Today is Father’s day, a day where we honor our fathers here in the US. This is my dad. He was a good man, had his faults as we all do and I miss him greatly.
Being a parent is tough work and should be taken seriously as we are creating the next generation, the next government or the next way of thinking. That has a lot of punch and truth to it.
So we take this day to honor all fathers for task at hand of being a parent. It is a wonderful hard job but also has so many beautiful attributes. We stand beside you, encourage you, will pray for you and will listen to you when needed. Always remember you have the Father in heaven who is always standing by your side to guide you as you guide your children. Follow His lead and remember the main lesson he taught all of his children… Love. Love your children as the father in heaven has loved you even through all the muddy footprints. John 13:34…Love as I have loved you.
Those who read my post know that I push kindness. There have been many a boiling cauldron that has been extinguished by kindness showing a better way to resolve a hot mess.
This summer, I have been hired by the city to participate in the park parties that they will have in various parts of the city, a total of 7 parties. There was live music, food vendors, games setup, the city officials were there to answer any question people may have and even the library people were there setup explaining about their summer program. Then there was me, the face painter – hey we made the newspaper. Cool.
I have been face painting since early 2000s and do it more for the fun of it than to make money. Don’t get me wrong, you can make some serious money if you get real good but that is not my focus. I charge enough to buy more paint because I buy the professional stuff which isn’t cheap, but safer to use.
If you see that yellow paper behind my young model, those are the 6 faces I would paint for this particular party. They will change each party. This model is getting a jaguar face. They really don’t care how great it is, they just want to play – so lets play. I will post some periodically through the summer so you can see how much fun we are having.
OK, so there is a story behind the title and I am getting there. This neighborhood is close to my church so I am familiar with some of the kids as I have done other functions at this park. There is a home of mentally and physically challenged that we have done things with so I knew some of the guys(adults) that were in line to get their face painted. The first guy came in and could talk real well and wanted the 3 horned dinosaur. He loved it and I chuckled with him as he laughed in the mirror. The next guy was in a wheel chair but could walk a little. So they got him up and helped him get into the face paint chair. His right arm was drawn in and not usable but his left arm was good and with that arm he pointed to his shirt. He had on a power ranger shirt. I don’t like doing the super heroes as they are BORING in face paint but for him, sure. So we did the red power ranger. He could not speak but could hear and understand very well and he was super excited on how well his face looked. He tapped his chest in a gesture of him loving it and I patted his hand and told him I was glad, and he smiled. They got him back in his chair and I went to the next child. But before I could get started good, I heard the guy from the wheel chair come beside my booth. His caretaker said “He wants you to have his star.” I asked her if he had made it and she said yes and showed me all the things he carried with him that he had made. I almost cried. I told him thank you and to come back to see me. Here is the star.
My whole point in this post is to remind everyone to never pass on an opportunity to be kind and gentle. No small act of kindness is ever wasted. I have always believed this but this was an opportunity where God affirmed just how much kindness matters. So always be kind.
I don’t care what anyone say, animals have personalities and are funny. There are even websites dedicates to pictures of animals doing funny things. And now there is a TV show about animals doing funny things. I think we humans think animals are funny because we try to relate to them in a human manner. I laugh at the picture below because it reminds me of what my brother said in the caption to me all the time when growing up. He was not allowed to tell me to shut-up.
“Your mouth is open. Close it.”
Going to work this morning I had to laugh at what I saw. I could not stop to take a picture as I was on the bridge going over the Mississippi with morning traffic and rain. Yes more rain. Sometimes you get to the point where you laugh about the continuing mess as long as no one is getting hurt. We have been very fortunate in that from this continuance of this mess. But humor is where we are with the ridiculousness of this current flood – since mid March. The river is finally coming down and around the ball field there is a lower walkway with a chain link fence on the river side. The fence is your standard 4 foot high which stands another 2 feet above the river, 6 feet of water height where water should not be. That fence is just now beginning to show. Today the top rail was about 1/2 exposed, enough for the ducks trying to line up and sit on it. The current is still very swift so you got about 8 ducks in a row trying to sit on a rail as the current rips by them periodically pulling them back into the river. I chuckled the rest of the way to work. Animals doing funny things.
Thank you to all the photographers in the world that capture life’s funny moments that makes us all smile. And remember smiling is infectious. If you smile at someone, it forces them to smile back. So smile often and always be kind.
I posted a serious message from my heart this morning so now it’s time to be silly. Those who read my work also know I have a QUIRKY clown side. I saw this picture on Facebook and today is the perfect day to post it. Some of you may have seen it before and some may not get it but the picture alone should be enough to make you laugh at the ridiculousness of it. And after yesterday, LORD helps us get through this week.
Great photo shop work
Remember laughter makes you smile and smiling can facilitate kindness. So laugh, smile and be kind often.
Picture a favorite beach scene. You are sitting relaxed in the loose sand dunes just above the beach. The sun has warmed the sand and it tickles as it shifts through your toes. The sound of the turf is melodic as it pounds on the beach. The seagulls are calling each other as they slowly fly through the gentle breeze, that same breeze that brushes across your face. You inhale and you can almost taste the salt of the warm sea air that you are smelling.
Can you picture it?
Not big on the beach? Then picture the soft tranquility of a mountain stream. You are sitting on a felled tree that is now becoming a bench for anyone on the trail. The stream beside you is bubbling along the rocks as it heads though the forest to the nearest river. The clean air is as refreshing and clear as the water in the stream is cold to the taste. In front of you off in the distance are the mountains, maybe their tops are dusted with snow. The sweet smell of the evergreens is pungent and reminds you of Christmas. Over head a lone eagle floats with little movement as he soars of the updrafts.
Can you picture it?
Maybe you are not a nature lover? Maybe your enjoyment comes with an evening of dinner and beautiful music at an outdoor park. The smells of various foods wafting in the air mixed with warm summer night as the stars slowly begin to show their presence. Soft conversations with strangers around you creates friendships of similar interest. The orchestra or band is warming up their instruments for a night of expected pleasures.
Can you picture it?
Then picture this…..
You are sitting in a dark room.
There is no sound because you are deaf…
There is nothing to see because you are blind…
There is little to smell if anything because you have no reference to what smell is…
There is little to touch as your body has no sense of feel due to being paralyzed.
Senses…Sight, Hearing, Smell, Taste & Touch…Gifts from God for us to enjoy His mighty creation. If all of your sense are working, praise God and enjoy these gifts. If you know those who are missing one or more of these senses, then share with them the beauty of what they don’t have so that through the senses that they do have working, they can get a glimpse of its beauty.
And remember as you enjoy your gifts, to share the joy that they bring you with others in hopes they may understand the beauty of it and share it themselves with others. And always remember to be kind. Kindness is enveloped in all of there gifts.
What a fun day today was. As I had said in yesterday’s post, today was probably going to be too busy to get to write anything but when I saw Nancy Merrill’s weekly photo challenge was SMILE, how could I resist with all the marvelous smiles I saw today from our new clowns. Yes, clowns. I am a member of a wonderful clown troupe that does many activities to help the community smile. We go play in parades, we do walks for community awareness situations, we have caring clowning where we visit local nursing homes to bring a little cheer for some sad folks. All the while, creating smiles wherever we go.
Today was the summer Clown Class, how awesome is that. We taught new clowns the history of clowning & the main types of clowns.
Yes there are types – White Face, Auguste and Hobo Clowns and they each have their own specific costumes styles and behaviors. You see, not all clowns are in the circus. Today we also had fun learning to make balloons…
how to do basic magic tricks…
how to be in a parade or do “walk arounds” in a crowd for fairs and festivals and even to create skits that makes the audience laugh or bring an important message. Just putting on silly clothes and slapping paint on your face does not make you a clown. A true clown has a purpose to entertain, encourage, show kindness and bring laughter and it is not all that easy. True clowns work hard at their craft to hone in their specialty to bring that much needed smile to someone, in hopes that for 5 minutes those people have forgotten the pain or frustration of their situation.
So now when you see a true clown that is trying to bring a smile to person or entertain crowd with laughter and kindness, remember the work they have put in to help you smile. The goofball at Halloween that thinks he is funny dressing up like a clown and scaring people is entertaining himself not thinking of others or trying to bring a smile to a saddened face with bring laughter to a crowd the correct way.
I am an Auguste clown and my specialty is face painting. I am not that great at it but the children don’t really care. They are soaking up the caring gentle nature I try to bring to help them laugh with their friends. I have posted my picture before but in case you missed it, here is Skeeter C Clown. The C stands for Christ as I always try to always bring a Christian nature to my clowning.
Skeeter C Clown
So as I close I always remind my readers to smile and be kind. Kindness reflects the love God intended us to always share by turning the frowns of this life upside down.
I know this is not really due until tomorrow but I will be burning the candle at both ends tomorrow. When I read the prompt and tried it, well, I had to write about it tonight. How many directions can you go with a sentence like tails uplifted. Yes, the brain went there for a split second but we do like to remain family friendly.
You see on my sofa is a book that stays there for me to grab in an instant as I look for any new bird that comes to my feeder, the National Geographic Birds of North America.
My finger landed in the middle of the page of Wrens stating “Tails are often uplifted”. The book is probably pressed to open easily there as I have a bird visiting that I think is a wren but I cant get him to sit still long enough for a good look. I need a set of binoculars so that I don’t run them off when I get close to the window. Below is a picture of “tail uplifted” and they indeed do that plus there is a prominent stripe of white across the upper eye area. I see the stripe of white but the color is grayish instead of brownish. Need him/her to sit still to verify.
According to the map of location for each bird, the grayish ones don’t come in my area. Well, tell the bird book that as this bird is grayish – but maybe it’s a Warbler – they don’t come in my area either. Hmm, so the hunt is on.
As we hunt for the cuteness of the fluttery type, let us always smile and be kind. A smile is understood by man and animal alike as a kindness tool. So smile and be kind to everything.
In being able to walk around town and get views of neat looking doors for the Thursday Door post, I also ran across some interesting street art that I thought I would share. I have a very busy weekend coming up and may not get to play much so doing another for today.
As those who have been reading my posts, you have seen my posts on the flooding here of the Mississippi River. But this is still an area that loves this monster of a beast. This first painting has some age on it as it is beginning to peel but it really reflects times gone by with steam driven locomotives and paddle-wheel boats carrying people and cargo through the midwest and along the rivers.
Hope they touch it up before it flakes too bad.
Then as you walk around you see street paintings that area different type of detailed and some that are of the modern flare. Back in October, we were challenged with a prompt about what is art? I posted one called Perceived Art that showed the detailed side of the one below. It is so large is spreads across both side of the road under the train track.
The tentacles go across the street and hold things like pencils
Then a little further down the same street you get a more unrealistic take on art.
Bird in an argyle vest, hmm
But the two below are really creative, making shop windows and doors out of a flat brick wall.
I didn’t know whether to show this one here or with Norm’s doors. There are 3 doors…
As we smile at the neatness of someone’s take on art, remember to spread that smile around to maybe brighten someone’s day and always be kind.
Are you in need of encouragement tonight. Let me tell you about my morning and be encouraged. Today I awoke with a start at 7:50 a.m. with a strong feeling to pray for my daughter. Don’t usually get up until 8:15. While I always keep my children prayed up as it were, this was a strong urge. I obeyed then went ahead and got ready for work since I was up and going. About 20 minutes later my daughter called me and said I needed to come pick her up. She had a massive blow out of her rear passenger side tire on the interstate on her way to work. Fortunately at that moment no one was around her as she did swerve but was able to maintain control. People stopped to make sure she was OK and to see if they could help but because of the idiotness of today’s auto-manufacturing, they don’t put spare tires or even donuts in cars anymore. Cost savings. Safety hazard in my book. So with my morning of protection and love I want to remind everyone that God is always there, you may not feel Him or like His answer but he does usually answer, even if its “wait”.
The song below is a marvelous song of how much God does love all of us. He throws all caution to the wind for us, He is reckless with love for us. Listen to the song and be encouraged that God does love all of you.
And as you go through your day, remember always His love will shine through us when we allow it. So shine on, reflecting His love and kindness.
In learning first how to blog, then how to link, then all the other things I have learned, I finally figured out how to add text to a photo without losing it when brought it into another format. Yea me. Now I did this so I could participate in the new badge contest for 1 Liner Wednesday. I thought this was a face hard not to love so I submit this photo of Max as a candidate for the new badge hunt.
1LinerWeds Badge by Anita @ anitashope.wordpress.com
If not chosen then I hope you all enjoy this cute photo and good luck to all participants. Thank you Cheryl for the fun we have had this past year.
