New spot?

I think I may have found something to replace Bean Tree Bistro (as if that's really possible). Yesterday I tried Camille's Cafe. More of a restaurant than a coffee shop, not enough dessert choices, but they do have a good looking menu...and they have outdoor tables, which are even on the west side of their building (same as Bean Tree) so I can go there in the evening and see the sunset. Of course it's not quite the same, but I'll give it a try.

Farewell Bean Tree

My favorite coffee shop, Bean Tree Bistro, is open for the last day today. No other shop in town has the ambience this one does or tables outside where you can watch the sunset. I went there last night and had many recollections of times spent there with friends and family. Among the fondest were memories of long and varied conversations with my dear Jeanne, who I miss so much. Makes saying goodbye to Bean Tree sort of feel like another goodbye to her. So now I have my memories, my souvenir mug and (thanks to Laura) a plate from the shop showing two friends talking.

More and more lately I'm seeing that things change, children grow up, people leave and life keeps moving on...that's just the way it is.
*sigh*
I know there are good things in change, too...they're just hard to spot sometimes.

It would appear from the looks of this weblog that in the past month I've had nothing to say. For those who know me at all...seems hard to believe, doesn't it?

I still remember these lines from the prologue of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." Had to learn it in English Lit, with Mrs. Oosterhart - who is still at GHS, I might add. See? It hasn't been *that* long since I was in high school!

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

If none of this makes much sense as you read it, that's because it's in Middle English. Let me know if you'd like me to translate. What got me thinking of this is that the "Word of the Day" on Dictionary.com is virtu.

virtu (vuhr-TOO) noun:
1. love of or taste for fine objects of art.
2. Productions of art (especially fine antiques).
3. Artistic quality.

"You have shown me more wonders than are known in the whole of heaven."

- Out of the Silent Planet
C. S. Lewis

I happened to be talking to a young man about this book yesterday. Haven't read this series in years...but I think I should pick it up again.

Quotation for April 27, 2006:

"The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are."

Selected Literary Essays
C. S. Lewis

New York City

New York was fabulous! Went to a Broadway show ("Odd Couple"), strolled Central Park, watched the sunset from the top of the Empire State building, visited the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero, ate at several great restaurants, had hours of rehearsal and, best of all...SANG IN CARNEGIE HALL!

Mass Mutual

This is the newest adventure at our house. Ready, set, go, Art! You're going to be great.



(Friends and family: be sure to call Art when you need financial planning/investing/insurance help)

Second Hand Lions

I had heard good things about this movie and finally saw it this week.
I loved it!

Done with Violence

My friend, Jack, had a link to an article by Mark Morford on his weblog:

"Something has happened. Something has switched over in the past few years of my life, some sort of awareness has been raised and a threshold has been lowered and I now cannot help but see stark displays of brutish violence -- in movies, on TV, in real life -- as exactly what they are: Dark, dank, base energy, cancerous and poisonous, and I do not care where it is or if it's couched in the context of "raw" moviemaking or gritty urban inner-city tale. I am done."

I agree with what Jack said...it would be so nice if this could be the start of a new movement.

Thought of the Day:

"Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit."

~Peter Sellers (1925-1980) English Comic Actor

Thought of the Day:

"The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools."
~Confucius (551-479BC) Chinese Ethical Teacher, Philosopher

A favorite excerpt from "Gilead"

"In every important way we are such secrets from each other, and I do believe that there is a separate language in each of us, also a separate aesthetics and a separate jurisprudence. Every single one of us is a little civilization built on the ruins of any number of preceding civilizations, but with our own variant notions of what is beautiful and what is acceptable - which, I hasten to add, we generally do not satisfy and by which we struggle to live. We take fortuitous resemblances among us to be actual likeness, because those around us have also fallen heir to the same customs, trade in the same coin, acknowledge, more or less, the same notions of decency and sanity. But all that really just allows us to coexist with the inviolable, untranversable, and utterly vast spaces between us."
"Gilead" -- Marilynne Robinson

Thought of the day:

"Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect."
~Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) American Novelist

Open minded discussion on ID vs. evolution

From a recent radio address by Dr. Rex M. Rogers,
"I’m not a proponent of evolution. But I’m not afraid for evolution, I.D., or creationism to be taught in a public school classroom. I’d contend that one cannot be well educated without knowing something about all of these views, whatever your conclusions about their veracity. In an open, unbiased investigation, truth takes care of itself. To science and religion I’d say open the door." more...

Quotation for Tuesday, March 7, 2006:

"'Well, Sir, if things are real, they're there all the time.'
'Are they?' said the Professor."

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Thought of the Day:

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."
~Erich Fromm

Left, Moderate, Right

From the blog of Dr. Rex M. Rogers, "The late Reverend E.V. Hill, senior pastor of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, once said, 'I’ve had experience with the Left wing and I’ve had experience with the Right wing, and I’ve discovered those wings come from the same bird!' This dynamic, African American leader is gone now, but let’s hope his wisdom didn’t die with him." more...

Thought of the Day:

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."
~ George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish-born English Dramatist, Novelist, Critic

"Promise of a New Day"

(fluffy clouds...in black and white)