Under a spreading chestnut tree, The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hand;And the muscles of his brawny armsAre strong as iron bands.~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow We don’t know whether Longfellow was referencing the American Chestnut tree when he wrote “The Village Blacksmith” in 1839. However, that was […]
An Old Chestnut – the American Kind Read More »
There was nothing wrong with being a homebody. There was nothing wrong with not wanting – not needing – the constant jostle and noise of a party or bar or… whatever. ~ Charles de Lint, Jack of Kinrowan: Jack the Giant-Killer / Drink Down the Moon Whew! What a relief. I thought there was something
Becoming a Homebody Read More »
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else. ~ Alfred Adler Hard to argue with that, given the nonsensical proposition. However, I can verify that if you don’t know how to get where you’re going, your target will not materialize. Well, it won’t materialize absent divine intervention, and I should know. I
Some Who Wander *Are* Lost Read More »
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you; righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 ESV) How many times have I heard that verse, but gave no thought to the individual components of Palm
Palm Sunday – Components & Traditions Read More »
Some people’s weakness is that they care too much; it is also their strength. ~Brigitte Nicole This week’s piece was supposed to be about grammar rules. I’ll get to that one soon enough, but something happened a few days ago that diverted my attention. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I will
Can You Care Too Much? Read More »
If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever. ~ Dalai Lama XIV You may be wondering what dandelion bristles (yes, that’s
Blue Sky Problem Solving Read More »
‘Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in.’ ~ Robert Frost The Death of a Hired Man Etomology of home For word origins, I go to Etymonline. We find that from Middle English, “home” was hom, and from Old English, it was ham. Back then, the
Home – How Do You Define It? Read More »
“There are no perfect symmetries, there is no pure randomness, we are in the gray region between truth and chaos. Nothing novel or interesting happens unless it is on the border between order and chaos. ~ R.A. Delmonico I beg to differ. The definition of “novel or interesting” is as subjective as whether a cornbread
Symmetry – The Beauty of Balance Read More »
When you treasure what you have, you are already rich. ~ Udai Yadla Sigh. Treasure as a verb is easy. Merriam Webster keeps it simple – something you cherish or consider precious. The noun definition, however, first lists material items and then suggests something of great value. As an afterthought, then, someone. I don’t think I
The Definition of Treasure Read More »
Dare to believe in the reality of your assumption and watch the world play its part relative to its fulfillment. ~ Neville Goddard Sometimes our expectations are on target, but sometimes they conflate the negative. Other times they make us blind to our own errors. Let’s take a look at the practical ways this can be
The Impact of Expectations on Experience Read More »
Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Sometimes we
Power and Influence Read More »
If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you’d be surprised by how well things can work out… Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And
Complaining–Personality or Physiology? Read More »
Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. ~Albert Einstein Well, it might have worked that way for Einstein, but most of us don’t have his wiring. Even if we–well, you–are that smart (I know I’m not), there are some practical reasons for maintaining order. Let’s look at
Clutter – What’s The Impact? Read More »
Head Vs Heart: A crowded mind leaves no space for a peaceful heart. ~ Christine Evangelou, Beating Hearts and Butterflies: Poetry of Wounds, Wishes and Wisdom Clearing our heads can be challenging, and we sometimes need to pursue environments that support our efforts in that direction. I’ve been forthcoming about what offers me that framework, but
Peace – Where’s Your Place? Read More »
If an architect makes a mistake, he grows ivy to cover it. If a doctor makes a mistake, he covers it with soil. If a cook makes a mistake, he covers it with some sauce and calls it a new recipe. ~ Paul Bocuse While I disagree with the quote on some points, it is true that
A1 and Other Sauces with Secrets Read More »
Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes. ~Bertolt Brecht We all know that television heroes aren’t the real deal. But when I was a kid, there were many characters who–at least on screen–represented the best in human behavior. This post is a salute to a few of my favorites. Yes, in my unplugged
Television Heroes from the ’50s & ’60s Read More »
From garden to jar, canning is a celebration of nature’s gifts. ~ Unknown Back in the 70s, I would do a little canning every summer, but it was almost always tomatoes, and the process was a choice, not a necessity. The situation was entirely different for my grandmothers, who were born more than seventy years
A Fading Practice – Home Canning Read More »
What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are. ~ C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew I have observed that people of equal intelligence do not necessarily arrive at the same conclusions when given identical data. Yes, this was mentioned
Perception and Physiology 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 »
When I heard about Humpty Dumpty I wondered did he fall or was he pushed? ~ P.D. James It’s a fair question, as we’ll see in a few paragraphs. But before we get to the Stephen King block, here’s a traditional rhyme that’s one of my favorites. Content in brackets provides contemporary adjectives to replace those
Rhymes – Monday’s Child and Others Read More »
It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view. ~ George Eliot, Middlemarch It has been my experience that when a friend tells me a story, I tend to adopt her–or his–perspective. Whoever was the “bad” guy in the story continues to be the villain in my mind, too.
Looking the Other Way – Perspective Read More »
Look not mournfully into the past; it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow As mentioned in the recent post on Horatio Spafford, many creatives use their writing as an outlet for their grief.
Life and Lyrics of Longfellow 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 »
For fog was merely a cloud that wasn’t too smitten with itself to visit terra firma. ~Jan Karon The most memorable fog bank I recall was also the most terrifying. My daughter and I were driving down I-55 from St. Louis to West Tennessee on a cold December day. We really should have stayed put
Fog – A Thing That Lacks Substance, And Yet … Read More »