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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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"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

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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

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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.

Puddles

Every path hath a puddle.

~ George Herbert

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In thinking about the coming year, knowing that "every path hath a puddle" we have some options. We can dread the puddle and use our non-puddled time worrying about the puddle. We can talk about how our puddles are worse than everyone else's puddles because we don't ever really have a clue about others' puddles. We can wallow in the puddle - actively seeking misery rather than joy. We can accept the puddle and experience dread only when in the puddle. Or we can love the puddle and the experiences it will bring. Puddles are not solely about wet socks and shoes. Puddles are about splashes and action and moments of excitement - AND wet socks and shoes. But sometimes totally worth it.

Conversation

One good conversation can shift the direction of change forever.
~ Linda Lambert

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My brother says, "We don't throw our shoes, right?" or "We don't throw toys in the car, right?" He says that a LOT. This is Zak's, "I don't hear what you're saying," look.

Also, I don't know what "we" Kirk's talking about because he used to do that shit all the time.

Heads

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?

~ T. S. Eliot

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If you go to visit someone and upon arrival they offer you a dish of doll heads, you should probably take one. If you don't, it would be rude. Plus, if they ask you later which head you chose, you'll want to be able to answer.

But don't take the doll head home with you. How are you going to explain that to your roommates or guests? Unless you end up with a dish of dollheads - then you can give them away as people come to visit you.

Post

Anytime you see a turtle on a fence post you know he had some help.

~ Alex Haley

- - - - - 

Anytime you see a horse on a post you don't know what the hell is going on.

Brother

What strange creatures brothers are!

~ Jane Austen

- - - - -
Today is my brother's birthday. This is a photo of him being all proud that he is taller than a lighthouse. He has no sense of depth perception.

My apologies. I should have stopped that last sentence after the word "sense."

Winter

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.

~ Edith Sitwell

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When people say, "Santa was good to us this year" what they are really saying is, "We bought ourselves a lot of shit we wanted and we're happy about that."

Peace

Nobody can give you peace but yourself.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I hope anyone who reads this is able to find peace today and every - or at least most days. We all need more of that. Be kind to yourself. Like the quote says - "Nobody can give you peace but yourself."

What is also true is that others can give you a piece of cake or pie. I like strawberry rhubarb pie please - as long as you're up.

Hummel

I don't think any collector knows his true motivation.

~ Robert Mapplethorpe

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Dad used to get mom one of these Hummels every couple of years for Christmas. 

Okay. So apparently Hummel Figurines were originally designed by Berta Hummel who became Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel (M. I. Hummel) and died at 37. I had no idea my mother was collecting the tchotchkes of a dead woman.

They are what Precious Moments figurines look like before the children are doused with toxic waste. (If you think I'm not a fan of Precious Moments, you should meet my friend Leslie. She's a bigger not fan than I am).

Happy Christmas Eve.

Kindness

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

~ Aesop

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Leslie has some special dishes she likes to use at Christmas. When I was working on stuff in the garage while she was in PA last year around this time, I pulled a few decorations for the little tree I had gotten. I also saw her dishes. 

At first I wasn't going to get them out. However, Leslie really likes having Christmas dinner off of those dishes. And they were right there. With the tumblers and the wine glasses and the placemats. Why would I NOT get them out? But still, I almost didn't.

"If we get them out, we'll just have to put them away again," I said to myself. Of course the same was true for the string of lights and the little bulbs and the one ornament I had just gotten out. And she loves those dishes. They are important to her.

So, I brought out dishes. I put them on a shelf in the laundry room so they were out of the way, but easy to get when dinner time came on Christmas. Then I sort of forgot I did that.

A week or so later - on Christmas Eve - Leslie came and said, "I know you probably think this is silly, but I really want to use the Christmas dishes for dinner tomorrow." I gave her a look - mainly because I had forgotten that I didn't tell her I had gotten them out. I think she read my look as resistance. "I'll get them out and I'll put them away," she said - trying to convince me.

I realized I hadn't told her and that she must not have seen the dishes on the shelf. 

"I got them out already. They're in the laundry room. I got the dishes and the tumblers and the wine glasses. The only thing I didn't get was the relish dish thing. I am not sure where that is."

She stared at me. Then she thanked me. "That was so nice," she said.

"I did something nice," I agreed. 

"You do nice things all the ti--  Well, most of the time," she agreed.

Receiving

It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.

~ Aesop

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I am prepared for the wants of tomorrow. And the wants of today. I am prepared for the wants to be fulfilled so I don't have to want them anymore.

Butterfly

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

- - - - - 

Butterflies are nice, but very susceptible to illness. That's why we see them more in the summer than the winter. In the winter most of them are at home with the butterflu.