Sheron Long's Blog, page 43
May 27, 2013
Seven Important Life Lessons in a Bee Garden
A bumblebee approaches a phacelia.
© Janine Boylan
The other day I met some neighbors I didn’t know too well: bees. Walking through a bee garden planted especially for bees, I learned a lot about these little creatures. They had some Oh, I see important life lessons for me, too.
1. Diversity is the spice of life.
When you think of bees, it’s likely that you picture a honeybee. But the honeybee is only one of many, many different kinds of bees.
A green leafcutter bee
© Janine Boylan
There are about 4,000 species of bees in North America: round fuzzy striped bumblebees, small bright green sweat bees, thin yellow and black leaf-cutter bees, big black carpenter bees, and more.
2. It’s the little things that count.
Bees may be tiny, but they are critical.
Many plants depend on bees and other pollinators to carry pollen from one plant to...
May 23, 2013
Can Treasure Hunting Change Your Life?
What’s your plan to find the hidden treasure?
© iStockphoto
Forrest Fenn and The Thrill of the Chase
As I have gone alone in there
And with my treasures bold,
I can keep my secret where,
And hint of riches new and old.
—Forrest Fenn
And so begins a story of mystery, adventure, and hunting for hidden treasure—with life-changing experiences for the treasure giver and the treasure hunter.
From Bottle Caps to Gold and Jewels
Forrest Fenn
The Old Santa Fe Trading Co
Forrest Fenn is a collector extraordinaire—from bottle caps, string, and arrowheads as a child to art and artifacts for many decades after.
With this passion for exploration and discovery, he made a name for himself (and a fortune) as a charismatic and internationally-known art dealer in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Then, his life...
May 20, 2013
These Life-Changing Experiences Are for the Dogs
Amanda Mouisset
© Amanda Mouisset
Amanda Mouisset Takes the Lead
Amanda Mouisset’s life is filled with one life-changing experience after another.
Changing the lives of dogs, that is.
Mouisset didn’t plan to change so many dogs’ lives. She says it all started when she had a “project” dog that needed dog behavior training.
That, she explains, is why she started volunteering at the local SPCA animal shelter. That led to a full-time postion as a pet behavior specialist. And that led to many life-changing experiences.
One Life Turned Around
Good dog!
© Amanda Mouisset
Several years ago, when Michael Vick’s dog-fighting ring was dismantled, a number of the dogs came to the shelter where Mouisset works. She looked beyond their past and saw their potential. And she adopted one: Red.
That pit bull became Mouisset’s training...
May 16, 2013
Crossing Cultures: To France with a Sheltie
Chula the Sheltie loves the windy Wednesday market in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
© Sheron Long
Aha Moments in the Markets of Provence
Our Sheltie, Chula Wula D’Augue, has never been inside a grocery store in her home state of California. She’s not allowed on the grounds that dogs and food do not mix.
But every year when we take her with us to France, the cultural differences work in her favor. Crossing cultures means she can stay in hotels, from simple to chic, and go with us to restaurants, where the kind waiters bring her water and sometimes an amuse-bouche.
And she can make her favorite foray into the big outdoor food markets where dogs and food DO mix. Here in villages across Provence amid the chatter of buying and selling and the tasting of everything from cheese to paella, is where Chula and I have one aha moment after another.
In fact, I’m pretty sure...
May 13, 2013
Achieving Success One Wave at a Time
It’s a little easier when someone helps you balance.
Photo courtesy Dionne Ybarra, The Wahine Project
The Wahine Project Knows No Barriers
Dionne Ybarra + surfboards.
Photo courtesy of Dionne Ybarra, The Wahine Project
Early in the morning, a car with a rooftop rainbow of surfboards pulls into the beach parking lot. A group of sweatshirted girls shifts eagerly, and a little sleepily, from one bare foot to the other in the cold Monterey, California, sand.
Dionne Ybarra steps out of her car, and the girls’ faces light up as she greets them each by name.
These are the girls of The Wahine Project, and they are here to surf.
To prepare for their plunge into the sea, the Wahine (wa-hee-nee), or surfer girls, gather in a lopsided circle around Ybarra and, as they transition from one yoga pose to another, they listen intently to her.
Ybarra advises that they might...
May 9, 2013
Life-Changing Experiences of A Royal Molecatcher
Molecatcher to the King, Jérôme Dormion, at work at Versailles
© Meredith Mullins
The Versailles Version of Whack-A-Mole
Is becoming a molecatcher one of those life-changing experiences?
For Jérôme Dormion, the answer is a resounding and royal yes.
Jérôme has a great job. He goes to work at a palace. He gets free reign over the Versailles grounds, one of the most beautiful landscapes in France. And, as if that weren’t enough, he is honored with the official title: “Molecatcher to the King.”
The Palace of Versailles, a 17th century expression of “the good life” by Louis XIV
© Meredith Mullins
The History of the Versailles Molecatchers
The French kings are long dead, but the palace of Versailles (just west of Paris) lives on in royal splendor, visited by more than six million people every year.
Ever since Louis XIV hired the first...
May 6, 2013
Yoga Poses Take This Optical Illusion Out for a Spin
Progressive International Motorcycle Shows ad campaign
photo © Holland Norkoski
The Creative Process Unlocked
What do yoga and motorcycles have in common?
San Diego advertising firm, i.d.e.a., brought the two together and added a bit of paint. Presto! Human motorcycles.
Oh, I see the optical illusion! Do you?
But how did they come up with the concept of a human motorcycle?
Forming the Plan
i.d.e.a. was given the task of creating an ad campaign for Progressive International Motorcycle Shows. They wanted to represent the different types of bikes at the shows but in a modern and racy way.
Ryan Berman, i.d.e.a.’s founder and Chief Creative Officer, reflects on the first part of the creative process, “The concept really stemmed from us trying to get in the mindset of the people that actually go to the Progressive International bike show and why they hit the...
May 2, 2013
Firsts Happen When There’s Courage of Conviction
Reveal the courage of conviction, and push the limits to the sky.
© Hemera
Jason Collins and Wilcox County Teens Push the Limits
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. —Anaïs Nin
Two recent events, startling by both their similarity and difference, make for this week’s “Oh, I See Moment” in the news. Both events show the courage of conviction, the stuff that firsts are made of.
NBA’s Jason Collins Speaks Up
Jason Collins became the first male athlete on a major professional sports team to share publicly that he is gay. The acknowledgement was a life-changer even for this game-changing basketball player.
Jason Collins is moving forward.
© iStockphoto
As he told Sports Illustrated about his decision to come out, ” I felt whole for the first time.”
Four Teens Take Action
At prom...
April 29, 2013
Liu Bolin’s Out of Sight Optical Illusions
Hiding in the City No. 71 – Bulldozer, 2008 Photograph
Courtesy Eli Klein Fine Art, © Liu Bolin
A Layer of Paint Hides This Invisible Man
A photo of a bulldozer seems pretty unremarkable.
What about a wall full of toys?
Hiding in New York No. 7 – Made in China, 2012 Photograph
Courtesy Eli Klein Fine Art, © Liu Bolin
Look again.
Did you say, “Oh, I see!”?
Over the past several years, artist Liu Bolin has been creating a photo series, “Hiding in the City,” in which he becomes an invisible man of sorts.
Liu Bolin’s Creative Process
To prepare for these optical illusion photos, Liu finds the perfect, everyday background and photographs himself there. He works with a team of assistants to select the exact paint colors and note all the lines, curves, and shadows of the setting.
Then he and his team go to the site again, and he...
April 25, 2013
Random Acts of Kindness Flow with “Suspended” Coffee
Coffee warms the heart and spirit
© Fuse Collection
Starting the Day Off Right
“I’ll have a decaf espresso, a caffe latte, a double decaf cappuccino, and a caffe sospeso.”
This could be a scene from LA Story, a barista’s nightmare, or a reminder of how coffee drinking has taken us into a labyrinthe of choices.
It could be all those things . . . but in this instance it’s an order at a coffee shop, sprinkled with a random act of kindness.
Caffe Sospeso: “Suspended Coffee”
The hidden gift in this order is caffe sospeso, an Italian tradition born in Naples that is taking hold around the world.
Caffe sospeso is not an extravagant new coffee concoction. It means, in literal translation, “suspended coffee.”
In practice, this custom is a heartwarming “pay it forward” story. When people buy a coffee, they pay for an...
