Seedlings
I have great faith in seeds.Convince me that you have a seed there,and I am prepared to expect miracles.— Henry David Thoreau What joy when I went to water dirt Wednesday morning and discovered tiny, delicate, determined plants. Those bits of green reminded what a marvel gardening can be. Last autumn, narcissus bulbs were buried in a nearby, community planter. How delightful to ride past and see those yellow flowers atop the green stems, keeping their spring time promises after months of winter. Here are more thoughts on seedling magic, It’s good to leave each day behind,like flowing water, free of sadness.Yesterday is gone and its tale told.Today new seeds are growing.— Rumi Once in a golden hour, I cast to earth a seed,And up there grew a flower,That others called a weed.– — Alfred Lord Tennyson I would like to believe when I die that I have given myself awaylike a tree that sows seed every spring and never counts the loss,because it is not loss, it is adding to future life.It is the tree’s way of being.Strongly rooted perhaps,but spilling out its treasure on the wind.— May Sarton Every moment and every event of everyman’s life on earthplants something in his soul.For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds,so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitalitythat come to rest imperceptiblyin the minds and wills of men.— Thomas Merton We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it.Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness.Tear out arrogance and seed humility.Exchange love for hate—thereby, making the present comfortableand the future promising.— Maya Angelou While some start seedlings in December, time remains. Here are some how-to videos: Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould FordPresenting arts experiences to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. Journals Record your dreams, hopes, plans and achievements in these beautiful, inspiring notebooks. Details: 6” x 8, spiral notebook 120 pages, ruled on both sides Art printed on front Cover is thick paper stock.Back cover is medium gray Inside front and back covers have pockets for storing extra paper and pens View All Notebooks Thanks for shopping!
Special Short, 400 MPH
Fasten your seat belts, It’s going to be a bumpy night. — Bette Davis’ line from movie All About Eve. View 20 second clip Each month, Succeed and Soar shares a short videos chosen to lift the heart and spirit, awareness and humanity. This month’s special selection is for times when wondering if what seems impossible can happen. Here are some encouragements. Only from the heart can you touch the sky. – Rumi Sky is the limit they said… But I was searching for something without limit, as same as my dreams… limitless. — Unknown Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal. — Pamela Vaull Starr Comments on the following CGI animation include, Amazing!!! Just amazing. Loved every second of it.. Yes!!! Definitely awards winning .. wow.. Some people take impossible as a challenge. Great stuff. Enjoy! Click Here to View. 400 MPH 4 Minutes Beyond the Sky’s Limits is adapted from Succeed and Soar’s 2024 series. The booklet shares encouraging wisdom and uplifting images about going beyond boundaries and making dreams come true. Open space for notes, sketches and journaling. Details: Inspirational [includes above sky quotes] Beautiful photography Easy-to-mail greeting card size 5×8, 36 pages $11.50 Preview sample See All Radiant Tree Books Thanks for your support!
Rumi & Soaring Spirits
Consider Rock bottom became the solid foundation in which I rebuilt my life. – J.K.Rowling Please enjoy this post’s two short videos, chosen to lift the heart and spirit, our awareness and humanity. The first is two minutes long and presents love as transcendent and sacred. Prepare to swoon. As March Madness ends, the second offers basketball as both poetic and energizing. [Did you root for Cinderella St. Peter’s, too?] Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Presenting art to encourage, refresh, enrich creative thing and inspire. Shop Sandra’s Art This puzzle is a poster from the Contemplative Art that illustrated Succeed and Soar’s Path’s to Joy series. Puzzles are made from premium 0.2” thick paper stock Include a semi-gloss coating that makes the top vibrant Arrives in a puzzle box with artwork printed on top for safe storage Puzzle pieces are unique shapes 18×24-inch 500-piece puzzle is $40— 20×28-inch 1,000-piece puzzle is $44.50 CUSTOMIZE. Use tools with item to: Enlarge, reduce size of art Change placement of art and text Choose background colors Purchase this puzzle. Shop All Collections HERE. Thanks for shopping!
Wisdoms, Understanding Happiness
Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. — Robert A. Heinlein For decades, I’ve gathered precious insights. Each one I read is like a breath of life. They lift my spirit and remind of the good we can do and marvelous things we can be. I hope this web site’s words and images encourage, refresh, enrich creative thinking and inspire. I hope they gladden your heart. True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future. — Lucius Annaeus Seneca A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. — Unknown The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. — Victor Hugo Live as though life is rigged in your favor. — Rumi The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. – – Mark Twain Succeed and Soar! Sandra Gould Ford Beautiful, inspiring Succeed and Soar posters. Sizes from 8”x6.5” to the popular 30” x 23.5” Four Shape Options: Natural, Vertical, Horizontal and Square Printed on acid-free paper with archival inks Includes 1” white border to allow for future framing and mounting View All Posters Thanks for shopping!
To Be Great Again
You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly. ― Rumi Of late, I’ve wondered what ever did Make America Great and whether those acts should be repeated. After all, in 1637 Thanksgiving became an annual event to celebrate the massacre of the Wampanoags, the people who saved the Pilgrims from starvation. See New York Times. In pressing President Lincoln to make Plymouth’s annual feast a national holiday, Thanksgiving’s Godmother saw the celebration as a white-only event. See Washington Post. Have yhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/27/how-fourth-thursday-november-officially-became-thanksgivingou ever wondered: Was the United States receiving stolen goods when it purchased the Louisiana Territory? After all, how did the French come to own then sell Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, parts of Minnesota and Louisiana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Montana and Colorado? See As described in Doug J. Swanson’s Cult of Glory, the Texas Rangers ‘ role in taking Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California from its first settlers is sordid. See These acts plus slavery enabled the United States’ growth. Despite this country’s building blocks, might the ideals that always made this nation great be beliefs that here, as nowhere else, human beings can build a world-leading civilization based on: Generous, big-hearted spirits Social activism, always our brothers’ keepers Innovative thought, pioneering projects and progressive achievements Recently, America has experienced plagues of fearfulness, paranoia, intolerance, prejudice, divisiveness, isolationism and stinginess. A cure for those dis-eases could be re-presenting ourselves as described in the contender for our National Anthem. [Maybe “America The Beautiful” should replace the “Star Spangled Banner.”] See video below. An African wisdom advises: Face the sun and shadows will fall behind you. As we approach the Winter Solstice-New Year holy-days of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Pancha Ganapti, Saint Nicholas Day, Matariki, Sanghamitta, Dong Zhi, Soyal, Yalda and Yule, face the sun. Let’s make ourselves, everywhere greater than we were. We have wings. We can fly! Wanderings & Wonders Collection The inspiring and beautiful work in my Fine Art America collections is available as prints, framed and on canvas as well as on journals, greeting cards, weekender bags, shower curtains, puzzles and much more. Shop Here Thanks for your support! Sandra Gould Ford NOTE: size and placement of the art and words]can be changed as well as background colors.
Discovery
Your heart is the size of the ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths. – Rumi In 2010, I flew across the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Grand Junction, Colorado. There, I planned a speedy, one-week loop to Utah’s Bryce Canyon and back in time to catch the Amtrak home. But astonishing, sometimes otherworldly, landscapes kept stopping me. My rushed agenda could not fit in a world where rock whittled by wind, land removed by river and terrain broken by earthquakes kept stopping me, kept making me wonder: What were these places like before their surfaces were scraped and reshaped? What new forms will one day be discovered within the now-hidden depths? Here’s a bit of what The Monument taught about forces that create new structures and reveal deeper possibilities. This vast place is also called, “The Heart of The World,” which was once the bottom of an ocean. The sign says: The Great Fault The great valley in front of you was not always so low. Nor was the plateau behind you so high. Forces in the earth’s crust made them move to these positions, dividing the valley from the plateau along a huge crack. The fault runs right through here, extending far into the distance both to your left and to your right. In some places the displacement of the fault caused the land to break apart [left]. In other places the surface layers folded or bent without breaking [right]. If you find it difficult to see the fault it is because it is an irregular zone of slippage, not a sharp, clean line. Also, erosion and the roadcut have obscured some of the outlines of the fault. Notice the rock layers behind you – they have a very gentle dip, while those in front are nearly vertical. The Beehive Coke Ovens Because of my fascination with beehive coke ovens from nineteenth and twentieth-century iron and steel manufacturing, I had to find these monoliths. Here they are! The Red Canyon Another fascinating discovery was the canyon within a canyon. The accompanying sign says: Red Canyon is really two canyons. Most obvious is the broad U-shaped canyon with tall sandstone wall. But notice the smaller V-shaped cut in the middle of the canyon floor. Water has begun to carve into the hard metamorphic bedrock, but this old, pressure-treated and tempered rock wears away much more slowly than the fragile sedimentary canyon walls. By the time the small canyon reaches the depth of the larger one, all of the sedimentary layers above it will probably be gone. The little canyon is the V-shaped indentation at this photo’s top center. This tiny one will outlast the giant canyon surrounding it. BTW: Have you ever thought of flying strong and high as an eagle? Here are fascinating “Chipper” facts about these mighty birds. The Wanderings & Wonders Collection Shop Enriching, Uplifting and Beautiful Art Click Here