Tag: photography

Parks and Recreation

Published on by Tosha Michelle8 Comments

Recently the family and I have been rewatching the comedy Parks and Rec. According to my daughters and better half, Leslie Knopes is my alter ego. Who knew? I see myself as more of a Ron, minus the tache. Ha! Anyway, in honor of my TV character doppelgänger and in the name of levity, (which let’s be honest, we all could use in our current Covid 19 world), here are some of my favorite quotes from the show. Y’all stay healthy and for the love of all that’s sane, wear a friggin mask!

  1. Everything hurts and I’m dying.” – Leslie Knope
  2. “There’s only one thing I hate more than lying: skim milk. Which is water that is lying about being milk.” – Ron Swanson
  3. “Time is money; Money is power; Power is pizza; Pizza is knowledge. Let’s go!” – April Ludgate
  4. “I am a Goddess, a glorious female warrior.” – Leslie Knope
  5. “Just remember, every time you look up at the moon, I, too, will be looking at a moon. Not the same moon, obviously, That’s impossible.” – Andy Dwyer
  6. “Sometimes you gotta work a little so you can ball a lot.” – Tom Haverford
  7. “We have to remeber what’s important in life: friends waffles and work. Or waffles, friends, work. But work has to come third.” – Leslie Knope
  8. “Halloween is my favorite holiday. It’s just the best. And I don’t have to work! Hey slutty teenage girls dressed as sexy kittens, pump your own stomachs this year!” – Ann Perkins
  9. “If I keep my body moving, and my mind occupied at all times, I will avoid falling into a bottomless pit of despair.” – Chris Traeger
  10. “What I hear when I’m being yelled at is people caring really loudly at me.” – Leslie Knope
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Deity in Diversity

Published on by Tosha Michelle105 Comments

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Maybe someday we will
have written about humanity
and grace so much
that the paper we scribble on
will burn down
the forest of hate
that grows in casket-closed minds,
eradicating words like
racism, hate, bigotry.

The fire cleansing away
evil and ignorance.
Strike a match with
your pen.

Let’s try at least to
direct the language toward love.
Let’s keep moving the
adjectives higher and higher.
Trust the verbs to lead us,
the pin of light, to the fire.

Maybe as the trees come undone,
leaves igniting,
branches bursting with truth,
charity and clarity will rise.
Rustling beneath skin.
Love rising, tapping deep.
Opening eyes and cleaning tongues
in the dialect of compassion.
Hope slipping into the core.
Porous and large.
Looking out in every direction
until it is inside the sky,
the rocks, the moon.
Lacing the night and hearts with promise,
the rainy season finally over.

Until then, let your pens sway
against the dark waves.
Let’s push our boats against the current.
Light the candle wick.
Kiss it with fervor.
Give flame to the wind and waves.

-Tosha Michelle

Photo, my own 

Johnny and June

Published on by Tosha Michelle7 Comments
Hey y’all. It’s been awhile. Life just keeps getting busier and busier but it’s a lovely kind of busy. I really haven’t been writing much. I’ve been in reading mode for ages now. I’m still on a Johnny Cash kick. In that vein, everyone knows you can’t have Johnny without June so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite videos.

I love their love story, not because it was a fairytale, because it wasn’t. Their marriage wasn’t always an easy road, just like their courtship, they had to struggle and battle to keep the love they had. They went through some hard times through their 40 years together. They almost divorced at one point during the early 80s, but ultimately they never gave up and that’s what’s true commitment and love is all about. In their later years, they were closer than they had ever been and more in love. In my opinion, that makes their love affair  so much better than a fairytale because it was real and genuine. Very few of us live happily ever after, but many of us live happily after all. As June Carter always like to say “steel is strong because it knew the hammer and white heat”

Here’s Johnny and June on their way to Jackson. As a side note, this song was inspired by Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
And one of my favorites of theirs. “Long Legged Guitar Picking Man”  such a playful song . 
This next video is not the best quality, but it’s so poignant. Time catches up with us all. June would die 8 months after this was filmed and Johnny would follow her 4 months later. It’s makes the words their singing so moving, It’s a wonderful love song of hope and redemption, and the promise of never ending peace.

How to be an Expert at Life.

Published on by Tosha Michelle116 Comments

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Praise imperfections.
Ask questions.

Don’t fear the answers.
Do fear snakes, toads,
and Donald Trump’s hair.

Adore books, animals,
weaknesses, the broken,
and growing older.

Find a love to orbit around.
Have a constellation seeking brain.
A heart that star gazes.

Don’t trip on what’s been
gone for years.

Walk hand in hand with today.

The one seemly not
telling the truth is
the one you should
listen to the hardest.

Pay attention to your
conscience, make
sure it’s really yours.

Know there’s beauty;
in words. The ones
you use and the ones
you leave out.

Read the classics.
Brighten to artistry
Don’t be afraid to improvise.

Listen to jazz while
drinking iced coffee.

Don’t admire yourself
too much, this can
lead to disaster.

There are two types
of people in the world,
be neither of them.

Know sometime what
seems useless is
full of meaning.

Learn how to bend,
not break.

Lose yourself to love,
to madness.
Always carry a suitcase
full of mischief.
A passport of adventure.

Don’t forget to add a dash of moonlight.
Season the nights with heat.

Create the scene.
Live it.

Lose your shoes and inhibitions.

Split the wishbone.

Know nothing important
comes with a manual.

Just because your
spirit is tangled,
doesn’t mean your
soul has to be tied in a knot.

Be full of vigor,
meaningful chit chat
and chocolate. Lots
of chocolate!

Know there is holiness in the missteps.
Grace in the fumbles.

Remain unfinished.
Be the light.

-Tosha Michelle

On Roses and Netted Woods

Published on by Tosha Michelle16 Comments

Hello lovely ones. I’m sorry I’m so sporadic with my posts. I can’t promise I’ll do better, but I thank you all for sticking around. On a random note, going to see the Mister Rogers film this afternoon, excited for it. He was such a beautiful soul. I’m sure Tom Hanks did him justice. Now for a poem. I hope you like it. Happy Monday!

——–

In the journey of my life,
the voyage of self awareness 
 I’ve fed on roses,
walked through woods netted
with bramble 
Mixed metaphors and signals.
I’ve had glimpses of narcissism,
flirted with egoism, had brushes 
with bitterness, doubted my worth.
I’ve questioned the validity of the sun
and found solace in torrential rains.
I’ve left small bruises on paper,
but nothing that hasn’t been felt
by others more lyrical than me.
I’ve had childlike faith and believed
in the flickering of fireflies, even now,
as the days grow shorter,
each year the footnotes longer.
Finally I’m home again, content to sit in 
our garden and pay attention to the
call notes gathering in the air.
The bird sings sweetly, no 
longer in her wicker cage. I join 
her chorus, besotted with the 
fever of a life living and lived. 
-Tosha Michelle
 
Goofy goodness
 

What Weekends Are Made Of

Published on by Tosha Michelle8 Comments

This weekend we visited the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site and what a delightful time it was. Located in the beautiful mountains of NC, you couldn’t ask for better scenery. If you aren’t familiar with CS, I encourage you to check out his work. He truly was a “poet of the people“. Here’s some photos from our outing but first a poem by the man himself, a timely one at that.

The people is the grand canyon of humanity and many many miles across. 
The people is a Pandora’s box, humpty dumpty, a clock of doom and an avalanche when it turns loose. 
The people rest on land and weather, on time and the changing winds. 
The people have come far and can look back and say,
‘We will go farther yet’. 

Carl Sandburg, The People, Yes, 97

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Happiness

Published on by Tosha Michelle12 Comments

They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.

Tom Bodett

Thankful today for all 3. Miss you all. Life is so full and busy, it doesn’t leave much time for social media or blogging. It’s the best kind of busy though. Life has never been sweeter. I did want to let you know if you are a fan of the show High Castle, we have a couple of interesting interviews coming up on Chit Chat Chicks. It’s also getting closer to house hunting time, and my training session for my new position with the missing persons organization. 2020 is going to be a transformative year. It’s amazing how much things have changed, but the best things have stayed the same.

In other news, headed to Carl Sandburg’s old Homestead tomorrow. I hope to post pictures next week. The weather is glorious. Fall has finally arrived in the South. In the meantime, here’s some Tucker cuteness for you. x

Fire Escape

Published on by Tosha Michelle18 Comments
“Walking home your hand in mine
Tattoos on the river line
The morning birds are taking flight
Either way I thought that you should know

You’re my number one
You’re the reason I’m still
up at dawn
just to see your face
We’ll be going strong
with the vampires, baby
We belong, we belong awake“

https://youtu.be/KfU-S6ovooQ