Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose

"Use it up, wear it out,
make it do, or do without."
Proverb

Photo taken with iPhone Instagram Ap

Girlfriends

Our whole life is but a greater and longer childhood.

Ben Franklin

Look Up

When it rains on your parade, 

look up rather than down.

Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

GK Chesterton

American Soldier

We often take for granted

 the very things that most deserve our gratitude.  

Cynthia Ozick

Time for Talking

A single conversation across the table with a wise person

is worth a month's study of books.

Chinese Proverb

Ah....Childhood

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, 

before the dark hour of reason grows.  

John Betjeman

Cities

Divine nature gave the fields,

human art built the cities.

Marcus Terentius Varro, De Re Rustica

Bryant Park, NYC

Rockefeller's "I Believe"

Quote at Rockefeller Center in New York City 

 I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master.

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs.

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character — not wealth or power or position — is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individual’s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness, and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Memorial Day 2012

The story of America's quest for freedom 

is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots.  

Randy Vader

A Grandmother is Born

When a child is born,

so are grandmothers.

And it is the best!  I took this picture of the Lady Bug and me then turned it into a pencil drawing on picasa photo editing.

Pace of Nature

Adopt the pace of nature:

her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Mother's Prayers

If you have a mom, 

there is nowhere you are likely to go 

where a prayer has not already been. 

Robert Brault

True Friends

Just another page from a student quote book.  I think this student created a keeper!

Dogs and Kids

The dog was created specifically for children.

He is the god of frolic.

Henry Ward Beecher

One of the tragic things I know about human nature

is that all of us put off living.

We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-

instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.

Dale Carnegie

Near the End

We are never prepared for what we expect.  

James A. Michener

Soul and Self

Your soul is all that you possess. 

 Take it in hand and make something of it!  

Martin H. Fischer

Purple and Peonies

Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom.  

They just open up and turn toward the light

 and that makes them beautiful.  

Jim Carrey

I love peonies, but this photo didn't do them justice.  In fact, the photo was a disappointment until I tinted it with Picasa.  Voila!  Picasa to the rescue.  

A Wise Pastor

If you head over to Easy Street today, you'll see where this quote and this photo of a page came from.  Never underestimate young people.

Little Lunatics

 

A child is a curly dimpled lunatic.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This little redhead goes to our church.  Her mama is her favorite person.

Babies and Dogs

No symphony orchestra ever played music 

like a two-year-old girl laughing with a puppy.

Bern Williams

Or in this case an 8 month old girl laughing at Nana's dog and trying to kiss him.  As you can tell, the dog really hates it! 

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends. 

Shel Silverstein

God's Clothed In Purple

I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God.

 Alan Hovhaness

Small Town Simplicity

Anything simple always interests me.  

David Hockney

Don't I Wish

Age is just a number. 

It's totally irrelevant unless,

 of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine.

Joan Collins

 

My oldest daughter has a neighbor who has this tree.  I was hoping that it was a tree that grew bottles of Relax Riesling.  No such luck.  She just hangs the empties.  Why?  I have no idea, but I love seeing those blue bottles.

Storms

I'm not afraid of storms,

for I'm learning to sail my ships.

Louisa May Alcott

Art by Pencil, Courtesy of Picasa

Let me ask you something, 

what is not art?

Again, the new features of Picasa: turning a ho hum photo into a pencil sketching.  Pretty cool. 

Ruling My World

Given enough coffee,

I could rule the world.

Aw...so true!

Mommies and Girls

Mommies are just big little girls.

And they remember what it is like to be a little girl.

Memories Out of the Ruins

Someone was happy there once.

My Grandmother

When I was a kid, every time we passed an abandoned farmstead, my grandmother would always say, "Someone was happy there once."   I always liked to imagine kids playing in the yard, or folks sitting on the porch.  As an adult, I can see what a positive spin Grandma put on what was a sad situation.  Obviously, the farmstead was in decay, the house collapsing on itself, and nothing but empty prairies around it.  Yet, Grandma chose to concentrate on what it had meant to someone.  I like that.

Lifelong Learners

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; 

but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, 

he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.  

Clay P. Bedford

Learning Goes Both Ways

Easter Riddle

Which came first?  

Easter or the Egg?

Three days in a tomb or three days in Palm Springs?

When is a stone not a stone?

When it is rolled away.

(This is from memory.  I have no idea where I read it or

who the author is, but I've never forgotten it.)

Baby Bug

Babies are always more trouble than you thought - 

and more wonderful.  

~Charles Osgood

Good Friday

No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; 

no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
William Penn

Railroad Bridge

My heart is warm with the friends I make,

And better friends I'll not be knowing;

Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,

 No matter where it's going.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

I love this old railroad bridge.  I think there are plans to put up a new one.  I doubt it will look like this one.

Lilacs- Everywhere

Lilacs in dooryards

Holding quiet conversations with an early moon;   

Lilacs watching a deserted house

Settling sideways into the grass of an old road;

Lilacs, wind-beaten, staggering under a lopsided shock of bloom

Above a cellar dug into a hill.

You are everywhere.

You were everywhere. 

Amy Lowell

Life is like a bowl of jelly beans,

and sometimes you get your favorite flavor!

Pop Art By Mrs. E

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  

Art is knowing which ones to keep.

  ~Scott Adams

I told you Picasa has all kinds of new editing features.  This picture was just a beer bottle on the picnic table.  I love the fact that the editing makes it look like a painting.  (Maybe a photo like this could teach me to paint???)

Palm Sunday

Alleluia, how the people cheer
And palm leaves rustle as the king draws near.
~ John Beavis

The Wisdom of Twitter

I saw that question on Funny Evil Tweets and thought, how true.  We could use a little realism in fashion and advertising.

Like Fine Wine

Wine improves with age.

The older I get, the more I like it.

With apologies-- it's my birthday and the quote just works!  There are all kinds of new features on Picasa and I have been playing with very ho hum photos.  I have to admit that if I had a bit of artistic talent, I would love to paint.  Picasa is now allowing me to do that without the artistic skill.  Stay tuned.

The View From the Backyard

I believe there is a subtle magnetism in Nature,

which, if we unconsciously yield to it,

will direct us aright.

Henry David Thoreau

Working With God

If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, 

I shall feel that I have worked with God.

G.K. Chesterton

My Favorite Antiques

Trees are your best antiques.

Alexander Smith

Connect the Dot

Grandchildren are the dots that connect

the lines from generation to generation.

Lois Wyse

Rocking

Do not confuse motion and progress.

A rocking horse keeps moving, but does not make any progress.

Alfred A. Montapert

Tilting Windmills

The Quixotes of this Age 

fight with the windmills

of their own heads.

John Cleveland

It Really Will Be Heaven

You think your dogs will not be in heaven?

I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Spring Greeting

I love spring anywhere,

but if I could choose

I would always greet it in a garden.

Ruth Stout