catnipoflife

Observe life at its best, Listen to life’s songs, Embrace life’s bounties, Breathe the breath of life, Savor life to its fullest!

Awakenings: 50’s & 60’s TV Commercials

See on Scoop.itAmerica & Beyond

Television – entertainment for the home BUT not without commercials! How producers come up with the zany ideas they do is beyond me. Do you find it interesting how the most stupid commercials are those most remembered? Are such antics truly indicative of average human being behavior? They do make one wonder!

Sharla Shults‘s insight:

The ol’ black and white of the 50s reminded me of a box with four legs! Ah-h-h, I remember it well!

Check out the video on awakenings2012.blogspot.com

Do you remember Bosco syrup, Fluffo, Ovaltine or Tang?

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Free Write Friday #11: Waiting Bridges

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Kellie Elmore sends out a notice of the Free Write Friday usually on Thursday evening. This opens the door to collecting thoughts and focusing on the writing prompt. Sometimes the image or prompted words click and the writing flows immediately. Other times it takes a day or so to get it all together mentally…remember, it is suppose to be a free write not necessarily to be posted on that Friday. So, here I am on Sunday with emails shouting to be opened and I just don’t want to go there. Of course, the longer I delay the faster the numbers will grow. *sigh* 

So, without further adieu…

This week the Free Write is inspired by “WAITING BRIDGES.” If you are not familiar with the free write challenge, feel free to read the intro on Kellie’s website.

In short, here is what is expected. . .

Do not think. Do not edit. Do not pay attention to spelling, punctuation or form. Just allow the moment, your feelings, your imagination to run free and…

Do not stop until you find yourself forcing your words or trying too hard to complete a thought.

 

Waiting Bridges

A bridge joins
A bridge divides
Alone, sometimes abandoned
It never hides

It connects
It separates
Remains trustworthy
Always advocates

Stalwartly it stands
Mighty in its braces
Reflections of the past
It solemnly embraces

Presently it’s cold
Not by the weather
It stands and waits
For two to cross together

Silently it waits
Those the future bring
Travelers who cross
While its timbers sing


©catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

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The Bench in Waiting

Today as I visited Serendipity, which I do quite often for her excellent photography, interesting articles, candid humor and wonderful musings, The Bench in Waiting immediately captured my attention. Thank you, Marilyn for your inspiration that guided me to reflect on The Ol’ Bench. . .

Photo Credit: Marilyn Armstrong

The Ol’ Bench

A resting place, a stopping-off point

Relief from labors along life’s way

The bench beckoned moments for solitude

To ponder reveries of the day

How many have passed this way

Stopped for a moment or two

Rested, mused, wondered

Contemplated what to do?

What decisions were made

Changes to start anew

Thoughts and reflections

Begin again, redo?

Beaten, battered, broken

Life’s pain abates

It holds a lifetime’s worth of stories …

And still, it waits

Awaits the next visitor

To settle down, to rest

To ponder, to wonder

Tomorrow — life’s next test

A resting place, a stopping-off point

Relief from labors along life’s way

The bench beckons moments for solitude

To ponder reveries of the day. . .


©2012 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

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Awakenings: Amazing Grace in Wartime

See on Scoop.itAmerica

Emotions run deep in the minds, hearts and souls throughout America as we approach Veterans Day. Let’s begin this weekend reflecting on the events that led to the establishment of this day’s celebration.


Poetry for The Great War: WWI viewable on awakenings2012.blogspot.fr

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After the Storm

To all impacted by the storm’s wrath. . .

After a storm comes a calm.
~Matthew Henry

After the storm the sun still smiles

Easing the sadness across the miles

Helping hands do quickly extend

Working together to heal and mend

Prayer is uplifted for all today

As faith in tomorrow lights the way

light shining power_shine.jpg photo

Photo Credit: photobotos.com

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”
~Martin Luther King

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Inspiration: Meeting the Challenge 3

Visit Meeting the Challenge 2

Precious Moments: That is the challenge for this week!

Each of us is rewarded at some point in time with moments we deem simply precious. These moments stay with us stored away in our mental scrapbooks to be revisited as necessary through smiles, giggles, and sometimes even tears. Sweet memories!

Like the times the kids fought over whose cookie had the most chocolate chips. What a sight as they picked out the chips one by one just to prove a point! The next batch of cookies I dared anyone to start picking it apart threatening to bake non-chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. [ha-ha] I did decorate each one with a smiley face from then on, which brought on even more smiles and giggles, each delicate cookie equally branded!

Precious moments gently cradled ready to take flight

Meet the challenge! 

What warm, fuzzy stories do you have stored in your mental diary?  Think about it: Recollections of such precious moments might just trigger a poem, a story, a personal reflection.  After all, it is such accounts of life that keep us going, always on the alert for that next precious moment.

“Cherish those precious moments because they did not happen by plan or design
but by feelings, hunch, chance, fate, destiny or just the need to say hello
t
o a particular person at that point in time.”
~Author Unknown

Precious moments
Seconds in time
Treasured memories
Stored in the mind

Frets & falls
Tears have their place
Heartwarming smiles
Remnants of grace

Stories amid laughter
Echo & resound
Playfulness of heart
The true common ground

catniplogosm1
©2013 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

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Personal Reflection: To my Husband

***************

As you lay weak and weary in the hospital bed. . .

i take your hand

i take your hand
to ease the pain
lend comforting words
for hope to remain

i watch you sleep
restful it seems
questions surmount
nightmares or dreams?

that impish grin
the one i do adore
implies a dream
perhaps of the seashore

a time together
jumping waves, kicking sand
moseying along
side-by-side, hand-in-hand

suddenly the grimace
followed by a shout
grabbing sheets, drawing knees
imply nightmares about

what is it that lurks
in the shadows that bind?
are you searching, seeking
erasers of the mind?

gasping for breath
a soft whisper in your ear
reassures the moment
you know you’re still here

ever so cautiously
struggling to see clear
a soft kiss on the cheek
lets you know i’m near

. . .watching and waiting ’til you are able to come home again.

***************

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Inspiration for the Soul

          REMEMBERING GRANDMA

“Nothing like walking in the door fresh milk in hand,
except the smell of bacon sizzling in the pan!” ~catnipoflife

Need nourishment? Visit Daily Soul Food at Pinterest!

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Quips, Quotes, & Anecdotes, aka ‘Antidotes’

Ah-h-h-h-ha! Those sidesplitting quips, quotes and anecdotes [‘antidotes’, if you prefer] that bring on the tears from laughing so hard. . .where would we be without such humorous happenings? And, what better place to seek the most unusual challenges and ‘off-the-wall’ excuses than within the reflections of a classroom teacher.  You know – that person who holds the ‘cushy’ job, which starts late and ends early in the afternoon, and provides summers off to do nothing but lay around and bask in the sun. Ooooh! It is getting hot already. . .Yea, right! We wish!

From day care to pre-school to kindergarten. . .all the way into the college lecture hall are moments where innocence (the unintentional) turns wit into wisdom. Tales to be told, stories to be written, smiles, laughter, tears and frustration fill the pages of the teachers’ mental diaries. Teachers can quip all day about frantic antics, provide hundreds of thousands of daily eventful quotes and last, but not least, share humor beyond all boundaries that becomes the best ‘antidote‘ for a bad day. [Um-m-m? Sounds like the cat in my post Funny Cats:>)]

Enjoy and get ready to laugh. . .

“What office is there which involves more responsibility, which requires more qualifications, and which ought, therefore, to be more honorable, than teaching?”

 Harriet Martineau

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Inspiration for the Soul

pinterest-logo“Whatever you want in life, start today. Not tomorrow – today. Let it be a small beginning – a tiny beginning. Your happiness depends on starting today – every day.”

Need nourishment? Visit my new Pinterest board, Daily Soul Food!

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