Positively Vacay Planning

by Mauverneen

“When all else fails, take a vacation.”  ― Betty Williams

Today is National Plan for Vacation Day. It's an effort by the travel industry to persuade Americans to use Jan. 30 as a day to schedule their vacations for the year and take advantage of any paid time off they are entitled to from their jobs. Sounds like a plan.

Too bad it can't be done in one day though. My vacation planning takes daaaays. I research, I look at photos, I read up, I research more. When I go somewhere - anywhere - I want to squeeze in everything I can. In case I never make it back there. And in the case of an exotic, far away locale, I probably won't. 

There are four places on my so-called 'bucket list'. Places that have been there forever. Although my list is much longer and new places get added all the time, and I have been to a number of awesome destinations, these four have been constant, capturing my imagination from an early age. 

Tibet
Cuba
Pompeii
Alaska

I'm thinking it's time to check one of them off that list - I need to make room for more.

“No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one.” ― Elbert Hubbard

As always, words and photos are my own, and require permission to reprint.

However, feel free to share the blog in it's entirety. In fact, I encourage it!

Interested in photo prints? Contact me! maureenblevins@yahoo.com

See more photos at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-mauverneen-blevins.html

visit my website: http://mauverneen.com and my other blog:  mauveonthemove.com

Positively Contemplating Winter

by Mauverneen

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently?" Lewis Carroll 

There is quiet beauty in the starkness of a winter landscape
Just the basics; the bones, as it were.
Like the bareness of an open soul
In unadorned simplicity
Lacking nature’s accessories of leaves, flowers, color
And on the snow, a splash of red in a lingering leaf or a bird at the feeder  
Shades of gray fade to color once more when the sun returns, vibrant and nurturing 
Meantime stay inside, stay warm, refresh
Drink soup and tea and hot cocoa and dream your dreams

As always, words and photos are my own, and require permission to reprint.

However, feel free to share the blog in it's entirety. In fact, I encourage it!

Interested in photo prints? Contact me! maureenblevins@yahoo.com

See more photos at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-mauverneen-blevins.html

visit my website: http://mauverneen.com and my other blog:  mauveonthemove.com

Positively Winter Birds

by Mauverneen

"Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?" 

      I hear people commenting this time of year on birds - "How do they survive in this cold?" It is a wonder, but God made them to survive. I marvel not only that they survive, but, no matter what the season, they find their way home, to their own nests, to their own territory. 

      I think at times we have all wished to be a bird for a day. To soar up into the sky, feel the wind in our face and beneath our wings. To fly where we please, to look down with a wider view to what we cannot see when we are standing still with our feet planted. To be able to sing.  

"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." – Henry Van Dyke

As always, words and photos are my own, and require permission to reprint.

However, feel free to share the blog in it's entirety. In fact, I encourage it!

check out   MauveOnTheMove.  My travel blog!

 See more of my photos at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-mauverneen-blevins.html

                      and visit my website: http://mauverneen.com

Positively 2018

by Mauverneen

"The best way to succeed in this world is to act on the advice you give to others." - Unknown

     So - how are those New Year's Resolutions going? Personally I don't make many, if at all. Not because I don't need to but because there are so many to choose from. The ones I do make I usually keep to myself. Not so much that fear of failure will bring criticism for having failed but because they are so personal. Sure I want to lose a few pounds, travel extensively, win a million bucks, but who doesn't? Those are more desire than resolve.
      Resolutions are the steps to the goal. If I want to lose weight I have to commit to either eating less or exercising more. If I want to travel, I have to do my research, book those tickets, and if I want to win a fortune, well, I better start buying those lottery tickets.

"Our greatest fear should not be of failure ... but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter." - Francis Chan
       If I want to become a published author, I need to commit to writing - regularly and earnestly. If I want to become good at watercolor painting, then I need to practice. If I want to become a better person, I need to bite my tongue more often.

      Making resolutions requires commitment. Unless of course those resolutions are merely made on the assumption that we HAVE to make them. Which we don't. But we do because we know we are not perfect. We WANT to do better.
      So, for this year I resolve to....
      Aah, if only procrastination and diversion weren't so wonderfully tempting.

     "We become what we think about most of the time, and that's the strangest secret." - Earl Nightingale

 Have a wonderful 2018 - may you reach your goals!

As always, words and photos are my own, and require permission to reprint.

However, feel free to share the blog in it's entirety. In fact, I encourage it!

check out   MauveOnTheMove.  My travel blog!

 See more of my photos at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-mauverneen-blevins.html

                      and visit my website: http://mauverneen.com