Coffee

It's both easy and difficult to offer someone coffee.

~ Fredrik Backman

- - - - -

I find it difficult to offer people coffee because I don't have any at my house.

Mom

In the end, we'll all become stories.

~ Margaret Atwood

- - - - -

So, today is my mom's funeral. To be honest, though, it's kind of her second funeral. The weekend before she passed, Mom rallied. Jared said that because of all the conversations she got to have with friends and family, she kind of had the good parts of the funeral before the funeral. Mom got to say the things she wanted to and she got to hear what other people had to say about her. The people who loved her didn't wait until she was gone to share stories and laughter with each other. 

We should all learn something from this. We should learn to tell the people we love that we love them and to tell them that now. We should learn to make the time to spend the time in one another's company. We should learn to share and capture stories because we will lean on those in the long-term.

And, of course, as I share those stories with others, I will take significant creative license. That creativity is what drives me.

I'm so glad I passed my creative license driving test.

Love you, Mom.

 

Tire

I may be a living legend, but that sure don't help when I've got to change a flat tire.

~ Roy Orbison

- - - - -

I was telling someone the other day, that I was frustrated. In fact, I think I used the word "infuriated." I was angrier than I have been in a long time. I went on to share the following:

"I know that in a past life, I was someone who would slash the tires of my enemies. When I get as angry as I am today, that is what I want to do. It's the first thing that comes to mind, in fact. I know it will inconvenience my enemy and it will be therapeutic for me in the moment."

Having said that, I don't slash tires in this lifetime.

(pause)

I make you no guarantees about the lifetimes after this one.

Lily

I see skies of blue

And clouds of white

The bright blessed day...

~ What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss

- - - - -

The next line in the song is "The dark, sacred night."

I think that is really beautiful. The whole song is pretty great.

Except that I always thought What a Wonderful World went like this:

The bright blessed day,

The dogs say goodnight.

Which is pretty great, too.

 

Paws

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

~ Guillaume Apollinaire

- - - - -

Dogs teach us to paws, and for that we should be forever grateful to them.

 

Bathroom

Having two bathrooms ruined the capacity to cooperate.

~ Margaret Mead

- - - - -

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I think a good thing to do on your anniversary is to clean the toilets. It's a symbolic way of making up for all the crap you've done over the course of the year. It's actually kind of literal symbolism.
 

Innovators

She was one of their innovators, unrecognized, of course, but she acted as if she knew. Not a week went by when they didn't get some complaint about her -- the way she voiced her opinion, insisted her name appear on her own papers, refused to make coffee - the list was endless.

~ Bonnie Garmus

- - - - -

It's obnoxious how some people expect to be given credit for their own work. It's significantly more obnoxious how some people expect to be given credit for other peoples' work. To avoid being obnoxious, I try not to do any work.

Gatepost

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

~ Kahlil Gibran

- - - - -

And trust in gates for in them is hidden a cemetery except it's maybe not really hidden all that well. Depends on what kind of gate we're talking about.

Roadtrip

Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.

~ Terry Pratchett

- - - - -

When you go places, you are changed. You learn things. You learn about others and you learn about yourself. 

Sometimes you go places and never come back to where you started at all. Sometimes when that happens one of the things you learn is that you are really bad with maps.

Light

Some people are in such utter darkness, they will burn you just to see a light. Try not to take it personally.

~ Kamand Kojuri 

- - - - -

The way people treat us is not about us, it is about them. I wish they felt better about themselves because they're making things really tough for the rest of us.

Sheesh!

 

Thoughts

Stop thinking, and end your problems.

~ Lao Tzu

- - - - -

Sometimes I think funny and creative thoughts. 

Sometimes I think dark and foreboding thoughts.

Sometimes I think about others.

Sometimes I think about myself.

Sometimes I don't think at all. 

So when you ask me, "What are you thinking about?" you need to prepare yourself for something like, "I was thinking that if dogs drove cars, would they speed a lot because if they got pulled over they might get some pets from the law enforcement officer?"

Pomegranate

One is fruitful only at the cost of being rich in contradictions.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

- - - - -

We are all full of contradictions at times. When we are more transparent with those, maybe we get a bit closer to the truth or reality or whatever it is we are thinking.

And those contradictions show up not only in our beliefs and practices, but also in the beliefs and practices of those around us - people, media, politics... 

For example:

That kind of stuff seriously cracks me up.

 

Cereal

Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It's made of all those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!

~ Roald Dahl

- - - - -

I saw this in the store the other day. When I was a child they had something like this for a short period of time (maybe a year in the 1970s). It was called "Pink Panther Flakes." I begged my mom to get them for me. She said no at first and assured me I wouldn't like them. I assured her she was right - I wouldn't like them, I would LOVE them.

She finally agreed but said that she wouldn't buy me any other sugared cereal until I ate all of the Pink Panther flakes.

It was a long, desperate time in our house after that. Known colloquially as the "good cereal drought" for miles around, the box of pink flakes sat in our cupboard for months. They were, in fact, nasty. I am guessing we might have had the flakes in our cupboard long past the time that they discontinued making the flakes. 

Eventually, we could get sugared cereal again... After I showed my mom that there bugs in the cereal box, so I shouldn't eat that cereal even if I wanted to.

Sure, that was decades ago, but - as you can tell - I'm pretty much over it now.

Clouds

Heavy clouds were putting out the stars.

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

- - - - -

I love a good cloud formation. I guess I love a bad cloud formation if by "bad" you mean one that suggests a storm. Because those are pretty cool. Does it mean I love ALL cloud formations? I'm not sure and also, what a weird question for you to ask.
 

Eden

Higher than the beasts, lower than the angels, stuck in our idiot Eden.

~ Ford Maddox Ford

- - - - -

It is interesting to me to see trees on top of hotels in cities. Someone cut down all the trees to make the city and then planted a tree on top of it. 

"Why didn't they just leave the trees?" you ask?

Well, you're never going to make a bunch of money as a real estate developer with questions like that.

Graduated

What we learn with pleasure, we never forget.

~ Alfred Mercier

- - - - -

I like to think that most of my students learn with pleasure. Based on my course evaluations there is usually one who does not. It makes me sad that they don't have more pleasure in their lives, but when you bring negativity into the classroom, negativity is what you're likely to take away.

When you bring positivity into the classroom in the form of Rice Krispie Treats, you're likely to take away fewer Rice Krispie Treats. Ironically, even the negative student might take away a Rice Krispie Treats. I guess maybe my presumption in the first paragraph is wrong. At least when Rice Krispie Treats are involved.

Future

If mankind can remember for centuries backward, we can plan for centuries forward.

~ Nikki Giovanni

- - - - -

If you want to see an old and beautiful tree you can think back to when it started to grow and think about everything it has experienced. Or you can think to the future and imagine how long it might live and what it will see next. Or you can appreciate its beauty today and be in the moment.

You can do the same with people, but keep your thoughts in your head. In my experience people don't like questions like "Wow. You are pretty old. What all have you seen in life that makes you look so old?" or "When do you think you might probably die?" or "You're so pretty today. I'm just going to stand here and appreciate you."

Like

To me, my nephew is the angel of my world. It is my absolute happiest moment when he smiles at me.

~ Li Bingbing

- - - - - 

This is a photo from quite a while ago. I like Zak. I LOVE Zak. 

Know what else I really enjoy? I like it when I red heart a post on Facebook and it changes what got the most reactions for that post. Like if it had been mostly thumbs ups but then I red heart it and the most becomes red hearts. I love it when that happens.

I control the destiny of the post. That's what I think when that happens. And I used my power for good not evil. At least in that particular moment I did.

One decision at a time, Michelle. One decision at a time.

Elephant

Our elders say that an elephant does not find its own trunk heavy.

~ Makes Mda

- - - - -

I saw a post that zookeepers took an elephant around the zoo. The post claimed that the elephant like the sea lions the best. I'd really love to read the elephant's evaluation form. 

(pause)

I be her handwriting is awful.
 

Waiting

Patience is the road to wisdom.

~ Kao Kalia Yang

- - - - -

I remember one time when I was waiting in the parking lot of a CVS for my COVID-19 test results. All of a sudden, The Battle Hymn of the Republic started playing on the town's bell tower. 

I would have rather been waiting for donuts with Zak.

 

Plants

A beautiful plant is like having a friend around the house.

~ Beth Ditto

- - - - -

Houseplants can develop deep connections with their owners. So much so, that the houseplants actually die when their owners die.

Because no one waters them.

Sky

The sky the color of ashes in the east and embers in the west.

~ Stephen King

- - - - -

If you are lying in your bed and you see sky the color of ashes in the east and embers in the west, one of two things is happening. Either (1) you don't have a roof or (2) your house is on fire. Whichever is the case, you're going to need a new roof.

 

Fear

Fear is the highest fence.

~ Dudley Nichols

- - - - -

Which kind of fear do you spend the most time on? Is it the fear of being scared so much you scream or catch your breath? Is the fear of the future and slow creep of worry that overwhelms you at times? Is is scyphophobia?

Only you know the answer, scaredy cat.

Religious

Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of [another]... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.

~ Harper Lee

- - - - - -

Maybe if we actually took the time to look down the street more often we could help each other out a lot. 

Resting

Rest and be thankful.

~ William Wordsworth

- - - - -

Is your "doing" driven by gratitude or greed? Do you do things to spread love in the world or to spread ugliness? And when you rest, is it a quiet and deep rest or is your rest disrupted or uneasy? What are the things for which you are most thankful? 

I think it's important to thank people who help and are good to you. But first, I'm going to take a little nap.

Dog

A dog can make you feel complete without ever expecting much in return.

~ Susan Orlean

- - - - -

I love dogs. The other day I was on a walk and I saw a dog and I really wanted to pet it. I didn't. It was surrounded by other people petting it and it isn't socially acceptable to push a bunch of strangers to the ground to get to a dog and pet it.

If it was socially acceptable, I'd have done exactly that. 

Don't misunderstand me, I don't believe in full on social conformity, but I do believe that if I broke that norm and pushed people, I might have been charged with assault.

(pause)

Still, I'd have gotten to pet that dog, so maybe it would have been worth it.

 

Interesting

Interesting doesn't always mean good.

~ Christian Barrientos

- - - - -

The doll caught my interest the same way a stranger in my yard in the middle of the night would. I was interested. Not as interested in the same way that I would be interested if there was a congregation of dolls in my yard in the middle of the night. I'd be interested in both, scared of one and terrified by the other.

 

Windows

Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.

~ Edith Wharton

- - - - -

I was looking out a window not long ago and saw a man using a toilet seat to keep a dog away from him. it wasn't really a fight. More just a standoff... with a toilet seat.

You see weird, interesting, and beautiful things if you look at them.

Windows

Just because there's a hurricane going on around you doesn't mean you have to open the window and look at it.

~ Taylor Swift

- - - - -

They say people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. But what if the house is on fire and the only way out is to break a window?

What about that?

I'll ask again: WHAT. ABOUT. THAT?

Music

Music is my religion.

~ Jimi Hendrix

- - - - -

Me: A four letter word... Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee.... Billy ______?

Leslie: Idol!

Me: um...

Leslie: No, Joel!

Me: I think it's hilarious you thought of Billy Idol first.

Leslie: It could have been him.

Me: I suppose. I don't know if Billy Idol still performs. But it's still rock and roll to Billy Joel.

Portraits

You can die, but you can't unlive.

~ Dennis Lehane

- - - - -

I'm glad people can't unlive because they do some ridiculous things and if they could unlive them, I'd have fewer chuckles in my life.

 

Shadow

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it, But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.

~ George Eastman

- - - - -

If the light in your photo is fire, don't embrace it.
 

Joy

Everything with joy.

~ Proverb

- - - - -

I try, but I fail to drive in city traffic with joy.

(pause)

I'll keep trying, though. I mean... look how awesome joy is.

Towels

Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't they clean when we use them?

~ Steven Wright

- - - - -
 

Using toilet paper to dry our hands is apparently a bigger issue than I imagined.

Toys

I bought my son an indestructible toy. Yesterday he left it in the driveway. It broke my car.

~ Milton Berle

- - - - -

 

Cloudy

A library is a rainbow in the clouds.

~ Maya Angelou

- - - - -

I like this image. A library is also like an oasis in the desert. If it's really hot outside this is especially true since a lot of libraries are air conditioned and have water fountains.

Hodor

"Hodor?"

"Hodor."

~ George R. R. Martin

- - - - - 

People are pretty funny. Or at least funny even if they aren't pretty.

Chicken

If you dream of becoming an eagle, you follow your dreams and not the words of a bunch of chickens.

~ Penny Johnson Jerald

- - - - - 

Dominique Frizzle was never sure when she saw "Chicken House" if it meant a chicken coop where she might rest on her journeys and share stories with other chickens or if it meant a house where they served chicken where she might be murdered alongside the other chickens.

That's why she just booked a room at the Ramada Inn.

Cafe

The cafe was a special benefit to bachelors, unfortunate people, and consumptives.

~ Carson McCullers

- - - - -

If YOU were a special benefit to groups of people, which groups would those be?

I bet not consumptives. I mean, you're kind of worthless to them.

Colors

Color is a power that directly influences the soul.

~ Wassily Kandinsky

- - - - -

There have been years I have failed to get out and see the colors of the leaves. I try not to do that anymore. I love it too much and life is too short to miss magic like that.

However, I have yet to see the colors of the wind. Mainly because I can't see the wind.