We are the Dreamer; The Astronaut Farmer and Awards X's Three

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Have you seen the film, The Astronaut Farmer? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you want to tease yourself into dreaming again or get yourself a shot of dream adrenalin, spend some time with this story, which was filmed in New Mexico in 33 days. The Polish brothers, Mark and Michael, team up to co-write the screen play about a man who builds a rocket in his barn and dreams of becoming an astronaut. The brothers direct (Michael is the primary director) the quirky Charles Farmer (Billy Bob Thornton) and the sincere Audrey Farmer (Virginia Madsen). Charlie and Audie's three children are made up of an older sensitive, intelligent and humorous brother, Shepard (Max Thieriot), and two young adorable sisters. The girls, Stanley (Jasper Polish) and Sunshine (Logan Polish), are not actors at all but the children of the film makers, Mark and Michael Polish, and their presence lends a remarkable credibility to the film. One such real moment is when the little girl, Sunshine, brings a donut to her grandfather, Hal (Bruce Dern), who is sleeping in another room. She first yells to his reclining form, "Grandpa here's your donut!" Then she repeats in an emphatic whisper, "Grandpa, here's your donut." When she returns to the kitchen and says, "Grandpa no wake up," her innocent matter of fact authenticity nearly breaks my heart.

[Photo: Neutron Star 2004 NASA ]


There are no stop signs up there. There is no defining space. We've always defined our space. A wall here, a room there, a hallway, a road. We have this way of dividing our space until it equals a direction. We even created a space for the dead. Space is a difficult thing to grasp. (Charles Farmer)

I think we all place boundaries on our dreams. We all have some limit that we consciously or subconsciously place upon ourselves. Sometimes that's okay because the dream faded away but other times the influence of that dead-weight dream is pulling us back. We cannot fully live until it is addressed. Is there some dream that you are holding yourself back from? Can you dust off the dead past and set it into your alive future? Can you give yourself permission to have dream space? I hope so...may you continue to dream, and may those dreams come true.

This may not be a true story but it is indeed true that we need supportive relationships with people who know that our dreams matter.

The Astronaut Farmer teaches us that it's important that dreams are fulfilled.

May we all surround ourselves with supportive people who know that they love our 'dreaming selves'; and, may we love others in a way that fully supports their own dream visions.

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In that spirit of open support I want to acknowledge the people who have given Oasis Writing Link (OWL) blog awards lately, and also pass them on to the dear bloggers mentioned below. (If I missed you, please feel free to accept the award from me.)

Normal is a Cycle on a Washing Machine, Sarah LuLu 's blog out of Australia, gives readers a taste of real life including the wash, spin, and dry cycle. Her experience as a foster parent supervisor, mother and seeker encourages her readers to reach out and share their own life struggles and celebrations. I am honored that she thought of me for the Love My Friends award:


The Love My Friends award is bestowed onto blogs that are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.

*Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.*

Here are 8 + 2 to make a nice even 10!

Love My Friends Award is passed on to:
Carol @ The Writers Porch
Catherine@ A Thousand Clapping Hands
Tessa@ An Aerial Armadillo
Elizabeth@ About New York
Jude@ Cariad in Crete
Fhina@ A Woman of No Importance
Bogey@ A View From the Fairway
TPC@ The Pink Cowboy
Linda@ Psyche Connections
Pat@ Mille Fiori Favoriti
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Woman of No Importance, Fhina, who cleverly writes about music, art, fashion from the UK while interspersing her life realities was kind enough to consider me for the Palabras como rosas award, which is for sharing "words that are like rose pedals" (according to my husband's translation). The open-hearted, intelligent and contemporary, Fhina, writes this about the Palabras Como Rosas Award:

"a lovely golden book with light leaves called Palabras como rosas, which translates into Words Like Roses." She writes that it is "my obligation to give this award to 9 people whose words are truly like the lingering and sweetly scented petals of a perfect rose".
Here are my 9 + 1:

Reya@ The Gold Puppy
Miriam@ Miriam's Art Journal
Amy@ Amy (Uncensored):
Linda@ Vulture Peak Muse
Ms Lucy@ Enchanted by Josephine
Janice@ Drinking the Moon
Mrs. French Fancy@ French Fancy
Lisa L@ A Really Simple Life
Natalie@ Musings from the Deep
R.Ramesh@ Global Madrasi

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View from the Fairway, Bogey, the clever poetic guy "up north" in Canada surprised me with this lovely acknowledgement as he writes:

Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:
-Inspire you
-Make you smile and laugh, or maybe give amazing information
-A great read
-Has an amazing design
-Any other reasons you can think of that make them Uber amazing!

Uber Amazing Blog Award
The rules of this award are:
Put the logo on your blog or post.
Nominate at least 6 blogs
Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

Go visit these amazing blogs!


Becky@ Behind Blue Eyes
Artist@ Artist Unplugged
Fire Byrd@ Fire Byrd
Lake Viewer@ Sixty Five What Now
Sandi@ Holding Patterns
Chrisy@ Sophism Press


There are many bloggers who are wonderful and inspiring but I think that they do not want to participate in the blogger award fun. (I'm sorry if I misunderstood and/or missed you -please accept the award of your choice.) If you want some other blogs to visit, check out my sidebar or the blogs I follow for more exciting blog reading adventure!

Thank you for these awards, blogger friends, and may we all remember to dream...