BY INVITATION ..... INSPIRATION ..........

Our By Invitation subject this month is: Who was the most inspirational person in your life and why ?

AND

What inspires you the most today ?

I suppose that I could say that it was my parents, a family member, teacher, an artist or musician , world leader or one of the many motivating people that are out there but, I think that it's the more simple things that inspire me.

Look at this wonderful lady .......... she doesn't have to say a word but you just know that she has lived a VERY full and interesting life and would be a joy to sit down with and to listen to..... she would inspire me, I'm sure.

Inspirational paralympians and people who live with major challenges everyday, who overcome them with a ' never quit ' attitude when the odds are stacked against them .....

Travel, sunsets, nature in all of it's powerful forms .....

Fashion .....

Art and sculpture .....

and music ..... all of the above are sources of inspiration for me.

..... and, I certainly hope that I shall be laughing with such enthusiasm when I am her age ( and I'm not a million miles away either !!!! )

.......... and, finally, I can honestly say that all of you inspire me in so many ways. 

Please go and see what inspires all of the other By Invitation contributors by popping over to Marsha @ Splenderosa , and find some inspiration !

image 1: via greta tuckute, image 2: via prettie-sweet, image 3: via tumblr, image 4 & 7: via the gifts of life, image 5: via the telegraph: image 6: via yan zhang, image 8: via rastaschas, image 9 & 10: via night tattoo,image 11: via hearts of glass, image 12: via me, image 13: matthew hotton, image 14: via wishful thinking

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !!!! ..........

Well, it's come around again and I am now 62 !!!! It only seemed the other day that I was posting that I was the big 6o ...... these birthdays are coming in too thick and fast for my liking !!!!!

We are off to The Cotswolds for the weekend to celebrate in style with friends.

See you next week.

XXXX

SNOWFLAKES ARE DANCING ..... ISAO TOMITA .....

Snowflakes are dancing here in Hertfordshire. 

Award winning Isao Tomita performing one of Claude Debussy's finest melodies, Clair De Lune ..... from his 1974 masterpiece album, ' Snowflakes Are Dancing '.

Turn the volume right up and stick with it 'till the end ..... I've been listening to this since 1974 !! ........ it is such a haunting interpretation of this well known piece.

video: YouTube

BY INVITATION ..........

Our ' By Invitation' subject this month is either ' What's Wrong With the World' OR 'What's Right With the World'.  I obviously know that there are a zillion things wrong with the world but, being a glass half full to positively overflowing kinda gal, here are a few images as to why I think that there are quite a few things that are pretty right with the world ..........

random acts of kindness ....

Love ....

and passion ....

friendship ....

twirling ....

dancing ....

chivalry ....

joy ....

wildlife ....

new life ....

All of the above are free, so, even in these difficult times, the world isn't too bad a place to be..........
and one more thing that makes the world wonderful to me ( as well as the rest of my family of course) is our grandson, shown here below ..... 

......... all he needs is a brown luggage label with his name pinned to him and he would look like an evacuee from the war !!!! ..... bless his cotton socks. 

For more views about the world, good and bad, pop over to Splenderosa where Marsha has all of the links to the contributors.

image 1: via ayshfi, images 2, 7 & 11: via night tattoo, images 3, 6, 8 & 12: via zsa zsa bellagio, images 4, 5 & 10: via an exquisite waste of time, image 9: via encore life, image 13: via pretty stuff, image 14: via inked ideas

HAPPY 2013 ..........

Wishing everyone a happy, peaceful, healthy and wonderful 2013 ..... thank you so much for your continued support and lovely comments throughout 2012 and for your blogging friendship .....

and remember .....

New Years Eve is the only acceptable time to wear body glitter without being mistaken for a stripper !!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR  

*****

image ..... via la bonne vie

from my HOME to yours ..........

With love from my HOME to yours .....



Have yourselves a very, very

MERRY CHRISTMAS

xxxxx

image ..... mine

A HARD FROST ..... MAGICAL .....

This morning we woke up to the hardest frost that I have seen for a long, long time and it was beautiful. The photographs that I took this morning really don't do it justice. Every plant, tree and shrub was frozen and it lasted all day.  It was a truly magical sight .....

That tall tree in our garden was given to us at a horticultural college in a plastic cup with one tiny shoot emerging from a seed. It was after the great storm of 1987 and they were encouraging everyone to plant a tree. It is now over 70 feet !!!!

This was the beautiful English scene that greeted me as I came out of the pub in the early evening, of the church on the village green.

Pretty or what ?!!! 

all images ....... MINE !!