“you have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks and soldiers who file by the white house in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy and the flies die from happiness. you may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”
-erma bombeck
happy birthday u.s.a!
—
image credit: savorthebest.com
nothing like waking up early
sipping a warm cup of strong coffee
chewing on something that seems like a berry
your brain catching up
and wondering
why there is a berry in your cup
because you don’t normally
add berries to your coffee
and you spit it out
only to discover
that it was really a random giant ant not a berry
who climbed into your cup
in the time it took you to walk out of the room and back
and you have unwittingly shared your coffee with him
and he, with you.
—
“it is not enough to be busy. so are the ants. the question is: what are we busy about?”
-henry david thoreau
ah, the choices –
to play it safe
and go for the fudge, chocolate chips, or mint
or to venture into something
a little more adventurous perhaps
like playdough or potholes?
—
“fear is stupid. so are regrets.”
-marilyn monroe
our 5th grade boys
milling around
excited and nervous and happy
decided they were going to do their ‘gangster walk’
on the way in to their graduation ceremony
in their suits and ties
jackets thrown over shoulders
and i had to smile
when i heard them
strutting by
singing ‘sweet caroline’
at the top of their lungs
i’m betting neil diamond would take it as a compliment
and when they went inside
they recited their kind words
sang school songs
watched as pictures of their younger days
flashed upon the screen
and finally ended with a beautiful candlelighting
i’m proud of these gangsters
as i’ve known some of them since they were 3
before they even knew what letter ‘gangster’ started with.
—
“any distraction tends to get in the way of being an effective gangster.”
-terence winter
while everyone’s eyes were focused
on the royal love story across the pond
i happened upon this one
much closer to home.
—
“you can’t blame gravity for falling in love.”
-albert einstein
happy national pack rat day – may 17th
There’s a fine line between holding on to nostalgia, and being a serious contendor for an episode of Hoarders. But just for a day, you are permitted to openly cherish the growing stack of Signals catalogs piling up in your basement sans any judgment of concerned family and friends. Who knows? Maybe your Beanie Babies will become collectibles again, and the joke will be on us.
—
and 2 very different philosophies from 2 very creative geniuses on this subject:
“i want to lead the victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter.”
-freddie mercury
—
“out of clutter, find simplicity.”
-albert einstein
team freddie or team albert?
—
credits: stanford university (image), mental floss
due to my utter lack of any sense of direction
i am always a bit shocked
when someone asks me how to get somewhere
and i do wonder….
—
“you’ll get lost and then you’ll find it.”
-mark darrah, ‘a catalogue of common people’
—
image credit: purple clover
and on the last night they’ll ever spend
in the only house they’ve ever lived
before moving to their wonderful new location for their wonderful new adventures
we celebrate by finally getting to eat in the living room without sneaking.
—
“your journey never ends. life has a way of changing things in incredible ways.
-alexander volkov
tag lines like this are one reason why local ads are the best:
‘should you decide not to call us, save this magazine for swatting.’
—
“a man thinks he amounts to a great deal
but to a flea or a mosquito a human being is merely something good to eat.”
– don marquis
mixed feelings
when walking inside from another round of snow
and being greeted by a 4th of july display
at least i have my sandals on
with my long down coat
and i am ready for anything.
“there are certain odd times and occasions
in this strange mixed affair we call life
when a man takes his whole universe for a vast practical joke.”
-herman melville
