Quotes ~ Flowers ~ Photos

If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom? ~ Khalil Gibran

The earth laughs in flowers ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead ~  Oscar Wilde

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable ~ Joseph Addison

Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky ~ Audrey Hepburn

I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers ~ Claude Monet

I hate flowers – I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move ~ Georgia O’Keeffe

Quotes ~ Gardens ~ Photos

Flowers are happy things~ P. G. Wodehouse

I don’t like formal gardens. I like wild nature. It’s just the wilderness instinct in me, I guess~ Walt Disney

Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts~  Sigmund Freud

Some men like to make a little garden out of life and walk down a path~ Jean Anouilh

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!~ Sitting Bull

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them~ A. A. Milne

 And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair ~Khalil Gibran

Quotes ~ France ~ Photos

We’ll always have Paris ~ Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

I wanted to get far away from those who believed in cruelty, so then I went to France, a land of true freedom, democracy, equality and fraternity. ~ Josephine Baker

America is my country and Paris is my hometown. ~ Gertrude Stein

Everything ends this way in France ~ everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, burials, swindlings, diplomatic affairs ~ everything is a pretext for a good dinner. ~ French playwright Jean Anouilh

France has the only two things towards which we drift as we grow older – intelligence and manners. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast ~ Ernest Hemingway

Just add three letters to Paris, and you have paradise ~ Jules Renard

A walk in Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and the point of life ~ Thomas Jefferson

Paris is always a good idea. ~ Audrey Hepburn

Armchair Traveler ~ Road Trips

I think now is a perfect time to be an armchair traveler and what’s better than a road trip? You can fantasize about your trip from where to go (nearby or a faraway destination, using a rental vehicle) to your vehicle (your car or rent a motorcycle, an RV, a convertible ~ your dream vehicle ~ this is your armchair travel!). Now, take off, using your maps and guide books as you peruse your armchair journey.

Pick out not only special sights (a national park? an historic area? a mountain top? a city you have always wanted to visit), but also side trips to small towns, secluded beaches, local spots. Read about a hotel you have always wanted to visit or a special restaurant (you can check menus on-line and prepare a special dinner).

Have fun exploring …. be creative as you “journey” using your maps and guidebooks … who knows – you may well be planning your next trip. A road trip ~ where you can be spontaneous, take side trips, explore and enjoy your journey. 

Below are photos from a favorite guidebook which I used last year when planning my road trip to incredible Mount Rushmore. Plus, a photo of my favorite navigator (Shadow) who accompanied me on two road trips when I moved to/from South Carolina.

 Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Savor your journeys… real, imagined or virtual, near or far.

Quotes ~ Italy ~ Photos

You may have the universe if I may have Italy. ~ Giuseppe Verdi

Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy. ~ Bertrand Russell

 The Creator made Italy by designs from Michelangelo. ~ Mark Twain

 Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life. ~ Anna Akhmatova

I love places that have an incredible history. I love the Italian way of life. I love the food. I love the people. I love the attitudes of Italians. ~ Elton John

Venice, it’s temples and palaces did seem like fabrics of enchantment piled to heaven. ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go. ~ Truman Capote

Quotes ~ About the Ocean ~ Photos

The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble. Blaise Pascal

Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Mahatma Gandhi

The ocean is a mighty harmonist. William Wordsworth

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean. Arthur C. Clarke

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came. John F. Kennedy

Quotes ~ Cats ~ Photos

If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but deteriorate the cat. Mark Twain

A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere. Groucho Marx

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her. Michel de Montaigne

 In nine lifetimes, you’ll never know as much about your cat as your cat knows about you. Michel de Montaigne

 Everything comes to those who wait… except a cat. Mario Andretti

 The cat has complete emotional honesty – an attribute not often found in humans. Ernest Hemingway

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Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Photos

Today I drove by Point Defiance Park .. unfortunately, it was still closed due to the pandemic rules. I was able to park and take some photos along the waterfront and watch the ferry heading to Vashon Island. I am hoping it will be open soon as it is a beautiful place to walk about, especially among the gardens.

Savor your journeys… real, imagined or virtual, near or far.

 

Enjoy my photos from last year of the beautiful gardens … 

Rose Garden, Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Photos

Japanese Garden, Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Photos

 

Armchair Traveler ~ France

Since travel is restricted, an Armchair Traveler journey to a favorite destination, France, is in order. France is a fabulous place to explore, from the Alps (do add Chamonix and Annecy to your bucket list), to Brittany (St Malo is fantastic), to Avignon and of course, to Paris.

“There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris.”  Ernest Hemingway 

And there are so many other areas for me yet to discover. 

France is both a visual and gastronomic feast. The vistas are magnificent and memorable. Equally memorable is the cuisine from croissants and pain aux raisin at a neighborhood boulangerie to local bistro dining to incredible dinners. And of course, the magnificent wine and cheese. Yes, a journey to France is truly a unique experience.

I hope that this post lets you take a pause, think of memorable past journeys, plan future trips and enjoy your armchair travel. Not only peruse books, but watch favorite movies set where you want to explore, listen to the music of that area, and prepare special meals …. enjoy the journey! 

Savor your journeys… real, imagined or virtual, near or far.

Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît pas. -Blaise Pascal

“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.”

 On ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

We see well only with the heart.”

Le monde est un livre dont chaque pas nous ouvre une page. -Alphonse de Lamartine 

“The world is a book – with each step we open a page.”