Cinema

Cinema forms memories and memories form history.

~ Mstyslav Chernov

- - - - -

I used to go to movies all the time. They were my escape from difficult times in my life. Going to movies gave me a few minutes away from some challenging people. Being enveloped in the darkness was like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cool evening. 

I don't go to movies much anymore because young people turn their phones on through the whole film and old people don't know how to turn their ringers off during the film.

I don't really watch movies on my phone, but if that is what I did now that would be all kinds of ironic. 

Books

Some books are heavier after you have read them and know what they hold. Others are so light they almost fly away.

~ Michelle Boettcher

- - - - -

Isn't it kind of cool how when you read you take things from books without changing them at all? You take knowledge and stories and ideas, but the books are the same as before you read them.

(pause)

Unless you rip pages out of the books. That would be different. That would be vandalism or damage of property. At least it would if they weren't your books. So quit doing that, jerk!

 

Children

(Photograph and absolutely no help by Kirk Boettcher)

The very first law that a child learns is the law of combat.

~ G. K. Chesterton

- - - - -

Yes, I was attacked by Zak as captured in this photo. That isn't the most interesting thing in the photo, though. The most interesting thing is the red ball in the background. If you look closely - up from Zak's butt there are some white birdbath stands. Above the stand on the left is another stand in the distance with a red ball on it.

That ball is an old bowling ball. I have no idea where we got it or why it became something we played with in the yard. 

At some point, we stopped playing with the bowling ball. That is when Mom painted it (it was many different colors, the last of which, as you can see here, was red). She put it on an old bird bath stand as a "gazing ball."

I don't know if gazing balls are still (or were ever) popular. I feel confident that bowling gazing balls were rare if not completely unpopular.

AND creativity and innovation were rampant in the home where I grew up. Violence from children was also rampant, as evidenced here. The response to which was not intervention, but photography - again with the creativity.

Stars

A star falls from the sky and into your hands. Then it sweeps through your veins and swims inside your blood and becomes every part of you.

~ C. JoyBell C.

- - - - -

Actually, when a star falls from the sky and into your hands, it likely will burn you very badly. If you then put it in your pocket, not only will it never fade away, but neither will the scar from the burn you'll get on your leg from putting that star in your pocket.

(pause) 

Um, also... May all your wishes come true.

Exposure

Sometimes people try to expose what's wrong with you, because they can't handle, what's right about you.

~ Facebook post with image of Jason Momoa

- - - - -

When I first started reading it, I thought the quote would end with "because they can't handle what's wrong with them." I guess my expectations were too high. I should have known better since there was a misplaced comma in the post to begin with.

I just wanted to expose what's wrong with whoever wrote that post.

(pause)

Wait... 

Car

It seemed like a vehicle was well and truly dead once the stereo had melted.

~ Maggie Siefvater

- - - - -

Me: You know the scariest story in the Bible is to me?

Leslie: No. I do not know that.

Me: It's the one where the guy gets taken to heaven in a fiery chariot. There was a picture of that in one of my Sunday school books and it scared the crap out of me.

Leslie: Esau?

Me: No, not Esau. Though I think it was one of those guys with a lot of vowels in his name.

(We both pause. Thinking.)

Me: Elijah!

Leslie: Yes. Elijah.

(Pause. Reflect.)

Me: Who gets into a fiery chariot? I mean, I'm not completely sure I would get into a Ford Taurus to go to heaven if it was on fire.

Trucks

Chuckwagons and pushcarts served cowboys and urban workers, respectively, all the way back to the years right after the Civil War... In the 1950s, ice cream trucks were the first businesses to take to the streets in modified vehicles that look almost exactly like their trucks today.

~ Stephanie Butler

- - - - -

Once upon a time Leslie shared with me that Clemson was having concert trucks around campus for mobile entertainment venues. We agreed that it was a pretty cool idea. Leslie said she also hoped they had food trucks on site with the music. I said I also hoped they had couch trucks.

Hoping is fun.

Hairdressers

I think the most important thing a woman can have - next to talent, of course - is her hairdresser.

~ Joan Crawford

- - - - -

Nigel had had it. For the fifth time this week a woman wandered in to his little building on the corner to see if he had time to do her hair, saw a dead body on the table in front of him, screamed and went running outside. Maybe calling his place the "Coroner Hair Salon" was not such a good idea after all.

Synonym

This word isn't in the the thesaurus, but here's the definition...

~ Merriam Webster

- - - - -

The other day I was looking up synonyms for "librarian" and got the response quoted above. While gendered, I have read about the "book women" who shared books via the Pack Horse Library Project as part of the WPA during the Great Depression.

Anyway, my point is, I think it is interesting that there is no synonym for librarian. I feel like the librarians made this happen intentionally. You know how snooty they can be.

 

Art

A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not.

~ Leonardo da Vinci

- - - - -

We should probably be glad that da Vinci was a painter (and, I know, a bunch of other things). I mean, if he was a tattoo artist instead, there would be some guy's arm hanging in the Louvre with the Mona Lisa on it. 

Gross.

 

Brick

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

~ David Brinkley

- - - - -

A successful person is one who can dodge the bricks others throw at them. 

 

Watching

People are always watching things. They should be seeing. I see the things I look at. I am a see-er.

~ Patrick Rothfuss

- - - - -

One day I was scrolling through social media. An ad popped up for a movie. Someone in the film said, "I thought that Kong was the last of his kind." I immediately scrolled on. I had no interest in that movie.

I scrolled on, and the next thing I saw was this: 

And I thought, "If that was a movie, I would totally go and see it."

Out

Before you heal someone, ask him if he is willing to give up the things that make him sick.

~ Hippocrates

- - - - -

I think we should get some opportunities to call in for "sick of you" days.

Pomegranate

I felt my heart crack slowly like a pomegranate, spilling its seeds.

~ Trevor Healey

- - - - -

Once upon a time I posted a photo of a pomegranate we grew on the same day that I had also posted a photo of my nephew. More people liked the photo of my nephew than the photo of the pomegranate. not a lot more, but a few. So that's nice, I guess.

Siblings

Non nobis solum nati sumus.

~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

- - - - -

The quote above translates to "Not for ourselves alone are we born." You probably already knew that. Anyway, one way that I think this really applies is to siblings. As an oldest child, I know I was born to tell my brothers how to do everything. I think Aurora would agree with me on this.

You're welcome.

Camp

Everyone on Facebook: Can I go to Camp GoGo?

Leslie: No.

- - - - -

I think we often find ourselves comparing our experiences to other people. Our lives. Our work. Our partners. Our extended family members. 

When you are camping and you look at your campsite and think about whether it is better or or worse than the one next to you, that is called "camparing."

(pause)

And don't do that. Because comparison is the thief of fun camping.

Words

 

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

~ Rudyard Kipling

- - - - -

Recently I was reading a book. It had several words I had to look up because I wasn't sure what they meant. One of the words was "prevet." The protagonist was a college student and talked about classes they were taking and said they had to drop pre -

vet (it was split on two lines). 

As I was entering it to look up the word, I realized she was dropping pre-vet. If it had been hyphenated on the same line I would have understood it the first time.

I blame the publisher and the page layout choices they made for this.

 

Catch

If you run fast enough, tou can still catch those dreams.

~ Charmaine J. Forde

- - - - -

Some people chase dreams. Other people wait for their dreams to find them. 

(pause)

As it is with dreams, so it is with ice cream trucks.

Power

Because my one superpower as a teacher, and I only have one, is the absolute adoration for the stuff I teach.

~ Tabitha Carvan

- - - - -

My superpower as a teacher is that I get to assign people grades.

 

Basket

Put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.

~ Andrew Carnegie

- - - - -

Leslie came home from a walk with Lily the other day and said they were doing an egg hunt at the park down the street from our house. She added, "You know, Easter egg hunts aren't as great as you think they might be. I've been to a few of them. Kids will kill each other over eggs during those things."

(pause)

She surely must be exaggerating, right? 

Barn

Old barn, what is it that draws me to you?

~ Linda Crist

- - - - -

Well, if the barn is hiding a giant magnet and you are a robot made out of metal, what draws you to the barn is magnetism. If "Old Barn" is a nickname for a person and you are also a person, then it is still magnetism, but this time it means that Old Barn likely has some charisma, confidence, and charm. 

Of course Old barn could also have a huge magnet in his overalls (I imagine he wears overalls a lot) and you could still be a metal robot. In that case, I refer back to my first response.

Recipes

And I sometimes crave her lamb chops even though I not longer eat red meat. I was well into adulthood before realizing it was her tangy and sweet marinade I liked more than the actual cut ofd meat. She took that recipe to her grace. A few years ago I called a cousin and said, "I'm trying to make Mama's lemonade." He responded, "Then you are trying to make a cup of love." Later in the conversation he said, "I've been chasing her flavors my entire adult life." In our own way, all of us have been trying to hold tight to something she gave us.

~ Farah Jasmine Griffin

- - - - -

I like when people say they add love to their recipes. If it's a typo, though, and they are actually adding "clove" - I don't like that so much. Cloves aren't my favorite.

Doors

I've been blessed to play these great parts that just open another door and another door, is I guess how its worked.

~Margo Martindale

- - - - -

If you did autopsies on Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, and John Densmore, that would be another way of opening Doors. 

Fools

Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn--and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

~ Dale Carnegie

- - - - -

I know some foolish people, however I won't criticize them or complain about them or condemn them. 

(pause)

Out loud.

Joy

The woman had no feeling for children's joy. She could take the joy out of ice cream, dirt, fishing with bait, you name it.

~ Barbara Kingsolver

- - - - -

Leslie is the kind of woman who has a feeling for children's joy. She can put it in lots of things - like getting children to do all the work around the house.

Complaint

One bar may hide another bar in the same way that one complaint usually hides another.

~ Jeffrey Rendered Allen

- - - - - -

I found this to be true when I worked in residence life. The complaint from one roommate against the other was almost always about doing dishes or taking out the trash. The real complaint was never about doing dishes or taking out the trash.

It was about writing threatening messages on the mirror in the bathroom. 

Or maybe that was just what my roommates used to complain about.

Goslings

I don't really have that much angst to get rid of. 

~ Ryan Gosling

- - - - -

Angst is a sense of dread or anxiety - typically unfocused. I would say that geese have angst, but it tends to be focused on their goslings. I'm not so sure goslings have angst. Well, I guess I know one that doesn't, at least. Allegedly.

Jasmine

The smell of jasmine makes people tell their secrets.

~ Jandy Nelson

- - - - -

When Jasmine grew old, she smelled like Gold Bond powder. 

RUN

I seem to remember that at eleven my brood were howlers and screamers and runners in circles.

~ John Steinbeck

- - - - -

I guess maybe they figured out who Banksy is. They could have let it be, I suppose. The Reuters article was pretty good. It is hilarious to me that in trying to catch the artist, a bunch of news outlets published photos of a builder from London rather than photos of Banksy. That seems perfect. 

Whatever. I love that guy's work. 

 

Grandma

Memories of grandmas often center on cherished moments with family, favorite foods, shared activities like reading or swimming, and the wisdom or kindness she imparted.

~ Artificial Intelligence

- - - - -

I guess robots have grandmas, too.

Wandering

Sometimes when you lose your way, you find yourself.

~ Mandy Hale

- - - - -

I don't care if you are wandering and not lost, but I do care if you are zig-zagging back in forth when you're driving in front of me and I'm trying to get around you.

Dog

If you can step on a dog and kill it, it's not a dog. It's a rat.

~ Kate McKinnon's Mom

- - - - -

This is perhaps the best quote I have ever used on a blog. The message is pretty solid regarding dogs, but also the quote's presence on my blog implies that I might actually know Kate McKinnon's Mom. I shall neither confirm nor deny.

Wash

Life is a daily cleansing. Negativity must be washed away, if you wish to attract positive experiences to your life. 

~ Leon Brown

- - - - -

Leslie: Here. Your earphones went through the washer, but they also went through the dryer, so they should be fine.

Privacy

It's Facebook, Dad. It's all defamatory.

~ Helen Tudor-Fisk

- - - - -

When we try to pry into other people's business, there isn't a lot of good that comes from it. It takes our time, we get distracted or drawn down rabbit holes, and we rarely find exactly what we are looking for. Just let others do what they need to do. It's not our concern.

But if you do find out things that are scandalous, tell me. That way I will know what you know without doing the work and then I can be all judgmental of you for poking your nose where it doesn't belong. 

I'm just kidding. I really don't like to be in the loop. At all. 

Daybed

A dog on the bed is worth two on the couch.

~ Michelle Boettcher Proverb

- - - - -

One day we found a dog running around in Betty's yard. At first I was very excited that maybe Betty got a new dog. Then I realized she was gone and the dog had come in through the open gate. We got the pup to come into our yard. Lily was excited at first but quickly grew bored of the other dog.

The dog had a collar but no tags. We called the police who couldn't take the dog at the time and then we posted in a neighborhood social media outlet. It was cold at the time, so we brought the dog in - watching it closely in case it wasn't house trained (it was). We sat down to watch some TV and Lily took her place on the couch and the pup climbed up on the back of the couch to relax with us. The pup kept a paw on Lily as much as it could.

It made me think, "What would it be like to have two dogs?" I was picturing it and how it might complicate some of the travel we did and adventures that we had with Lily. Just as I was moving to problem-solving how we would navigate things with a second dog, the owner called us.

I was relieved, ultimately.

Anyway, I like dogs. 

 

Stories

(Photography by Richard Boettcher)

Our stories are the greatest legacy we will leave to our friends. A life story is the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to future generations.

~ Steve Saint

- - - - -

Kirk: Have you looked through the slides of Mom and Dad's honeymoon?

Me:   I skimmed them. I didn't look at them for detail.

Kirk: I'm going to send you one right now.

(He sent me the image above)

Me: Yes..?

Kirk: Look closely at the name of the place up the street...

Me: Oh. Wow.

Kirk: RIGHT?! 

Turns out there was a Glory Hole mine and this was the Glory Hole hotel. 

Semantics. Context. Language is hilarious.

Also, I bet they might name it something else if they discovered it today.

Town

Towns are like people. Old ones have character, the new ones are interchangeable.

~ Wallace Stegner

- - - - -

I don't know if I believe that new people are interchangeable. I do believe that their names are sometimes interchangeable because I usually forget people's names when I first meet them. That's part of my character as an old one. 

(pause)

A medium old one.

 

Giving

Our politicians should recognize that because children are our future, ensuring every child has access to quality education is an investment that pays dividends for future generations.

~ Laura Numeroff

- - - - -

Aurora: You want cake now?

Me: Yes, please.

Aurora: You want a glass of milk?

Me: That would be wonderful.

Aurora: If you give a Mimi a pice of pineapple upside down cake, she's gonna want a glass of milk.

Dreaming

Why does the mind see things more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?

~ Leonardo da Vinci

- - - - -

The other night I had a dream that I was in an Irish pub. Lily was there, though she was not drinking. No one had an issue with me having a dog in the bar. What was stranger is that no one had an issue with me ordering a wheat beer in an Irish pub. 

Bobbing

Keep bobbing, and we'll come right by and by.

~ Louisa May Alcott

- - - - - -

I like how these photos of bobbers turned out. I took them on a trip at the end of the spring semester last year.

(pause)

Good thing I liked these photos because I sure didn't catch any fish.