Boardwalk

(Under the boardwalk) Out of the sun

(Under the boardwalk) We'll be having some fun

(Under the boardwalk) People walking above

(Under the boardwalk) We'll be falling in love

Under the boardwalk. Boardwalk.

~ Arthur Resnick and Kenny Young

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(Under the boardwalk) We'll be covered in sand

(Under the boardwalk) While I'm holding your hand

(Under the boardwalk) There are sand fleas and mice

(Under the boardwalk) This really isn't too nice

Under the boardwalk. Boardwalk.

Lily

Dogs like to know what is expected of them.

~ Barbara Kingsolver

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When Lily doesn't listen, and I get frustrated at her, she looks at me as if to say, "What the hell is your problem?!"

MY problem, Lily, is that I don't like you jabbing me in the kidney with your pointy claw paws. That's what. And don't say, "I'm just a dog; I don't know what your kidneys are." It's true, but it would freak me out if you said it.
 

Art

Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment.

~ Claude Monet

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Today's blog is written by guest blogger, my brother. This is how he captured the artistic endeavor I led Zak on during my most recent visit to Maine...

Zak: Aunt Shel... will you draw some pictures for me?

Michelle: Of course!

- a few moments later -

Zak: Uh... do you even know what art is?!

(In my defense, I do this thing where I draw part of something and give it to the kid to finish the picture. I guess I didn't tell him that. Just like he didn't tell me he was going to X the eyes out of everything when he finished the drawings! Even the one of the lightbulb.)

Fog

To find truth, one must travel a dense fog.

~ David Dweck

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If truth is in the fog, then are lies in the sunshine? I have seen people lie in the sunshine. I have seen them lie in the fog. 

Stupid liers. 

Pants

I just wore pants because they're comfortable.

~ Katherine Hepburn

- - - - -

If you are a liar and your pants catch on fire, I hope they aren't important pants. Like pants that make you feel connected to someone. You don't want to burn those pants because there's no going back after you do that. We should all be careful of burning britches.

Squirrel

Rarely does one see a squirrel tremble.

~ Zadie Smith

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I was thinking about music from beforetimes. I remembered the group "Squirrel Nut Zippers." When I typed it in to search for them, it was corrected to "Squirrel Butt Zippers." I didn't click to see what results that would actually give me. I suspected what I saw would make me uncomfortable. Undoubtedly, however, not as uncomfortable as such a thing would make the squirrel.

Communication

Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.

~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

- - - - -

Also, I never would have guessed when I was an infant that I would learn how to spell Dostoyevsky, but I have learned that. Just now, I saw his name on a web site, and I knew when they left the Y out that it was wrong.

Also, I didn't know the word "Dostoyevsky" when I was an infant. Or what spelling was, for that matter.

FUN

Cleanliness is not next to godliness. It isn't even in the same neighborhood. No one has ever gotten a religious experience out of removing burned-on cheese from the grill of a toaster.

~ Erma Bombeck

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 In case you can't read it, this sign says, "the FUN is not over." It is referencing the fact that after your car wash, you can still use the free vacuum cleaners at the car wash.

Fun.

Books

(screen shot from publisher website)

Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.

~ Laurie Halse Anderson

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One time I was scrolling through a catalog of a publisher's listings, I came across the image here. 

Given the current climate of books and education and what we can and can't let children read... 

Just wait until the book police get wind of this...

 

Enjoy

We don't want to endure life; we want to enjoy it.

~ Vance Vaucresson

- - - - -

Dogs are the best. They play when they want to, rest when they want to, enjoy good food (or sometimes almost any food), they are good listeners. Okay, not all dogs. Some dogs are unpleasant. But dogs don't overthink things like people do. I kind of figure that people who are unpleasant overthink things instead of focusing on listening and being in the moment, and enjoying things. Or course, some unpleasant people don't seem to think at all, which is a different kind of problem.

Mostly, I just really like dogs.

Things

You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next.

~ Frank McManus

- - - - -

My social media is cluttered with information about decluttering.

Zak

Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.

~ John Trainer

- - - - -

Zak: 3+3 = elephant, 4+4 = red, 5+5 = school bus

That sums it up.

Get it? Sums?

Anyway, Zak really said that stuff.

Education

When Sullivan got home, she looked up 'perverted' in the dictionary and found that it said, "turned out of one's natural course."

"Well, frankly," Dr. Sullivan says, "that didn't seem such a bad thing to me. In fact, I thought, wasn't that what education was all about anyway? To rescue us from our natural inclinations and to steer us in the ways of the best that had been thought and discovered and created over the long course of civilization?

~ Margaret Sullivan quoted by Elizabeth McCracken

- - - - -

All education is some sort of perversion, then.

Weirdos

All the best people are mad.

~ Elly Griffiths

- - - - -

I love the weirdos in my life. And they're all weirdos. That's why I keep them around. Normalos are boring, and I don't learn as much from them.

 

Buddies

Hey you, you're holding onto too many bags. You can't do it all. You can't be it all. You can't carry it all. Do what you can. Be who you are. Only carry what's important. And put the rest of the bags down. 

~ Amy Weatherly

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 When two buddies go hiking together, they each need their own equipment. They have to be prepared. They should probably stick pretty close together. And if one buddy carries the other buddy's stuff the entire way, the second buddy better be a dog or a child or someone who can't actually carry their own stuff.

I admit that I'm no hiking expert. I am, however, something of a buddy expert.

Bridges

Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge.

~ Don Henley

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What if you are in hell and the only way to leave is a bridge? Based on the images in our society, that bridge is bound to be burning. Or what if burning bridges is the only way out of a situation? What then, Mr. Smart Aleck? You don't know what to say now, do you?

God

This, Nelson remembers, is what he has always disliked about Evangelicals - the way they talk about God as if He's "God Smith" who lives next door.

~ Elly Griffiths

- - - - -

If God lived next door to me, I hope he'd help me with the lawn. It's looking pretty rough.
 

Saltines

I know people that could serve me canned tuna and Saltine crackers and have me feel more at home at their table than some people who can cook circles around me. The more you try to impress people, generally, the less you do.

~ Alton Brown

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My dad used to eat kipper snacks and Saltine crackers. I don't remember Alton Brown coming around all that much, but when he did, he certainly seemed to feel at home. 
 

Pop

Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn't look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself.

~ Roy Lichtenstein

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Me: Let's blow this pop stand! I mean popsicle stand!

Leslie: What's a pop stand?

Me: (long pause) What's a popsicle stand?! 

Eyes

When your eyes are busy, but your mind is free...

~ from the business proposal for Audible

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Trust your eyes the way you trust a manipulative friend. They tell you some things that are true, but you have to think about the information you're getting and assess it for yourself. 

Also, why do you have a manipulative friend?