Time to Yourself

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“We all need empty hours in our lives or
we will have no time to create or dream.”
Robert Coles

Pirate style sailboat sailing past the Esplanade.

I don’t care who you are, we all need time alone. It can be as short as ten minutes or as long as a week.

This concept is really driven home after guests have visited.

Don’t get me wrong, I love having visitors and cooking, cleaning and playing Martha Stewart, but it sure is nice to have my time and space back. Especially when you are used to having lots of your own time alone.

Some people hate having alone time. For me, I have so many hobbies and things I like to do that require alone time, that I’ve always enjoyed my space and time alone.

Going for walks, visiting the library or just siting in the park can be a great way to allow yourself alone time. It not only clears your head, but can give you a fresh look at the world around you when you get time to yourself.

Shine On

Hooting in the House

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.”
Alfred Tennyson

The California Great Horned Owl

Late every evening, for the past two months I hear the sound of an owl hooting. To hear the owl clearly, you must be outside the front door. The calls from the owl are coming from the roof and echo and bounce off the outside walls of our nine story building.

Like a well tuned clock, the owls hooting begins at ten o’clock each night. Unfortunately, because I have night blindness and have no access to the roof, I have not actually seen this owl.

Being the owl fan I am, everyone I know has heard about this owl. They all look at me like I’m nuts and tell me “that’s nice.” My husband just thinks I have bats in my belfry. (That’s another post at another time.)

Last night when my owl buddy began to hoot, I turned to my husband and asked.

“Can you hear it? Can you hear it?”

“I don’t hear anything.” Said my husband.

I grabbed my husband by the hand, led him off the sofa, away from his car show to the front door and opened the door. We stood at the door for a few seconds, and then the owl gave his distinguished hoot. We both listened as the owl hooted several times.

I was excited as a school girl that my husband had finally witnessed the hoots from my visiting friend. Excited that we had shared the sounds from one of natures most majestic creatures. On the other hand, my husband didn’t share my excitement and just replied “that’s nice”, and returned to the sofa and his car show.

To me its the little things in life that make me happy and give me hope. I love nature and all its wonder. Why has this owl chose our building? Is it because it is the tallest spot facing the ocean? Is it because his hooting echo’s and carries farther for other owls to hear and find him?

I’d like to believe the arrival of this owl and his hooting every night is a sign. A sign of hope. A sign of all the good to come. A sign of wisdom and what knowledge can bring.

But, that is the never-ending romantic in me. For whatever the reason this owl arrived at our building, I’m enjoying all the hooting in the house.

Shine On

Truly Living

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
Lao Tzu

I love this NYC apartment with its clean uncluttered design.

Some people’s lives are cluttered with possessions to the point where their possessions are taking over their life.

I’m a minimalist, so I don’t have lots of knickknacks, magazines, books and papers in my home. I’ve been a minimalist since sixteen years of age.

At sixteen years old, a friend of my grandmother’s died. He didn’t have any family or friends, except for my grandmother and my family. There was no one to contact about his death, so my older brother and I were elected to dispose of his belongings. This was my first experience with losing someone I knew.

As I sat there looking through his photo albums, clothing, books and knickknacks he had collected over the years, I felt very sad. All of these precious items he had for over eighty years. All of his belongings and items he treasured, were left behind with no one to continue his memories. Sadly, we emptied item after item into the trash. Furniture, clothing, books, kitchen items, and electronics went to the Salvation Army.

Since that day, I stopped hanging on to items that I felt were nonessential possessions in my life. This allows me to simplify my life and also allows me to live in the present. When it comes right down to it, the only important moment is the present moment.

If you can only live one moment at a time, you might as well make it the present. Because choosing to live in the past or the future not only robs you of enjoyment of today, it robs you of truly living.

Shine On

Our Lives

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over
the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”
Henry David Thoreau

On my afternoon walk, I noticed that the city of Redondo Beach added more mosaics to the pillars along the Esplanade. I took some photos and just had to share these beautiful works of art. Click on the pictures to see a more detailed photo of the mosaic.

Shine On

Pictures Are A Snap

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Chronicles of a Blogaholic

“Of all of our inventions for mass communication,
pictures still speak the most universally
understood language.”
Walt Disney

Pictures Are a Snap

Taking a terrible photo is almost a thing of the past. Everyone either has a camera on their phone, or owns a digital camera.

Thirty years ago the best thing to a digital camera was a Polaroid. Polaroids gave you immediate gratification, and no processing expense. If you ask anyone under the age of twenty what a Polaroid camera is, they probably wouldn’t know what you were talking about.

The cameras of today have come a long way from the large cumbersome cameras of the early 1900’s. Even when you watch old movies from the 1930’s, the camera’s were quite large with their flash bulbs lighting up their subjects.

In the 1970s my camera of choice was a used 35mm Nikon EL camera. It was extremely difficult for me to learn about exposures and f-stops. All I wanted was to take nice pictures and not be bothered with all the details.

Then in 2003 my husband bought me my first digital camera. It was the first generation of the Nikon Coolpix. The lens on this camera is incredibly sharp. So sharp, when I blew up a seven-foot poster from a photo I took of my son, there was zero pixilation in the print.

Currently, I shoot with a Sony HD video camera that also has still image capability. The photos are even sharper than my Coolpix, so I rarely use my Nikon.

My favorite feature I like about digital video and camera images is the zero cost in processing fees. But what I really love is when I take a bad photo, I can just delete it. Yes, thanks to modern technology, taking great pictures are a snap.

Shine On