Tree

One that would have fruit must climb the tree.

~ Thomas Fuller

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I don't write about my work in my blog very much.  I was thinking about my job tonight, though and about how I ended up working in judicial affairs.  I have always been very interested in policies and rules.  I am an oldest and, therefore, love to make up rules.

I was also involved in changing policies in my elementary school.  Before I became Captain of our Safety Patrol, I was instrumental in the implementation of a rule against climbing trees in the playground at Altoona Elementary.  The rule was created after I climbed a tree in the playground at Altoona Elementary and got my foot stuck. 

Dog

A professor must have a theory as a dog must have fleas.

~ H.L. Mencken

- - - - -

I am pretty sure that I was a dog in a former iteration.  I know how to do things like sit, stay, and shake.  I think I was probably not a retriever, though, because if throw something and tell me to run and get it, I'm likely not to do it.  And also, it is likely that I will think you are a moron.  

(pause)

Or maybe I was a cat. 

Glasses

Don't call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses.

~ Aaron Hill

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Elizabeth:  If I owned a glasses company, I would make all the signs going into the store blurry, so people would think they needed glasses.  Then all the signs you would see on the way out would be perfectly clear.

Problems

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

~ Albert Einstein

- - - - -

I was helping Elizabeth with this math problem the other night.  I looked at it for a while and then suggested, "Why don't you write, 'Why doesn't Judy just go in the tent?'"

Elizabeth did not think her math teacher would give her credit for that solution.

Annoyed

My dreams were all my own; I accounted for them to nobody; they were my refuge when annoyed - my dearest pleasure when free.
~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

- - - - -
E:  So, I was late to class today because we were playing dodgeball.

Maddie:  Did you get hurt or something?

E: NO.  We had to get a lecture on cheating.

Maddie:  Cheating at schoolwork in P.E.?  Or cheating at dodgeball?

E:  Cheating at dodgeball.  He said, "When you get hit, you're supposed to go over to the other team."  And he was looking at me the whole time.

Maddie:  Why?

E:  Because I was cheating.  And in my head I was going, "Yeah, so I was cheating.  Whatever.  I'm going to be late to my next class.  It's just a game!"

Evening

As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk, I don't really believe it can happen.

~ Chris Van Allsburg

- - - - -

I love that quote.  I like the imagery of encountering someone on an evening walk like the tooth fairy.  Although, I have to be completely honest, I don't know what my reaction would be if I encountered the tooth fairy.  I could very possibly freak out.  I believe in some cultures the tooth fairy is not a benevolent creature.  

Dock

I have trouble with seafood because it tastes like a dock.

~ Douglas Coupland

- - - - -

The medicine I took when I had been so sneezy made me a little dopey.  So much so that the planks on the walkway before me seemed gathered together in a bashful, sleepy huddle.  Though I had been grumpy, seeing this made me happy.  Then I realized it was just a doc.

Markers

 

The soul becomes dyed with the colors of its thoughts.

~ Marcus Aurelius

- - - - -

I think the lower elementary grades are to blame for a lot of the crime in our country.  For example, what are "coloring pages" other than a sort of graffiti art training activity?

Queen

 

In every woman there is a Queen. 

Speak to the Queen and the Queen will answer.

~ Norwegian Proverb

- - - - - 

And in every man there is a king.  For some it is regal and royal for others it is a bad version of Elvis and in still others it is some variation of Burger King.

Sink

For sleep, one needs endless depths of blackness to sink into; daylight is too shallow, it will not cover one.

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

- - - - -

You see that little sprayer thing in the photo.  I love those things.  I don't know why seeing water pressure clean things off of a plate is so rewarding, but it is.  I also like to see water carve away at chunks of ice.  I am sure it is because of my innate sense to want to change things - erode and chisel away to create something new.

I also used to take a rubber band and bind it around the sprayer thing at my parents' house so whoever turned on the sink next would get sprayed in the face.  I think that comes from my innate desire to want to change things - like people's moods or their hydration levels.

Friendship

 

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.

~ Tennessee Williams

- - - - -

Water and friends are really very similar.  Both go with the flow.  Both can reflect us so we can see ourselves in them.  Both can wave at you.  Both can be annoying and smelly if they spend too long in your basement.

Days

Everyone has his day.  And some days last longer than others.

~ Winston Churchill

- - - - -

Me:  Elizabeth, say one nice thing to your sister.

Elizabeth:  (long pause)  I like how you're a good swimmer.

Me:  Maddie, say one nice thing to Elizabeth.

Maddie:  I like how you didn't hit me today.

Camouflage

Camouflage is a game we all like to play, but our secrets are as surely revealed by what we want to seem to be as by what we want to conceal.

~ Russell Lynes

- - - - -

In the rear view mirror above, you can see some children playing on the snow mound in a parking lot.  What you don't see is the polar bear hiding in the snow pile.  Or the snow leopard.  Or the person in the white parka.

Do you not see them because they aren't there or because they are so well camouflaged?  Maybe we'll never know...

And maybe that's for the best.

Ice

Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate.

~ Friedrich Nietzsch

- - - - -

When the weather gets warm I wonder if the Ice Queen has to relinquish power to the Puddle Princess.

Sunset

 

 The scattered tea goes with the leaves and every day a sunset dies.

~ William Faulkner

- - - - -

I think sunsets are prettier than sunrises.  I heard once it is because there is more dust in the air at the end of the day to make the colors more bold.  Whatever.  I think it's because sunrises come so stinking early and even beautiful things aren't that beautiful when you're not quite awake.  (pause)  Or it could be the dust thing.

Love

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods.

~ Plato

- - - - -

When I was looking up a quote for love, I found that most of the quotes fall into two categories: "Love is good," or "Love is for idiots."  I suppose it just depends.  

So then I tried to get a context from the Greeks and Romans.  Aphrodite / Venus is the goddess of love, fertility, vegetation, and the sea.  And beauty.  And desire.  Eros / Cupid - may have been the son of Aphrodite and Ares (god of war), or may have been a primordial god.  Regardless, he is god of love and sexual desire.  I guess he took after his mom.

Still looking for more information, I tried looking up St. Valentine.  Apparently, there are 14 saints Valentine.  Valentine meaning from valence (valiant) "worthy" or "strong" or "capacity" or "powerful."  One thing I found particularly interesting is that in the Eastern Orthodox church St. Valentine's Day is celebrated on July 6th.  Which is my birthday.

So, it really is all about me.

Confused

 

The good die young but not always. The wicked prevail but not consistently.

I am confused by life, and I feel safe within the confines of the theatre.

~ Helen Hayes

- - - - -

I don't want to be put in some...  okay, I couldn't think of the word "cryonics" about being put in suspended animation or whatever instead of dying.  And if you type in "chamber where they put you when you're dead until they can fix you..."  Well, Google doesn't know what the heck you are trying to ask.  And it gives you information about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Han Solo being frozen in that Star Wars movie.  

Funerals

You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours.

~ Yogi Berra

- - - - -
Leslie told me she saw a guy in the cemetery and he said to her, "I'm just waiting for a funeral."

I thought about it a moment and then said, "Aren't we all?"

Windmills

 

 Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.

~ Miguel De Cervantes

- - - - -

I think Miguel De Cervantes was talking about jalapenos when he wrote that quote.  Or maybe tapeworms. 

Kitchens

The best way to get rid of kitchen odors?  Eat out.

~ Phyllis Diller

- - - - -

Kitchens are laboratories.  Instead of beakers, they have saucepans.  Instead of eyewash stations, they have kitchen sinks.  Instead of centrifuges, they have blenders.  Instead of research grants, they have coupons.  Instead of autoclaves, they have microwaves.  Instead of lab coats, they have aprons.  Instead of mad scientists, the have angry cooks.  And neither one of them want you sticking your finger in their concoctions.  

You know that saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth?"  Well, there is also this saying: "Too many scientists spoil the broth."  It is not a common saying. 

Happy

 

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one's family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one's own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.

~ Buddha

- - - - -

There are lots of things I wouldn't want to suffer from, but one of them is "spontaneous combustion."  I read some book about freak events of nature and how some people would randomly burst into flame.

I also would not like to suffer from "spontaneous jazz hands."

Baths

There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.

~ Sylvia Plath

- - - - -

If there are a few things that a hot bath won't cure, I bet there are fewer things that an ice bath won't cure.    Just ask these geese.  Though they are unlikely to respond.  They are in a fowl mood because of their ice bath.

Wasps

The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.

~ Chanakya

- - - - -

I was on a hike and I came to this sign.  I told Leslie I was at a Wasp Research Area.  She said, "I am, too.  I'm sitting at Starbucks."

Antiques

Give me insight into today and you may have the antique and future worlds.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

- - - - -

Elizabeth:  You go to antique stores?

Michelle:  Sometimes.  There are interesting things there.

E:  Are the people nice?

M:  Sometimes.

E:  Wait, have you been to one where they weren't nice?

M:  Yes.

E:  Really?  Where?

M:  It was called "Meantiques."

Plant

An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture.

~ Jean Cocteau

- - - - -

I think it is interesting how ART is a pART of so many things.  The heART.  pARTy.  ARTifacts.  bARTending.  and fART.

Isn't it interesting how ART is so important in so many ways?

I find it similarly interesting that the word PLANT is a part of so many words.  Like PLANT.  PLANTS.  PLANTing.  PLANTed.

Language is really interesting.

Drawers

A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting.

~ James M. Barrie

- - - - -

Know why I think drawers are cool?

Because they have stuff in them?  Nope.

Because they're like little gifts?  Nope.

Because they're handy for storing things?  Nope.

I like drawers because some of them are really good artists.

University

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.

~ Thomas Carlyle

- - - - -

If you wonder why I love working on a college campus, take a look at the image above which someone created on central campus last winter.

And then give me $15 and I'll tell you why I love working on a college campus.

Games

My work is a game.  A very serious game.

~ M.C. Escher

- - - - -

If my work was a game, I think it would be Clue - except most of the situations I deal with don't involve candlesticks or billiards rooms.  Or secret passages.

My work does sometimes involve professors and libraries, though.

It's usually kind of misdemeanor Clue rather than very serious felony Clue.

Windows

If God lived on earth, people would break His windows.

~ Jewish Proverb

- - - - -

It makes me kind of sad to see windows piled up.  Because what are people missing by not being able to look through them?

I guess you could look through them in the pile and see other windows.  And then you could think about how our views and our visions are unlimited.  And then you could probably draw like M.C. Escher.  And you probably shouldn't drive after you do that, either.