Old-Fashioned, Illustration Friday

It's that wonderful old-fashioned idea that others come first and you come second. This was the whole ethic by which I was brought up. Others matter more than you do, so 'don't fuss, dear; get on with it.' ~ Audrey Hepburn

Illustration Friday offered a dose of reality with this prompt. Having just celebrated a birthday earlier in the week, I'm getting well acquainted with many things that have already been. But no matter one's age, simple old- fashioned notions will always stand up to the test of time!

Acrobat, Illustration Friday

"The poet like an acrobat climbs on rime to a high wire of his own making." ~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Sometimes the high wire isn't so high, but it's still a stretch. And sometimes, things just snap.

Illustration Friday, how about a few acrobats in the belfry?

Proverb, Illustration Friday

"A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience." ~ Miguel de Cervantes

Silence is golden, until the next post!

Dessert, Illustration Friday

"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first." ~ Ernestine Ulmer

Meet Mister E. Pye, who gives "dessert to die for" a whole new meaning. As Illustration Friday suggested, desserts were what was on the menu this past week. Too bad Mister E. Pye didn't know Ernestine!

With Halloween looming within sight, the ghosts and goblins are starting to act up. Do they serve their pie with "I scream," and is that "a la moan?"

Oh, I am just killing myself! See you next week!

Immovable, Illustration Friday

Immovable. Have you ever felt like that? This week, the word must have hit home so hard, it was difficult to know which direction to take! For Illustration Friday, I offer my last minute entry.
To all my blogger pals who stopped in with kind greetings last week, a very warm thank you! That you took the time to visit really brightened my week! Hope to see all of you in your future posts!

Atmosphere, Illustration Friday

“For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life - the light and the air which vary continually. For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value.” ~ Claude Monet

After what seemed was going to be an endless supply of gray, cloudy, soggy, drippy and unseasonably cool summer days, to finally see the sun peeking in my window prompted me to paint a section of my garden and newly discovered shadows. Illustration Friday's word of the week, "atmosphere," and its related quote by Claude Monet inspired a much needed change in direction and attitude.

Star Gazing, Illustration Friday

"Star gazing is a connection to humanity's earliest curiosity about our place in
the universe" ~ Thomas Kiernan

When the summer skies are too cloudy to view the Perseids (or any other stars for that matter), a monkey has to improvise. Creating a star gazing moment for his crabby neighbor, his monkeyshines prove that his place on the evolutionary scale is a debatably higher, and that coconuts don't fall far from the tree, they just bounce.