Sweeping

Just like sweeping the streets, sweep the unnecessary things from your mind, too; keep your mind clean.

~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

- - - - -

So if I don't sweep the streets, does that mean I don't have to keep a clean mind?

Asking for a friend.

(Not really asking for a friend.)

Register

As the sign over the cash register made clear, the three ways you could get your coffee at Chester's were sweetened, unsweetened, and somewhere else.

~ Amor Towles

- - - - -

I don't drink coffee. People think that is weird sometimes. The only time I feel like it's weird is when trying to schedule an informal meeting with someone. I don't say, "You want to meet for coffee." If I said that and we met for coffee and I didn't get coffee, they might think I was weird.

Wait. People already think this is weird. 

It is slightly less weird in my mind, though, than saying, "Hey, you wan to meet for juice?"

Noise

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

~ Michel de Montaigne

- - - - -

Michel de Montaigne died more than 400 years ago. His statement remains true today. There is so much noise today across society. It's as if we have given everyone a noisemaker forgetting that many people are already noisemakers unto themselves. We don't need to give them more tools to amplify.

On a positive note, there are a lot of cool words that are synonyms for noise: hubbub, racket, din, cacophony.

Although today I think a respelling of cacophony might be useful. It's more like caca-phony. Volume doesn't equal truth.

WTH?

I had nothing to offer anyone except my own confusion.

~ Jack Kerouac

- - - - -

I find this photo confusing. Jared was either playing with Zak or playing with an empty car seat. I think the former.

Lots of things are confusing, though.

To me the photo above is not as confusing as when Leslie had gall bladder issues and had to go to the hospital. She told me she had to get euthanized. She either meant "anesthetized" or else her gall bladder hurt a lot more than mine did before I had it out.

Processes

There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

- - - - -

I am glad that - at least generally speaking - it is a process of learning new things. I'd hate to have to go back to fifth grade to learn fractions. Of course, I sort of do go back to fifth grade to learn fractions periodically in my dreams. But not the nice kind of dreams. The kinds of dreams that give you anxiety, but then you should feel a relief when you wake up and realize its was just a dream, but you don't feel relief because the dream was so intense. 

What do you dream about?

(This is a purely rhetorical question.)

Beer

Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!

~ Martin Luther

- - - - -

I think Martin Luther would like the song, "In Heaven there is No Beer." 

Horse

My soul is an empty carousel at sunset.

~ Pablo Neruda

- - - - -

"Hm," thought the horse. "Again today no one purchased me."

No one purchased the horse because of his boring thoughts. If only they had looked beyond those thoughts and appreciated his horse sense. Then he would have been purchased immediately. Except that his mane was weird and people who purchase carousel horses don't always look beyond appearances.

Sewer

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.

~ Mel Brooks

- - - - -

This quote made me laugh out loud. The real kind, not the "LOL" kind.

It made me laugh out loud in public. I don't mind. I think there is enough anger or at least negativity out loud in public, so some laughter is a good thing. 

That said, I am glad no one asked me what I was laughing about. First, it wouldn't have been as funny if I explained it. Second, not everyone has the same sense of humor that I do -- though many of us wish they did.

Muddlety

Never explain what you do. It speaks for itself. You only muddle it by talking about it.

~ Shel Silverstein

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I have a friend Craig. If he started a town and called it Craigsville, I would hope it would be muddlety. Muddlety isn't a real word. My friend Craig isn't a real person.

(pause)

I'm just kidding. He's real.

Seriously, if I had an imaginary friend, I'd give him a better name than "Craig."

Creativity

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

~ Edward de Bono

- - - - -

I'm writing in a coffee shop right now. There have been three or four other people who have come in and written here today. Right now there is just one guy. He is sitting at the table directly in front of me. He has a book he is reading and has his laptop open.

Do I worry that what he is doing and thinking and writing is "better" than what I am doing and thinking and writing? No. That's silly. It's not a competition.

But if it was a competition, I would win.

Dog

My fashion philosophy is if you're not covered in dog hair, your life is empty.

~ Elayne Boosler

- - - - -

I believe that a dog is man's best friend. I don't believe that man is a dog's best friend. I think a dog's best friend is another dog because dogs are almost everyone's best friend. Except for cats. And squirrels. And chicken. Especially fried chicken. And fire hydrants. And trees. And light poles. But if you think about fire hydrants and trees and light poles those are just places where dogs leave messages for other dogs - like a note from a friend. Thus dogs are a dog's best friend. 

Masks

We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.

~ Patrick Rothfuss

- - - - -

When I was a kid I had a Halloween costume of an astronaut. I wore it for several years in a row. I didn't become an astronaut. 

Patrick Rothfuss is a liar.

Paddle

As one goes through life, one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move.

~Katharine Hepburn

- - - - -

My parents used to warn me a lot to be careful because if I made bad choices I would be "up a crick without a paddle." That never once happened to me. I have never been "up a crick without a paddle." That's some good parenting there. Or - more accurately - that's some really good listening on my part.

Secure

I'm very secure about my talents and who I am.

~ Dolly Parton

- - - - -

I guess when you're securing a bathroom stall door, if one lock doesn't work, install another. It's kind of like that with toxic people, too. If one sort of protection doesn't work. Of course, the best protection of all is probably not using a stall with a broken lock and not spending time around toxic people. 

Especially don't spend time with toxic people IN a bathroom stall.

But DO listen to the Dolly Parton's America podcast.

Babies

I love these little people; and it is not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.

~ Charles Dickens

- - - - -

I mostly like babies. I don't think all babies are beautiful in how they look, but I think all babies are pretty beautiful in that they represent life. 

I don't like baby Yoda, though. 

Immaturity

For many, immaturity is an ideal, not a defect.

~ Mason Cooley

- - - - -

TV: Handmaid's Tale is for mature audiences only.

Leslie: Oh! You have to leave now, Michelle!

She thinks I'm an immature audience. She's a mean poopy-pants.

Fungi

Why did the mushroom go to the party? Because he's a fungi!

~ Lily Tomlin

- - - - -

You might think this is a sea monster or some kind of underwater creature. It isn't it's a fungi thing I saw and took a photo of. As I recall it was growing in a small, dark space. You know why fungi grow so well in tiny spaces? Because they don't need too mushroom to grow.

Morning

Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not.

~ Ursula K. Le Guin

- - - - -

I am definitely a morning person. When my time is my own, I get up before sunrise, write, go to work, work, go take photos, journal -- whatever the day calls for. Sometimes my time is dictated by others or other commitments. Sometimes I sleep in. But I love mornings.

I know not everyone is like that. Like my dental hygienist for example. My last appointment was at 8 a.m. As she approached my mouth with that hook tool instrument thing for my checkup she said, "I'm not a morning person. I do better around 10 a.m."

Shoe

It doesn't matter how great your shoes are if you don't accomplish anything in them.

~ Martina Boone

- - - - -

There's no business like shoe business.

Except cobbling.

Songs

My songs are the door to every dream I've ever had and every success I've ever achieved.

~ Dolly Parton

- - - - -

I believe that we all have songs in us and they open doors to who we are. Some of the songs don't have music so they are more like poems. And some of the songs are not in tune. And some of the songs are pretty negative. Some of our songs just sound like screaming and drums.

(pause)

I'm glad we don't all sing the songs in us.

Choices

We are our choices.

~ Jean-Paul Sartre

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I emailed Kirk the other day and asked him about the following (an image I took from a publisher's web site in the kid's books section). We had this exchange:

Me: If you were shopping and came across the following listing of books, which would you choose for your child?

Kirk: Either Squiffy... because that name is silly... or Gatsby... because that name is silly too.

Which one I would not choose: That Baby Bear one primarily because it explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval and excess creating a portrait of the Roaring 20s that had been described as a cautionary tale regarding The American Dream.

Zak absolutely hates cautionary tales regarding The American Dream!!! That's why we had to quit reading Go to Bed, Little Mouse!

Fungi

Fungi are the grand recyclers of the planet and the vanguard species in habitat restoration.

~ Paul Stamets

- - - - -

If fungi went to the grocery store and the cashier asked if they wanted paper or plastic, the fungi would proudly say that they brought their own bags. 

Of course they would need help to the car with their items.

Travel

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.

~ George Moore

- - - - -

What he needs is probably - love, hope, his car keys, his glasses, and his shoes.

Silver

The oars were silver: Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke.

~ Shakespeare

"No," said the rich man. I do not want silver nitrate for my wounds. I want gold nitrate."

The rich man died of ignorance. And a nasty infection.

Fear

Fear is the highest fence.

~ Dudley Nichols

- - - - -

The idea that someone invented barbed wire fence is fascinating to me. People are so very clever. Also, I bet fear of barbed wire fences is a bit higher than fear by itself. 

Tippy

I love you, Tippy. I don't mean it to sound corny or kidlike, and I'm not asking you to love me. I just want you to know it, that's all.

~ Janet Lambert

- - - - -

Apparently Janet Lambert was an actress and a writer of young adult books - including eight books about Tippy Parrish written between 1948 and 1969 the titles of which included Rainbow after the Rain and Song in Their Hearts.

If I were to write young adult books about Tippy the dog, the titles might include:

I Hate You
Go Away
I Hate You, II
Rocking the Vest, But Hating the Neighbor
Bark! Bark! Bark!

I don't know who would read those books. Probably not young adults.

Intense

What we lack is intensity of life.

~ Carl Jung

- - - - - -

In the photo above, Kirk and Zak are watching Scooby Doo. This, in my opinion, is about as intense as things should ever be for a three or four-year-old.

Arctic Boy

It snowed last year too: I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.

~ Dylan Thomas

- - - - -

An arctic boy is what you call a baby snowman. No -- it's what you call a baby snowman swimming. No -- I think it's a cooler of some kind.

A cooler like this is one you could put tea in. For Dylan Thomas and his brother.

And thus, the blog post had come full circle.

Ferris

I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a ferris wheel.

~ E. B. White

- - - - -

What if Ferris Bueller's middle name is Wheel? That would be pretty funny. But not as funny as if his middle name was "Tugboat" or "Boarshead" or "Doodlepants."

Conversation

It was impossible to get a conversation going. Everybody was talking too much. 

~ Yogi Berra

- - - - -

"Your bonnet really matches this stool," said Dolly McDollface.

"Yours doesn't. You don't even have a friggin bonnet!" replied Cutesy Babykins.

Cutesy Babykins never quite lived up to her name. She was a little hag.

RUN!

Running away from the problem only increases the distance from the solution.

~ Nishan Panway

- - - - -

Maybe that quote is true. But when I saw a black widow spider on the floor of our bathroom, you can bet your butt I ran away. Okay, so it wasn't a black widow, it was a wadded up piece of blue string with a little bit of pink fuzz on it, but still.

Mistakes

Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.

~ Sophia Loren

- - - - -

Some of the best decisions I have ever made were things I thought were mistakes at the time. 

Mistakes + perspective = self.

Mistakes + h + l + k -t = Milkshakes.