Child's Definition of LOVE.

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca - age 8

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - age 4

Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss" Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen," Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate," Nikka - age 6

"There are two kinds of love. Our love. God's love. But God makes both kinds of them." Jenny - age 8

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore," Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine -age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget," Jessica - age 8

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

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We can put an end to all the anger and hate in the world by simply choosing to love one another. It really is just that simple.

Bear Hugs & Much Love,
PolarB ;)

Today was a day of rest and relaxation. I woke up a bit later today ...9:30 which is very late for me. Got up and fixed an egg, cheese and onion omelette topped with sour cream, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out to the screened in porch. I love sitting out there having breakfast while watching the birds and critters frolic and play.

The hummers are vibrant and full of playfulness. They whip to and fro and chase one another with lightening fast speed. I love catching them on film. We have three feeders out for them because the males can get a bit possessive and not let the females come to get a drink. This way at least if he is occupied at one feeder, she can zip over to another one for a quick sip. It is really funny to watch them. I love to watch them when they are in their mating dance rituals. They swoop way low back and forth in an upside down arch in order to impress the ladies. Quite impressive if I do say so myself. They love to play hide and seek in our trees and zoom down on an unsuspecting hummer who happens by and stops at the feeders. We enjoy them so much.



Our pool area which is now a makeshift pond until we can put the courtyard in, with all the rains we have had, there is at least a foot of water pooled in a the 30 foot round hole. It has been Motel 6 to all the frogs in the area. I think it is breeding central and we have hundreds of frogs in there. It has actually been very interesting watching them along the process from eggs to tadpoles to developing their little legs and growing each day like the grown up frogs. Watching them discover how fast they could go with their new legs was fun. They mimic the big frogs when it is feeding time in the late afternoon. We have found several making their way out of the pond and into our screened porch which is comical seeing them climb up the screens. Lovie just picks them up and takes them back to the pond.

The pond is also attracting dragonflies which are so beautiful. I was able to snap a few pictures of them and got some good shots. On the one I was able to post here, I noticed that there are a ton of little round orbs hovering around the dragonfly which is really cool. I bet they're pixie fairies! Sounds like inspiration for me to write a new story.



It has been a great long weekend for me. I was off work Friday and will be on Monday as well with my summer hours schedule at work. I love it! Lovie and I headed to Indianapolis for a Native American festival. I've heard about this particular one for years and always wanted to go so we finally made it. It was pretty much fun and the weather was great. Tons of vendors and artists there displaying their works. There was absolutely beautiful artwork there and as we got to visit the Eiteljorg Native American museum while we were there. I enjoyed walking through the galleries and seeing all that work that was focused on Native Americans and South Western art.

I think we will go back during the summer again to visit the Indianapolis Zoo and a few other points of interest as well. They have a really cool setup in their downtown area and they even have a stream that runs through the middle of the museum areas where they have Gondolas that you can ride in. The zoo there is one of my favorites and where I had an incredible polar bear encounter several years back... I posted about it quite a while ago and it was really awesome...you see my polar bear knew he was my power animal long before I realized it and let's just say he got my attention in a rather unique way.

I will try to post a few more zoo pics soon too. I've been trying to upload pics for the last three hours so we will see if they cooperate or not. It is a long process of resizing and waiting.

Speaking of art and galleries... I finished a new oil painting that is going to be a gift for one of my friends. I will post it here for you to see. I've never worked in oils before so it was pretty cool and I am pleased with how the painting turned out. I will have to experiment some more as I really like the textured quality of the paints and the gloss of it... The downside with oils is it takes so long to dry in between so it has taken me a couple months to work on this painting. I mostly work with watercolors and pastels so this was quite different.

What do you think?



Our flower gardens looks so pretty right now. I've already mapped out a new bed and we will be digging the sod up tomorrow if it doesn't rain and transplanting some flowers from one bed to another. I adore gardening. I would love to be independently wealthy, so I could do all the things I love to do all day long. Like gardening, artwork, photography, writing, traveling, cooking, etc.... Man that would be soooooooo nice, wouldn't it? The rich and famous don't even know how much they are blessed do they? Oh well.. working hard for what you have makes it all the more satisfying and fulfilling, don't you think?

One of the things I love to do in my gardens are to place little whimsical things here and there. I have gnomes hidden in my herbal gardens. Lovie loves frogs so we have several different frogs in our gardens. I have one that is so old he is crackled and he fits perfectly in my Oriental Garden bed. He is like a wise old frog that goes great with my Budda man. Here is our llittle fairy angel hanging in our tree. Do you like her?



Here is our little birdie in the tree.



Here are some flowers for your enjoyment.





I love our clematis. We have three different kinds. Purple which you see above, pink and white striped, and all white. I could plant flowers on every inch of our land and be very happy by all the blossoms.

Well, I suppose I should stop writing now and catch up on some other things. Summer is in full swing and I know that means a lot of people are outside soaking up the sunshine. I know I do it every chance I get. Be good and be kind to one another and enjoy the beautiful nature outside that God made for our pleasure.

Bear Hugs!
PolarB ;)

Charles Schultz Philosophy

 Charles Schultz Philosophy