how lucky am i that this was both for me?
—
on this
my very last day of teaching
soon to be retired
with who knows what
adventure still to come.
—
“if i thought i knew what was going to happen, it wouldn’t be worth doing. the challenge is how joyfully, with what sense of fun and adventure and playfulness, we will greet it. we don’t have to look for what the next thing will be.if experience is any judge, it’ll come flowing toward us like a river.”
-stephen colbert
my favorite kinder shirt of the week
—
“give me time and I’ll give you a revolution.”
-alexander mcqueen
it’s official
before the summer is over
i’ll be traveling
on my first trip as a retired person
to visit portugal, the oldest nation-state in europe.
tchau.
—
‘if there is one portion of europe which was made by the sea more than another,
portugal is that slice, that portion, that belt. portugal was made by the atlantic.”
– hilaire belloc, french/english historian and writer.
—
*And the award for oldest nation-state in Europe goes to… Portugal. In 1139, Portugal appointed King Afonso Henriques as its king. Lisbon is said to be four centuries older than Rome. Due to its excellent trading location, the Phoenicians settled in Lisbon around 1200 BC.
—
photo credit: planetware, the perched village of azenhas do mar at sunset, sintra, portugal
gruntled on this long weekend.
—
‘gruntled’
adjective: pleased, satisfied, and contented
examples:
1. after a long walk and a few treats, the dog was gruntled.
2. despite tom sawyer annoying those around him,
he always managed to keep his guardians gruntled.
—
art credit: ‘roaming cat” – etsy
if i had to be a sheriff
i would like to be the kind
who rescues people
who fall in the water
run out of gas
get lost
need help
love sticker badges for their kids
i would not like to be the kind
who pulled us over one summer on a lake
because we were guilty of:
dancing.
i would rather be one
who throws frisbees to people on the beach
like the one we met on the weekend
who likes music and smiling and dancing.
—
‘if time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera,
i’d play for riding lessons and take his gun away.’
-w.h. auden
author, brad meltzer, class of ’92, gives the commencement speech at his son’s graduation
“My son hadn’t had a proper graduation since middle school. Here’s my commencement address at the University of Michigan, written for him & Class of 2024, “
And here is the last line: “The world needs more empathy, more humility, and certainly more decency. If you really want to shock the world, unleash your kindness.” – Brad Meltzer
—
*Brad Meltzer is an American novelist, non-fiction writer, TV show creator, and comic book author. His novels touch on the political thriller, legal thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, while he has also written superhero fiction for DC Comics and a series of short biographies of prominent people for young readers.
—
source credit: Alumni Association of the University of Michigan
a couple of grandsons and i
drove to the highest point in the city
snuck onto a golf course
at dusk
on a quest to see the aurora
under a crescent moon
star- sprinkled sky
we waited,
and waited,
and waited
and waited
my photo-wise grandie
set up a long exposure shot
his camera captured the beauty
better than our eyes could
how lucky and lovely
and
we did not get arrested for trespassing.
—
if you want to smile
possibly even laugh out loud
spend 40 seconds
watching the clip below
i dare you not to guffaw.
https://x.com/buitengebieden/status/1787924727052251191
—
‘everything is funny, as long as it’s happening to someone else.’
-will rogers
just curious
when waking up in the morning
at my friend’s house
why there was a large frying pan
on the bottom shelf of the nightstand
next to where i had been sleeping?
was this a hint that i was expected to chef our breakfast?
was this a self-defense weapon to use as needed?
had someone forgotten where they set down their pan?
had someone gone on a late-night eating in bed food bender?
when i inquired, one answered:
‘oh, is that the one that is usually hanging in the closet?’
what, there’s one usually hanging in the closet?
another answered:
‘what frying pan?’
host woke up and said,
‘ i was going to give that one away.’
oh, of course.
that’s the perfect place to leave it to remember to give it away.
i loved waking up with a surprise, a mystery, and a smile.
(and there really was an even larger frying pan hanging in the hall closet.)
‘
—
“there are almost unlimited possibilities for making discoveries and to uncover the unknown.
it is in the nature of the discovery that it can not be planned or programmed.
-on the contrary, it consists of surprises and appears many times in the most unexpected places.”
-bengt i. samuelsson
I didn't have my glasses on.... 