Do You Really Know Who Your Friends Are? Do They Pass This Simple Test?

From Denny: How often have we had friends who did not live up to this level of character? Too often we can surround ourselves with people we think are friends but the reality is they are not. The only truth is that we were friends to them. We don't find out until there is a crisis how important this information is in this quote.

Quote

A true friend sees the good in everything, and brings out the best in the worst of things. - Sasha Azevedo

Will You Recognize Whats Good Coming Your Way or Miss It?

From Denny: This quizzical owl says it all for this quote! :) It is also true it is easy to take for granted what we see every day and not truly look intently to understand what is set before us as a profound blessing.

Quote

Recognize Joy when it arrives in the plain brown wrappings of everyday life. - Udith Viorst

How Do You Dream? Advice From John Lennon

From Denny: It sure would be wonderful if we could get all of humanity to dream together one thing - world Peace!

Quote

A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. - John Lennon, The Beatles

What Journey is the Most Rewarding?

From Denny: This quote is so very true! The spiritual journey is also a beautiful one when you convince your ego to quit resisting what it does not yet understand. It will understand if it quiets and truly becomes teachable and learns what Life has to teach. Then a whole new world of wonderment opens up unexpected vistas to enjoy!

Quote

The longest journey of any person is the journey inward. - Dag Hammarskjold

Cool Way to Practice a Senseless Act of Beauty!

From Denny: When I saw this photo it just stunned me in its simplicity of sheer beauty and reminded me of this quote. Usually, we talk about the first part of the quote about how great it is to go out into the world practicing random acts of kindness toward others. This person and the photographer had a completely different take on practicing senseless acts of beauty.

Quote

Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. - Anne Herbert

Art Photo-Rich Poem: People Trees

This was the poem I wrote last week for my Friday poem over at The Social Poets blog and I've been meaning to get it up over here. The folks over at StumbleUpon came in by the hordes for these wonderful photos, enjoy!

Drink in the richness of the wonderful photos from the photographers over at flickr in creative commons. (I find them beautiful and emotionally soothing.) You are free to use their photos if you also give attribution and a link back to their flickr page.

I've been thinking about what poem to write all week, and, as usual, started on another idea which just didn't gel well or in time. That's what's good about setting deadlines for yourself as you get that rush of adrenaline going to get out the words. :) Anyway, was researching some wonderful photos and kept finding awesome trees and one thing led to another as I knew my eternal mind was tapping my everyday mind on the shoulder and saying, "Hey! What about this?"

Photos often do give me inspiration for writing as so many ideas start flowing. Take a trip on over to flickr yourself to get inspired. You can always view my 5,000+ favorites I've found while researching for articles as I keep them bookmarked "just in case."

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People Trees



Some of us ruggedly root ourselves mountain high to savor the views



Some of us enjoy beauty’s lingering mirrored perfection



Some of us feel forlorn in life’s landscape, until we see we are a duet



Some of us like to stand tall with a crowd, all in a perfect row



Some of us like to party with different people, the more the merrier



Some of us like to stand out in a crowd, fiercely plumped proud



Some of us see our own rippling beauty, reflected in the mirrors of others



Some of us rush to greet the exploding morning at first blush



Some of us sway and bend with life’s swirling storms yet remain



Some of us rush zig zagging through life and still look wildly beautiful



Some of us safely hold dear a child’s swing and his playful heart



Some of us are strong, sheltering lightly in the shadows



Some of us rise up from the water and tenaciously breathe through our knees*



Some of us suffer, enduring kindly a bit of indignity from time to time



Some of us absorb the strongest truth, filtering softly inner light



Some of us like to stroll unknown passageways and secret gardens



Some of us play hard to get, secretly happy to see company coming



Some of us like to wear jewelry, all decked out at least once a year



And some of us



dream big



just by looking up – lost in thought for hours.


Denny Lyon
Copyright 20 August 2009
All Rights Reserved

* Copyright is for the text of the poem only, copyright for the photos belong to the photographers.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for visiting!


*Cyprus trees have what are called "knees" - those bumps you see sticking out of the water near the roots which are underwater in the swamps. These knees are how the cyprus tree breathes the air!

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Photo Credits

Mountain Mist treeline photo by Lida Rose @ flickr

Rugged lone tree high on a mountain photo By Chris Gin @ flickr

Cherry blossomed tree reflecting photo By rachel_thecat @ flickr

Cherry trees blanketed by snow photo By lrargerich @ flickr

Cherry blossomed trees all in a row photo By VJ flicks @ flickr

Bluebells partying in a stand of trees photo By left-hand @ flickr

Red tree photo By code poet @ flickr

Trees reflected in the river photo by Denis Collette @ flickr

Sunrise in Corfu, Greece photo by Katarina 2353 @ flickr

Bent tree Bonsai Moon photo by h.koppdelaney @ flickr

Rolling hills and tree photo by Katarina 2353 @ flickr

Trees give support to the child’s swing photo by lepiaf.geo @ flickr

Sheltering tree photo in the shadows by Zest-pk @ flickr

Cypress tree at sunrise in the water photo by Bill Swindamon @ flickr

Suffer a bit of indignity tree photo by Scarleth White @ flickr

Filtering Illuminating light tree photo by *clairity* @ flickr

Strolling with the trees photo by Bjǿrn Giesenbauer @ flickr

Tree of Peace photo by h.koppdelaney @ flickr

Christmas tree photo by laffty4k @ flickr

Redwood trees in California photo by aigeanta @ flickr

Strong tree’s canopy photo By -= Bruce Berrien =- @ flickr

Black and white tree canopy photo by anonymous