What is the header all about anyway?

These are some photos that seemed appropriate for my starting a new year.

First there I am on the left, while visiting a darling pocket park on the Hillsborough River in Temple Terrace, FL. After all, this blog is about me and my interests...and trees are very central to my creative life!

Next comes the facade of a small grocery store.  In HIllsboro, Texas (where some ancestors lived.)

I was little when we hauled the wagon full of Dr. Pepper bottles down the street to our corner store in Houston, TX.  When I later lived in St. Louis MO, I'd take my allowance to another corner store and buy candy, but look at all the comics as long as I could while not buying any.  Corner stores are now very different, and give me chills rather than making me feel welcome.

Next (center) are lots of photos of my three sons.  They are the next generation that (whether intentional or not) will take my teachings and mold them into their own lives and relationships.  I dearly love each of the three of them!

Next a picture of a foot bridge in wintertime...in snow.  I don't know if January will bring snow here this year, but it's likely.  And I'll try to find some picturesque shots to save for my own albums.

Next is a photo I didn't take, but of an old friend who is no longer on this earth.  The picture shows Jinni taking part in a ritual.  Rituals are important to me and many who follow pagan paths including the goddesses.

And then comes a couple of horses and wagon being pulled in East Tennessee, where many of my ancestors lived.

Finally, a new (old) goddess statue (marble) which has recently been discovered in Turkey.  Many goddess figures have been found at this site (Catal Hoek). This little woman reminds me so much of Venus of Willendorf, from the area of the Danube River...nowhere near Turkey!

This is the part of goddess scholarship which I love...that many centuries before a single god became the focus of a religion, there were goddesses evidently being revered.  I was in my 50s before this was taught to me!  I am glad most of my descendants know about the goddess cultures that existed before there were written histories.

 Today's Quote:

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.

Vaclav Havel