Category Archives: Life

a noble thing.

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the dandelions have returned, and i couldn’t be happier.

“Every year,” said Grandfather. “They run amuck; I let them.

Pride of lions in the yard. Stare, and they burn a hole in your retina.

A common flower, a weed that no one sees, yes.

But for us, a noble thing, the dandelion.”

-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

 

 

 

art credit: garth williams, (the rabbit’s wedding) –  rabbit basking in the moonlight

dipped in words and art.

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a beautiful, beautiful book

 what is a poem, really, and what exactly is its use?

Every once in a while, you stumble upon something so lovely, so unpretentiously beautiful and quietly profound, that you feel like the lungs of your soul have been pumped with a mighty gasp of Alpine air. This is a Poem That Heals Fish  is one such vitalizing gasp of loveliness — a lyrical picture-book that offers a playful and penetrating answer to the question of what a poem is and what it does. And as it does that, it shines a sidewise gleam on the larger question of what we most hunger for in life and how we give shape to those deepest longings.

Written by the French poet, novelist, and dramatist Jean-Pierre Simeón, translated into English by Enchabnted Lion Books founder Claudia Zoe Bedrick (the feat of translation which the Nobel-winning Polish poet Wislawa Syymborska had in mind when she spoke of “that rare miracle when a translation stops being a translation and becomes … a second original”), and illustrated by the inimitable Olivier Tallec, this poetic and philosophical tale follows young Arthur as he tries to salve his beloved red fish Leon’s affliction of boredom.

i read the above review by maria popova, and simply had to find it

i read it three times and looked closely at the details

i so agree with her.

in honor of national poetry month

and every day of every month

read a poem. 

“great children’s books are wisdom dipped in words and art.”

-peter h. reynolds

 

 

 

credits: maria popova, marginalian, enchanted lion books

style?

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not sure what category my style falls into, or is it a style?

it’s me, and i’m happy with that

 

“i have grown a little tired of over-careful decorations.

somehow the homeyness is lost when the decorator is too careful.”

-elsie de wolfe

 

Elsie de Wolfe (born 1865, New York—died 1950, Versailles, France) was an American interior decorator, hostess, and actress, best known for her innovative nad anti-victorian interiors.

your words.

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when you’ve just settled in for the night

and someone calls asking you to go out

you roll your eyes, you sigh

 then have a couple of ways to turn down the offer,

one leaves the caller with a better feeling about you than the other:

 

option#1

“i don’t feel like going out tonight.”

lazy

unoriginal

puts the blame on you

 

option#2

“for now, my place is here.”

surprising

philosophical

you answer to a higher power

choose your words wisely.

 

“facts matter not at all. perception is everything. it’s certainty.”

-stephen colbert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

credits: franklin springboro library, take a hike photography

 

 

 

mixing.

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when you have so much to celebrate but only one space to display it:

on a random moose with a bandana.

end of winter, easter holiday, spring’s arrival, and your home team’s victory.

done.

“what i adore is mixing the unexpected, things you don’t imagine should go together.”
-paul smith
*Sir Paul Brierley Smith is an English fashion designer. His reputation is founded on his designs for men’s clothing, but his business has expanded into other areas as well. Smith was made a Royal Designer for Industry in 1991.

foolish things.

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on april fool’s day and most any day

live life with gusto

even if not everyone is quite on board yet.

 

 

“you will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.”

-*sidonie gabrielle colette

*Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, best known as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her 1944 novella Gigi, which was the basis for the 1958 film and the 1973 stage production of the same name.

 

 

 

image credit: a. thomas, redbook magazine

polished.

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years ago

when traveling to mexico with friends

we decided on the plane

to each take on an alias for our trip

based upon the nail polish color we were each wearing

i immediately became ‘dusty rose’ for a week

 i’ve loved nail polish names ever since.

here is a fun sampling:

  • Alpaca My Bags
  • Teal the Cows Come Home
  • Suzi Takes the Wheel
  • Not Like the Movies
  • Indi-go With the Flow
  • Please Sea Me
  • Pat on the Black
  • So Much Fawn
  • Gray-t Escape
  • I Pink I Can
  • No Baggage Please
  • what would your nail polish alias be?

“when life gives you lemons, have a lemonade while getting a pedicure.”

-author unknown

mistaken.

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A worried animal lover was left red-faced when the baby hedgehog she carefully nursed overnight and rushed to an animal hospital turned out to be a fluffy HAT BOBBLE.
The pom-pom next to its bowl of food 

A wildlife hospital just solved a hilarious case of mistaken identity.

On Thursday, a woman brought in a baby hedgehog to the Lower Moss Nature Reserve and Wildlife Hospital in Cheshire, England — only to be told it wasn’t an animal in need,  but a beanie hat pop-pom.

The caring woman had picked up the ‘hedgehog’ from the side of the road after she noticed it “hadn’t moved or pooped all night,” reported U.K. newspaper The Independent.

“From a distance, you take it at face value. She didn’t handle it at all — she scooped it in a box with some cat food and left it alone in a warm, dark place,” veterinarian Janet Kotze, told the paper.

“She did everything so well. She barely peeked at it because she didn’t want to stress it out.”

“It was pretty obvious to us but I can also see how she was mistaken,” she recalled. “She said, ‘You’re joking! Oh my goodness, how did I do that?’ ”

“She was so concentrated on doing the right thing. She was concerned it hadn’t moved or even pooed — that would be spooky if it had,” Kotze added.

Hedgehog
A real-life hedgehog

The wildlife hospital wrote of the rescue attempt on  Facebook, “Our hearts melted as a kind soul thought she was rescuing a baby hedgehog,” as they jokingly nicknamed the pop-pom ‘hoglet.’

Despite the mistake, the reserve shared that the “adorable” new visitor “still got all the love, complete with some cozy TLC.”

“Remember, kindness knows no bounds, even when it’s to a faux furry friend! 🐾,” the wildlife hospital added while highlighting the importance of rescuing hedgehogs in vulnerable situations.

“Please remember, if you spot a hedgehog out during the day, it’s a sign something’s not right. Pop them in a box with a warm source and seek help from your local vets. Let’s keep our prickly friends safe!”

“he was so benevolent, so merciful a man that, in his mistaken passion, he

would have held an umbrella over a duck in a shower of rain.”

-douglas william jerrold

p.s. confession:  this could have easily been me. especially if i didn’t have my glasses on. 

source credits: escher walcott, people, the independent, kennedy news media photo,
brandi ettis, getty images, lower moss nature reserve

the arts of peace.

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not me, nor my garden

but he and i have similar attitudes

and this warmer weather

really has me wanting to get my garden going

then just stand back

and take it all in. 

(hello to claude monet, at giverny gardens in 1923, perhaps thinking about painting it)

“to plant a garden is the chief of the arts of peace.”

~ mary stewart

don’t lose your head.

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really didn’t think anything of

carrying a pinata head in my passenger seat

to take to a friend’s birthday celebration

until

parking and grabbing a gift out of my car

the person in the car next to me

gave me the oddest look

after seeing my pinata head just sitting there

(a pinata true crime scene?)

i realize

this is probably not something that most people do 

but to me

this is just a part of a celebration

and i do.

“if one has no sense of humor, one is in trouble.”

-betty white