You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take










Wheel 04.27.09


Rusty old bike 04.26.09


More than 99 bottles 04.25.09


Set of surfboards 04.24.09


In and Out Burger 04.23.09


Matthew 04.22.09


Horseshoes 04.21.09


In thinking about my blog this week, I started thinking about what quote may have stood out to me, the only one I could remember this week, was from a former teen drama, “ I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry”. It stood out to me, since that was the kind of week I had been having, after having to cancel a trip to Mexico over this swine flu going on in Mexico. Seriously it is a bit crazy. And I hate that I am not going to see my friend whom I was meeting in Mexico.

Feeling that it was not the best quote for this blog, I simply typed in to the Yahoo search engine “best quotes ever”. I clicked on the first entry and here are the first ten I read.


You can do anything, but not everything. —David Allen

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. —Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry

The richest man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least. —Unknown Author

You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. —Wayne Gretzky

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. —Ambrose Redmoon

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. —Gandhi

When hungry, eat your rice; when tired, close your eyes. Fools may laugh at me, but wise men will know what I mean. —Lin-Chi

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking. —A. A. Milne

To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.
—Abraham Maslow

We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. —Aristotle

Not sure if they are the best quotes ever, but I do like them. Here is the link to the remaining 50 since they were listed as the 60 best quotes ever. http://litemind.com/best-famous-quotes/

Hope you are all having a great week.

-Monique

everything has beauty










Our Sun Man 04.20.09


Solar Light on Fence 04.19.09


Lil' Smoke #14 04.18.09


Japanese Maple Leaves 04.17.09


Curly 04.16.09


Purple people pleasers 04.15.09


Water Tower at Sunset 04.14.09


Swim Toys 04.13.09


Oak Branch 04.12.09


Light Source 04.11.09


East Bay Drive 04.10.09


Pink Petals 04.09.09


Waiting for a ballgame 04.08.09



"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

"Keep your faith in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone."- Roy R. Gilson

"The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes." - Frank Lloyd Wright

"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

chase the dream, not the competition































I love baseball, truly, madly, deeply love baseball!

When I was a little kid, I can remember being in the family room with the A’s on TV, I think it must have been when Reggie Jackson was on the team and they were in the playoffs. I remember it was exciting and then it was over, so it must have been at the end of the season. Like I said I was little, so I guess I just moved on to whatever was next and never gave it another thought.

My next experience was at a San Francisco Giants game, no longer a kid, my dad coaxed us into the car and said “let’s go to the game”, I figured how bad could it be, there would be sunshine and I was sure there might be ice cream, so I was in. It must have been 1993, they had this new guy on the team named Bonds, and these other guys Williams (he quickly became my personal favorite at the time), Clark, Thompson, Clayton and Lewis to mention a few. I don’t remember who they played, I think the team wore Red (being new to this, I did not know I needed to know all this stuff). The Giants were down in the game and this Bonds guy came up to plate and hit a home run, THE ENTIRE PLACE WENT NUTS! All I can remember thinking is, “Why have I not been to a baseball game before?” I was hooked!!!!

That day began my love for all things baseball. I love the numbers, coming from behind to win, a pitchers duel, hitting streaks and even losing a close one. It's baseball, sometimes it is very pretty and some days it can be downright ugly.

I was walking around the park on opening night last week and I saw this quote on the wall, it said the following about baseball:

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. ~A. Bartlett Giamatti

As a lover of all things Spring, Summer and Fall, I could not agree more. I am always sad at the end of the season. For me it means the dreaded winter is coming and the boys of summer have gone. Talk radio becomes boring to me, I mean do they need to talk about Football that much, if it was so great they need to play it more than once a week. They need day/night double headers, long road trips, umpires with changing strike zones, training camp where everyone shows up, rain delays and a day where every player in the league wears the same number (much like MLB did on 4/15/09 to honor Jackie Robinson). I would love to see a bunch of #42 running around and the QB trying to figure out who is who. That is a game I would watch. How about it you new coach guy for SF?

Back to my beloved baseball, about a month after the season ends, I feel like Rogers Hornsby when he said, “People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” I do that, I have a huge picture window in my office and I often look out into the rain, counting the days till pitchers and catchers report.

During opening week, you see the dream of as the long baseball season come into view. Let’s all sit back and enjoy the view of our favorite pastime. We will win some, we will lose some. But we always remember that we “Chase the Dream, Not the Competition!”

Here are my opening night views and snaps! (all photos taken 04.08.09)

-Monique Jervan-Chilton

PS—As some of you know I have been doing some volunteer work with the San Francisco Giants Community Fund and the Jr. Giants Program for the past 4 years. One of my favorite activities is the Jr. Giants Glove Drive.

There are thousands of kids in the program that cannot afford a baseball glove, on May 16th, before the game vs. the NY Mets, a large group of us will be collecting donated gloves or $10 donations. If you can make it out to the game please help the kids out! If you cannot make it out, but want to contribute contact me. I would be happy to give you the information as to where to send your contribution. GO GIANTS!

Just say "NO" to rational hesitation










Poppies on the track 04.07.09


House of Books 04.06.09


Door Knob 04.06.09


Healdsburg Home 04.06.09


Colorful Shack 04.05.09


West Olivet Crossroads 04.04.09


Tall Gate 04.04.09


West Olivet Vineyard 04.04.09


Poppy field 04.03.09


Pretty in Pink 04.02.09


Passing time 04.01.09


So things have been crazy these past few weeks, but I did have this strange aha moment in the ER while I was sitting with Hubs. I was sitting there drinking my Grande Non Fat No Foam Latte (yes I am one of those that has a few requests for my cup of coffee), thinking it would be a long night. I had run out things to read, those hospital warnings signs can only take a girl so far. I looked at my coffee cup and there it was "The way I see it #76", the words of Anne Morriss

“The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life”

Wow, Ms. Morris is so right about being committed to something; our heads are sometimes the barrier to our own lives. I just love the "rational hesitation" line because we have all done that at times. So let’s not do that anymore. Okay? and thank you to Ms. Morriss for sharing her wisdom.

-Monique Jervan-Chilton

PS I do have to say, this is one of my favorite times year, I think it must be the sunshine and all the baseball. My next post will have some of that. Stay Tuned!