Monster

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

- - - - -

I think a good TV show would be one where a van load of kids is investigating local crimes. The kids are a ragtag bunch - a really smart girl with a knack for figuring things out, a blond guy who knows how to drive, another girl who inadvertently blurts out solutions to mysteries without realizing she is doing it, a scruffy guy and his dog who like to eat and are easily startled. 

They could find themselves in places and unexpectedly have to solve mysteries all the time. And they would always solve them. And at the end someone would say something about almost getting away with their crime if it hadn't been for this group of young people.

And I will call the show "The Mystery Van." No - "inVANstigators." No. "Detecteens." No. Wait. I will call the show "Murder She Wrote."

GHOST!

I like to say I believe in ghosts so I don't get haunted by one.

~ Ella Henderson

- - - - -

I know I have posted photos of this ghost game thing before. I don't care. I remember when I saw it in the alley I used to walk on the way to work. I love it. I didn't love it enough to rescue it from the trash, though.

They say that even today, on cool, still nights you can hear me say, "I wish I would have picked that thing up," if I'm walking by there on a cool still night. 

Waterfalls

Just let go and fall - like a little waterfall.

~ Bob Ross

- - - - -

It's no wonder to me that Bob Ross has made a sort of comeback. While he died in 1995, he has something to offer that is timeless. His show was literally watching paint dry. His voice was soothing and calming. His attitude toward art was sort of - put it on the canvas and see what happens. It will be fine.

He's the antithesis of so many of the messages today. Slow down. Let things happen. Let things be. It's okay.

His art and his approach aren't really of the past, though. The way he did his work defines any era. 

If I were a painter, and if I were going to try and paint in the Bob Ross style, I think I might try to paint "happy little car accidents."

Art

To practice any art, no matter how well or how badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.

~ Kurt Vonnegut

- - - - -

Today is Maddie's birthday. She's an artist. She does ceramics. I bet when people don't like your art it feels like a Dalmatian chewed up your teddy bear. But people who criticize our work are probably just jealous. 

Also, Dalmatians need a LOT of physical activity so it probably chewed up that teddy bear just because it was bored. If a critic gave undue criticism just because they were bored, well that's not right. Someone should take that critic for a run or to play in the park so that they will be better behaved in the future.

Paradise

Paradise was always over there, a day's sail away.

~ J. Maarten Troost

- - - - -

The spirits in the local cemetery didn't realize that their memories would disintegrate more quickly than their presence. They would arise each evening not sure where to go or whom to haunt. Fearing they would wander off and get lost on their way to something more exciting, they stayed within the fence of the graveyard.

And then one day Doris Williamston posted the sign for the fundraiser she put on each fall for the local Lutheran church.

She had no idea what she had done...

Colors

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.

~ Marcus Aurelius

- - - - -

I remember the day I took this photo. It was a while ago. Probably six or seven years ago when I lived in Iowa. I pulled over to get all the colorful trees with the white fence in the shot. A car pulled up slowly behind me. Then past me. Then into the driveway where the trees and the fence were. 

I wondered, "What are those people doing?!" I hope they weren't there to scope out the place and rob it.

Centenary

I often joke that a hundred years from now I hope people are saying, "Dang, she looks good for her age!"

~ Dolly Parton

- - - - -

100 years is a long time to be alive. It's really almost two lifetimes. Or maybe it's like just short of three lifetimes if you're talking about people who lived until they were 37.

Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of every home, for the most part. 

It evokes memories of your family history.

~ Debi Mazar

- - - - -

I agree, for the most part. The kitchen is where many families gather to share stories of the day, stories of the family, stories of the self, and the struggle to make sense of the self in the chaos of the world. The kitchen is for cooking, crying, and communing.

The only time the kitchen is not the heart of the home is if you are Dr. Frankenstein and you have a room where you keep hearts for the reanimation projects you're working on.

But, seriously, that's hardly ever. Maybe only like one out of every 150 homes is like that.

Misreading

In a language as idiomatically stressed as English, opportunities for misreading are bound to arise. By a mere backward movement of stress, a verb can become a noun, an act a thing. To refuse, to insist on saying no to what you believe is wrong, becomes at a stroke refuse, an insurmountable pile of garbage.

~ Ian McEwan

- - - - - 

I read a post by a friend the other day that said he was being "erratic" it was because it was a busy time of year and he was drinking a lot of coffee. At first I read it as "erotic" and thought it odd. 

Of course, I also read the above quote and thought it was said by Sir Ian McKellan, too.

Meals

If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.

~ Buddha

- - - - - 

I agree that when you share a meal, you share more than food. You share time and attention and create memories that you will continue to share. If you eat in someone's home, they share (or you share) parts of their lives and their worlds that make up where they feel safe and spend much of their time.

If you eat in a restaurant you share the bill. Then it's a pain because they will want to split it evenly and all you had was the free bread and a small soup instead of a steak and lobster and you don't think you should have to pay the same amount. So fine, whatever, people pay for their own, but then you see that the steak and lobster people aren't leaving a tip and you feel obliged to make up for it because the server was really good even though the steak and lobster people had to do thirteen substitutions and special requests.

Sometimes I prefer just to eat by myself.

Spider

Every kid has a bug period. I never grew out of mine.

~ E. O. Wilson

- - - - -

This has been a rough week for me regarding bugs. Six days ago I spent part of the day clearing away some giant spider webs in the bushes outside our front door. Then on Tuesday I walked through a new web a spider built right across the front door when I went to get the mail. 

The next day, a creepy, weird, gross bug crawled up my leg and freaked me out, so I stomped on it a bunch of times to make sure it was dead. Thursday I stepped on a dead Palmetto bug in my bare feet. Then Friday I was clearing leaves in the yard and apparently disrupted a yellow jacket nest and got stung on my ankle and left index finger. I know there are more yellow jackets and I learned that they are complete assholes (pardon my language, but that is the nicest word for those things), but at least I think I killed the one that stung me.

(pause)

Okay, in retrospect it has been a much rougher week for the bugs.

Mystery

No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye.

~ Elizabeth Bowen

- - - - -

I was looking at the information about my blog the other day. I like to see how many people are looking at it and I get excited when it breaks into double-digits.

Anyway, what I didn't know you could do - or at least something I haven't looked at in a while - is how people find the blog. What do the enter. Three of the first four on the list were some variation of "realizing zen." Number three out of four, though was unexpected. It was the term "big foot."

I am sure I have written some blogs about big foot. I just didn't know others saw this blog as a resource for information about Bigfoots. (Bigfeet?)

Jealousy

The jealous are troublesome to others but a torment to themselves.

~ William Penn

- - - - -

Dumpy the Dumptruck stared longing at Mowie the Mower. Dumpy was jealous of Mowie's freedom. He didn't seem constrained by hard surfaces. He seemed able to go anywhere in the yard. Mowie carved his own path. 

Dumpy - at least for the time being - was limited to existing paths. He wasn't allowed to take the road less traveled - not that he was sure it would make any difference. 

Mowie, on the other hand coveted how Dumpy seemed to be valued and protected. He was kept safe and not just abandoned in the weeds. Dumpy got to build relationships and carry things from one place to another while Mowie's purpose was simply to destroy.

One might say - the grass is always greener. But one ought not do that.

Also, something Mowie was NOT jealous of was Dumpy's name. 

Gift

The only gift is a portion of thyself.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

- - - - -

Here Aurora is giving the gifts of love and attention.

Leslie is giving the gifts and time and love and pushing.

NOTE: Pushing people is not always a gift.

Beginning

The rain begins with a single drop.

~ Manal al-Sharif

- - - - -

Everything begins with a single something. 

(pause)

Except twins.

(pause)

No, wait. Them, too.

Squash?

I think I'm a living embodiment of 'Don't try to push me around or squash me,' whether it's how I talk to a record label or in my relationships.

~ Bonnie Raitt

- - - - -

Are these squashes or pumpkins? If they are pumpkins, they look squashed.

Time

                                No such thing as spare time,

                                no such thing as free time,

                                no such thing as down time.

                                All you got is life time.

                                Go.

                                                ~ Henry Rollins

- - - - -

Sometimes in the summer, I lose track of time. I don't realize what day it is. Sometimes I don't know what time it is.

Like when I went to visit Kirk and Jared and Zak. I woke up the first morning and thought I had slept in until about 10:30 a.m. Then I looked at the time. It was 5:30 a.m. and it just was really sun-shiny out.

I like that it made me wake up earlier. That week a lot of mornings I got up and journaled out on their deck. It was really nice. I just hope they don't find where I journaled on their deck because I wrote some pretty personal stuff.

Crab

Have you ever watched a crab on the shore crawling backward in search of the Atlantic Ocean, and missing? That's the way the mind of man operates.

~ H. L. Mencken

- - - - -

My birthday is in July, so my astrological sign is the crab. While I have never crawled backward in search of the Atlantic Ocean, I do think my mind has worked that way. Case in point, I was just thinking about what it would be like to crawl backward in search of the Atlantic Ocean.

Kid

I'm not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I'm the first Simone Biles.

~ Simone Biles

- - - - -

Aurora does gymnastics. She's not the next Simone Biles. Aurora is the first one of her. She is definitely one of a kind. I'm not sure what all she will achieve, but it will definitely be some stuff.

Yes. Yes, I can accurately tell the future.

Reading

If you only read the books everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

~ Haruki Murakami

- - - - -

Sometimes when you read the book someone else is reading they ask you to knock it off and get your own copy of the book. I don't know what the big deal is. They can wait half a second until I'm finished before they turn the page.

Sheesh.

Integrity

Integrity simply means a willingness not to violate one's identity.

~ Erich Fromm

- - - - -

Leslie has a lot of integrity. She would never spray paint in the store. Well, one ought "never say never" I suppose. She would only spray paint in a store on a very rare occasion in a very specific context with parameters that aligned with her own personal beliefs.

Or maybe if she was double-dared.

Dog

What do dogs do on their day off? Can't lie around - that's their job.

~ George Carlin

- - - - -

I found these haikus I wrote about Ripley. He was a good dog. Playing with Zeke in Canada reminded me of playing with Ripley when he was a puppy.

quiet home, no sound,
a sudden explosion here
my dog is farting

nothing is better
than walking the woods alone
except with your dog

when I throw the ball
my dog Ripley chases it
and brings it to me

don't eat the garbage
it gives you diarrhea
stupid, nasty dog

my dog is the best
loyal, faithful,  honest, true
he loves me back, too

Dogs are good.

Dignity

They talk of the dignity of work. The dignity is in leisure.

~ Herman Melville

- - - - -

Me: (quoting Leslie) We're not gonna have a 100th reunion and that makes me sad.

Leslie: I didn't say that.

Me: Yes, you did.

Leslie: I did not say it would make me sad! I DID say we're not gonna have a 100th reunion.

(pause)

Leslie: I don't mind contributing to your blog, but I'd like to have some dignity.

Carpentry

Good acting is really just excellent carpentry.

~ John Lithgow

- - - - -

I don't think carpenters use metaphors.
They use meta two-by-fours

Goodness!

There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare.

~ Mary Renault

- - - - -

Kirk: I thought about whether or not to have Zak go to daycare tomorrow. And then I thought about having him stay until 5:30.

Me: (pretending to be Kirk's train of thought) And then I thought about having him spend the night.

Kirk: (pause) I wonder what they'd charge me for picking him up the next day.

Me: They'd probably charge you criminally.

CAUTION!

Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.

~ Aristotle

- - - - -

Sometimes it's not the arms of the people you need to fear, but the hands of the leaders. 

Chairs

Why abandon a seat in your own home to wander in vain through dusty regions of another land?  If you make one false step, you miss what is right before your eyes.

~ Dogen

- - - - -

This is exactly right. That is why I only wander through the non-dusty regions. I would say the moist regions, but that doesn't sound right.

Tomatoes

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.

~ Lewis Grizzard

- - - - -

The other day I was talking about how I grew some tomatoes. Then I heard myself say it: GRUESOME TOMATOES.

Safety

Precaution is better than cure.

~ Edward Coke

- - - - -

Leslie and I got Zak several of these little Thomas & Friends train sets for his birthday. They said ages 3+, but I wrote this note just to make sure he is safe. 

Hut

I go down to my little hut, where it's tight and dark and warm, and within minutes I can go back to being six or seven or eight again.

~ Roald Dahl

- - - - -

I'm planning on buying the lot next to Bob's Clam Hut. I'm going to call it the "Calm Hut." I am going to make a sign that looks similar to the one here. When people walk up, I'm going to give them life advice and maybe pat them on the shoulder. If they get angry because they thought it was Bob's Clam Hut instead of the Calm Hut, I'll say, "You seem upset. It looks like you're in exactly the place you need to be. Now calm down."

I imagine they will thank me and give me a lot of money. I think this is a good business plan.

Awesome

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. 
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty 
never grows old.
~ Franz Kafka

- - - - -

Zak is an amazing little kid whose birthday is today. I hope it is a wonderful birthday and he enjoys every minute of it. I hope he has adventures and there is learning and fun and excitement. I hope there are no diaper blow-outs, but that there are candle blow-outs. I hope there are no meltdowns, but maybe the ice cream will melt down onto his cake and be delicious. I hope that he gets toys he wants and is with people he loves.

I hope the only thing missing from his birthday is me. I won't be there. I know he will be sad about that. But you're three now, Zak. You have to grow up and toughen up and know that you won't always get everything you want. 

(pause)

Maybe if I got in my car right now I could make it there before his birthday is over.