Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length. ~Robert Frost



Laughter is an orgasm triggered by the intercourse of sense and nonsense. ~Author Unknown



Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing. ~Ken Kesey



The best way for a person to have happy thoughts is to count his blessings and not his cash. ~Author Unknown



Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. ~Victor Hugo



Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck

Shirley and Marcy and a Smile for the Day

A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him. She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it. She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her.

The neighbor said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed. The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew. She did this for the whole week.

As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.. Finally she said to Timmy, 'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?'

Timmy nonchalantly replied, 'Yeah, I know who she is.'

The little girl said, 'Well, who is she?'

'That's just Shirley Goodnest,' Timmy replied, 'and her daughter Marcy.'

'Shirley Goodnest? Who the heck is she and why is she following us?'

'Well,' Timmy explained, 'every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much and in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!'

May Shirley Goodnest and Marcy be with you today and always.

Sky Watch Friday!

Sky Watch is hosted each week by Klaus and the Sky Watch Team, Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and myself. Last week 350 people from all over the world shared their beautiful skies. Click on the icon, sign up and join us. Please do read and follow the instructions. Let us see the beauty of your skies!



Lots of moody skies here in Seattle this past week, but they're still dramatic and beautiful if you take the time to look at them. These were taken last evening and they can still take your breath away!

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. ~Aristotle



Everybody needs a hug. It changes your metabolism. ~Leo Buscaglia



A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails. ~Donna Roberts



I don't discriminate - I'm an equal-opportunity hugger. ~Author Unknown



How can these not take your breath away!

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. ~Abraham Lincoln



Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~Attributed to Howard Thurman



Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
~Will Rogers



The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen. ~Sarah Brown



My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. ~Adlai Stevenson, speech, Detroit, 1952



Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. ~Moshe Dayan



No one is free when others are oppressed. ~Author Unknown

Time for Some Chuckles!

The Woodpecker Might Have to Go!




Quote of the day:

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of sh*t.


Wonder Who Did Their Landscaping!!



VIAGRA COMPANY HEADQUARTERS

And London, too????
Westminster bridge, London...

The Mayor of London has decreed that Westminster bridge will be closed in the early afternoon on sunny days. This is because a strange phenomenon happens when sunlight passes through the balustrade of the bridge, forming a small army of..... well...... see for yourself!

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. ~Erica Jong, How to Save Your Own Life, 1977



Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. ~Gordon R. Dickson



The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice we give to others.
~Author Unknown



The fourth one, a white rose, and a widow wrapped in a white sari, trying to get on with life...

Wrapped in yards
of white,
she stands
an edge
covering her head,
facing a life alone today;

Deep inside,
golden memories
rest;
shining on
the recollections
of arrivals in
bridal red,
then the little buds,
a healthy pink.
enriching branches ,
despite
occasional thorns

The colored
whorls
of experience
over the years,
fading to a white,
but
comforting her,
as a few petals drop,
but life continues
encompassing
a calm fragrance....

Wrapped in yards
of white,
she stands
yet again,
an edge
covering her head,
facing a life alone today;
but sharing
the fragrance,
with the
whole world....
Posted by Ugich Konitari to Sylvia From Over The Hill at November 17, 2009 8:03 PM

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. ~Auguste Rodin



Who says nothing is impossible. I've been doing nothing for years. ~Author Unknown



Just remember, if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off. ~Author Unknown

ABC Wednesday -- R!

I've entered my blog again because people were having difficulty connecting and there seemed to be a problem with my web address.


Get out your dictionary and start checking out the R words because that is the letter of the day! ABC Wednesday is hosted each week by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt. Click on the icon and sign up to play with us!

R is for RED!

R is for Red Maple!



R is for Red tomatoes!



R is for Red Rose!



R is for Red dahlia!

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

That's My World is the next post down.



If you do not raise your eyes you will think that you are the highest point. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin



No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye. ~Elizabeth Bowen, The House in Paris, 1935



The highest virtue here may be least in another world. ~Kahlil Gibran



Lessons from the fourth picture ....

Growing tall in life
sometimes
makes invisible
those at
your feet...

When you revel
and hobnob
majestically,
at your peak,
the spray
of the waterfall
freshening
your face,
tired,
as you struggle
to enhance
your prestige

Remember
the one
who helped you cross
your bridges,
by throwing
itself across the creek...?
Posted by Ugich Konitari to Sylvia From Over The Hill at November 16, 2009 9:15 PM

He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. ~Raymond Hull



We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves. ~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld



Men, like nails, lose their usefulness when they lose direction and begin to bend. ~Walter Savage Landor

That's My World -- San Miguel de Allende

That's My World is hosted each week by Klaus and the My World team of Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and myself. Over a hundred people from all over the world have shared a part of their world with us last week. Click on the icon, sign up and please do follow the instructions and share the beauty of your world with us!



San Miguel de Allende, Mexico!

The past couple of weeks I've had reasons to look back at some of the wonderful places that have been a part of my world over these many years and yesterday as I was responding to a blogging award given me, I was reminded of the year that San Miguel de Allende, Mexico was 'my world'. I took pictures while I was there but over the past ten years of moving and relocating many of them were lost, but thanks to Google Images and Wikipedia I can share this world with you today.

One of the many lovely courtyards around the city.



The town was founded in 1542 by the Franciscan monk Fray Juan de San Miguel. It was an important stopover on the Antiguo Camino Real, part of the silver route from Zacatecas, Zacatecas. The town featured prominently in the Mexican War of Independence. General Ignacio Allende, one of San Miguel's native sons, was a leading player in the war against Spain for independence. Allende, captured in battle and beheaded, is a national hero. San Miguel el Grande renamed itself "San Miguel de Allende" in 1826 in honor of his actions.

Streets in San Miguel.



My apartment was on a street just like these, within walking distance of the cathedral and the stores and shops.





In the 1950s, San Miguel de Allende became a destination known for its beautiful colonial architecture and its thermal springs. After World War II San Miguel began to revive as a tourist attraction as many demobilized United States GIs discovered that their education grants stretched further in Mexico at the U.S.-accredited art schools, the privately-owned Instituto Allende, founded in 1950, and the Bellas Artes, a nationally chartered school.

American ex-servicemen first arrived in 1946 to study at the art school. By the end of 1947, Life magazine assigned a reporter and photographer to do an article on this post-war phenomenon. A three-page spread appeared in the January 5, 1948, edition under the headline “GI Paradise: Veterans go to Mexico to study art, live cheaply and have a good time.” This was possible when apartments rented for US$10 a month, servants cost US$8 a month, rum was 65 cents a quart and cigarettes cost 10 cents a pack.

San Miguel's version of the running of the bulls! Great fun to watch -- from a second story balcony, that is!



I had a lovely apartment opening onto a lovely patio in a building very much like this one.



And this is the dominating building in the city, the Parroquia de San Miguel.

Evening, Wisdom and Beauty

I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance. ~Friedrich Nietzsche



Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music. ~William Stafford



There are no foolish questions, and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions. ~Charles Proteus Steinmetz



The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder. ~Ralph W. Sockman



Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. ~Kurt Vonnegut



Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking. ~John Wain

A Little Humor for a Gray Day!

Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to convert to Catholicism or leave Italy. There was a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal: he'd have a religious debate with the leader of the Jewish community. If the Jews won, they could stay in Italy; if the Pope won, they'd have to convert or leave.

The Jewish people met and picked an aged and wise rabbi to represent them in the debate. However, as the rabbi spoke no Italian, and the Pope spoke no Yiddish, they agreed that it would be a 'silent' debate.

On the chosen day the Pope and rabbi sat opposite each other.

The Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.

The rabbi looked back and raised one finger.

Next, the Pope waved his finger around his head.

The rabbi pointed to the ground where he sat.

The Pope brought out a communion wafer and a chalice of wine.

The rabbi pulled out an apple.

With that, the Pope stood up and declared himself beaten and said that the rabbi was too clever. The Jews could stay in Italy.

Later the Cardinals met with the Pope and asked him what had happened.

The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up a single finger to remind me there is still only one God common to both our faiths.

Then, I waved my finger around my head to show him that God was all around us. The rabbi responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us.

I pulled out the wine and host to show that through the perfect sacrifice Jesus has atoned for our sins, but the rabbi pulled out an apple to remind me of the original sin. He bested me at every move and I could not continue."

Meanwhile, the Jewish community gathered to ask the rabbi how he'd won.

"I haven't a clue," said the rabbi. "First, he told me that we had three days to get out of Italy, so I gave him the finger.

Then he tells me that the whole country would be cleared of Jews but I told him emphatically that we were staying right here."

"And then what?" asked a woman.

"Who knows?" said the rabbi. "He took out his lunch, so I took out mine."