Miracle of Nature: Christmas Gift 2016

When the hustle and bustle of life gets you down, find some way to retreat to Nature. Talk a walk. Feed some birds or squirrels. Take a nap with your cat. Run on the beach. Watch a sunrise or sunset. Bring home some flowers. Such interaction with Nature can have a calming effect, cherish it.

For, as Aristotle says, ”In all things of Nature there is something of the marvelous.”

Job Pressures?

Crying Kids?

Not Enough Sleep?

Not Enough Money?

Disappointments?

Setbacks?

Need a Good Cry?

Just Have the Blahs?

Enjoy this RETREAT TO NATURE, it might help!

All photos copyrighted by Patti Ross

Enjoy the Show, But Do Not Use Individual Photos Without Permission

“Just living is not enough—one must have sunshine, freedom & a little flower.”Hans Christian Andersen

“In wilderness is the preservation of the world.” Henry David Thoreau

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to

be happy.’”  Sylvia Plath

“I never found a companion that was as companionable as solitude.”

Henry David Thoreau

“ah sweet spontaneous earth. . .” e. e. cummings

CALIFORNIA POPPIES

“I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world’s variety & uniqueness.” Maya Angelou

“It’s autumn in the country I remember.” Trumbull Stickney

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

Albert Camus

“Happiness seems made

to be shared.”

Pierre Cameille

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“I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven.” Emily Dickinson

“In order to see birds, it is necessary to become part of

the silence.” Robert Lynd

AREN’T NAPS DELIGHTFUL?

“The most striking and sublime features on the grandest scale, is the Yosemite.”

John Muir

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

MONUMENT VALLEY

NAVAJO TRIBAL PARK

“Every cloud engenders not a storm.” William Shakespeare

“Aren’t the clouds beautiful?”Charles M. Schultz

Bloom where you are planted!

“Each flower is a soul blossoming out to nature.”

Gerard de Nerval

“A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can’t get it by breeding for it, and you can’t buy it with money. It just happens along.”

E. B. White

“You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more.” Oprah Winfrey

SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK IN BLOOM

“A peacock who rests on its feathers is just another turkey.”

Dolly Parton

“The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking. . .

on silent haunches

and then moves on.”

Carl Sandburg

“The beauty of

flowers, their

elegance of shape,

the exquisiteness

of their colors and

patterns are an

endless source of

delight. . . .“

David Attenborough

“What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.”

Chief Seattle

“Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much larger

and better in every way.” John Muir

“Only God can make a tree.” Edgar A. Guest

“Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no bird sang there except those that sang best.”

Henry Van Dyke

“Never yet was a spring time when the buds forgot to bloom.” Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

“There are no ordinary cats.” Collette

“All good things are wild and free.” Henry David Thoreau

“When spring is dancing among the hills, one should not stay in a dark little corner.” Kahlil Gibran

“The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. . . . And you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any other brother.” Chief Seattle

“The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else.” Mark Twain

“Silence alone is worthy to be heard.” Henry David Thoreau

“Few things under heaven are as instructive as the lessons of Silence.” --Tao Ching

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” Jane Howard

“To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.” Jane Austen

“Butterflies are self-propelled flowers.” R. H. Heinein

“The care of rivers is not a question of rivers, but of the human heart.” Tanako Shozo

“The spirits of the road beckoned, and I could do no work at all.”

Basho

“Not all who wander are lost.” J. R. R. Tolkien

“Aerodynamically the bumble bee should not be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.” Mary Kay Ash

“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit quietly, may alight upon You.” Nathaniel Hawthorne

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“Earth laughs in flowers.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Everywhere

is walking

distance

if

you have

the time.” Steven Wright

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me fluttering from the autumn tree.”

Emily Bronte

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“If my soul could get away from this so-called prison . . . , my first journeys would be into the inner substance of flowers.” John Muir

“My heart is tuned to the quietness that the stillness of nature inspires.” Hazrat Inayat Khan

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

American Proverb

“Be like a tree in pursuit of your cause. Stand firm, grip hard, thrust upward, bend to the winds of heaven, and learn tranquility.” Dedication from Father of the Trees

“Time spent among trees is never wasted.”

Katrina Mayer

AA

“No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wing.” William Blake

“Amidst the splendor of the scene and the silence I was filled with a wonderful peace.” Basho

“He who plants a tree plants hope.” Lucy Larcorn

Zeno was right: “The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.”

It is always there for us as a retreat when life gets too hectic. It is our responsibility

to help protect this natural world that sustains us all. In 2017, let’s remember to not only notice and appreciate the miracle of Nature that is all around but to protect it

for future generations as well.

“We do no great things, only small things with great love.” --Mother Teresa

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” --Ghandi