Pedi-Cure

Conga Line Coral, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

Wearing sandals in November? That's right, there is no way I am going to mess up the wonderful spa pedicure I received this morning. My feet and toes are now ready to be dipped into the fine tropical sands and to swim around in the warm ocean waters. Our vacation is just one week away!

Peek-a-Boo

Peek-a-Boo, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

No new photos yet - we are still unpacking and living amidst a multitude of boxes. Hopefully tomorrow I will climb my way to the computer and download all the pictures currently stored on my camera. There are quite a few!

November 12

Where I once walked alone, he now walks beside me.

Today minus 365 days was the most romantic day of my life. It was not the first time we had ever met, nor the first time we had conversed, but it was the first time we saw in each other that which we now celebrate every day: happiness.

I love you, Christopher.

Here Lies....

Hush, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

Oh, give it a rest
For your sake, bury the past -
Move on already!

The Last Night

Winter Morning, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

This is a view I will not see every morning this winter. I am moving off the farm tomorrow!

Friendly Family

"Friends are the family we choose for ourselves." ~ Edna Buchanan

W & M

[W]hen you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. ~ Nora Ephron, When Harry Met Sally

One More Week

2 little whos

2 little whos
(he and she)
under are this
wonderful tree

smiling stand
(all realms of where
and when beyond)
now and here

(far from a grown
-up i&you-
ful world of known)
who and who

(2 little ams
and over them this
aflame with dreams
incredible is)

e.e. cummings

Magnolia Plantation - Charleston, SC

Beauty and Beauty

When Beauty and Beauty meet
All naked, fair to fair,
The earth is crying-sweet,
And scattering-bright the air,
Eddying, dizzying, closing round,
With soft and drunken laughter;
Veiling all that may befall
After -- after --

Where Beauty and Beauty met,
Earth's still a-tremble there,
And winds are scented yet,
And memory-soft the air,
Bosoming, folding glints of light,
And shreds of shadowy laughter;
Not the tears that fill the years
After -- after --

~ Rupert Brooke

Cotton Field - Raleigh, NC

"I was influenced a lot by those around me - there was a lot of singing that went on in the cotton fields" ~ Willie Nelson

"I wish they'd had electric guitars in cotton fields back in the good old days. A whole lot of things would've been straightened out." ~ Jimi Hendrix

"After all those days in the cotton fields, the dreams came true on a gold record on a piece of wood. It's in my den where I can look at it every day. I wear it out lookin' at it." ~ Carl Perkins

Morning Moki

Morning Moki, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

"No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch."
~ Leo Dworken

Hurdy Gurdy Man

In the eighteenth century the term hurdy gurdy was also applied to a small, portable "barrel organ" (a cranked box instrument with a number of organ pipes, a bellows and a barrel with pins that rotated and programmed the tunes) that was frequently played by poor buskers (street musicians). Barrel organs require only the turning of the crank, and the music is played automatically by pinned barrels, perforated paper rolls, and more recently by electronic modules.

~ Wikipedia

Deerfield Fair - Pigs

"I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."

~ Winston Churchill

"Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Don't eat pork.

I'm sorry, what was that last one?? Don't eat pork. God has spoken.

Is that the word of God or is that pigs trying to outsmart everybody?"

~ Jon Stewart

"If pigs could vote, the man with the slop bucket would be elected swineherd every time, no matter how much slaughtering he did on the side."

~ Orson Scott Card

"What men call social virtue, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm."

~ Henry David Thoreau

Good

Deerfield Fair - Pig Ponder, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

"The analysis of man discloses three chemical elements - a job, a meal and a woman."
~Martin H. Fischer

My addition to the above quote is the word 'good': "The analysis of a good man discloses three chemical elements - a good job, a good meal and a good woman."

Lucky

Christopher - Kiss, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

"I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again"
~ Jason Mraz

Just a Day on the Job

4.5ct Round Diamond, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

"The jeweler allows me to wear the sapphire blue lake on my finger, the emerald green leaves around my neck, and take the citrine sunset with me wherever I go. Jewelry has become my daytime link to nature in an office with no windows. And if I have to work late, there's nothing like diamond stars and a pearl full moon against an onyx night sky."
~Astrid Alauda, "Office With No Windows"

(Disclaimer - this is not my ring, nor would I want it to be. My job has many benefits, one of them being the chance to examine beautiful pieces of jewelry and rare gemstones, like this 4.5ct round diamond ring)

A Dream

Nancy Pond - Mushroom, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

"It's amazing. Every time you try to describe it, it's like describing a dream."
~ Jason Schwartzman (on being newly married)

Wall Flowers

Wall Flowers, originally uploaded by Visual Origami.

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. The trite subjects of human efforts, possessions, outward success, luxury have always seemed to me contemptible."
~ Albert Einstein