I’m on top of the world looking down on….

I feel like I’m on top of the world. Honestly, I feel like I’ve climbed a very giant mountain, and I’m just standing right on top with my arms wide open and breathing rarified air.  Shania Twain

I have had many opportunities to climb to the top of things (or fly over if the climb is beyond my limits.  I recently took my first helicopter ride in South Africa and climbed all over Table Mountain.  I hope you enjoy.

 

Daily Post Atop Challenge – Some of my favorites

Trivial Mind, Starlight, mama, OHM, At home, witty, bend, Albina, hudson , intent, jaspas, changing, geriatrix, Cees, Lago, ladylee, wonderful, thirdperson

 

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Old Town Square – Prague

Old Town Prague.  The square was beautiful, crowded, noisy, and full of a variety of surprises.  Just like a square should be.  Sun, food, entertainers, and tons of bubbles.  I hope you enjoy.

 

Square x100 @  Travel Theme Challenge: Square!

Travel Theme – Square; Square – WoollyMuses; The life of a 40 something;  few words-uncountable colors; Interesting Square | HIP Photography;  pdjpix; Travelrat’s Travels; Julie Powell – Photographer & Graphic Artist; The Quotidian Hudson; The Quotidian Hudson; Le Drake Noir;

 

 

Reflections of myself in others

When someone smiles at me, I realize that I am probably smiling at them. One of my highest priorities in life is to see people smile back at me.

My students always smiled in Korea.

Korean subway, met Elvis’s doppleganger.. though not wrong.. didn’t feel right..

Venezuela, Took 3 men to hoist this post. Well not really but they wanted to pose with it.

Mask festivals, tea ceremonies and historical re-enactments in South Korea

Kids at play with very big knife – Cambodia

This is one of my favorite smiling pictures.. I wish I knew what led up to the laugh.. I can only imagine.

Smiling???? in Korea

Angie in Korea.. always smiling for the camera

Snakes make you smile at Para Falls

Para Falls Boat ride smiles.

tuk tuk – Cambodia

More favorite smiles that bring favorite memories

Cultural hike in Korea

Mother’s Day.. let’s mess with mom – Maracay, Venezuela

Wow.. another favorite smiler in Korea

Students always smiling in Korea

Holding the chick – Cambodia

Everything is for sale – Cambodia

makes me smile

Dancing in Korea — smiling memories.. miss those days

Foot Bridge in Delta Orinoco Venezuela

Only when I am surrounded by my sisters and my daughters can I truly be myself. When I watch them, I am watching myself.  When I see them laugh, cry, be goofy, be angry, I am seeing a modified reflection of myself. I am a part of them and they are all every part of me.  Even when I am not with them, they are with me.

“She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul. She is beautiful.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fun with friends is when I am also most myself.  Smiling at others to have others smile back at me is what makes me feel most myself.

Friends in Korea shopping.

Hollywood – Caracas

Good-bye lunch – Korea

Mother’s Day lunch with great friend and her family of over 15 years.

Enjoying Chilean wine in Chile with good friends.

Starting the Trip in New York

Seriously one of my most favorite smilers in DC

Skydiving in Higuerote, Venezuela with Skydive Venezuela

Back of cabs with friends. Iphone 5.

New York

Best friend in New York. She always makes me smile

Elmo New York

Go Navy – Caracas

Happy Hour in Hollywood – Caracas

Playing with some kids at an orphanage in South Korea. Worked with the Organization PLUR started by my friend Danny

Smile for the foto – Valley Stream, New York

Santiago, Chile

Skydiving in Higuerote, Venezuela with Skydive Venezuela

Chile with another one of my favorite smilers

New York

Rasberries in Colonial Tovar Venezuela

Rafting in Barinas Venezuela with Guamanchi tours.

Lunch with friends in Korea always brought a smile.. always a laugh

Mask Festival – Andong – Korea

Animal Safari with Guamanchi tours in Los Llanos

4th of July – presenting a front – Caracas

Smiles or fishlips in Korea – favorite smiler

Good times in DC and 3 of my favorite smiles

Sport Chumps smile for the fundraiser.

Lunches in Korea

Paragliding in Merida, Venezuela with Guamanchi Tours

Guamanchi tours in Barinas Venezuela rafting trip

Doesn’t get any better than this, I’m sure there’s a Malbec in there somewhere. Wine tasting in Chile

Swimming in a forgotten river in Venezuela with good friends. So beautiful

Made the front page of the social times in a local newspaper just by being there. Seoul Korea

Over the top smiles in Venezuela

Awkward smiles in DC..

DMZ – woot woot – Korea

New York

Funny how smiles can make lasting impressions in DC

Happy hour in hollywood – Caracas

Truly some of my favorite smiles in DC

A break – Going to Chile for wine tasting

Canyoning in Merida with Guamanchi Tours

Venezuela Animal Safari with friends and family

Possibly a Malbec – Bogota

“This life is for loving, sharing, learning, smiling, caring, forgiving, laughing, hugging, helping, dancing, wondering, healing, and even more loving. I choose to live life this way. I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, ‘aw shit, he’s up!”

― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

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

Other Blogs of Self

• Where’s my Backpack
• Self | WoollyMuses
• ladyleemanila
• Hello! This is me… | ilargia64
• Slightly Warped Selfies | Albatz Travel Adventures
• Over my nose tip | Le Drake Noir
• Self | Lillie-Put
• Eye Spy Myself | NihongoJapango

Jodhbai’s Palace India

A garden like feel in a ancient palace in Fatehpur Sikri, India.  Because the Taj was closed on Friday we decided to stop in at a very impressive palace.  It was definitely a worthwhile stop.  However, first a very brief and twisted digression to this great trip.

It was so very hot outside and as you will see in this post and a few of my other posts how many women here dress.  They wear amazing, lovely, decorative, vibrant and colorful clothing. It’s usually draped around their bodies in a beautiful fashion as well.

Now the twist!!! Imagine wearing one of the above outfits and trying to climb stairs and cross uneven ground and wrestle children from one place to another.  I’m not lying, people were falling left and right. Not just the women in the dresses either. Every time it happened my stomach would lurch.  In my life i have never witnessed such a twisted reaction to someone else’s bad luck than I did on this incredibly hot day.  As my group began to cross one of the courtyards, one of these lovely ladies became tangled in her dress and fell in such a way she could not even reach her hands out to catch herself.  We were over 20 feet away and actually heard her hit the ground.  As we gasped in shock we heard an entire family hysterically cackling, looking a the woman and pointing at her.  Yeah, laughing at her unfortunate situation. As the fallen woman’s family helped her up and over into the shade. It was obvious she was very shaken and very believable that she might have suffered a concussion. Still they laughed and pointed.  Only after one of the laughing hyenas saw me snap this picture and look disgustedly at her entire family did she have the decency to stop laughing.  Sadly her family did not. For some reason the sad plight of another was just one more thing to laugh about.  Twisted right?

Schadenfreude (/ˈʃɑːdənfrɔɪdə/; German: [ˈʃaːdənˌfʁɔʏdə] ( listen)) is twisted pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.[1] This word is taken from the German language. The literal English translation is ‘Harm-Joy’. It is the feeling of joy or pleasure when one sees another fail or suffer misfortune.

Enough of that and back onto the multitude of other good twists and turns along with a variety of design styles incorporated into this palace that was allegedly built to house several members of the imperial harem.  Outside of the actual palace grounds you can see the remains of other buildings that might have been built as servant’s quarters or for additional rooms for an ever expanding harem.

The apparent significance of this particular palace is that its design included both Hindu and Islamic art which is usually completely opposite in style and formation.  All I know is that it was another huge endeavor built hundreds of years ago and something that has lasted in impressiveness and grandeur for several centuries and took it seriously took my breath away.

Other blogs that helped to inspire this one.  Check em out.

1. Decoration | Where’s my backpack?
2. Twist | Where’s my backpack?
3. Decoration- travel themed photo challenge | Third Person Travel
4. Twist | Black Panty Salvation
5. Travel Theme: Twist | Geophilia Photography
6. Decoration… Ailsa’s WTT | Ouch!! My back hurts!!
7. Travel Theme/Wheres my Backpack: Decoration | 2far2shout
8. Travel Theme: Decoration | Across the Bored
9. Travel Theme: Twist | Jinan Daily Photo
10. Pompeii | Tim Wolverson – Photography
11. Travel theme: Twist | Oh, the Places We See . . .
12. Travel theme: Decoration | Stefano Scheda
13. Travel theme: twist. | readsbyredriverbanks
14. Travel Theme: Twists | Neighborhood Travels
15. Plain decorated | Le Drake Noir
16. The Dementor Tree | Unique Art Chic
17. Travel Theme: Decoration | Wind Against Current
18. Travel Theme-Twist | WoollyMuses
19. The Monuments of Glencolumbkille, Ireland | Jaspa’s Journal
20. Travel theme: Decoration | So where’s the snow?
21. travel theme: decoration | Del’s other stuff…
22. Travel Theme: Decoration | Ese’ s Voice
23. Travel theme: Decoration | nowathome
24. Twist – Ailsa’s WTT | Ouch!! My back hurts!!
25. Travel Theme: Decoration | My Lens and Universe
26. Zanzibar: time’s twists and turns | Tish Farrell
27. Twist in the Sky for a Happy Fourth of July! | Wind Against Current
28. Travel theme: Twist « Sasieology
29. What Not To Do With Your Valuables When Traveling | Travel Tales of Life
30. Travel Theme: Twist – Braided Rivers | Miscellaneous Eclectica

One big wave…always on the move

Cheri Lucas Rowlands posted a great theme this week on the Daily Post.  I have decided to interpret it with my favorite moving object.. no not myself…..

“Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away.”

― Sarah Kay

While in Vietnam I decided to take a rest stop and catch my breath in Danang. I was super exhausted from the hiking, biking and canoeing marathon and just wanted to take a couple of days and rest at the ocean.  I woke up one morning and decided to take some photos of the sun coming up..and later the sun going down. I stood in one place and just kept on shooting photos of the always moving waves.  From the same exact spot every single picture was so different and so beautiful.  I hope you enjoy.

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.

John F. Kennedy

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“The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can’t.” 
― Christopher Paolini, Eragon

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.

Arthur C. Clarke

Here are some other photos of my beach time.

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I pray to be like the ocean, with soft currents, maybe waves at times. More and more, I want the consistency rather than the highs and the lows.

Drew Barrymore

Would you like to join in? For some of my other favorites please visit –http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/on-the-move/:

1. Up and Down – Mittened Hands
2. WFC: Move – Every Photo Tells a Story
3. The Sheesha Place – Cardinal Guzman
4. OTM – The WordPress Chronicles
5. OTM – 2812 Photography
6. Small Town Port – Empire of Lights
7. WFC: Moving – Cee’s Photography
8. WFC: OTM – Across the Bored
9. WFC: OTM – Wind Against Current
10. Wanderings and a City – Notes to self
11. WFC: OTM – Lucid Gypsy
12. As Near to the Ocean’s Edge – By LRose
13. WFC: OTM – Roland’s Photo Blog
14. WFC: OTM – Far Flying Dreamers
15. WFC: OTM – Stephen Chapman
16. Cityscape 2528 – Art is Horseshit
17. WFC:OTM – Wise Monkeys Abroad
18. East West – Yi-Ching lin Photography
19. Three generations, one bike – Cambodian Beginnings