Every Day in Life is Beautiful

A gentle morning sky

taken from my balcony.

Soft petals and curves in pastel colours

which remind me of the colours of my temperature blanket so far.

Under a large oak tree, these bright and charming tiny cyclamen were growing.

There's such beauty in skies at any time of the day.

This was taken today as the tiny moon rose in the pastels of the sky.

With the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.

last Monday on January 27th,

I wanted to re-read the story of Alice Herz-Sommer.

She was a gifted concert pianist and Holocaust survivor.

She said that music kept her and her young son alive.

I have two books about this lady. 

The one above and another entitled: 'A Century of Wisdom'.

I can recommend them both.

Alice was an incredibly positive person her whole life.

She is truly inspirational.

Her quotations are really meaningful.

Here is one of them:

"Life is beautiful. You have to be thankful that we are living.

Wherever you look is beauty.

I know about the bad things, but I look for good things"

Alice Herz-Sommer

The colourful presence of tulips in our homes brings such joy.

I crocheted a reversible heart for my front door with daisies.

The month of February makes us think of hearts!

I like the plain red side, but the three colours is fun too.

That's the one that's on show today.

I may change it for the red side on February 14th.

Here is a link for the heart pattern

I went for a lovely brisk walk in my neighbourhood

and on my way back, around 6 pm,

I stopped to enjoy this beautiful sky.

When I got home,

the sky was deepening.

"Every day in life is beautiful ... every day."

Alice Herz-Sommer.

The beauty is there even when we fail to notice it.

When we look around us with awareness

we can see it or hear it in the songs of the birds at dawn and dusk.

Yesterday, on returning from my walk, I heard a blackbird sing for the first time this year.

Continuing the 2020 Flower Challenge with a new flower to crochet every week of the year.

Here is Flower number 3

A little daisy.

If you would like to join the challenge.

Check out Anabelia craft design

May you find something beautiful every day of your life.

Photo Journal July 2018: Day 1 - Summer

I thought I would enjoy doing a daily photo journal here during the month of July.

I know that some people like to follow photo prompts.

They can be helpful, 

but I prefer to have the freedom of creating my own as I go along!

I would love you to accompany me on this summer's journey

and I will enjoy following you on yours!

Although the summer season has already started, 

July and August really feel the most representative of summer to me!

There is the mounting heat

The buzzing of the bees

A quieter city with people going on holiday

Very early morning walks before the heat builds up

Straw hats

Good books and taking the time to read them

Cold and refreshing herb drinks

Relaxation.

This morning got me out of bed before 5 am!

I opened all the windows of my home to freshen the air and cool my apartment down.

Then a lovely morning walk between 6 and 7 am.

Back for breakfast on my balcony

and now a new book to read outside.

All this spells SUMMER to me!

***

The Power to Choose

Sunday morning on my balcony!

My favourite place to be as soon as it's warm enough to sit outside!

I'm surrounded by window-boxes and big tubs of flowers

and there is birdsong in the early morning.

I can see trees from where I sit when I turn by back to the road.

I am happy, not only because of all these lovely things, but because I choose to be!

Whatever happens to us in life, whatever our circumstances,

whatever our state of health, we have the ability to choose our attitude

to every single thing in our life.

The book in the photo is a new one that I have recently started.

It reinforces my belief that we are able to develop our resilience

and rise above the hard knocks in life.

Of course, some things are more difficult to bear than others,

but however hard things may seem, our attitude is everything.

We are not the victims of our lives,

but we are the creators of how we want to live.

I love books like this, 

they make me feel empowered.

May and June have been busy months, both with birthday celebrations

and creative occupations.

On the creative side, out came my crochet hook and some new red cotton

which I recently obtained from a local store.

Forty-two crocheted hearts have been made as part of a table decoration

for my son's wedding this August in Switzerland.

I found this lovely rose in the exact same tone of red as the hearts.

There's such mystery and beauty in the heart of a rose.

The weather is already hot and humid

with daytime temperatures reaching 26C but it feels much hotter

because of the high humidity.

Storms have been building up towards the evenings.

This could be the start of a very hot summer¨

It will soon be time to get my ventilators out of the cellar!