176 Cloudy Days

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition ~ William Arthur Ward

I guess no matter what the weather brings, if you have an upbeat appreciation and attitude toward things.... nothing will bring you down.  That's a great way to look at things, but I think it is also at times hard to live by that quote.

 

Does the weather affect our mood? Some may wake up to a cloudy, rainy sky and feel it's no reason to get up and out of bed.  But if the sun is shining and the birds are chirping, it sure helps getting up and out of bed a bit easier.

 

Chicago has it's fair share of cloudy days.  One page of statistics that I checked out broke down an average year here in the mid west: 84 clear days, 105 partially cloudy days, 176 cloudy days. We may have more reasons to snuggle up under the covers than the average person in the Sunshine State.

 

Remember, if it weren't for the clouds, you wouldn't appreciate the sun.

I think I could handle the partial cloudiness here in Punta Cana, any day.  Sunny days you think of happy people, you can easily visualize fun music and good times!

Week #20 - LIFE'S simple pleasures - Clouds

What's the sky look like in your neck of the woods? 
Sometimes we have to bring our own sunshine! 
Take some time real soon and if you have clouds up in the sky, have fun and see what shapes they form.

I like one of the manifestos of the Cloud Appreciation Society :

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day

 

Things are Looking Up!

Red Sky at night,
sailor's delight
Red sky at morning,
sailors warning

How different my picture would be if this sky would be in the middle of winter.

I am so happy to have sunSHINE! Four days in a row when I am highlighting clouds (sky) in this weeks' simple pleasures.

Have you taken a moment... and just looked up... take it all in? Do you see endtrails from a plane so far up?

You can even see clouds at night... think of those eery Halloween scenes. Bats flying up to the moon as a few clouds pass by.

There is so much to see!

No sight is more provocative of awe than is the night sky. ~Llewelyn Powys

Get Your Head IN the CLOUDS

The clouds drift across the bright blue sky--all except one. Little Cloud trails behind. He is busy changing shapes to become a fluffy sheep, a zooming airplane, and even a clown with a funny hat. Eric Carle

Clouds are so commonplace that their

beauty is often overlooked.
They are for dreamers and their contemplation

 benefits the soul.
Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see

in them will save
on psychoanalysis bills.

 

This is one of the manifestos for The Cloud Appreciation Society. Yes!  There is a society to join in appreciation of clouds. They have 6 guidelines on their website.

If you are a Nephelococcygia, you are a cloud watcher.  Have you ever layed in the grass and just gazed up to the sky and tried to identify shapes floating by?  Maybe you did it, or you've done it with your kids or grand kids. It is a wonderful simple pleasure.  Easy and free.  Easier to do in the park on a blanket or the beach on a towel.  It might look kind of funny in the middle of  busy street...but you might start a trend.... stop, drop and watch!

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day.

 

Week #20 - LIFE'S simple pleasures - Clouds

 

Take a moment real soon and ....

 

Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

 

 

The Sky's the Limit

Blue Skies

Smiling at me

Nothing but blue skies

Do I see ~ Irving Berlin

Oh no, did I make a mistake in stating that Week #20 - LIFE'S simple pleasures - Clouds?   Maybe on some things I have to broadening my topic.... the sky's the limit!  Instead of....

 

Bows and flows of angel hair

and ice cream castles in the air

and feather canyons everywhere

I've looked at clouds that way ~ Joni Mitchell

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Maybe this weeks' simple pleasure..... again, is to just take a moment....and breathe... and look up into that sky above and take it all in. 

 

My sky today is different than your sky above.... even though we are looking up at the same place. It could be a deep blue cloudless sky.... one filled with cotton candy wisps of fast moving mass... you may want to lay in the grass with a favorite someone and see what kind of shapes form right before your eyes..... quick, there is some cloud cover, we can get something done....you might see all the clouds but remind yourself that the sun is still SHINING!  As my husband has often said to me.... on a cloudy day.... "Where's the sun?" it's still there, just covered by a few clouds....wherever you go, no matter the weather, bring your own sunshine .... I've got sunshine....on a cloudy day!  Rain clouds, stormy clouds... cumulus, stratus, cirrus.... liquid droplets suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of our planet.

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky ~ R.Kelly

It's UP in the SKY

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher a storm, but to add COLOR to my sunset sky ~ R. Tugore

Week #20 - LIFE'S simple pleasures - CLOUDS

 

I can't believe how many different kinds of comments and postings I saw about Mother's Day.  I guess we've all come to a great understanding and need to appreciate our Moms!

 

This week I thought I would take on what I'm thinking is a simple and free LIFE'S pleasure, clouds... all you have to do is look up and see them.... maybe.

 

If you are fortunate to be having a glorious sun shined filled day... relish the blue skies, soak it in and wonder how far your eye is taking you!  If you are having a rainy day... raise your face up and feel the drops on your face and know that the earth is being nourished.

 

Whatever your sky looks like today... look up. Breathe in and out.  If you are having a tough day... Every cloud has its sliver lining... a hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty.

 

A cloud appears white because it reflects the light of the sun and all the colors of the rainbow added up... become white!

 

The sky, a perfect empty canvas, offers clouds nonetheless. They shift and drift and beg interpretation... such is the nature of art. ~Jeb Dickerson

Brighten Your Mothers' Day!

Motherhood is a choice you make every day to put someone else's happiness and well being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is... and to forgive yourself over and over again for doing everything wrong ~ Donna Bell

My husband is in the red in the front and his mom is standing behind him at the back end of the table, the rest of the family ... his sister, grandmother and brother, Dad must be taking the picture!

 

Motherhood is a very special job.  Just because you can biologically have children doesn't make you a mother... according to a quote by Oprah Winfrey.  It's also a very tough job, creating something out of these little humans.

 

I don't understand why women say

"I'm JUST a mom"

remind me again which job on the planet is more important...

~ Susan Hallum

Me and my mom

... when in doubt, choose the kids.  There will be plenty of time later to choose work ~ Anna Bundlien

Week # 19 - LIFE'S simple pleasures - honoring Motherhood

Although I think I need to thank my mom and my mother-in-law so much more for how they raised my husband and I... I look at my own children and don't need that much thanks, because I was doing the best job I could... the best job ever... the job I'm most proud to admit... I'm their mother!!

Being called MOM is the greatest blessing!!!

Happy Mother's Day.... if you happen to be a mother!!!! or go BRIGHTEN your MOTHER'S Day!!!!!

 

Send Mom the Very Best

The mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother, and to become fully independent.  ~Erich Fromm

 

I love flowers!

 

Do you? 

 

All kinds of flowers!  Paper flowers, single stemmed flowers, seeds of flowers, potted plants, flowers in the garden, silk flowers, blossoming flowers on the lilac bushes outside my window as I type this!!!!  I am so blessed!!!! Blooms, buds, petals.... love it all....always working on my 'green' thumb!

 

It has been said that the best way to show your mom you love her is by sending her flowers. Mother's Day is the 2nd busiest holiday for florists behind Valentine's Day.

 

Years ago, giving your mother a corsage to wear to church was a simple yet elegant way to show your mom how much you loved her!  But that has become passe`.  Since mother's day occurs in the spring, there are so many different choices of great blooms to get her.

 

A mother laughs our laughs, sheds our tears, returns our love, fears our fears. She lives our joys, cares our cares and all our hopes and dreams she shares.

Week # 19 - LIFE'S simple pleasures - honoring Motherhood

 

How wonderful life is, when you stop and smell the roses!

Brighten Someone's Day.... send them a bouquet!!

(and a creative greeting!!!!)