Who are you, and what does that avatar really mean?

[thistlebloom]

I guess I need to think about an avatar, too, although I really don't know what it would be. Sink full of dirty dishes? muddy shoes? empty gas tank?
I chose my name just to put a positive spin to my thoughts and my prattling. I do feel lucky for so many things, such as being as healthy as I am, not having an abusive spouse, having loving children, living in a safe place, having plenty to eat. I am not particularly "religious" in the usual sense, so I felt calling myself "so blessed" or something similar would signify a mantle around me that is not necessarily there. And although I am often cynical, I am also cheerful most of the time. So "Smiles" might have been a choice, too. Good thing it's taken!

How about a 4 leaf clover?

 

[lesa]

Oh, thistle- those pictures are beautiful! You cheered me up, tonight with those! Nothing says perfect like a picket fence- it even looks pretty in winter (kind of!)

 

[so lucky]

Good idea, thistle. (I'm pretty lucky about finding those things, too)

 

[897tgigvib]

Purple Clematis; Jackmanii? We sold a good lot of Clematis up north when I worked at the greenhouse. Tough as nails, and if on the southern exposure of a bright house there can be times nary a leaf can be seen they get so smothered in flowers! Not everyone knows how to prune them just right, but even if done wrong they still do ok.

We have a few wild small white flowered species Clematis up here. Their flower show is nice, but when they load up with those geometrically spiral concentric feathery seed pods, all a brilliant white, wow! That's their real show. Not everybody notices them though! They can't see the forest because the trees are in the way.

 

[journey11]

Oh Thistle, your flower pics are beautiful and making me feel all day-dreamy. I can't wait for summer! (Now why'd you have to go and stick that rotten old winter pic in there too? LOL)

 

[digitS']

I think that winter scene beyond the picket fence is lovely! The sky has that look of a just now passing snow storm. Focus on the prospect beyond the trees. No, you won't be getting out there today. Or, if you do, it will take a struggle. Soon, tho'! Soon. Beyond the trees, there will be something going on, only to be imagined right now.

Thistle' likes winter. She may go back to that photo of a frosted horse, blinking at us thru snowflake covered eyelashes right thru next summer .

I like picket fences. See, they are good cribbing for snow storage purposes . . . Okay, I'll stick with a pair of work gloves as an avatar . . .

Steve

 

[baymule]

Baymule, I remember reading that story in TSC's Out Here magazine, about a year ago. Lovely story...it made me bawl, but happy tears!

Awww......... I won a $200 gift card for that story and my friend got to see her dad's story in the magazine. The gift card only cost my DH another $550 for the horse wire and fence posts I wanted!

 

[thistlebloom]

I like winter, but I LOVE summer!

 

[MontyJ]

OK, I'll go. Not much mystique about the name. Monty J, that's me. The only ones who add the J are my mother and sister. They never use my brothers middle names, but I have always been MontyJ to them. I don't know why. Maybe I got into trouble a lot as a kid and it became commonplace? As for the avatar, it's probably my favorite pic. It's me and my youngest daughter holding her very first Walleye during a fishing trip to Lake Erie. We had such an AWESOME time! Of my four daughters, she is the only one that has any interest in gardening and fishing. Here is another favorite:

This is her catching that fish. I had to hold the pole for her so she could use both hands to reel it in. I thought the boat captain was going to wet himself because he was laughing so hard.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Oh, hang onto those precious moments. Sometimes those moments and memories are all we need to get us through in times of tribulation.