quietnature

✴A friendly look, a kindly smile, one good act, and life's worthwhile.

✴Hope all is well.......Have a wonderful weekend........Stay safe

Rancher John
★Old ranch owner John farmed a small ranch in Montana. The Montana Wage and Hour Department claimed he was not paying proper wages to his workers and sent an agent out to interview him....I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them,'demanded the agent. Well, replied old John, 'There's my ranch hand who's been with me for 3 years. I pay him $600 a week plus free room and board. The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $500 a week plus free room and board. Then there's the half-wit who works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $25 per week, pays his own room and board and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night.That's the guy I want to talk to, the half-wit, says the agent. That would be me, replied old rancher John.
...
Farmer's Names
★George, the farmer, had so many children that he ran out of names. So he started calling his kids after something around his farm. It was the first day of school and the teacher asked each child their name. When he got to one of the farmer George's sons, the boy replied, 'Wagon Wheel.The teacher said, I need your real name boy, to which the lad replied, It's Wagon Wheel, sir....Really. The teacher, rather annoyed rejoined, All right young man, take yourself right down to the Principal's office this minute. The youngster pushed himself out of his chair, turned to his sister and said, 'C'mon, Chicken Feed, he ain't gonna believe you, either.

How To Grow Strawberries
★Farmer Evans was driving his John Deere tractor along the road with a trailer load of fertilizer. Tim a little boy of eight was playing in his yard when he saw the farmer and asked, What've you got in your trailer? Manure, Farmer Evans replied. What are you going to do with it? asked Tim. Put it on my strawberries,answered the farmer. Tim replied, You ought to come and eat with us, we put ice-cream on our strawberries.

★Stand-Up Comic..*George Wallace...Montreal Just For Laughs Festival.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4Jsewy...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjzCkIiT...

★Have a wonderful weekend.....Be well.
Read moreLess

Famous & Inspiring Photography.............*Austrian Boy and his Shoes
The picture moves you to happy tears the moment you see it. The gentle curve of the child’s cheeks make you think that the innocence of infancy remains a permanent guest. The happiness is palpable, a pair of chubby little fingers clutch a pair of shoes to the chest of the little boy. Six-year-old Austrian boy, Werfel, was photographed when he got a new pair of shoes at the Am Himmel orphanage, donated to him.The photograph was first published in LIFE magazine on December 30, 1946 and later, again, on September 24, 1951 and was titled “New Shoes”.

The picture is a beautiful effort in capturing the quintessence of childlike happiness. The abandon that children feel and profess, enjoying happiness in the littlest of things, in a life that an adult might otherwise be quick to profess as being filled with misery. The child’s ability to enjoy and cherish what has just been given to him, notwithstanding the fact that he lives in an orphanage, notwithstanding the historical events that had just unfolded snatching his comfortable life away from him, notwithstanding the fact that, that he doesn't understand were his parents are ...Reminds you how flawed our thinking is, to look at the negatives and focus on them. The expression of absolute purity in happiness is reminiscent of how beautiful life is – and wakes you up to straighten your own thinking when life strikes you down on occasion.
...
Have a wonderful weekend.......Stay safe.
Read moreLess

📽️ Short Film...........................................★ WE WIN
★ There’s a great party game called “Mafia.” Some call it “Werewolf.” Have you played it?
This game has a unique ability to bring out interesting and sometimes nasty sides of people.The film, follows a couple hosting a dinner party. When the evening’s activities turn from casual conversation to a game of “Mafia,” they’re pitted against one another, and their once happy and supportive relationship begins to unravel.

★ I certainly relate to how hard it can be to be stuck in one’s career, while cheering on someone else’s success. Your happiness for them is authentic but it’s tinged with your own resentment.....Can a game kill a relationship?....RunTime:12min ➤ vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/32...
...


📽️ Award Winning Short Film.........................................★ Caroline
★ Inspired by a trio of real-life stories, Caroline follows a single mother as she desperately prepares for a second interview for a job she clearly needs. Unfortunately, her childcare fell through and she is forced to leave her six year-old daughter in the car outside, looking after her two younger siblings, on an extremely hot summer day....*A film looking to provoke a little internal conflict, by making you question the situation, and the system, it’s a powerful and resonating watch driven on by the incredibly touching performances.
★ Leaving kids on a hot summer day in a car is indisputably wrong, but the way the situation is introduced in the first minutes can’t help but make us sympathize with the mother. The directorial duo really focus on making the mother’s desperation, exhaustion and the blazing temperature transpire through the screen, which makes her albeit wrong decision, more understandable. She is getting no help, definitely not from the government, and we all know that having our backs against the wall does not trigger the best decision making. .... RunTime:12min➤ vimeo.com/295591903

★ Enjoy.....Have a great week.......Be well my friend.
Read moreLess

SWEET AND HEARTWARMING TRUE STORIES ABOUT MOMS....

TWO SIMPLE WORDS
On the first day of first grade, I stood by the front door with butterflies in my stomach. I voiced my biggest concern to my mother: “How will I make friends?” Crouching in front of me, she handed me advice I carry with me to this day: “Be Switzerland.” Be friends with everyone. Treat everyone equally and fairly. For all of my 20 years, I have lived by these words. Soon I will graduate and become a part of the real world. And on that first day, nervously facing new responsibilities, I know I will whisper two words to myself: “Be Switzerland.”


A STAND-UP WOMAN
... My mom had a great sense of humor and a knack for making everything fun. One thing that resonated with me, even as a small child, was how much she seemed to enjoy her own company and found ways to entertain herself. As a kid, I remember her giggling while paying bills. What was so funny about bill paying? She would put humorous notes in the reference section of the check: For the electric bill, she might put “You light up my life,” and for the mortgage she’d write “Four shingles closer to owning it all.”

THE HARDEST CHOICE
Thirty-five years ago, when my mom was 22, she became a widow and a mother within the same month. The life she had imagined was stolen in a heartbeat. She tried to move on, but was lost. She gave me to my father’s family to be raised in the United States. Some call her weak; others call her selfish. I could be mad or bitter. Instead, I’m grateful for the life I have and to have a mother who sacrificed our relationship to give me a chance at a better life. She is courageous. She is my mother.

Have a wonderful Mothers Day weekend......Stay safe
Read moreLess

★ Happy May...........*Have a great week......Stay safe

Artist-Photographer-Author....................... Thomas Herbrich
*Thomas Herbrich, born in 1955, is a multi-award winning fine art photographer from Dusseldorf. This professional is sought after for making brands come alive. More than that, he takes photos more or less the same way an artist paints a picture or a filmmaker adds special effects with an endless amount of imagination. His spectacular scenes are meant to look realistic.

*Herbrich decided to bring the imagery of the film world into the photograph. My photography often reaches the boundary of what is possible, and yet, despite numerous computer techniques, very simple tricks are often used.

... *For me, a good picture is like the first line of a story, the viewer would like to know how the tale continues..... *So they are always ‘pictures, that tell a story’.

Have a wonderful weekend.........Stay safe.
Read moreLess

......*A Story of Four Worms
A minister determined a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. For this demonstration, he watered his lawn in the evening, then when night time approached, visited his back yard with flashlight in hand. He carefully selected four worms, night-crawlers to be exact. The Four Worms were Placed into Four Separate Jars
The FIRST WORM was put into a container of alcohol.
The SECOND WORM was put into a container of cigarette smoke.
The THIRD WORM was put into a container of chocolate.
The FOURTH WORM was put into a container of good clean soil.
At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results:
The FIRST WORM in the jar with alcohol - was DEAD.
The SECOND WORM in the jar with cigarette smoke - was DEAD.
The THIRD WORM in the jar with chocolate - was DEAD.
The FOURTH WORM in the jar of good clean soil - was ALIVE!
... So the Minister Asked the Congregation:
What can you learn from this demonstration?
From the back of the church, came the response:
"As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"

*That pretty much ended the service . . .

*Happy Earth Day.....Have a wonderful week ....Stay safe.
Read moreLess

★Have you ever wished someone a Happy Easter only to be told it's not 'their' Easter yet? It happens to the best of us especially when we don't realize that our friends, or co-workers belong to the Orthodox Church, which celebrates Easter on a different day than the Catholic Church and the majority of the world. The dates are almost always different, except on rare occasions when the dates fall on the same day. Sounds confusing? It turns out that there is actually a carefully calculated system behind the day Easter is recognized. Easter is the day members of the Christian faith recognize the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is a celebration of life and new beginnings....*Orthodox Easter this year is on April 28th
...
★Before the invention of calendars and other modern methods of tracking years and seasons, people relied on the position of the sun in the sky and obvious signs in nature to indicate the passing of time. When the equator and the hemispheres of the Earth became common knowledge, it was understood that the slightly tilted rotation of the earth causes different hemispheres to experience different seasons. While one hemisphere experiences spring and summer the other hemisphere experiences fall and winter. This happening is called an equinox. The vernal equinox is the event that occurs in late March, which brings spring to the parts of the earth in the Northern Hemispheres. The council chose this equinox as part of the calculation to ensure Easter would be celebrated in the spring at the same time..

★Easter reminds us that hope must never be lost for as dark as the road may seem, there always lies light at the end of it......May all your prayers be fulfilled.......I wish you and your family with abundances of happiness and inner peace...........Have a Blessed Easter weekend...

André Rieu - I Will Follow Him
➤ www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqN9aS2S...

Luminato Festival,Toronto Canada
1500 Singers sing HALLELUJAH!
➤ www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRfJ6-q...
Read moreLess

*Have a safe week.....

Life Lessons.......Described By A 70-Year-Old ................*As I've Aged....

*As I've Aged...
I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4AM or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love... I will...I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old. I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. ... And I eventually remember the important things. Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect. I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore... I've even earned the right to be wrong. So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day *If I feel like it •Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time •Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly..........•Have a wonderful weekend.....Be well my friend
Read moreLess

📽️ Multi-Award Winning CGI Animated Short Film................. ..CITIPATI
✴ We follow a dinosaur in his last moments, in which he, in an inhospitable world, succumbs to the effects of fatigue and his injuries. With his last breath, his world of thought unfolds, and his last impressions merge with his memories to a very personal end.

RunTime:7min ➤ www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSoImbo8...

📽️ Award-Winning CGI Animated Pixar Short Film................ ..Smash and Grab
✴ Smash and Grab is a tale of two robots. After years of toiling away inside the engine room of a towering locomotive, two antiquated robots will risk everything for freedom and for each other.
... RunTime:8min ➤ www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4-G7YpS...
Read moreLess

Happy Sunday..............*Have a wonderful week ahead.......Be well.

★ An abundance of blessings and prosperity are my heartfelt wishes to you today and throughout the month.....*Happy April.......*Have a wonderful week...Stay safe


.....
★It's time for April Fool's Day - a day when it is socially acceptable to prank your near and dear ones. April Fool's Day is celebrated on April 1. It is a day of laughter and cheer, when people around the world play practical jokes on their loved ones....Just be considerate and make sure your jokes are harmless, and then go ahead and enjoy April Fool's Day!

🎥 CGI 3D Animated Multi-Award Winning Short Film......................... Anna
★Spring 1941. A plane crashes in the Canadian Rockies and a little girl is taken in by a puma.

★RunTime:8min..➤ vimeo.com/320790011



🎥 Short Film............................................. MARS HABITAT
★Here is the final film for the Mars Habitation competition for NASA

★RunTime:5min..➤ vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/32...

...

..Have a wonderful weekend.......*Stay safe
Read moreLess

•Inspirational Story...........•A Bit Of Warmth...........•By Joseph J. Mazzella•

•It was a morning in January. The jet stream had dipped down causing the arctic cold to reach the mountains of my home. It was only 2 degrees outside but the wind chill made it feel like it was 15 below zero. Still, I was kneeling in the snow along side of my house trying to open a tiny door so I could get underneath it. I had forgotten to leave my water dripping the night before and now my water pipes were frozen and my faucets were dry.The wind cut into me like a knife while I struggled to get two electric space heaters in place around the section of frozen pipe. The waterlines were buried except for a small piece that connected up to my house. I put a space heater on each side of it, ran the extension cords into my house and plugged them in. Both heaters roared to life and started blowing hot air on the frozen water pipe. My fingers had already started to go numb so I stayed inside to wait. I could only hope that this bit of warmth could get my water flowing again.Finally, after twenty minutes the water started flowing through my faucets again. I went back outside into the bitter cold and gathered my heaters up. I looked at the weak January sun shining on the frozen snow and smiled. Then I sent a joy filled "thank you" heavenward and went back inside to make myself a hot breakfast.Sometimes the coldness of this life can get to us as well. It can make our hearts feel icy and frozen. It can keep our kindness and love from flowing out to others. At times like these, though, all we need is a bit of warmth to get us going again. It can be a simple smile, a kind word, a heart-felt hug, a morning sunrise, a bird’s song. Let us all be grateful for those bits of warmth that get us going again. And let us all try to be that bit of warmth for others every chance we get.....
...
•Have a wonderful week ahead........*Be kind to one an other.........Stay safe
Read moreLess

May your days be filled with endless peace, success, harmony, love, passion and compassion..

𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒔
★ When I first saw Zaria Forman’s work, I thought I was looking at a photograph. Instead I discovered that these incredibly detailed images are actually hyperrealist pastel drawings. They depict places that are profoundly affected by climate change—Antarctica, Greenland, and the Maldives. Her renderings of ice, waves, and water are astonishingly tangible and compelling.

★ Brooklyn artist Zaria Forman makes beautiful, ginormous pastel landscapes that serve as snapshots of melting glaciers and rising seas. You may’ve seen her work in House of Cards if you have a habit of staring at sets.
...
★ Her mother dedicated her life to photographing the most remote regions of the Earth. The cold and isolated landscape of the Arctic consumed her interest from 2001 until her passing in 2011. She always said that she was a polar bear in a past life, and watching her spend endless hours in the frigid winds, patiently and happily waiting for the moment when the light was just right.

★ She was diagnosed with brain cancer on Mother’s Day in 2011 and passed away six months later.And I promised to carry out her journey to Greenland... I was compelled to address the concept of saying goodbye on scales both global and personal as I scattered my mother’s ashes amidst the melting ice.


Zaria Forman's large-scale drawings that show the beauty and fragility of earth.......Join her as she discusses the meditative process of artistic creation and the motivation behind her work.
"My drawings celebrate the beauty of what we all stand to lose"
➤ www.ted.com/talks/zaria_forman_d...

𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙙.....𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙
Read moreLess

Dragon Aurora over Iceland
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190218.html