Thursday, March 19, 2009

insight?

Well, the whole insight/epiphany thing appears to be a wash. I MAY have another insight or epiphany in my life but they seem to come few and far between. Actually, I think I might have had all the insights possible, and now I just know everything. Hahahah. So, the 30 days of insight is not going to happen. I'll be sure and send out an alert when I have one but don't expect much.

Instead, it's just a random day. Stan, who was featured in the Stan's man post, does have another man, who has already lost quite a bit of stuffing. But Stan's dog love shines through and he himself placed his man cozily close for nap time. I'm now buying those funny little men by the three pack.


Here's a really unappetizing picture of my dinner. BUT, it was really good. The orange colored food is MASHED POTATOES. Yes, mashed Idaho and SWEET potatoes. It's so good. And it's good for you! And, it's ORANGE. I put a little sour cream in them and Jay loves 'em. The other thing on the plate is tuna and noodles. This is one of my favorite foods. My mom used to always make it for me on my birthday. It's a comfort food for me. Just in case you want to make it, it's easy....Take a 2 quart pan, boil some noodles, drain, add one can of healthy choice cream of mushroom soup, a bit of milk, a can of tuna (albacore packed in water?), and some cheese. Heat until warm.

I worked today and was very tired when I got home. I even napped, which I NEVER do. When I got up, around 4ish, I planted seeds in these Jiffy greenhouse cups. I planted broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, pumpkins and cantaloupe. I'm going to plant lettuce and onions outside tomorrow (cool weather crops).
With the weather getting warmer, I just want to garden. Last year I didn't have a garden at all. I was busy moving back to my most wonderful house, and getting ready to travel to Kansas. This year, I'm going to garden again. That dirt just does my heart good. So, I have moments when I don't want to go to work. I mean, like I NEVER want to go to work again. And this is even a job I like. With benefits. And free coffee. I think about how great my year of opus was, and sometimes I miss it. But I have to work. And, I realized, I HAVE to garden. The dirt, the act of sprouting, the flowers on a pumpkin vine, and the beautiful smell of it all mixed together. Ahhhh. Coming out of winter (yes, I know it's going to snow again). But the season is changing. I'm ready. And speaking of...tomorrow is the first day of spring.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Insight two

No customer will ever order their Starbucks drink correctly. I had two solid weeks of training and have now worked there for four months and I still don't get it right. So how in the world can an UNTRAINED person ever be expected to know what in the heck to say. So, here's how it's done....first, tell me if it's iced. Then, the size, then what it is (latte, mocha, etc), then tell me if you're going to want extra shots of coffee. That would be, I'll have an iced grande latte with an extra shot of espresso. Okay, then let me know if you want any special milks or syrups. Whole milk? Non fat? Vanilla? Hazelnut? Then, the little things...light ice, no foam, extra hot. Half decaffeinated, one-third whole milk/two-thirds 1%, 4 pumps of raspberry and 1 pump vanilla. Yes. It's true. The kicker is that if someone orders their entire drink and says "iced" at the end instead of at the beginning, I have to cancel everything out and start over, trying to remember it's a grandeicedlattewith3pumpscaramel2pumpstoffeenutwholemilknofoam drink. Here's a recent drive-thru window conversation......

Me: Hi, welcome to Starbucks, this is Jill, how are you doing today?
Guest: Great.
Me: Can I start you off with a muffin or some of our tasty oatmeal this morning?
Guest: No. I'll have a grande mocha with a latte on top.
Me: (thinking, HUH?) I'm sorry I didn't get that last part. You want a Grande mocha? Is that correct?
Guest: Yes, with a latte on top.
Me: (Trying not to laugh into the headset): I'm sorry, I'm not hearing you very well. That was a mocha with vanilla?
Guest: NO. A LATTE ON TOP
Me: I'm so sorry. We have mochas and we have lattes but they're two separate drinks. (Thinking...Hahahahaha) Which one of those were you wanting?
Guest: Oh. Okay, I'll have a mocha.

Most people, however, know what they want....

Me: Hi, welcome to Starbucks, this is Jill, how are you doing today?
Guest: Great.
Me: Can I start you off with a muffin or some of our tasty oatmeal this morning?
Guest: No, but I'll have a grande two pump mocha, with one pump vanilla and three pumps of peppermint, no whip cream, whole milk, with an extra shot of espresso in a venti cup. Can I also have that at 180 degrees?
Me: I'm sorry, that was a mocha...with...?
Guest: (They repeat their order)
Me: Okay, that was a grande in a venti cup? And how many shots of peppermint?
Guest: (They repeat their order)
Me: Okay, and that had an extra shot?

Sigh...

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Stupid, Happy Animals

Hmmmmm. How about 30 days of epiphanies (a moment of sudden revelation or insight)? I had one tonight, while taking a lovely bath with anti-stress bath bubbles. And a glass of red wine. And a tall glass of water. And a book (Falling Through The Earth by Danielle Trussoni).

When I was a child, my parents and I were really just stupid, happy animals. We lived in a simple house, and we just lived. There was no weirdness or alcoholism or addiction or games, except for dominoes and gin rummy. We ate and slept and went to work and school. My parents, who were married for 65 years, had their share of fights, but there was no violence or tears. They were pretty fucking happy. They golfed and played bridge and bowled. My dad gardened and fished. My mom cooked and did volunteer work. Yes, we were simple animals. They did some things together and some things on their own. They each taught me different skills. We watched Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights.

This is why I have a hard time, occasionally, in the world. I have to deal with people. It just seems so simple to me. We had a home, not a fancy one, we had food on the table, not fancy stuff, and we had folks around to play dominoes with. Eat, work, play, love. As a teenager, of course, I suffered, for several years, from hormone induced hysteria (like all teenagers) which did make me scream "I hate you" at my father, and secretly buy birth control pills (which my mother found in my purse), and so I turned my back on the pack. But, over time, I regressed again to the cult of the simpleminded. That's where I am now.

Thirty days of Epiphany? Shhiiitttt. Does that sound high falutin or what!? It might take me 3 months to come up with 30 days of epiphanies. Fine. I'm going to take my time. I'll just write them down as they strike me. But I'm going to shoot for 30. For a stupid, happy animal there might be some pretty simplistic ideas, but revelation doesn't have to be complicated. I could use a little insight, and like beauty, I don't mind searching for it.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I love cookies

Last night, as I drifted off to sleep, I thought about a great blog to write. I even contemplated getting out of bed and writing it. But the lights were off. My eyes were closed. I was in that quite heavenly drowsy space where the sheets feel like some strange kind of good medicine, and the pillow is fitting itself perfectly underneath your neck, and frankly, there was no way I was going to disturb that. So, in my intoxicating sleepiness, I vowed to remember my blog thought. And today, IT'S COMPLETELY GONE. 

Instead, once again, I'm going to write a little bit about food. Haha. I LOVE food. Tonight I made spinach and mushroom enchiladas. I sauteed the garlic and onion first in olive oil until the garlic got all hard and crispy (acquired taste) and then added mushrooms and spinach. The rest of it's in the recipe...

Sauce:
Garlic (you decide what you can handle)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (healthy request, damn it)
1 8oz carton light sour cream
1 small can diced green chilies

Filling:
olive oil
onion (real or dried minced)
2 cups mushrooms
Garlic (see above)
Cumin (same deal)
About 20 oz spinach (I use fresh, your choice)
1 cup shredded jack cheese

10-15 corn tortillas

Prepare sauce ingredients in a bowl.
Put oil in skillet, saute stuff for filling, add half cheese when off heat and stir up.
Fill tortillas with filling, roll them up, and put seam down in 9x9 square pan (this recipe makes two pans so one can go in the freezer for a whole other night!).
Cover with sauce and some cheese.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Yum.

(If you have children who are spoiled, just make a few cheese enchiladas too and don't make them eat any vegetables. They will love you at that minute but will resent you later in life for screwing up their health.)

B had seconds, so did I, and Jay ate cookies. Kidding. I made him cheese enchiladas, and THEN he made cookies afterwards. And I did make him eat some tomato.

I'm open to ideas for my next 30 days of you-call-it. (30 days of crap? 30 days of Mondays? 30 days of dealing with rude people at the post office? 30 days of self-improvement? 30 days of finding silhouettes in the wood grain of the laminate flooring?) If I feel like I have to write, I WILL write and I WILL enjoy it. Forced writing. Hmmmmm. Or maybe I should just keep a notebook by the bed for when I have my own ideas. SO I DON"T FORGET THEM.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

one month

(Thirty days ago I started "30 days of beauty" and this is the 30th day)

Looking for and enjoying beauty is a way to nourish the soul. The universe is in the habit of making beauty. There are flowers and songs, snowflakes and smiles, acts of great courage, laughter between friends, a job well done, the smell of fresh-baked bread. Beauty is everywhere." - Matthew Fox 

The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty and truth. Albert Einstein 

I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains....My advice is: Go outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God. Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy! - Anne Frank 

Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail. - Navajo Song

February 27

Yes, I have a facebook. I have a myspace. But my heart belongs to blogspot. Still, I have come to see a virtue in the other two. I have a huge group of folks I know; some I have known for years, and some have known me from the day I was born. So, I can kinda keep in touch through these other forums. I can see pictures of them on vacation, or find out when they're playing the guitar at a local gig. I check in once in a while and have even started to participate, albeit, minimally, in the poking, sending gifts, and joining odd clubs. But the blogworld is home. It's words. It's stories. It's not a single sound bite, it's a concert. In blogworld, we don't start out as familiar, we get there through our writing. Every once in a while people stop blogging (where are you Hermitgrrl? write me Imez!) and I miss their words. Sometimes they switch from one to the other, for good reason (Hi jillyineyre). And sometimes they reply and contribute. Yesterday, Tyge from neonlounge sent me this recording of jjgrey and mofro relating to my Feb 26th blog. Thanks Tyge! I loved it!! It's the second song, Nare Sugar, and if you want to skip to the Flagstaff reference (although you might just want to listen to the music) go 1:30 into the song. Check it out......


http://www.archive.org/details/jjgreyandmofro2007-03-28.matrix.flac16

Thursday, February 26, 2009

I'm just warming up

Warmth. It's finally warm outside. I'm ready for tulips to emerge from the ground and I'm ready to start planting tomato plants and pole beans. Hahahahahaha! Wait, I live in Flagstaff. Here's what will really happen.....the next week will be stellar; warm, sunny, no jacket. People here will start wearing flip flops and shorts. The sale of sunglasses will sky rocket and the cinders still littering the streets will slowly disappear. Everyone will be happy and slightly giddy. The greeting will be, "Isn't this weather wonderful?!" and the reply of "Ohhhh yes, it's heavenly outside" will ring through the streets. It will be Who-ville, only instead of being excited about Christmas, we'll all be excited about the temperature clocking in at 55 degrees.

Then, sometime in March, the Grinch of snowandchill will bite us all in the butt. We'll go to bed with only a comforter and a flannel sheet and wake up FROZEN. We'll look out the window and the whole world will be white. Hahahahaha. That was the Grinch laughing, not me. My son will have a dreaded snow day. Augghhhh. B will have to shovel the driveway. Curses! And I will turn the heater up to 80 degrees. $$$$. Damn.

There will be several more snows before spring. Realistically, there's no planting to be done until late May. I just might have chains on my car tires again. So, I suppose the beauty is that during the middle of winter, there are warm, sunny, short-sleeve, flip-flop weather days. Even the chickens are out in the sun indulging in dust baths.

And talking about chillin' with my peeps, I want to give a shout out to a couple of gals who I know are reading my blog; Dale and Greta. I hope you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoy writing it! Rock on, girlfriends!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Memory

I wrote a post a couple days ago where I just listed a bunch of things that were beautiful to me. One of them was memory. Sometimes I read about (in People magazine!) someone who has no memory at all, and I always feel so sad for them. Memory is what keeps me going at times. I had to fill out this form for Jay tonight and it had a space on it for "in case of emergency" and I wanted to put my dad. Silly. I thought, well that's who to notify. But, as I've mentioned before, I do not have his phone number anymore.

I must make my father out to be a saint sometimes. He wasn't, of course. He was a good man; honest and kind and salt of the earth. But he also did things that weren't so good. Once, when I was maybe ten, we were at a golf tournament. Me, my mom and my dad. It was toward evening and we were waiting for all the results to come in. Now, my dad was not a heavy drinker. My parents never had drinks when it was just the two of them. They'd have a couple bourbons when they went out with friends but nothing too extreme. This one night though, at the clubhouse, in a town about 90 minutes from where we lived, my dad had eight Bloody Mary's. I know this because my mom asked him and he told her. I remember being mortified. I remember it was eight. I remember he slurred and wobbled. A friend of my dad's had to drive us all home. My dad was funny, as opposed to mean, but as a kid I was horribly embarrassed.

Now, as an adult myself, I like that memory. Memory reminds me of where I come from, it lets me remember my past and my parents. There were time I never thought I would live through their deaths. We were very close, the three of us, and there were certainly times I couldn't imagine myself without them. The beauty of memory is that I don't have to live without them. They are in so much that I do. I keep them in poems and stories and the way I raise Jay. I recall the past, and I can see and hear them again. Now, if I think about the night that my dad had eight Bloody Mary's, I remember being so flipping mad, but I also see it from adult eyes, and I wish I could remember what he said, on the 90 mile ride home; his friend driving the car, his wife next to him, his child staring intently out the window, and him, cracking jokes and having a good laugh.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we
must carry it with us or we find it not.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Politics

Yeah Obama!!! What a great speech. Jay counted 38 standing ovations (sit down already!).

Monday, February 23, 2009

Trying

Hmmmmm.
Nope, can't think of one thing.
Damn.
Wait.
My son is beautiful.
Memory.
Neil Young singing Helpless.
Dusk. Perfect peaches.
Talking about anything
and it being okay.
UFO's.
Lemon tarts. Coffee,
double tall soy latte.
Dry socks. Sorrel. Breathing.
Wood floors and rugs.
A hand on your waist.
Yellow.
A glass of red and a medium tenderloin
with butter. Family. An iris in a vase.
Cash. Sitting. Books.
When people like you. Music.
Feeling better after the flu. Green tea.
Punctuation.
Past life spillover.
Healing. Chocolate cake.
Blankets. Giving.
A clean dog. Roly-poly bugs.
Scars. Dirt.
Catching a fish.
Poems.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Encore

I was thinking about poetry today. I start the poetry section in my English 102 class soon. I teach poetry on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I read poetry at least weekly. And I write poetry, although not so much lately. There's one poem that I wrote a couple years ago that I love. I know we're not supposed to love our own work. How arrogant!!! But I do love it. I don't even always believe I wrote it, I like it that much. My friend James calls this poem my "Freebird." You know, how every time Lynard Skynard played in concert they would play Freebird and it was like their anthem. Shoot, it was everyone's anthem. I read this poem every time I do a reading. Get your Bic lighters ready......


Current

I jump in. The water covers me. I am being
born. The water is air. I start to swim. I start to cry.
I keep swimming. Some things die but mostly
things grow. Marigolds at the side of the house,
puppies from the hunting dog that lives
in the back yard. When I hurt, my mother says
I have growing pains. I’m not popular
but I’m not the outcast. I’m not smart but I’m not
the idiot. I’m not even swimming really. I’m doing
the dog paddle. I stay afloat. In the sixth grade
I have knobby knees and long hair. I’m embarrassed
most of the time in a general way. I sit outside
at night and watch Venus rise. I go to Dairy Queen
with my mom and dad. I keep swimming.
Things are still dying or growing. I go to movies.
I try a sip of bourbon. I get
my high school pictures back. I shake the water
out of my eyes. People swim
along side me sometimes but mostly
they don’t. The water flows so fast. I choke
on air. I love moving. Sometimes I’m so tired,
I don’t move at all. Some days I go back,
some days I go forward. But I keep swimming.
I write letters. I like the taste of stamps.
I miss my mom and dad but I live far away
and don’t call. I’m in a big place.
I worry about freeway shootings.
I swim away. I live where things are covered
in fog. I can’t tell the difference between the growing
and the dying. I play pool or shop for post cards.
I may still be having growing pains. I may
be drowning. I may just be plain and average.
I move to a small place. I never drink champagne.
I date sad men. I like addicts.
I read books. I practice blowing out
birthday candles. One day
I grow legs. I walk on land. I am still not popular
but I am still not the outcast. Once in a while
I have sex appeal. I watch my parents get old. I talk
to them every day. I become patient. I understand
the importance of photographs. I grow vegetables
in the backyard. I keep walking. Sometimes I close
my eyes when I eat. I chuckle
when I’m by myself. I find people to walk with. I dance
in the living room. I have a child. He is swimming.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Feb. 21

There is a chair in my bedroom that makes me very happy. It's not because it looks good, actually it boasts a fairly hideous
"green flowers and brown leaf" motif. It's certainly not comfy. I suppose I haven't even sat in it for several months. Plus, it's kind of a burlap bag material, a little scratchy and rigid. I find this chair attractive because it holds all the laundry I don't feel like putting away. It gets it out of the laundry room, keeps it off the floor, and it will stay on that chair until the pile gets so tall that it almost topples over. "Check the pile on the chair" can often be heard when my son asks where his socks are. I love that chair.

Feb. 20


These are fresh eggs. They are beautiful. The shells vary; sometimes very light brown, some darker, and some are bluish green. They taste really good. The yolks are very yellow. The hens scratch about, eating Layena and scraps. They love broccoli and pumpkin. They don't make much noise except when they're laying an egg. Isn't it an amazing thing, how those eggs, all full of protein and good stuff (yeah, there's a bit of cholesterol but not bad if you eat them in moderation) pop out of the backside of a chicken?! And they come out all clean and dry. It's kind of a miracle.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

dreamtime

Sleep. Just sleep.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Vague Beauty Post

The following is an excerpt taken from a life. It is merely a work of fiction:

There is a man playing the guitar in my garage. Electric. Not loud. Beautiful. The guitar rests against his leg. He is playing along to a CD. There is a light in one corner casting a thin glow, shadows everywhere. I could listen to him for an hour. No, a day. Longer. He is concentrating, his head moving softly with the notes. There is stillness and motion. It is almost like a movie.

If I was a writer I would write a story about it. It would be filled with metaphor and heat. It would be beautiful.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Two

I don't have anything for yesterday. I kind of ran out of beautiful things. Yesterday was just a day. The thing is, I did look for beauty. I look every day now. It's a really good perspective. When I stood out in that parking lot that night (the 28th, I think) and looked at the sky, I realized that I'd forgotten to even look. Concentrating on it every day has been a blessing. It's THERE. Now I look all the time. And I FIND it all the time. So I did look yesterday. And there were good parts of the day. But I never decided to write about any one thing. So, there was no ONE thing that I felt inspired enough to write about.

Well, and then about 8:30 last night the battery in my computer died and I was too lazy to walk into the kitchen and get the cord and plug it in. I was too tired and warm to get out of bed.

Today, my beauty-full moment came when I was in kitchen making dinner. I was fixing home-made tacos; ground beef, refries, cheese, tomatoes, etc and you just take your plate and make your own. I was by myself and I looked out the window over the sink. There in the east was another perfect sky. The color of the inside of a watermelon, right near the rind. Kind of pinky/icy/taupe. The rest of the sky was bluer, kind of wispy and empty. It was a strangely lonely moment. One of those where you know that the world outside yourself is huge, and yet the world inside yourself might even be bigger, and that you'll probably never know either of them as well as you'd like to.

It's been a long time since I've closed my blog with a quote or two (These are quotes I aspire to, and also find lovely and balancing).....


To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Buddha

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing
well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with
our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like
the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is
my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you
understand, you can love, and the situation will change.
--Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Master

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Bliss, not beauty



73% Belgian Dark Chocolate Non-Pareils. Available at Trader Joe's. From my friend Kelly on my birthday (Thank you!!!). These are the last two. Eat slowly along with a glass of red wine. Savor. Enjoy. Look at that tiny white candy dot. Ummmmm. Enough said.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

PSA (public service announcement)

I was thinking about the commercialism of Valentine's Day. I find it very cool. I think It's fine that Hallmark makes a fortune on this day. I think it's great that restaurants have good business. So what. Some people would never buy a card for their loved one (sweetheart, child, niece, etc) if it wasn't for a special day. I wish folks would get off their high horse about holidays and commercialism. BFD. It's never a bad thing to be reminded, in aisle 4 at Target, that you might want to do something special for another human being. Or even that you might want to buy your dog special pink biscuits. I find it just plain beautiful. There. I've had my say. Happy Valentine's Day.

Friday, February 13, 2009

In Honor of VD

So, one thing that I have written about before, and shared many times, is my penchant for quotes. I love quotes. I do think quotes can inspire us and motivate us and heal us. I found all these good (sometimes profound, almost never cheesey) quotes on love and wanted to share them. I’m not crazy about all of them, but I thought other people might like the ones I wasn't fond of (What!? Not everyone thinks like me??). Instead of blasting them at you on Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d get them on here the day before....so if you need a good quote for February 14th, I’ve got you covered.......

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.
-- Eric Fromm

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.
-- Benjamin Disraeli

When your heart speaks, take good notes.
-- Judith Campbell

The heart has it's reasons that reason does not know.
-- Blaise Pascal

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get --
only with what you are expecting to give -- which is everything.
-- Katherine Hepburn

"True love" isn't so much a dreamy feeling that you have as it is an enduring commitment to give sacrificially -- even, or perhaps especially, when you don't feel like it.
-- William R. Mattox, Jr.

Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love.
-- Albert Einstein

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.
-- John Ruskin

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.
-- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
-- James Baldwin

Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.
-- Norman Vincent Peale

In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.
-- Antonio Porchia

You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.
-- Barbara DeAngelis

Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.
-- Oscar Wilde

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.
-- Bertrand Russell

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
-- Mother Teresa

The course of true love never did run smooth.
-- William Shakespeare

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
-- Henry David Thoreau

Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned apart of their narcissism.
-- Sigmund Freud

The more you judge, the less you love.
-- Honore de Balzac

The beginning of love is a horror of emptiness.
-- Robert Bly

This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.
-- Rumi

Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
-- Zora Neale Hurston

The truth is that there is only one terminal dignity -- love. And the story of a love is not important -- what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.
-- Helen Hayes

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay

Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind.
-- Henri-Frederic Amiel

Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.
-- Marcus Aurelius

The despair among the loveless is that they must narcotize themselves before they can touch any human being at all.
-- James Baldwin

Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives it ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.
-- William Blake

Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Is not absence death to those who love?
-- Alexander Pope

Those who are loved live poorly and in danger. Ah, that they might surmount themselves and become lovers. Around those who love is sheer security. No one casts suspicion on them anymore, and they themselves are not in a position to betray themselves or each other.
-- Ranier Maria Rilke

To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have written.
-- Jean Jacques Rosseau

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
-- Bertrand Russell

I did not know I loved you until I heard myself telling so, for one instance I thought, Good God, what have I said? and then I knew it was true.
-- Bertrand Russell

Doubt thou the stars are fine
Doubt that the sun doth move
Doubt truth be a liar
But never doubt I love
-- William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
-- Henry Drummond

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up save in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
-- C.S. Lewis

Say Yes to the seedlings and a giant forest cleaves the sky. Say Yes to the universe and the planets become your neighbors. Say Yes to dreams of love and freedom. It is the password to utopia.
-- Brooks Atkinson

It seems that it is madder never to abandon one's self than to be infatuated; better to be wounded, a captive and a slave, than always walk in armor.
-- Margaret Fuller

We don't love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as their qualities.
-- Jacques Maritain

Is it not by love alone that we succeed in penetrating to the very essence of a being?
-- Igor Stravinsky

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own
-- Robert A. Heinlein

In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.
-- Mignon McLaughlin

Swedenborg teaches us that love makes us free, and I can bear witness to its power of lifting us out of the isolation to which we seem condemned. When the idea of an active, all controlling love lays hold of us, we become masters, creators of good, helpers of our kind. It is as if the dark had sent forth a star to draw us to heaven. We discover in ourselves many undeveloped resources of will and thought. Checked, hampered, failing again and again, we rise above the barriers that bound and confine us, our lives put on serenity and order.
-- Hellen Keller

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
-- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

When two people understand each other in their innermost hearts, their words are sweet and strong like the fragrance of orchids.
-- I Ching

My love does not, cannot make her happy. My love can only release in her the capacity to be happy.
-- J. Barnes

There are more people who wish to be loved than there are who are willing to love.
-- Sebastian Roch Nicolas Chamfort

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.
-- Joan Crawford

Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blowsout the candle and blows up the bonfire.
-- Francois, Duc de La Rouchefoucald

If a man is worth loving at all, he is worth loving generously, even recklessly.
-- Marie Dressler

He is not a lover who does not love forever.
-- Euripides

The art of love ... is largely the art of persistence.
-- Albert Ellis

It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.
-- Khalil Gibran

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
-- Martin Luther King

Love...is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.
-- Iris Murdoch

I hold it true, whatever befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Children need love, especially when they don't deserve it.
-- Harold Hulbert

Confronted by outstanding merit, there is no way of saving ones ego except by love.
-- J. W. Von Goethe

Live the law of love. We encourage obedience to the laws of life when we live the laws of love. People are extremely tender inside, particularly those who act as if they are tough and self-sufficient. And if we'll listen to them with the third ear, the heart, they'll tell us so. We can gain even more by showing love, particularly unconditional love, as this gives people a sense of intrinsic worth and security unrelated to conforming behavior or comparisons with others. Many borrow their security and strength from external appearances, status symbols, positions, achievements and associations. But borrowing strength inevitably builds weakness. We all distrust superficial human relations techniques and manipulative success formulas that are separated from sincere love.
-- Stephen R. Covey

I have loved to the point of madness; that which is called madness, that which to me, is the only sensible way to love.
-- Francois Sagan

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

Knowledge is gained by learning; trust by doubt; skill by practice; and love by love
-- Thomas Szasz

The reason that ego and love are not compatible comes down to this: you cannot take your ego into the unknown, where love wants to lead. If you follow love, your life will become uncertain, and the ego craves certainty.
-- Deepak Chopra

True love is when your heart and your mind are saying the same thing.
-- Leanna L. Bartram

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving.
-- St. Francis De Sales

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Where's YOUR beauty?

You had to guess that somewhere along the line I'd demand some audience participation. I think it would be beautiful if you would tell me the beautiful thing about your day...whichever day you read this. Tell me on the comments page! You can do it anonymously! Come On!!!!!!! THAT is the most wondrous thing in my day, to have the anticipation of finding out the beauty of other people's day.