In traveling to the east coast this week, I am touched, over and over again, by the people i see being welcomed by, and welcoming, others who they are connected to in some way. It is a story that never gets old and is never told exactly the same way twice.
—-
“May we greet each other with a smile, a hug, and speak kind words.”
-Lailah Gifty Akita
a bit ironic
that the man who was installing my wood flooring
showed up at my house
on the second day of work
looking rough
telling me how he had helped his friend
take down a dying tree in his yard
only to be knocked out cold and hit in the ribs
by a wayward giant branch
a piece of wood
that did not fall into place as planned.
I suggested he take the day off
to go to the doc or for some r&r
to come back and finish
whenever he felt better.
glad he took me up on my offer
and left for the day.
shows something about his work ethic
that he showed up
the very next day
prepared to work as hard as ever.
his comment –
” I know I look like I’ve been hit by a tree, but I’m okay,
it’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.
lots of people have it a lot worse.”
—
“as you slide down the banister of life,
may all the splinters be going in the right direction.”
– author unknown
—
image credit: travelocity. com
summer pie eating in ann arbor.
it’s kind of a sport.
—
“so the pie isn’t perfect? cut it into wedges.
stay in control, and never panic.”
-martha stewart
—
Katherine Rundell says – “There’s something particular about children’s fiction, that can open up new perspectives for adults. The best children’s fiction “helps us refind things we may not even know we have lost”, taking us back to a time when “new discoveries came daily and when the world was colossal, before the imagination was trimmed and neatened…” There’s also something instructive in reading books that, as Rundell points out, are “specifically written to be read by a section of society without political or economic power”. In an age whose political ructions are the result of widespread frustration at the powerlessness of the many in the face of the few, this recognition of how emboldening and subversive children’s books can be feels important.” – Book Riot -Jamie Canaves
Yes to always making time to read children’s books, no matter how old or wise we may get – or think we are.
sometimes you find it
even in the
most unlikely of places
like tucked away
under a picnic table
on a farm with gentle deer
that you feed
apples and leaves to
while indoor tennis lessons
are going on in the barn
a ping pong table
standing by
waiting to be played upon
a farm house, museum, and gardens
sitting quietly
all surrounded
by corn fields and a golf course
way out in the middle of nowhere.
—
“skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion.
everything else is a distraction.”
-talib kweli
and what was just one shoe
perched up high
has now grown to two shoes
overnight.
the only thing missing is the wearer
hopefully not sitting
perched here
tomorrow morning.
—
“comfortable shoes and the freedom to leave are the two most important things in life.”
-shel silverstein
this came today
inside of a box of something else I had ordered
maybe it was added as a surprise free bonus
for being such a good customer
there were no directions
and no warranty
but I am
looking forward to using it.
—
“even in empty space, time and space still exist”.
-sean m. carroll
50th anniversary of the week of the Apollo 11 moon landing
I was 11
on the cusp of everything
we went over
to my parents’ friends’ house
everyone was transfixed
air was electric
all gathered around the tv
watching
silent and awestruck
gobsmacked
as the first man walked on the moon
spoke his first words on the moon
lots of emotion in the house
I ran to the window to look at the moon
hoping I would see him up there
right in the middle of all of this
the hostess
left to go to the hospital
to have her baby
she named him neil
after that man on the moon.
—
“we ran as if to meet the moon.”
― robert frost
—
image credit: Ann Arbor district library archives
I didn't have my glasses on.... 