Gentle, powerfully comforting, the chestnuts spoke of freshly baked rolls and hot potatoes, of the burnt edges of a Christmas cake, of sweet apple, and of the high old trees in Kent where they were harvested.”― Catherine Kurtz, Feast It all sounds good, but I prefer savory dishes. Yes, I’ll take a little dessert, but
Sugar, Salt, & Personal Preference Read More »
Camarin and I are both baffled by the pleasure humans find with bowling. The noise is maddening, the equipment unsanitary, and the repetition boring. ~ Elizabeth Langston, Wishing for You I admit I’m also baffled by the pleasure humans find in bowling. The reason for my perplexity is simple: I am no more skilled at this
The Formidable Challenge of Candlepin Bowling Read More »
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. ~Jim Rohn I’m not sure that’s the right number, but there’s a clear correlation. It is impossible to work, volunteer, or attend church with people repeatedly and manage to keep your original self intact. I’m not saying your–or my–original self is
Friends And Their Influence Read More »
“He could smell the readiness of onion in every one of its stages of cooking and knew exactly what stage worked best for each dish. He could identify the exact rapidity with which milk had to boil before adding the lemon to make the cheese curd separate into paneer. He could sense exactly when to
Sensing Smells – A Relative Ability Read More »
Salad can get a bad rap. People think of bland and watery iceberg lettuce, but in fact, salads are an art form, from the simplest rendition to a colorful kitchen-sink approach. ~Marcus Samuelsson He’s not wrong. Sometimes we make judgment calls before we’ve considered all the options. I wouldn’t say that an aversion to salad
Lettuce Consider Greens Read More »
The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few in most personal experience. There’s lots of good fish in the sea . . . maybe . . . but the vast masses seem to be mackerel or herring, and if you’re not mackerel or herring yourself, you are
Idioms–They’re a Dime a Dozen Read More »
Lean on me when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend;I’ll help you carry onFor it won’t be long ’til I’m gonna needSomebody to lean on. ~ Bill Withers Tell me you didn’t sing that. Seriously, I doubt you sang out loud, but you must be familiar with the lyrics. Have you ever thought about
Help in Times of Need – Friends & Others Read More »
Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Put more succinctly by my brother, “You make your own luck.” All that said, I wouldn’t say that people who believe in luck are shallow. However, I do think that whether someone is encountering good fortune or
What’s Luck Got To Do With It? Read More »
You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write. ~Annie Proulx It isn’t just the shape of stories that I love. It’s the shape of the letters. When the
Does it Matter How You Write It? Read More »
For my grandmother’s generation, the big invention was cake mix; for our moms, it was the microwave, and for me, it’s the iPhone. And that’s enabled us to do so many different things more efficiently at home. ~ Brit Morin A few weeks back, my brother suggested microwave ovens as a topic. This sounded good
Microwave Ovens – Blessing or Curse? Read More »
The viewer watching the view is also being watched by the view! So every viewer is also a view and every view, a viewer! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan Back in 2022 I tackled an awareness topic, but the focus of What Do You See, Really? was primarily protecting your bubble. For example, be sure to determine
Watch yourself–and Everything Else Read More »
Our ancestors are totally essential to our every waking moment, although most of us don’t even have the faintest idea about their lives, their trials, their hardships or challenges. ~Annie Lennox I’m not sure what Ms. Lennox meant by “essential to our every waking moment,” but she is absolutely correct that we don’t know much
Ancestors. The struggle is real. Read More »
You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination. ~Ralph Marston With all due respect to Mr. Marston, determination takes you only so far. And, no, I’m not talking about the try, try, try again
Done and Not done (Yet) Read More »
To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. ~Johannes A. Gaertner This will be an abbreviated post because you have a full to-do list ranging from preparing a Thanksgiving feast to consuming said feast to digesting it in a supine position.
Gratitude For the Sake of All That’s Healthy Read More »
God has a plan for all of us, but He expects us to do our share of the work. Minnie Pearl I grew up in a household that loved country music, so I am familiar with Minnie Pearl, her hat with the price tag hanging down, and her HOW-DEE! She was always entertaining and sometimes
How-dee! Lessons from Minnie Pearl Read More »
The etymologist finds the deadest words to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson So many topics lack appeal until we gather sufficient detail to capture our attention. As an example, I attended the Indianapolis 500 about 30 years ago. The 50° temps, the near-constant drizzle and the quarter
Phrase Origins, Etymologically Speaking Read More »
I realise there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go. ~ Jeffrey McDaniel In His extreme wisdom, God planned nature to sprout, grow, let go, and start over. Some of us humans have a hard time with that, and a small percentage find it almost impossible. Why is that?
The Challenge of Letting Go Read More »
Echoes of life call to me,like sparks of hope in the darkness.Times of play and freedom …The trees we would climb,higher and higher towards the sky,releasing our dreams towards the heavens.~ Susan L. Marshall, All the Hope We Carry I have written about memories a couple of times before. The last one was in August of
Times of Play and Freedom Read More »
In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. ~Opening line of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, 1916 I think I am not alone in my preference to absorb history
History As A Story Read More »
I’ve got a bad case of the 3:00 am guilts – you know, when you lie in bed awake and replay all those things you didn’t do right? Because, as we all know, nothing solves insomnia like a nice warm glass of regret, depression and self-loathing. ~ D.D. Barant, Dying Bites I would say that the above
Walking the Beam of Regret and Reward Read More »
“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.” ~ A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Anticipation and its impact when realization hits Read More »
Cotton candy is the most amazing form of caramelization ever invented by man. ~ Jose Andres I don’t remember the first time I tasted the sweet, delicate flavor that defines cotton candy. I don’t even know what made me start thinking about it last week, but I’m glad I did. Learning new things about old
Cotton candy – how sweet it is! Read More »
Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words. ~ Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart Peacocks are one
Acting with Integrity, Encouraging the Quality Read More »
Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you only take what is worth having. ~ George Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon NOTE: I received several responses this week and decided to include them all. Consequently, this post is a bit long; feel free to cherry-pick. Or read a few sections a
Sound advice – are you listening? Read More »