Walking

Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.

~ Rumi

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I go on walks. I usually have my phone with me in case I want to take a picture of things. For me, looking at things to take pictures of helps me pay attention to the world around me. Even if I don't take photos, I think I see more things in more ways by thinking about taking photos.

That said, sometimes I end up with photos that are unexpected. I take a picture and when I look at it later, it is different than what I thought it would be.

I also have a lot of versions of the photo above because sometimes I forget I have my phone in camera mode when I'm walking around. 

Amusing

You only live once, you might as well be amusing.

~ Coco Chanel

- - - - -

And you might as well be amused.

They are not the same thing. For example:

To be amusing - play the ukulele - even if you play it poorly.
To be amused - watch someone play the ukulele poorly and call it a "puke-ulele." But do it in your head and to yourself. Otherwise you're just kind of a jerk. If you keep it to yourself, you're still a jerk, but a different kind of a jerk.

Picnic

Unless you are at a picnic, life is no picnic.

~ Jane Wagner

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This is also true of farmer's markets, parades, and award ceremonies. It is not true of circuses. Even if you aren't at a circus, life can be one.

Preferably one without clowns, but likely the circus of life includes a few of those, too.

Beds

If you think you're too small to have an impact, 

try going to bed with a mosquito.

~ Anita Roddick

- - - - -
So, I listen to a lot of podcasts. A LOT of them are sponsored by companies that will mail you a bed. What happened to the good old days when you needed a bed and your Uncle David brought it over for you?

Also, I think it annoyed my parents when as a child I thought my Uncle David gave me my first real bed when perhaps his role was just to deliver it.

Rest

Rest and be thankful.
~ William Wordsworth

- - - - -

I remember the day we saw this place. We were about to rest and be thankful. We weren't staying at the Mountain Top Motel. We were staying in a railroad car on the side of hill. We had a nice view. I remember being thankful that Leslie is open to going off the beaten track when we travel. I remember that night that maybe there was a presidential thing. Maybe it was a convention.

Then not long after that I remember an election. I remember not being thankful for the outcome, but being thankful for the process.

And I am not sure how much rest I've gotten since then.

Glass

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

The best things about glass houses? They are recyclable. 

(pause)

Who am I kidding? I'm no expert on glass houses. I don't know what is best about them.

Glass

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

~ Proverb

- - - - - 

I wonder what it's like when you live in a glass house and you have a bunch of people over to visit. Like a LOT of people. Maybe people so crammed in that the square footage of your home is 50% person-occupied.

At that point, is you glass house half full or half empty?

Depends on your outlook on life, I bet. If it was me the house would be too full. Those people need to go home now. I don't know what I was thinking of when I planned this party.

Glasses

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

And people who live in glasses houses make a spectacle of themselves.

Glass

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

People who live in glass houses should throw only one thing: care to the wind. In fact, maybe we should all do that a bit more.

Throwing

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

I think really it should be, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones in their houses." Of course then the jerks who live in glass houses would think it would be okay to throw stones in other people's houses. You know how those glass house people can be.

I think it's generally okay for people - no matter where you live - to throw stones into a creek.

House

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

People who live in solar powered homes shouldn't throw shade.

Glass

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

People who live in glass houses should work hard to make sure they have good relationships with their neighbors because people who live next door to glass houses shouldn't throw stones either.

Bottles

Life is like a message in a bottle, to be carried by the winds and tides.

~ Gene Tierney

- - - - -

Leslie:  I'm disgusted by ships in a bottle.  No one makes "Tanks in a Bottle."

Sad

The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes.

~ Nikolai V. Gogol

- - - - -

I hate it when someone is talking to me about something and they say, "It's harder than you think" because usually I'm not thinking it's going to be hard at all. 

Thanks for nothing, someone.

Unimaginable

Keep some room in your heart for the Unimaginable.

~ Mary Oliver

- - - - -

Yep. Do that. It will make for a better life.

Feb 14

I know of one duty and that is to love.

~ Albert Camus

- - - - -

I think you should tell people you love them every day - not just on February 14th. Pretty sure I'm the first one to ever think of that because I'm so profound. 

Also, you should tell them in lots of different ways. Sure you should say it, but you should also show by how nice you are to them, and how you listen. And how you send them Spam Museum postcards for Valentine's Day because you listened with your heart and you know that's what your mom really wants from you on that day.

That and also a Spam loaf in the form of an anatomically correct heart. But you shouldn't mail something like that to your mom because you know that's not what she wants. And it would be stiiiiiiinnnnnn - ky when it got to her.

No, that's something you mail to your mom on April 1st. Which is another way and another day to show you love her.

Perspectives

Joint undertakings stand a better chance when they benefit both sides.

~Euripides

- - - - -

So, some people get freaked out by technology knowing things about them. I don't. Sometimes technology tells me about music I might like or a new place to visit in my area. Sometimes I don't like technology guessing what I like because if I mention dolls and how much I loathe them, then dolls show up a lot on my stuff and I hate that.

And sometimes technology understands me even when I think it didn't understand me. Like when technology thought I would be interested in a book about marijuana and suggested it to me via Amazon. But then I clicked on the book  title and realized that maybe technology really gets me after all.

Image

If I were two-faced, would i be wearing this one?

~ Abraham Lincoln

- - - - -

A few concerns I have with this marketing campaign.

1. Abe Lincoln didn't ever see a 3-D movie.
2. Not sure President Lincoln would have wanted his image used for marketing (though he probably would have found some humor in it).
3. Of all the presidents to market something connected to the theater, Lincoln is probably not the best choice.

Language

Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.

~ Frank Gehry

- - - - -

I think maybe I am bilingual in a language, but I'm not sure what the language is. All I know is that when I read "No Trespassing" my mind translates it into, "Come and take a look."

Places

As I went walking I saw a sign there

And on the sign it said, "No Trespassing."

But on the other side, it didn't say nothing,

That side was made for you and me.

~ Woody Guthrie

- - - - -

Trying to find the places where we belong can be difficult. Trying to find the places we have belonged in the past can be difficult. Finding to find where others have belonged can be difficult.

In short, things can be difficult.

Even for Google Maps as proven by the fact that I came across this when doing research for yesterday's blog.

Surf

Never drive away from good surf.

~ Roger Sharp

- - - - -

I bet in Medieval times serfs would hate when the lords would roam the farmland ordering the serfs to go to work. I bet the lords did this early in the morning. And I bet they would awaken serfs by screaming "SERFS, UP!!!"

Seriously. I bet serfs hated that.

Spoiled

Badness is only spoiled by goodness.

~ C. S. Lewis

- - - - -

Leslie spoils me sometimes. She is patient when we are driving and I see something I want to stop and take a photo of. Like this place. (https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/20847) We had driven past it a lot of times, but never when we were able to stop. Then one time we did stop. 

She even was patient while I walked around for 15-20 minutes and took pictures.

Not everyone would see being able to wander around an abandoned amusement park as being spoiled. But I do. Along with my friend Norville Rogers and the gang. (look it up)

Friend.

Friendship is a wildly underrated medication.

~ Anna Deavere Smith

- - - - -

Leslie is a good friend. She is kind and supportive and encouraging. Her only fault is that she sometimes interrupts. Sometimes she gets excited about what she has to share. Other times she is so curious she wants more details. 

Sometimes I get annoyed with that. I'm definitely not as nice as she is and infinitely less patient.

The other day I said, "You interrupt my stories all the time!"

She replied, "Well, they look like they're supposed to be interactive."

Typing

I like the sound a typewriter makes.

~ Paul Auster

- - - - -

I like the sound of a typewriter. I like the sound of a computer keyboard when someone is typing quickly. I like the sound of a pen on paper. I like the sound of people organizing their thoughts into words and then organizing their words into new ways of thinking and saying.

Then one time I got stung by a yellow jacket on the index finger of my left hand. I still liked the typing sounds, but I didn't like the feel of the typing on my finger.

(pause)

And, yes, if that is the worst thing in my life, I have a pretty good life.

(pause)

I really do have a pretty good life. 

(pause)

I think it's okay to have a good life and still not like being stung by yellow jackets.

Sickness

There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.

~ Aeschylus

- - - - -

Who would buy thermogenetic vapour rum?

Plants

It will never rain roses. When we want to have roses, we must plant more trees.

~ George Eliot

- - - - -

Except roses don't grow on trees. They grow on bushes. 

(pause. do some quick research.)

And trees.

Hometown

There's something that happens to you when you come back to your hometown.

~ Joseph Dougherty

- - - - -

Also, something happens to you when you don't go back to your hometown. And something happens to you if you never leave your hometown. And something happens to you if you don't really have a hometown.

In conclusion, something happens to you.

Around

What goes around comes around

~ Proverb

- - - - -

Sometimes I think that I must surely be repeating posts in my blog. I have a lot of ideas and some of those ideas I have more than once. And some of those ideas I have more than once I'm sure I post more than once.

I don't mind, though. Because nearly all of them are so interesting they bear repeating. 

Thank you in advance for agreeing.

Wheel

What goes around comes around

~ Proverb

- - - - -

Sometimes I think that I must surely be repeating posts in my blog. I have a lot of ideas and some of those ideas I have more than once. And some of those ideas I have more than once I'm sure I post more than once.

I don't mind, though. Because nearly all of them are so interesting they bear repeating. 

Thank you in advance for agreeing.