593,402
SparkPoints
_RAMONA's Photo Gallery
(Click on a thumbnail below to enlarge)
offers: “Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Give yourself fully to your endeavors. The trials you encounter will reveal your strengths.... & one day you will build something that endures." 
asserts: today is a day to paint life in bold colours, set the day's rhythm to my heart-drum, walk today's steps with courage & joy. I gratefully create this day as a celebration... my life lived well
ponders: it's not a question of being in love but a question of living love... for others & for yourself! Love enough to allow your passions to burn brighter than your fears! Be the LOVE you seek!
prepares for Lent: Faith calls you to a place where your deep gladness & the world's deep hunger meet. This Lenten season may you strive to reconcile the deepest hungers & gladness in your own life! 
steps into 40 days of living out thanks - thanks for unmerited love that overflows into unlimited love. Sure, I want anywhere other than suffering & ashes... but God writes mysterious grace in dust.
is fasting & feasting: Faith calls us to a place where the world's deep hunger & your deep gladness meet. This Lenten season may you strive to reconcile the deepest hungers & gladness in your own life
walks on in Lenten solidarity... painfully aware of the world's deep hunger... looking for grace & mercy written into the dust & ashes of my own life. Today, I long for more than suffering & ashes....
is helping my MIL learn how to brew KOMBUCHA... living out thanks... thanks for unmerited love (never expected to be so blessed in my in-laws) that overflows into unlimited love (FAMILY)! {{{HUGS}}} 
riffs on J. Maxwell: Forget motivation. To conquer fear/procrastination, you have to feel the fear & take action anyway. Act your way into feeling, not wait for positive emotions to carry you forward.
honours ST. IRENAEUS: "The Glory of God is a human being fully alive." You are so much more than your mistakes & failings... never fear being fully human. Be fully alive, dear SPARKlings! {{{HUGS}}}
feels for everyone struggling to find their New Year footing... remember you're not alone! Make a plan... get involved... focus on habits. Many SPARKLings do a beacon of inspiration create! {{{HUGS}}}
muses: We spend January 1 walking through our lives, drawing up a list of work to be done. Maybe this year we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential. 
I made us a gluten-free Figgy Pudding!
Our Post Boxing Day gluten-free Charcuterie FEAST!
is a little bird pondering. Your mind will always believe everything you tell it. Feed it faith. Feed it truth. Feed it with love. Wonder is retained by pondering. Pondering is, a form of prayer.
continues to ponder & celebrates an impromptu holiday. Like me, wrap yourselves in the best of winter's offerings: warm soup, child-like delight, and precious company in those you love. {{{ HUGS }}} 
bemoans the view outside her window TODAY: "How cold & harsh it is here... unkindness & conflict rents the air. God has forsaken this place. I believe I have seen hell & it's white, it's snow-white."
realizes (via R. F. Kennedy) that grief and tragedy are not unrelated: "tragedy is tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide for which to live." Tears, like raindrops, sparkle too. {{{HUGS}}}
is finding her way through: "Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love & wisdom."
is finding her way through: "Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love & wisdom."
takes a page from Dory's book : "Just keep swimming... swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim," (& SPARKle best we can). Mom's funeral was yesterday. Most terribly beautiful day, ever.
learns grief is like the ocean... it comes in waves ebbing and flowing... often with depths one can only guess at... a 'perfect storm'. Despite the roiling waters & howling wind, I'm learning to swim.
realizes anew that everything can change in an instant. Everything. Leaving only before and after... & that negotiating the 'after' is messy and fraught with expectations you didn't even know you had.
values her outdoor home gym equipment... every day is a 12-hour workout & I LOVE it! The greatest gift in my life right now is the time to do without interruption that which truly blesses my family.
bemoans the view outside her window TODAY: "How cold & harsh it is here... unkindness & conflict rents the air. God has forsaken this place. I believe I have seen hell & it's white, it's snow-white." 
is certain. Our humanity, mercy, grace & CARE FOR EACH OTHER will always be greater than the sum of our challenges. Continue to choose peace, joy & love no matter what, dear SPARKlings! {{{{{HUGS}}}}}
is certain. Our humanity, mercy, grace & CARE FOR EACH OTHER will always be greater than the sum of our challenges. Continue to choose peace, joy & love no matter what, dear SPARKlings! {{{HUGS}}} 
feels for everyone struggling to find their New Year footing... remember you're not alone! Make a plan... get involved... focus on habits. Many SPARKLings do a beacon of inspiration create! {{{HUGS}}}
feels for everyone struggling to find their New Year footing... remember you're not alone! Make a plan... get involved... focus on habits. Many SPARKLings do a beacon of inspiration create! {{{HUGS}}}
is humbled anew: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." May this Advent season find you with JOY and hunger reconciled! {{{HUGS}}}
is filled with gratitude & pondering thanksLIVING... thanking God through comPASSIONATE living. A foundation of mercy & grace enacted through habits & routines becomes gratitude in action. SPARKle ON!
is filled with gratitude & pondering thanksLIVING... thanking God through comPASSIONATE living. A foundation of mercy & grace enacted through habits & routines becomes gratitude in action. SPARKle ON!
offers: Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Give yourself fully to your endeavors. The trials you encounter will reveal your strengths.... & one day you will build something that endures.
bemoans the view outside her window TODAY: "How cold & harsh it is here... unkindness & conflict rents the air. God has forsaken this place. I believe I have seen hell & it's white, it's snow-white." 
riffs on J. Maxwell: Forget motivation. To conquer fear/procrastination, you have to feel the fear & take action anyway. Act your way into feeling, not wait for positive emotions to carry you forward.
riffs on M. EDELMAN: Create LIFESTYLE! Doing anything & everything to lose weight, regardless of what you're willing to do to maintain it, is living life on the end of strings that somebody else pulls
riffs on M. EDELMAN: Create LIFESTYLE! Doing anything & everything to lose weight, regardless of what you're willing to do to maintain it, is living life on the end of strings that somebody else pulls
riffs on M. EDELMAN: Create LIFESTYLE! Doing anything & everything to lose weight, regardless of what you're willing to do to maintain it, is living life on the end of strings that somebody else pulls
riffs on GENEEN ROTH: The shape of your body obeys the shape of your beliefs. To change your body, you must first LOVE all of that which is shaping it. Not fight, force, deprive, or shame it. LOVE it.
is embracing a 'season of the soul' & like the seasons of nature, along with the challenges it blesses me with its own peculiar beauty. I just hope it doesn't last as long as this past winter did.
is taking her inspiration from DEBVNE today... come on, EVERYONE... no matter how your day is going (snowing here), let's bust a move and DANCE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOXC5LPBiD
c {{{HUGS}}}
riffs on M. WILLIAMSON: We are, each of us, born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us; for as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to SPARKle, too. 
riffs on M. EDELMAN: Create LIFESTYLE! Doing anything & everything to lose weight, regardless of what you're willing to do to maintain it, is living life on the end of strings that somebody else pulls
honours ST. IRENAEUS: "The Glory of God is a human being fully alive." You are so much more than your mistakes & failings... never fear being fully human. Be the Glory of God, my dear SPARKlings!
My Divine Miss O, October 2020
October 2020, 'playing' in the leaves!
October 2020... The Divine & FIERCE Miss O
15 years old - The Divine Miss O - 6 years old
My Divine Miss O, May 2019
The Divine Miss O, May 2019, Age 15
My favourite Zombie Prom Queen, Class of 2004
is honouring friendship, love & two lives made one 18 years ago. Every day together is more blessing than I could've hoped for or imagined for myself & the sun is shining again... so there's that, too
is CELEBRATING! A day ago I became a GREAT Aunt. It seems like only yesterday that I drove hundreds of miles through the night to see her mother newly born.The circle of love is a powerful blessing! 
riffs on J.G. Diefenbaker: I am Canadian... honest & reasonable, faithful, ethical, convicted, righteous, democratic, compassionate & merciful, defender & peacekeeper... FREE! Happy Birthday, Canada! 
is humbled anew: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." May this Easter season find you with joy and hunger reconciled! {{{HUGS}}} 
I spent this drizzly, grey, Sunday morning contemplating conviction, purpose, authenticity, and what it all means in the context of my journey here... while weaving palms into my yearly bouquet... coffee and cats within reach (one cat actually slept on my chest as I worked, LOL). This is three palm branches woven together. As you may similarly contemplate, I wish you PEACE, and JOY and HOPE.
is... well... the picture says it all. Can you believe this is the second day of FALL? We've had unseasonably cold temperatures (single digits) for weeks, and now THIS. Hard to SPARKle in the snow. 
is feeling frustrated & dejected. Today is the first day of Fall (my favourite season) & SNOW is in the forecast starting tonight for the whole weekend. The leaves aren't even off the tress yet. SIGH.
nods: "When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less & less important whether I am afraid (or uncomfortable)." Keep SPARKling! 
"When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less & less important whether I am afraid (or uncomfortable)." Keep SPARKling!
realizes anew that everything can change in an instant. Everything. Leaving only before and after... & that negotiating the 'after' is messy and fraught with expectations you didn't even know you had.
asserts: There are no rules to this thing... no time limit. Live a journey you're proud of, & if you're not doing so, have the courage to begin anew, despite any setbacks. Be flawsome SPARKlings!
muses: So many here seem to forget that we each CHOOSE our own experience... what you feel you attract, what you imagine you create, what you believe you become. Believe in your best SPARKling self!
ponders the CALL to live a TRUTH(full) life... simply authentic, & full of grace freely given in love... (BE)ing in gratitude for all that has brought me to this place... & faith(FULL)ly RESPONDING.
ponders the CALL to live a TRUTH(full) life... simply authentic, & full of grace freely given in love... (BE)ing in gratitude for all that has brought me to this place... & faith(FULL)ly RESPONDING.
ponders the CALL to live a TRUTH(full) life... simply authentic, & full of grace freely given in love... (BE)ing in gratitude for all that has brought me to this place... & faith(FULL)ly RESPONDING.
ponders the CALL to live a TRUTH(full) life... simply authentic, & full of grace freely given in love... (BE)ing in gratitude for all that has brought me to this place... & faith(FULL)ly RESPONDING.
ponders the CALL to live a TRUTH(full) life... simply authentic, & full of grace freely given in love... (BE)ing in gratitude for all that has brought me to this place... & faith(FULL)ly RESPONDING.
ponders the CALL to live a TRUTH(full) life... simply authentic, & full of grace freely given in love... (BE)ing in gratitude for all that has brought me to this place... & faith(FULL)ly RESPONDING.
ponders: "Growing into your future with health, grace & beauty doesn't require all of your time. Rather, it requires diligence in caring for yourself as something rare and precious... which you are!"
solemly quotes Hafiz: "Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins that may buy you just a moment of pleasure, but then drag you for days like a broken man behind a farting camel." The struggle is real. 
quotes ST. IRENAEUS: "The Glory of God is a human being fully alive." You are so much more than your mistakes & failings... never fear being fully human. Be the Glory of God, my dear SPARKlings!
quotes ST. IRENAEUS: "The Glory of God is a human being fully alive." You are so much more than your mistakes & failings... never fear being fully human. Be the Glory of God, my dear SPARKlings!
muses: So many here seem to forget that we each CHOOSE our own experience... that how we respond at every turn ultimately defines the direction our path will take. Choose well, SPARKlings! {{ HUGS }}
boldly asserts: It's never too late. There are no rules to this thing... no time limit. Live a journey you're proud of, and if you're not doing so, I hope you have the courage to begin anew. *HUGS* 
quotes MELODY BEATTIE: It's easy to look back on a situation and be in awe of the process and all that we learned. The time we most need to trust the journey is when it looks like we can't. {{{HUGS}}}
acknowledges: None of us does this (anything) alone... even if it feels that way sometimes. And if it feels that way, look around... reach out... become part of what you seek!
Marilyn Monroe - Iron Maiden
What is a Beautiful Bada$$ & How Do YOU Become One?
Become a fat-adapted/burning beast!
"As we enter a transformative path, the most valuable thing working in our favor is our yearning."
Need I say more?
Marilyn Monroe, beach photoshoot 1949... she's 23 years old!
The picture says it all!
"We know what we are, but know not what we may be." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Ernestine Shepherd: The Guinness World Record Oldest Female Body Builder
STRONG is the new skinny!
This is what VITALITY looks like at 56... and she does it boxing! HELL, YEAH!!!
is in the midst of her every-three-years computer drama... IT (Dearly Beloved) is working to get me back on-line SOONER!!! Past lessons learned have served us well! SPARKle on my friends! {{{HUGS}}} 
Specific Carbohydrate Diet
PRIMAL; adjective, fundamentals... with respect to nutrition, exercercise, sleep, enjoying life!
An 'apple' a day keeps the doctor away.... Check out the blog and subscribe!
Discover the health and weight loss benefits of eating like our ancestors!
Click to comments for helpful links!!!
"If you want to REALLY know about how your brain and body work, read this book!"
Reprogram your genes for effective weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy!
Connection between what we eat, how we live our lives, the interplay of our hormones and our health.
"Some diseases are contagious, but healing transformational experiences are ALL highly contagious!"
Atkins, Paleo, and Primal: No, they are not all the same…
Ancestral Weight Loss Registry
More effective than long-term calorie restriction, with extensive health benefits! 
Oil Pulling Therapy
"Be your own HERO!" (Breaking Through The Weight Loss Glass Ceiling)
Banana soft-serve & Paleo ice creams! YUMMY!
"You can't out-train a bad diet!"
Food for thought... and vitality.
Eating well doesn't have to be rocket science... it can actually be MAGIC!
Have I mentioned STRONG is the new skinny?
"I will never give up. I will keep fighting. I will go the distance 'til my journey is complete."
Just do it... UNTIL!
Kiss it!
Michaelangelo's masterpiece, 'David'
'David', before Spark People!
Goal Weight - 30 years ago, LOL!
2017
I AM DONE living a life shaped by my fears.
I live my life as though I cannot fail; a life shaped by my passions and by inspiration.
TANSHAN1 - DONE Girl, Shannon Buck - Shannon left this earth 12/28/10
My HERO & INSPIRATION! Thanks, Sue!
Now shall I walk or shall I ride? "Ride" Pleasure said. "Walk" Joy replied. W. H. DAVIES
"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain!"
"Courage is fear that has said its prayers." RUTH FISHEL
"I get by with a little help from my friends!"
"Way down deep, we're all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them."
2020: Happiness is being covered in cats!
Sir Yowls-A-Lot, cuddle buddy extraordinaire.
2020: I do SO fit in this box (Oscar)!
2020: We are FAMILY... brothers from other mothers!
2020: Still so handsome at 15 (Tony)!
2020: Felix!
2020: He ain't heavy, he's my brother (Felix & Tony)!
Tony... our 15-year old smoky grey domestic short-hair.
October 2017, Thanksgiving weekend: We adopted 10-week old kittens (litter-mates), Oscar & Felix.
Oscar & Felix loving their new BIG brother... Tony is 3 times their combined weight, LOL.
One big happy family just 24 hours after the kittens (Oscar & Felix) came home!
This is Felix: 10 weeks old, Oct 6/17.
This is Oscar: 10 weeks old, Oct 6/17.
Felix!
Oscar!
is in the midst of computer issues... IT (my Mr.) is doing it's best to get me back on-line SOONER!!! SPARKle on my friends! {{{HUGS}}}
Ladder of Divine Ascent
Report Inappropriate Page
Info
Photos
Feed
Blogs
Awards