as I began taking earning online a bit more seriously (out of necessity) I decided to give Squidoo a try. Of course, I was unable to even figure out my previous sign-up, so I registered all over again.

For those of you who do not yet Squidoo, here's my referral link--yes, referrals aid in increasing earnings at Squidoo! Let me know when you post your first lens and I'll stop by to view and comment. (Networking works if we work at it!)

I have created three (3) lenses at Squidoo thus far:

Poetic Creations by abitosunshine! -- This was my first lens and is about my shop at CafePress, where I combine my poetry and graphic design work.

The Queen *itch of abitosunshine! -- No, not about me, it's what they call a SquidPaws lens and it's about my canine companion, Tidbit.

Ghost Words And Other Echoes -- This is my first SquidLit lens. It's a book review and author interview.

I'm pretty pleased with getting all three of these lenses created this week! I am determined to master the art of creating Squidoo lenses and making money by doing so.

If you have any Squidoo tips to share, please do!

Me Stylish?

Hahaha! I've never been accused of being stylish -- until today! I'd stopped by to say "Hi!" to my friend, blogger, and author Mary Russel. Much to my surprise, in one of her posts she passed along the "Stylish Blogger Award" to me. Thank you, Mary! I'm truly honored to now wear the label of being Stylish.

By accepting this award I agree to the following 4 rules:

1...Thank and link back to the person that awarded it to you.
2...Share 7 things about yourself.
3...Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered great Bloggers.
4...Contact those Bloggers and tell them about their blog award.

Thank You Mary!
It's a pleasure to know you and interact with you in a few networks. And I do hope all who read this award post will visit you, too! None will be disappointed in meeting you and getting to know you. And those I pass it forward to who already know you ... well, this will give them another reason to visit with you.

Seven Things About Me:
1...As if you didn't already know it--I'm a passionate poet!
2...I became a Grandmother this past year, oh dear!
3...I am a Christian and I worship Sol.
4...I lost a bit o' sunshine this past year; Scratch died in my arms.
5...Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
6...I plan to self-publish a collection of my poetry and prose in 2011.
7...My goals for 2011: Peacefulness, Positivity, and Productivity and I wish you same.

Passing the Stylish Blogger Award forward to:
Susanne of Putting Words Down on Paper
Marsha of Marsha's Spot
Christine of Redhead Rants
Cynthia of Wytch with Wings of a Dragon
Erika of The Girl Next Door Grows Up
Ann of Ann Crabs
Kimberly of Anxiety-SIS-Order
Jennifer of Crazy-for-Books.com
Stephanie of Beauty Brite
Julie of Knitting and Sundries
Lynn of The Vintage Nest
Brenda of Fiction With A Purpose
MG of The Globetrotting Gamine
Alison of Alison Can Read
Marilyn of Marilyn's Musings

And now I'm headed to present the Stylish Blogger Award to those on my list. I do hope you'll visit them all, too, and extend your hand in friendship!

The Toothless Wonder

The Toothless Wonder
by Ruth Cox

Rarely in my lifetime have I committed myself to resolutions for a new year; however, I have stated goals each new year which I guess amounts to about the same thing. For this writing I'd planned to share my goals for the new year and a recap of the previous year. But, first things first.

I need to share a bit of my thought process with you. When I thought of writing my recap of the year 2010 I first felt the urge to know the true definition of the word "recap". This led me to two synonyms of the word: review and recapitulation. I decided to further investigate the word "recapitulation" and ended up engrossed in reading material relative to the theory of recapitulation.

My investigative urges always take me to interesting places and newfound snippets of knowledge. I'll share what I found interesting, but also for further reading you may want to visit Recapitulation Theory at Wikipedia to learn much more. What I found applicable to me is that birds do not grow teeth although they do possess the genetics for so doing.

You may now be thinking, What in the world does this have to do with Ruthi's recap of 2010? Well, I'll come back to this a bit later! Right now I will recap my past year. Three life happenings will reign in my memory as the most important of my life-changing events in the year 2010.

On May 19th my youngest half-sibling died of cancer. This was a heart-wrenching event in more ways than one. My brother's death and my family's reactions to it (as apply to me) confirm what I've known, but ran from, for thirty-five years: I lost my brother decades ago; when our mother died in 1975 I lost my family. Period.

Had she lived, July 12th would have been my mother's seventy-fifth birthday. Now this date will also be remembered as the day my dog Scratch died. Loved ones come and go and we cannot always choose the time of which these losses will occur, nor can we always choose the tolls to be paid with each loss, and (in my opinion) we can never "get over" the loss of loved ones. Closure is but an imaginary thing.

My third life-changing event occurred on October 19th. I became a first-time grandmom! The moment I saw my son cradle his newborn son to his chest was without a doubt the most profound moment in my lifetime. I felt as though I were watching my life fly by in a flash and it had flown full-cirle. I felt as though my destiny was done.

As I sat here today reading and re-reading the biological passages relating to life stages this toothless bird snippet kept gnawing at my thoughts. My mind flew back in time to the goals I'd set for myself at the beginning of 2010. Some I reached and some I did not. However, the little birdie in my brain tells me now that although a goal was unmet it does not mean I didn't possess what it would have taken to bring the goal to fruition. And I assure you I shall chew on that toothless bird snippet throughout 2011 as I commit to bringing this year's goals into being.

My goals for 2011 are simply stated in three words: peacefulness, positivity, and productivity. No matter what life brings I am equipped to have a year filled with peace; no matter the negative in my world I am capable of remaining positive; and, no matter the pitfalls or the downfalls of my days I possess what it takes to be productive.

There is birth and then there is re-birth. And the new year springs forth as a reminder of life starting anew. And my destiny shall never be done. Like the bird who lacks teeth, but has the genes needed to grow them, I have the power within me to choose my destiny and choose it I shall. I will reach my goals in the year 2011, if only by the skin of my teeth, and proudly proclaim the toothless wonder.

Submitted January 2011: