"Promise of a New Day"

(fluffy clouds...in black and white)

Thought of the Day:

"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they will not be here tomorrow. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."
~ Og Mandino, 1923-1996 (Adapted) Author of 'The Greatest Salesman In The World'

Delayed reaction

My dear friend, Jim, was kind enough to point out to me that I failed to call sufficient attention to his birthday last Friday the 17th. For the record, I did call him on his birthday. He was down in New Orleans helping with hurricane cleanup...because he's just that kind of a guy.


And...happy 1st anniversary to Jim and Ann (Feb. 12)!

Word of the Day

susurrus \su-SUHR-uhs\, noun:
A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.

Still, the breeze is soothing, as is the susurrus of the branches.
-- Michael Finkel, "Tree Surfing and Other Lofty Pleasures," The Atlantic, March 1998

He heard the susurrus of curtains luffed by the breeze.
-- Erik Larson, Isaac's Storm

Every time she walked into the back yard, she heard the susurrus of a white plastic bag stuck in a tree.
-- Me, for real

Birthday girl

Oops. I should've posted this last weekend.
Erica turned 11 on the 12th.

So totally adorable!

Today makes three months exactly that a white plastic bag has been stuck up in a tree in my backyard. Doesn't seem to matter what the weather does, this thing won't budge. It's far too high to reach to pull down, and it's not a tree one can climb (not me, anyway).

Hopefully when the leaves come back it will at least be hidden, if it doesn't come down before then. So let's see...March, April, May. Great...another three months.

Happy Birthday to me!

Rights

I'm very thankful to live in a free society. If I so choose, I can swear a blue streak and insult government leaders with a megaphone. I can be a jerk to everyone I meet and act rudely at every turn. I can take gross, embarrassing photos and hang them all over my house. I can spout off against all religions and ethnicities. I can smoke and drink and eat junk until I destroy my body. No one would arrest me...legally I could get away with all of that. Ok, great. I'm glad I'm free.

But just because I can, that doesn't mean I should.

(I have a right to say more about that, but...enough said)

Mythbusters

This is my new favorite TV show..."Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel.




Never a dull moment for poor Buster.

This just in...

Pampered Australian merino sheep who listen to opera have again produced a bale of the world's finest wool, matching the record set by the flock last year.
The special flock is kept mostly indoors in small groups and listens to music, including Italian opera and recordings of Italian singer
Andrea Bocelli.
Each sheep is shorn once a year and the flock is fed a secret diet of grains and specially grown hay, based on advice from a sheep nutritionist.


Ok, I want one of those sweaters.

Pride

Have to say, I was extremely proud of my little girl when she sang her solo on Sunday. Oh yeah...and she was kind enough to let me join in.

So hard to believe you just turned 14. Please stay this sweet forever, honey. I remember when you were little and wanted me to pretend with you and trade roles. You said, "I'll be the mommy and you be the honey." :) I loved that and all the many times when you performed for me standing on the living room chair with the window blind cord for a microphone. So much cuteness.

man·tra (MON-tra)
n.
A commonly repeated word or phrase:

“Today's edutainment software comes shrinkwrapped in the magic mantra: ‘makes learning fun.’” (Clifford Stoll).

I used this quote before, quite a while ago. After spending three hours in the dentist's chair this week, it seemed appropriate again.

"It doesn't really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist's chair or let your hands lie in your lap. The drill drills on."

A Grief Observed

Quotation for Monday, January 16, 2006:

"The great thing to do with unhappy times is to take them bit by bit, hour by hour...like an illness. It is seldom the present, the exact present, that is unbearable."

Letters to an American Lady
(C.S. Lewis)

The Heavenly Bed

If you're looking for a gift to buy me for my birthday next month, I'll take this whole thing, please...mattress, sheets, down blanket, down comforter and the most phenomenal down pillows ever. Slept in the Heavenly Bed at the Westin in Chicago last year. Oh...my...goodness.

"Every night, wrap yourself in the Heavenly Bed - ten layers of pure comfort atop the most sensuous of mattresses.

The Heavenly Bed was conceived by Barry S. Sternlicht, former Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., and modeled after his bed at home in Connecticut. After months of testing hundreds of mattresses, pillows and bed linens, the Heavenly Bed was born."

Quotation for Thursday, January 05, 2006:

In light of the recent gray weather we've had...

"Very likely, what with enemies, and mountains, and rivers to cross, and losing our way, and next to nothing to eat, and sore feet, we'll hardly notice the weather."

The Silver Chair
C. S. Lewis

Word of the Day for Sunday January 1, 2006

I use this word, but people never seem to know what I'm talking about.

vim - noun:

Power; force; energy; spirit; activity; vigor.

The 76-year-old retired Malaysian schoolteacher displayed so much vim during a recent hike through a national park in Sarawak, astonished rangers began calling her a "recycled teenager."
--Choong Tet Sieu, "The Power to Go On and On," Asiaweek, July 28, 2000

Eric Clapton

I really like the new CD I got for Christmas, "Eric Clapton Unplugged."
Now I just need to see if I can get someone to buy me his new one for my birthday next month.

Winter's Gift

In the middle of the Christmas rush and just a bit of stress today, I decided that a trip to the children's book store was in order to set things right. I found a beautiful book called "Winter's Gift." After reading it, life looked much better.