In Florida the annual “Birding and Wildlife Festival” is in January – Every year I volunteer there – this year we got to share it with a friend – or rather she shared it with us. I hope you Grandkids can find friends and events like this to share together.
Hey, Grandkids – I decided to do this Blog on the subject of leadership. Just to get you thinking about your leadership roles in school today and on a larger platform in the future – See, you and your friends will be the future leaders of our industries, our religious organizations, and our country. …….
Sure hope you do a good job – cause I am retired. Leaders always get to be in the media – so I thought I would play around with some recent news stories about our leaders – just for fun.
I wanted to follow the lead of our leader – President Obama – and take a selfie to show you how I was dressed – wearing my Canadian toque and with palm trees in the background — But obviously there are things I did not learn from the President — like watch out for the sun shining into the lens. But I did learn to not show Michelle in the background with an angry look on her face!
Now, here, with this shot – while on my bike ride on the Nature Trail – I wanted to take a lead from Governor Christie – You see my bike kinda blocks the bridge and you may see several golf carts waiting to cross – not a mean word was spoken — only laughs when I told them I took the photo to put on my Bog – Just for the Grandkids that live in New Jersey! See there is much to learn from our leaders — Learn some things to do and learn some things not to do.
I have been very busy lately – taking our Photo Club to a new level – doing it all by just organizing and helping others be the best leaders they can – They are a team of leaders and are really moving!!!!
It now cost $20 per year to be a member and on our first day we had 21 become paying members – for our little informal photo group – that was great! In addition, we have our first SPECIAL PROJECT – we have been commissioned to photograph the golf course – preparing photos that the course management can use in a national promotion campaign of the course on the internet. Our commission involves no money – but we will all learn a lot from our Senior Photographer member who will lead the project
Here is the status of our Photo club:
1. LEARN – Offer more activities aimed at our motto: Come Learn Together.
2.SHARE – Provide avenues for every TGO resident to “Display” their photographs for others to enjoy.
3. SERVE The Great Outdoors community – Make the Photo Club be a greater service to the our community
Available to all TGO residents:
Attend local hands-on field shoots to learn the options of your specific camera. A generic “Digital Camera Basics” class will be offered for those new to digital cameras.
Display photos in the The TGO Photo and Slide Show – Submissions have started. (Show on Feb 22.)
Attend regular meetings on Manor Porch on the 1st and 3 Friday of each month.
Fun activities available to Photo Club Members ($20 per year dues)
Participate in “Fun” photo shoot trips.
Participate in & learn via educational photo critiques and evaluation sessions.
Attend computer-photo processing learning work shops.
Submit photos to the on-going “TGO Photo Galleries”. First hanging Mar 15.
Participate in and learn via special photographing projects with experienced photographers.
Club Leadership:
Future Club Development Leadership
Day is done – Beautiful.
So far this year it seems like I squeezed at least 3 months into one half month.
But what do I do all day before reflecting at the evening sunset?
In January it is tradition that I line up my office files to get ready to do taxes.
In addition, I’ve been making pens/pencils in the woodshop, I negotiate with the builder to finish up his warrant work on our 3 year old house, I have stepped up the activities of the photo club by adding committees to create photo galleries in our community, since the community purchased the golf course and the restaurant our club will add a committee to create stock photo albums to be used in promotions, and since I got a golf GPS watch for Christmas, I have so much fun practicing – sometimes I forget to quit until it is so dark I can’t find my ball anymore – You may not know how dark the woods (my wild slice does it) beside the fairway is in the twilight – It is very dark! Snakes, hogs, and gators there too! HaHa
Any way that is how I fill my days and I love it.
As you can see from the next snap shots, I am not a photographer – (but it is all that I have on my iPhone that will tell my story today). My job in the photo club is to help organize the photographers in our community who want to come together and accomplish some things and who want to learn, from each other, — learn how to better photography.
Now, that said let me show you my Christmas present, and a few of my pens/pencils.
Last blog I wrote: “Some times animals are good trainers.” Today, I blog that “Sometimes children are the best trainers”.
Recently, I had reason to ponder happiness among my retired friends – I concluded that creativity was a source of happiness – happiness had a direct correlation between those friends that created and continued ……
to learned — in contrast to those that allowed creativity to move way to the back and followed only the “old” ways.
During Christmas season this year, I had so much fun watching Grandchildren being thieves. What, being thieves? That is what I said!
You, see they watched, they stole ideas, and then created their own solution!
For example — How to drive the golf cart, how to make Grandma and Grandpa laugh, how to get us to take them out in the golf cart, how to win at an electronic game, how to adapt to a new environment in Florida, etc — they loved doing it their way — the more I left them alone (Watched for their safety of course) the more they they enjoyed creating their own solution.
Creating is a natural source of fun for us – I think the fun of creating is pretty much reserved for us humans — one trait that separates us from the animal kingdom.
Creativity is: Ability to produce or learn something new through imaginative skill, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form.
Think of a creative people: the Beatles, Henry Ford, Bell, Dell, Mozart, — Did they have talents that we never had? Or did we back-step a bit from our childhood?
I really believe, as children, we all had the creative drive – that is how we learned! In order to learn, our curiosity and enthusiasm took a front seat — it drove us — to perform 100% to rules we did not yet know about was able to take a back seat.
We tried things that were impossible, we tried things that did not match adult rules (often we did not yet know they were the rule) – watch any child try and fail — then try a new way and so on — As a child we did not ask how to do each move — we did not ask for permission, we did not just copy others — What we did was steal ideas and assemble ideas we stole.
When we were children, Stealing ideas and selectively using pieces of what we stole was our way being creative – our way of learning as a child — selecting ideas, re-grouping them to produce failure, — learning from that and finally re-grouping them to create a new way of being ourself. That is why we are all different – we each stole different ideas, and we each uniquely used selectively from the ideas we stole – and yes we stole ideas from our failures and successes too. Different success and failures for everyone else.
But as we get older we must use more caution in order to succeed – we are told how to do it: In school we study to memorize information to get a good grade on the test. We perform according to rules of employment to get the next raise. We perform the current social fads to be accepted in the community. The more we know the “right” answer to succeed the less creative we need to be.
So say I, think about your hobbies — add at least one hobby to your life that has no “right” answer – a hobby that allows you to steal ideas, select and assemble them your way, — one where you do not have to answer to anyone’s ideas except your own childish desire to steal ideas, select and assemble them, and create your own way.
Again say I: Creating is a natural source of fun for us – I think the fun of creating is pretty much reserved for us humans — one trait that separates us from the animal kingdom.
Some times animals are good trainers – They teach us to not worry — Relax, do not worry about how silly we look, and
do what feels good and do not worry about how we look!
I studied my photos of kids doing fun stuff — So many of the photos present a true sense of humor. What better subject for a blog on the New Year’s day when everyone you meet says “Happy New Year” So I suggest we be try to be happy and clown around a lot —
……and make other folks happy in the process — all year long!
Now folks, I enjoy playing with Photoshop — I am not sure I improve things but I change them– I encourage you Grandkids to play around with your art work, change, and create — Maya is a real creative artist — some of her photographs are great — much better then I could ever do and she is almost 68 years younger then me –what do U think of that? I asked Maya to send me some of her photos — If she does I will post them here — you will see what I say about her creativity.
In the mean time see my Photo Paintings:
To the Nature Center with family from NYC – so, I asked what do you call a stack of turtles? — it is called a “BALE” Check it out in the dictionary if you have doubts!
Now folks, I enjoy playing with Photoshop — I am not sure I improve things but I change them– I encourage you Grandkids to play around with your art work, change, and create — Maya is a real creative artist — some of her photographs are great — much better then I could ever do and she is almost 68 years younger then me –what do U think of that? I asked Maya to send me some of her photos — If she does I will post them here — you will see what I say about her creativity. In the mean time see my PhotoShop modifications:
Give Praise, say Thanks, and Enjoy this Christmas Day!
Melissa and Grand kids arrived this noon – we are all full of lunch and it is a cold 62 degrees — but, off to pool the Grandkids go!
I took time to “Throw together a few family album type photos — just to say to you all A VERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS —
I am still out here thinking you all.
Christmas seems to make one think of Mangers and barn animals, family, and snow — and Santa — Here are a few family photos to celebrate these thoughts.
Give Praise, say Thanks, and Enjoy this Christmas Day!
