TRANSPORTATION AT LAST... T3M's TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGE...

 “Beyond a certain speed, motorized vehicles 

create remoteness which they alone can shrink. 

They create distances for all and shrink them for only a few. 

A new dirt road through the wilderness 

brings the city within view, but not within reach, 

of most Brazilian subsistence farmers. 

The new expressway expands Chicago, 

but it sucks those who are well-wheeled 

away from a downtown that decays into a ghetto.” 

~

 Ivan Illich

A BIT OF THE BUBBLY... TAW's WINE CHALLENGE...

 Red red wine, you make me feel so fine 

You keep me rockin' all of the time 

Red red wine, you make me feel so grand 

I feel a million dollar when you're just in my hand 

Red red wine, you make me feel so sad 

Any time I see you go, it make me feel bad

~

Neil Diamond

ONE AND A HALF MAN BAND... SPA's MUSIC CHALLENGE...

You can't always 

choose the music 

life plays for you,

but you can choose 

how you dance to it.

UMBRELLA PARADE... DIGITAL WHISPER's RAIN...

 I'm only happy when it rains 

I feel good when things are goin' wrong 

I only listen to the sad, sad songs 

I'm only happy when it rains 

I only smile in the dark 

My only comfort is the night gone black 

I didn't accidentally tell you that 

I'm only happy when it rains

~

Garbage

THE GOODLY FOLKS... T3M's FAMILY CHALLENGE...

 Uncle Ezekiel and Aunt Clara 

were goodly folks,

they felt it was their duty to 

visited all of their neighbors faithfully

for an hour each week

to cheer them, share their knowledge

and let them know just what they were doing wrong. 

MONA's BLUE PHASE... TAW's BLUE CHALLENGE...

 After you go, I can catch up on my reading 

After you go, I'll have a lot more time for sleeping 

And when you're gone, 

looks like things are gonna be a lot easier 

Life will be a breeze, 

you know I really should be glad 

But I'm bluer than blue, 

sadder than sad 

You're the only light this empty room has ever had 

And life without you is gonna be 

Bluer than blue

~

Randy Goodrum

FRAMED... SPA's FRAMED CHALLENGE...

 “It's funny how the beauty of art 

has so much more to do with the frame 

than the artwork itself.” 

~

 Chuck Palahniuk

DON'T STOP BELIVING... DIGITAL WHISPER's JOURNEY CHALLENGE...

 Just a small town girl 

Livin' in a lonely world 

She took the midnight train goin' anywhere 

Just a city boy 

Born and raised in South Detroit 

He took the midnight train goin' anywhere 

 Searchin' in the night 

Streetlights, people 

Livin' just to find emotion 

Hidin' somewhere in the night 

Don't stop believin' 

Hold on to that feelin' 

 Don't stop, believin' 

Hold on Streetlights, people 

Hold on to that feelin'

~

Journey

THE KID IS IN THE MAIL... T3M's MAIL ART CHALLENGE...

 Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began in the early 20th century, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle “mailed” their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia.  Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his “delivery” cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). Over the years, these stories continued to pop up from time to time as parents occasionally managed to slip their children through the mail thanks to rural workers willing to let it slide. Finally, on June 14, 1913,  the postmaster officially decreed that children could no longer be sent through the mail.

AMAZING GRACE... TAW's DANCE CHALLENGE...

 I hope you never lose your sense of wonder, 

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger, 

May you never take one single breath for granted, 

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed, 

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

 Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens, 

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance, 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. 

I hope you dance... 

I hope you dance...

~

Lee Ann Womack

MY SWEET SEBASTION... SPA's BRANCHES CHALLENGE...

  Our roots belong to 

The same tree, 

Our branches have grown 

In different directions. 

Our tree, 

Now resembles a thousand 

Other trees 

In a sea of a trillion 

Other trees 

With parallel destinies 

And similar dreams.

~

Suzy Kassem

IT's A HARD LIFE... DIGITAL WHISPER's LITTLE BOYS...

 When your day is long 

And the night, the night is yours alone 

When you're sure you've had enough Of this life, 

well hang on 

Don't let yourself go 

'Cause everybody cries 

Everybody hurts sometimes 

Sometimes everything is wrong 

Now it's time to sing along 

When your day is night alone (hold on, hold on) 

If you feel like letting go (hold on) 

If you think you've had too much 

Of this life, well hang on 

'Cause everybody hurts 

Take comfort in your friends 

Everybody hurts sometime.

~

REM

HAPPINESS IS: HAVING SOMEONE WHO CARES... T3M's HAPPINESS IS CHALLENGE...

 You're nobody till somebody loves you 

You're nobody till somebody cares 

You may be king, you may possess the world and his gold 

But gold won't bring you happiness 

When you're growin' old 

The world still is the same, you'll never change it 

As sure as the stars shines above 

You're nobody till somebody loves you 

So find yourself somebody to love

~

Dean Martin

JUST THE STARS and ME... TAW's STARS CHALLENGE...

 “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” 

~

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Happiness is always there. 

You just have to choose to see it. 

There's no point dwelling in the dark 

and ignoring the light of the stars.” 

~

 Carrie Hope Fletcher

FORTY SHADES OF BLUE... SPA's JANUARY BLUES CHALLENGE...

 “How do you know, when you think blue — 

when you say blue — 

that you are talking about the same blue as anyone else? 

 You cannot get a grip on blue. 

 Blue is the sky, the sea, a god’s eye, a devil’s tail, a birth, 

a strangulation, a virgin’s cloak, a monkey’s ass. 

It’s a butterfly, a bird, a spicy joke,

 the saddest song, the brightest day. 

 Blue is sly, slick, it slides into the room sideways,

 a slippery trickster. 

 This is a story about the color blue, and like blue, 

there’s nothing true about it. 

Blue is beauty, not truth. ‘True blue’ is a ruse, a rhyme; 

it’s there, then it’s not. 

Blue is a deeply sneaky color.” 

~ 

Christopher Moore

THE TWENTIES NOIR... DIGITAL WHISPER's ROARING TWENTIES CHALLENGE...

 In olden days, a glimpse of stocking 

Was looked on as something shocking 

But now, Heaven knows 

Anything goes 

Good authors, too, who once knew better words 

Now only use four-letter words 

Writing prose 

Anything goes

~

Cole Porter

2021 ENOUGH SAID...

 ENOUGH SAID...

2021 INTO THE DARK... T3M's QUOTE CHALLENGE...

 And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: 

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” 

And he replied: 

“Go out into the darkness 

and put your hand into the Hand of God. 

That shall be to you better than light 

and safer than a known way.”

~

Minnie Louise Haskins

YIPEE IT's OVER... TAW's NEW YEARS CHALLENGE...

 There's a sad sort of clanking 

From the clock in the hall 

And the bells in the steeple too. 

And up in the nursery an absurd little bird 

Is popping up to say cukoo! Cukoo! Cukoo! 

Regretfully they tell us 

But firmly they compel us 

To say goodbye to you. 

So long Farewell Aufwiedersehn 

Goodbye 

I leave and heave a sigh 

and say goodbye Goodbye! 

I'm glad to go I cannot tell a lie

Goodbye,

Goodbye,

Goodbye.

~

The Sound of Music

BIRDS ON ICE... SPA's WINTER BIRDS CHALLENGE...

 I heard a bird sing in the dark of December

a magical thing and sweet to remember.

We are closer to spring than we were in September

I heard a bird sing in the dark of December.

~

Oliver Herford

THE WINTER FAIRY... DIGITAL WHISPER's FAIRY CHALLENGE...

May you touch dragonflies and stars, 

dance with faeries 

and talk to the moon.

~

Unknown

 

SNOW, AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATS & DOGS... T3M'S SNOW CHALLENGE...

 Snow, snow, snow, 

It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow 

Snow, I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow 

Snow, I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow 

Snow, oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow.

~

Bing Crosby

PARIS CHRISTMAS... TAW's CHRISTMAS CARD CHALLENGE...

 A Very Merry Christmas to all my friends and visitors.

My love and best wishes to you and yours where ever you may be.

Thank you so much for your friendship and comments

through the years they mean so much to me.

Hopes and prayers to us all for a Happier and Healthier

New Year, until then take care of you.

~

Deann

THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL... SPA's OPEN CHALLENGE...

 Open your heart

open it wide

someone is standing outside.

~

Mary Engelbreit

LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE... DIGITAL WHISPER's SNOWMAN CHALLENGE...

I light up my life 

I give me hope to carry on 

I light up my days 

And fill my nights with song

~

Covid love song