Meri's Musings

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the Universe about us "In a Vase on My Table # 1" © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian the less taste we shall have for destruction. - Rachel Carson "In a Vase on My Table # 2" © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian I am putting my focus on wonder and breathing peace into every cell of my being. "In a Vase on My Table # 3" © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian Where do you want to place your focus on this day of remembrance?  "In a Vase on My Table # 4" © 2010 Meri Arnett-Kremian ps    If you're looking for my Ruby Tuesday post, click HERE .

After days of cloud cover and wet stuff falling from the sky, I need a dose of sun and warm weather. It's the end of May, for heaven's sake! I need to soak up sun-kissed colors. to gaze on warm, blue waters  to admire decorative doors and pretty ceramic plates arranged in pleasing rows. In other words, let's run away to a warm and sunny slice of heaven. p.s. My Mosaic Monday post is on my new blog Playing Along . 

I just can't figure it out. Sometimes there's a man drought and sometimes it just rains big fat man splashes like manna from heaven. Can't someone regulate the flow? Most of the ones raining down alas  aren't quick enough to keep up, can't answer questions like what do you do for fun and what movies make you laugh so hard you choke or are you a broccoli man? "Print by Unknown Artistin Poulsbo Shop Window" - photo © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian So I don't even bother to ask questions like how to solve the crisis in the middle east or how to extricate ourselves from Afghanistan without appearing weak, because God knows the good old U.S. of A. can't afford to look weak or pee a shorter distance than the other guy and if they can't even tell me that they laugh themselves into unconsciousness over Major League every time they see it, (but detest the sequels in a major way), well, I know they have a weak little stream. Most of the guys raining do...

You're long dead, I'm sure, because you were already ancient when I was only nine and you were my fourth grade teacher. I remember your old lady smell and the black or navy shirtwaist dresses, the thick and wrinkly support hose, the sensible black shoes with laces, your thin white hair pulled back in a bun at the nape of your neck, and the faint smell of cheap talcum powder. Remembering those things convinces me that you were truly old and it wasn't just me thinking that all grown-ups were old.  But what I wanted to say, Mrs. White, is that you had a big impact on my life.  If I had to describe that impact, I'd say that you were an icy wind that bore down on my self-esteem, leaving it nearly frozen to death. You committed more than your share of little atrocities that year, including making us memorize all the patriotic songs you knew and then write them verse by verse, spelling and punctuation counted. But the most heinous act directed solely toward me occurred...

All this re-thinking and reorganization in my dwelling place is making me long for a housecleaning in my blogspace, too. So today, you're seeing a new look. And a shift in direction. No more meme-play here. My Sepia Saturdays and Mosaic Mondays are moving to a new home. You'll find them HERE or by clicking the link on my sidebar. It's a little like having your youngest child  go off to college. It's quiet, but wow! You can simplify.  Cook only when you have to.  Eat raspberries and French vanilla yogurt for breakfast and dinner.  Stop nagging about college essays and curfews.  Watch independent films instead of blockbusters. Make some art. Take daily photo safaris.  So you'll find more of me occupying this space. thoughts dreams poems photos (of course) and sometimes just plain silliness And I'll be taking you along in spirit, at least, when I head for Rome and Venice.

Last night, after eating a bit of chicken with cashews and perusing my fortune "You will soon have a musical opportunity" and wondering what that was about since I'm not American Idol material, though I do sing along in the car  with the songs on the CD player Luxor Spirits © 2010 Meri Arnett- Kremian I moseyed upstairs to my little hideaway and decided to play a bit with a new photo program I'd installed called  Camera Bag . variant using "Cinema" filter I heard about the program from Nina Bagley  a while ago and paid a reasonable price to download it. variant using "Holga" pinhole camera filter Camera Bag lets you pretend that you've used old-fashioned cameras instead of the fancy digital models we all use. variant using custom filter "matte", then adjusting the hue in PS4 So I took an image --- two photos that I'd layered -- (the original version is the first in the series) and just experimented. variant using ...

Every year on Memorial Day Weekend, the Seattle Center comes alive with the Northwest Folklife Festival. These pictures are from the 2009 event since this year's is about to launch. There are countless music venues, dancing, mimes and jugglers. There are frisbee-chasing dogs and people running through the big fountain. You can find almost any kind of food you might want to try.   (I had Cajun last year). If you're in Seattle for the weekend, don't miss it. It's a hoot! ( You've just got to like crowds to survive it.) For more MONDAY MOSAICs, click   here .

It's sunny right now, with just the merest wisps of clouds dotting the sky. And yet, a storm sits off the coast waiting to slither in. Sometimes appearances deceive. I have this sense a door is waiting for me to turn the handle, to push it open and walk through to a new beginning. Sometimes beginnings are just the other side of endings. 

He had a face like a blessing. -   Miguel de Cervantes Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. - Mother Teresa Be a blessing. Give the gift of your smile. For lots of reasons to smile, visit Mary at   Dear Little Red House and see all the Monday Mosaics.

Little man, so full of life, with so much wonder ahead of you, "if I could teach you anything, it would be to hear your heart, and to know your beauty and to believe in your possibilities." - terri st. cloud bonesigharts.com  Be curious. Keep learning. Keep all the pieces of you intact.