As you can see, crystals are one of the things I love. I positioned the seven crystals representing my heroines and took the picture on the right that is the foundation for my current my logo on the left. 
As a small child I loved bling even though I wasn
Beauty abounds!
My Baha'i prayer book with the none-pointed star embossed on the cover. The giant begonia that flowers all year round inside our deck sliders. The pink stone heart my husband gave me years ago. A fossil mammoth tooth that sits on my husband's desk.
Beautiful pictures, Judith!
Kris, Beauty is plentiful if we take the time and are open to seeing it.
Sarah, I've several glass and stone hearts that surround my computer. I wasn't aware that the nine pointed star has a relevance to the Baha'i faith. I'll have to go searching for a picture of one.
Love your pictures, Judith. Crystals have always intrigued me, but I have never made time or space to explore them to a great degree. Of your pics, the one that most called to me was the one that looks to be shaped like a lake and has crystals embedded in it. My imagination sees that as representational of the ocean with whales. 🙂
As for things around me that give me joy, they are selected family pictures arranged above the dining table where I spend most of my time writing. It has both Jim and I before we met, then a picture of us where we were married. A picture of the two boys when they were young (I'm thinking 6 and 9 years old or so), and a picture of all four of us together just before the oldest graduated high school. Also displayed is one picture, each, of the boys with their wives near the time they were married. All of these bring me joy because it shows a progression of life for all of us, reminding me of the hopes and dreams of each of us when we were young and how they've manifested as we got older.
The last two pictures are ones my husband wanted/needed to display. One is of our eldest son when he was serving in Iraq–full desert camo uniform, bullet proof vest, automatic weapon standing next to a heavily armored vehicle in the dessert, sunglasses and looking both scary and serious. The other one is of my husband, wearing an orange cotton jump suit standing next to a white van in the desert. Also with sunglasses, but with a full welcoming smile. Our son was in a war in the middle east. My husband, also in the Middle East, was part of the Multi-national peacekeeping and civilian observers force in the Sinai. He chose to juxtapose those pictures to show our aspirations to always strive for peace rather than war. It is so much more healthy.
Judith, I like rocks and crystals. I have a small bowl of varying crystals and rocks in my bedroom window and I have a pottery cup my daughter made on my desk with the sunstone pieces I found last Mother's day in Plush. I love bling! That's why I love cold, crystalized snow. Walking in it and seeing the sunlight flash off of it. Great post!
I enjoyed your post! I have a giant crystal, several feathers from our yard and a crystal wand on my desk. Shelves in front of desk are full of family photos, I think those mean the most to me. A jar of ocean glass catches the sunlight and I find myself mesmerized by that. But my favorite thing is the bird feeder my husband bought for my last birthday. It sits outside the porch and the window by my writing desk. The many birds that visit bring me much joy.
Maggie, I think the picture you are referring to is actually a bowl I made with many small crystals and it is surrounded by other larger crystals pointing in the 4 directions and 4 halves.
I do have pictures of my granddaughters but they are high on a shelf and not something I regularly see. But I've several pictures of owls propped by my computer. The pictures of your son and husband both in the Middle East – both, in their own way making an effort to bring peace to the region – certainly stopped me as I was reading your comment. I'm not surprised that you have the progression of your family's life in pictures so visible.
Paty, did you have to dig for the sunstones? That is another fantasy of mine – to mine sunstones along with the Herkimer Diamonds. Not that they are geographically close (OR – NY) but I know how thrilled I've been beach combing for agates so I know I'd be even more excited to find those two stones in their natural habitat.
Rain, snow and ice cling to the branches of my Dwarf Larch and when the sun shines, it does look like diamonds – bling in my backyard! Crystallized snow sounds very cold but also very beautiful.
Diana, I used to have bird feeders just outside my office window and loved seeing the birds come to feed. But then the squirrels ate the seed and the birds were hardly getting any. I then got the expensive squirrel-deterrent feeders and they ate through the metal although couldn't get too much of the seed. Then we had major rodent issues, mainly rats, who love the yards where people feed the birds and squirrels.
After finishing the story I started I realized my comment went on and on and on. Suffice it to say that I no longer feed birds or squirrels. Birds do come in my yard because of the seeds from the basil and other herbs I plant and hummers come for the salvia and fuchsias.
Interesting post and love the logo.
Thanks for stopping by Robin!
How beautiful. I'm going to gather sunstones with my sister this summer. They're also know as Oregon diamonds. I'll be sure to bring some back for you.
Pam, I'm already excited! And thanks for sending me the brochure on the public "mine" site. I used to live in Klamath Falls but didn't even know about sunstones then or I might have tried to get over there. Not even sure what it would have been like in the late 1960's.