Monthly Archives: June 2022

an untiring effort.

Standard

 

“democracy is never a final achievement. it is a call to an untiring effort.”

-john f. kennedy

 

 

 

 

image credit: pngtree.com

officially on summer break.

Image

a wish for my students on their last day.

Standard

“there is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything.

negative people find their walls.

so never apologize for your enthusiasm.

never.ever.ever.

-ryan adams

 

may you all live like this forever. and ever. and ever.

love, your teacher

(who lives like this too)

be like star trek.

Standard

cast of the original star trek series

“star trek was an attempt to say that humanity

will reach maturity and wisdom

on the day that it begins not to just tolerate,

but take a special delight

in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.”

-gene roddenberry -star trek creator

 

image credit: nbc tv

bursting.

Standard

on the 100th anniversary

of this incredible peony garden

with 270+ varieties

the beauty goes on and on

leaving it impossible to pick a favorite.

 

“in june as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.

no man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.”

-aldo leopold

 

w.e. upjohn peony garden, nichols arboretum, ann arbor, mi, usa – june 2022

old news.

Standard

as a lover of the printed page

i still happily await the arrival

of each sunday’s newspaper

on my doorstep

in spite of

sadly seeing this

 far too often.

“every day or two, I strolled to the village to hear some of the gossip which is incessantly going on there,

circulating either from mouth to mouth, or from newspaper to newspaper,

and which, taken in homeopathic doses,

was really as refreshing in its way as the rustle of leaves and the peeping of frogs.”

-henry david thoreau

do-nut know how i missed it!

Standard

 

yesterday was national donut day and somehow i missed it

but i’ll be sure to make up for it today!

Keeping it highly academic on the day after National Donut Day. The photo above is from the Sally L. Steinberg Collection of Doughnut Ephemera (that’s its real name) in the Smithsonian National Museum of American HIstory’s Archives Center.

Steinberg describes herself as the “doughnut princess”— her grandfather Adolph Levitt was America’s original “doughnut king.” He developed the automatic doughnut-making machine, opened the first retail doughnut chain in the country and founded the modern American doughnut industry.

She gathered this collection while researching a 1987 book on the history of the doughnut, (not surprisingly  called:”The Donut Book.”)

Why, you ask after looking at the decreasing size of the hole trend in the photo, is the hole not totally gone? Somewhere in the 80’s, the trend of the hole shrinking stopped and the outer rim began collapsing inwards, getting sweeter as it diminished. This became known as the “supernova” era of donuts and continues today.

 

Sources: Smithsonian Museums, Sally Levitt Steinberg, The Donut Book , Storey Publishing

direct reflection.

Standard

reflecting while exploring 

 

 

“the way we experience the world around us is a direct reflection of the world within us.”

-gabrielle bernstein

 

 

 

 

june 2022 – oakland county, michigan, usa

worthless?

Standard

my favorite ads on nextdoor this week:

 

-FREE- round table, terrible condition (see above)

 

-FREE – old milk crate (very dirty)

in good shape except for being really filthy

 

(at least i think they are priced fairly)

 

“advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods,

particularly if the goods are worthless.”

-sinclair lewis

midnight diner (the show).

Standard

beautiful, beautiful, beautiful opening score for ‘midnight diner’

 

i discovered this show last year and was instantly taken in

each episode like a small movie in itself

a tiny diner

simple meals and wisdom

served up by

a quiet, wise, and mysterious owner

short stories with twists

 resolutions that play themselves out

as they were meant to

filled with eccentric characters

many on the fringe of society

 connected in unexpected ways

all are welcome

the stories are filled with humanity

 unfolding slowly

as a sense of zen and calm

come over you when watching it

not to be missed.

in japanese with english subtitles

reviews and comments about this show frequently include the words:

calming, hopeful, soothing, wise, warming, comfort, saved me, comfortable, human

show credits: netflix, midnight diner  music credits: Omoide 思ひで by Tsunekichi Suzuki