I like this place.... and could willingly waste my time in it...

Just last weekend it was in the 60's, flash foward 7 days and now it's freezing again. One thing most Missourians know is when a warm day is handed to you in the Winter - TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!

Last Saturday, my daughter and I (along with my camera) spent a few hours doing a little bit of the trail at the Glassberg Family Conservation Area: http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/applications/moatlas/AreaSummaryPage.aspx?txtAreaID=201201

Here are just a few images from that beautiful afternoon. I hope you enjoy them. 

“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy.”  ― Susan Polis Schutz

“We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.”  ― Henry David Thoreau

“...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”  ― Vincent van Gogh

“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn”  ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”  ― Gary Snyder

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” 
― John Muir

Photos by MK Designs Photography - 2015. Do not copy without permission. If you'd like to order any images, contact me! http://mkdesignsphoto.weebly.com/contact.html

On Honesty and Friendship...and Rest Peacefully Kayla Mueller

It's a bizarre feeling to know that someone deeply values your thoughts. ((Not those filtered thoughts that are safe, but your true raw inner thoughts.)) 

Over the years I have been accused of being too honest, of not using my filter enough, of having too strong of an opinion. 

However, in the past year and even in the past few hours... those accusations haven't been filled with hostility. They are filled with gratitude. 

The truth is this: real friends SHOULD be able to tell the truth even when the truth isn't necessarily uplifting. Our world is too full of "yes" people - individuals who will just tell you what they think you want to hear, not what you need to hear. 

I am humbled that tonight was one of those instances where someone sought me out because they knew I wasn't going to feed them a line of BS, but tell them what I really think of a really crappy situation they have been dealing with. 

We all need friends like that in our lives. Tell the truth, not just a bunch of candy-coated lies. I am honored I get to be that friend for a few people. I am thankful for the friends I have who do that for me. (Jen! Terri! Kris! Christie! Ty! and a few more) 

Am I wise? No. I really feel any "wisdom" I have gained isn't that great. 

Have I had all these "life experiences" that you read about in books? Maybe a few, but not that many in comparison to others. 

However, I do have a compassionate heart and the willingness to say, "God, use me... Let me be what it is you want me to be in this world."

Tonight I find myself praying for my friend(s) in need, as well as family of Kayla Jean Mueller. Don't know who she is? Educate yourself.  Here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/10/385182490/u-s-hostage-kayla-mueller-confirmed-dead

In Kayla's memory.... and also in dedication to a dear friend who is in need of a rest from a lot of troubles lately: