There is enough for everyone's need...

... but not for even a person's greed.
~Mahatma Gandhi~

Things rarely turn out as I've planned them...

... and this summer is no different.

I had some really nice ideas about what I wanted to do this summer and I also planned a few things that we could do as a family since it's probably the last year our oldest son will have time for us. No matter what weather we got we'd have a great time, I thought.

By late May all my plans had been crushed and I found myself stuck in other peoples plans. I was quite furious, they had planned my involvement without asking me if I wanted to be part of it and almost every week of my summer was booked by different people with different plans. Even more devious was the fact that I couldn't say no or refuse since that would make people that I care a lot about sad.

Then I got the call about my beloved niece, she's in trouble and needed to get away from it all for a while. Could I take her in? I love her like my own so the answer was easy, of course I would. And so I had an angry and sad little girl to look after on top of it all, and I also got a long long list of instructions about what to do or not from her mother. The first thing I did was to ignore that list, I don't agree with her mothers parenting techniques and that my nice needs to stay with me is proof enough that I'm right.

Over the weeks I've helped my niece relax and peel off layer after layer of sadness and pain and now she's finally feeling better and she's laughing and smiling again. This summer hasn't turned out like I had planned or hoped for but I don't mind because having her here with me is worth so much more. She shares many of my interests and most of all the love for birds and we're out daily to look for birds together, she was the one that first spotted a rare bird and now she's all exited about it. =)

I do miss having the time to read through the blogs that I follow and seeing what you all are up to this summer and this also brings me to my next subject; I'm about to stop blogging for a while. How long, I don't know. My husbands vacation starts now and I can't get away from what every one else has planned for me to do this summer any longer.

I wish you all a great summer and I'll see you when things calms down around here. =)

All evil needs to triumph...

... is for good men to do nothing.

I've been tagged! =)

Here are the rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention & add one more question of your own.

2. Tag eight other people

What is your current obsession?
Birds and taking photos of them in flight. I've spent several days facing the sky and I love it.

What are you wearing today?
A blue summers dress that's 11 years old. I wore it when my niece was born and she's here visiting us now so I'm all sentimental about it.

What’s for dinner?
It's so hot here right now that dinner is the last thing on our minds. Yogurt and sandwiches sounds like a great idea. I haven't cooked anything for days now except the day I grilled chicken and let it cool off so that we could make chicken sandwiches.

What’s the last thing you bought?
Spices. We went to a farmers market the other day and I had a great time picking out things to eat, the last thing on my list was fresh herbs and dried mixed spices. The guy that I buy from makes great mixes and I always bulk up when I see him.

What are you listening to right now?
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call me the breeze.

Call me the breeze
I keep blowin down the road
Well now they call me the breeze
I keep blowin down the road
I aint got me nobody
I dont carry me no load

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
I'm happy being where I am but there is an island not far from here that's full with nesting birds and I'd love to get closer to them to see if I can get any photos of them. Sitting in a boat slowly passing by would be nice, I wouldn't want to be on the island since it would disturb the birds.

Which language do you want to learn?
I want to learn them all, especially those languages that's in danger of disappearing with the current generation. There are a few minority languages where I live that interest me a lot and I often watch news programs in those languages in a lazy attempt to learn a few words.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
The closeness to nature, I don't have to walk far to be out on the countryside and still we are close to the benefits of living in a town. The terrain is quite varied and I get the best of most worlds without having to travel that far.

What is your favorite colour?
Blue or green depending on what mood I'm in. Right now it's all green. =)

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
My PJ. I'm loving it to death and I've been known to never bother to change into day clothes and walk around in it all day. It's white and silky and I love how it caresses my body.

Describe your personal style?
I'm strict and demanding when it comes to the basics in life. We all have a responsibility to look after ourselves and what we do to others and I can't stand it when people try to slip away and blame others for their own mistakes. People that I know call me brutally honest as if it's a bad thing. The thing is that I've been lied to by people I trusted so many times in my life that I refuse to be like them. In my experience the truth might hurt but finding out that you were lied to hurts even more. Other than that I'm easy going and I prefer to relax and have fun.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
I'd spent it all on my niece, she really needs a bit of the extra right now and I'd love to spoil her as much as I possibly can.

What are you going to do after this?
We are planning to go to the beach so that my niece can cool off in the water while I hunt for birds to take photos off. We've been there the last three days now.

Your favorite smell?
It's two of them. The first to bloom is the bird cherries and then a few weeks later the lilac starts to bloom. We have them around our house and I open the doors and windows to let the scent in when they bloom.

Do you collect anything?
Notebooks and socks, but it's unintentionally. I keep going "Ooh Pretty!" and buy them even though I have plenty of them at home.

What makes you follow a blog?
I really like the happy ones where people are polite and nice. I'm looking for hope and the will to share the funny and interesting things that makes the day better. Long and frequent rants and negativity makes me turn away from it. Negativity breeds negativity and I want it to end so I don't feed it.

Do you like to comment on blogs or just lurk?
I like to comment when I have the time but the amount of time I have varies great ly.

What’s one thing you dream of doing?
Finishing the book I've been working on for two years now. At this point it seems as if it will never happen but I still have a long life ahead of me =)

What is your biggest regret?
Each and every thing that has happened in my life has taught me something and shaped me into the person that I am today so regretting something feels as wanting to remove a part of myself. Still, I do regret some really mean things I said to a couple of persons when I was a teenager. It was uncalled for and it did hurt them a lot.

What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
I'm very likely to either be online or be laying on the front porch to listen to the rain.

(I'm removing the "Do you have a tattoo?" question because I have to remove something.)


Are you left handed, right handed, ambidextrous, or a little of both?
Strictly right handed, I only fumble when trying to use my left hand.

Do you play an instrument?
I know how to play the piano but it has been a while since I played last. Our youngest son seems to think that all instruments in the house is his and once he's claimed them we don't get access to them. He's much better than me when it comes to playing so I don't feel that sorry about it.

Added question: What makes you happy?

I'm not tagging anyone but anyone that wants to can play along. =)

Clothes make the man.

Naked people have little or no influence on society.
~:Mark Twain:~

If your parents never had children...

... chances are you won't either.
~:Dick Cavett:~

Motivation is the art of getting people to do ...

... what you want them to do because they want to do it.
~:Dwight D. Eisenhower:~

What we see ...

... depends mainly on what we look for.
~:Sir John Lubbock:~

People often say that motivation doesn't last.

Well, neither does bathing-that's why we recommend it daily.
~:Zig Ziglar:~

It's a job ...

... that's never started that takes the longest to finish.
~:J.R.R Tolkien:~

If you understand...

... things are just as they are;
if you do not understand, things are just as they are.

I am never bored anywhere:

... being bored is an insult to oneself.
~:Jules Renard:~

Summer Solstice

24 hours of daylight and a night filled with magic. I so love this time of year! =)

Some sun facts:

# The sun is our closest star, at about 93 million miles away from the earth. The next closest star, Alpha Centauri, is more than 250,000 times farther away from us than is the sun.
# The sun is a medium-sized star, measuring about 865,000 miles in diameter; it's about 109 times larger than the earth.
# The sun's energy comes from its highly compressed core, where hydrogen nuclei collide at incredibly high speeds, fusing to form helium nuclei and generating temperatures of 40 million degrees F. This process generates the sun's energy, which gradually works its way to the surface and is radiated off.
# The earth receives only about two billionths of the sun's total energy output, yet that tiny fraction is enough to sustain life.
# Of the sun's energy that reaches the earth without being bounced off by clouds or deflected by other particles in the atmosphere, most is spent evaporating moisture into clouds, and much of the remainder is converted into carbon-based life by plants through photosynthesis.
# The sun is about 5 billion years old, and should continue burning for another 5 billion years.

Source

It takes courage...

... to grow up and become who you really are.
~:e.e. cummings:~

Never ruin an apology...

... with an excuse.
~:Kimberly Johnson:~

Begin challenging your own assumptions.

Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.
~:Alan Alda:~

The telephone book is full of facts...

... but it doesn't contain a single idea.
~:Mortimer Adler:~

Creativity is...

... allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
~:Scott Adams:~

Chaos was the law of nature;

Order was the dream of man.
~:Henry B. Adams:~

When old people speak...

... it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see.
~:Chinua Achebe:~

Bitterness is like cancer.

It eats upon the host.
~:Maya Angelou:~

A dog is not considered a good dog ...

... because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.
~:Buddha:~

Fantasy love is much better than reality love.

Never doing it is very exciting. The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet.
~:Andy Warhol:~

The "funny" thing about this is that it was said before the dawn of cyber dating and cyber relationships. I've talked to people that consider themselves as good as married even though they have never met the other part of their relationship in person.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.

Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
~:Mark Twain:~

Don't be afraid your life will end;

... be afraid that it will never begin.
~:Grace Hansen:~

If you have knowledge...

... let others light their candles in it.
~:Margaret Fuller:~

Best Friend Day

Got one or more? Remind him/her/them how much you care about them.

My absolutely best friend in this world has been in my life for 30 years and I love her to bits and pieces. Unfortunately she's moved away and I haven't met her in 10 years. (Many long distance calls on our bill for sure.) All my other friends live closer so it's easier to get together and remind each other of how much we care.

Language exerts hidden power...

... like the moon on the tides.
~:Rita Mae Brown:~

You grow up the day you have...

... your first real laugh at yourself.
~:Ethel Barrymore:~

As long as you keep a person down...

... some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.
~:Marian Anderson:~

World Environment Day

No need to say more really, it's big thing so it won't be forgotten.

The big secret in life is...

... that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work.
~:Oprah Winfrey:~

Real integrity...

... is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.
~:Oprah Winfrey:~

No pessimist...

... ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
~:Helen Keller:~

June

So... it's the Aquarium Month and I have 5 aquariums. My very first ""aquarium" was a plastic box and my first fish was raised from fry that I collected in the lake (together with slugs, leeches and other slimy beings). Then I got one made from glass and some fishes from the fish store, that my lake fish ate of course. One year I turned my mothers garden decoration pond thing into a frog farm, very much to the delight to the cats that saw it as a snack bar.

It's also Adopt A Shelter Cat Month, my family members are allergic to cats so I won't adopt a cat, but it's an idea for those who can.

Everything has its wonders...

... even darkness and silence, and I learn whatever state I am in, therin to be content.
~:Helen Keller:~