Monday..Blue,Mellow Yellow and Mosaic

The Whale... 
If you read a recent front page story of the  San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the  Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate ) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.  And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.  I pass this on to you, my friends, in the same spirit.

             *~*~*~*

What started out to be a normal Monday..
Blue skies..
tolerable temperatures..
quickly became this..
swirling , blowing snow..
big, wet, floppy flakes..
the wind tossed Yellow Delicious Apples..
from overhanging limbs of the neighbor's tree..
leaving me yet another several hundred apples to deal with!
nope.. too mushy and acidic for applesauce..
now my roses are finished..
the trees are bare..
leaves still need to be raked..
before the snow returns again..
But.. I am mellow as considering my blessings:
.*.am fortunate to have good health
which enables me to rake the leaves..
dispose of the apples..
and if need be, to shovel the snow.
*.my eyesight is good..
to appreciate the beauty of blue skies..
the warmth of bright winter sun..
or the wickedness of a sudden storm..
the delicate beauty of falling snow..
*.I live in a country where being neighborly is a way of life.
we share the bounties of Nature..
and the freedoms to worship the religion of our choice..
May you each enjoy the bounty of this holiday season..
and be thankful for all our blessings!
                      *~*~*~*
Please join our gracious hostesses..
Smiling Sally at Blue Monday
Mary at Mosaic Monday
Drowsy Monkey at Mellow Yellow Monday