ten years have passed
since the moment
when my entire 6-pack of grandies
at last
all on the same continent
met for the very first time
in a large box on my front lawn
as long as i live
i will never forget that moment.
‘cousins are the barometers of how fun a family get-together will be.’
– jm gaffigan
on the morning of the onset of the recent global outages
my sister was scheduled to fly in for a visit
as soon as i heard about it
i warned her that her flights might get complicated
but somehow she managed to get on two scheduled flights
fly across the country and land within 15 minutes of her original arrival time
we found her suitcase in a baggage claim area that was mostly shut down
with luggage on a carousel but no people from the corresponding flights to claim them
a line that grew longer with each incoming flight filing lost luggage claims
surrounded by people left and right with cancelled flights
she somehow managed to get through the eye of the needle unscathed
how lucky is that?
—
‘we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’
-albert einstein
i think we all get news overload now and then
getting puffy is not good for anyone
good to step away as needed.
—
‘winning the election is a good-news, bad-news kind of thing.
okay, now you’re the mayor.
the bad news is, now you’re the mayor.’
*clint eastwood, american actor, director, mayor
*Clint Eastwood made a successful foray into elected politics. He won election as mayor in April 1986 (until 1988), of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California (population 4,000), small town and artists’ community on the Monterey Peninsula.
—
image credit: scott metzger
the last paycheck. the day hath come.
—
*‘fear no more the heat o’ the sun, nor the furious winter’s rages.
thou thy worldly task hast done, home art gone and taken thy wages.’
– william shakespeare, cymbeline
*i know shakespeare wrote this about the final goodbye, but it also works for commuting and retirement
how exciting to find a real working payphone
caused me to do a double take
the umbilical cord connecting to many a ride home
the joy of finding a quarter in the coin return.
—
“the telephone gives us the happiness of being together yet safely apart.”
*mason cooley
—
*mason cooley, 1927-2002, was an american aphorist known for his witty aphorisms. One of the aphorisms Cooley developed was “The time I kill is killing me.”He was professor emeritus of French, speech and world literature at the college of staten island and an assistant professor of english at columbia university.
above created by a 7 year old boy, met by doctors without borders
– on world refugee day
“Humanitarianism is about more than medical efficiency or technical competence. In our choice to be with those who suffer, compassion leads not simply to pity but to solidarity. Solidarity implies to demand a minimum respect for human life and to recognize the dignity and autonomy of others, and asserting the right of others to make choices about their own destiny. Humanitarianism is about the struggle to create the space to be fully human.”
-doctors without borders
—
“in a way, the same is true of the immigrants.
they have contributed in their way to the flowering of the community,
and their individual striving and suffering have remained unknown.
unemployment is not decreased by restricting immigration.
for unemployment depends on faulty distribution of work among those capable of work.
immigration increases consumption as much as it does demand on labor.
immigration strengthens not only the internal economy of a sparsely populated country,
but also its defensive power.”
-albert einstein, in a speech at the World’s Fair, New York, USA 1939
capybaras are herbivores, therefore harmless to other animals around them.
they’re easy-going semi-aquatic mammals, social, friendly, and gentle,
and get along with just about everyone,
so it makes sense that other animals would enjoy their company.
be the capybara.
—
image credit: the atlantic magazine
not my house or cats, but i get them.
—
when you are having
a private informal window of opportunity urgent under the radar ad hoc committee meeting
there is a quorum
someone opens the closed door and peers in
odds are incredibly high
this is the same person
who is the subject of the meeting.
—
“you can’t knock on opportunity’s door and not be ready. “
-bruno mars
—
image credit: google images
getting ready in the morning
i made a quick decision
to throw one light piece of laundry
down the stairs
rather than carry the extra three ounces
down seven stairs to my washing machine
tucked away in a little closet
such a brilliantly lazy choice
i instantly realized my mistake
when it caught on a piece of art
hanging along the stairway
ripping it off the wall
sending it reeling
into another wall
creating a divot
the art tile on the wood
cracking in two
the nail lost deep in the carpeting
went down the seven stairs
now easy
with three ounces less
than i would have had to carry
stepping over it all
walked into my kitchen
flipping on the light
which answered me with a sudden ‘pop!’
a lightbulb had chosen that moment to blow out
i took in the spectacle of it all
sat down with a cup of coffee, a piece of chocolate, and a bit of music
another day had begun.
—
‘i think you have to let go of this idea that you can be precious about everything,
and let it be the abstract mess that it is.’
-ryan reynolds
I didn't have my glasses on.... 