Everyone with telekinetic powers raise my hand. -- Emo Philips
Before you judge a man walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares? He is a mile away and you've got his shoes -- Billy Connolly (I love Billy)
Wait you're serious? I love that.
A day without laughter is a day wasted. -- Charlie Chaplin
I'm in shape. Round is a shape. -- George Carlin
When I learned August 9 is National Book Lovers Day I thought now that is my kind of holiday. Everyone should be given the day off to stay home and read. Or go to a park and read, or visit a library or bookstore. I posted this two days early so you can get ready for the 9th. This is a USA Day but people worldwide who love reading can join in. Blog friends Baili in Pakistan and Monica in Sweden and others around the world, I know you love reading too.
Jeff Minick wrote about National Book Lovers Day in The Epoch Times and he mentioned one book, Middlemarch, He will celebrate by reading the last 20 pages of what he calls one of mankind's greatest literary achievements. I have not read that book. Have you?
"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest." Larry Lorenzoni
"Parents should leave books lying around marked Forbidden if they want their children to read." Doris Lessing
"Women's clothes: never wear anything that panics the cat." P.J. O'Rourke
"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg though he knows that you are slightly cracked." Bernard Meltzer
Ha ha, slightly cracked, I like that. The photo is from coffee I made, plus I used my milk frother. Have a good day and remember to laugh.
It is graduation time in my town and I happened upon Aleksandr Solzenitsyn's commencement speech he gave at Harvard in 1978. His words ring true today.
His words were a warning to the west of the dangers of materialism and the dangers of legalizing immorality in the name of freedom. He put much blame on the media for this situation, "The press is more powerful than the President, the Congress or the judiciary community. Americans have a right not to have their divine souls stuffed with gossip, nonsense and vain talk." He warned that our spiritual life, "our most precious possession" is damaged by the media.
Solzenitzyn was born in Russia in 1918 and raised in the Russian Orthodox Church, a crime in Russia. He wrote a letter to a friend critical of Stalin that caused him to be sent to Siberia and prison camp for eight years, which was usually a death sentence. After the prison camp he was put on a plane and sent into permanent exile, not his choice. He lived in the USA for many years, returning to Russia in 1994 to live in a house on ten acres given to him.
What an amazing life he led from Siberian prison to Nobel Prize. He warned the West of the dangers of spiritual emptiness and called for a return to the teachings of the Christian faith.
For those who like to giggle, I just bought "The 2,320 Most Hilarious Quips and One-Liners" and I will be sharing some here in future posts. In such serious times I crave lots of giggles. Here is one: "The hardest years in life are those between 10 and 70." Helen Hayes at 73.
And one more funny: "You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!" Dave Barry
I am reading "Cultivating Delight" by Diane Ackerman and after I picked my bouquet I read what she wrote about these plants. The French thought the serrated leaves look like the teeth of a lion and called them "dents de lion" or teeth of the lion. The English heard this as "dandelion". She wrote that she sees home owners patrolling their lawns like serial killers, hunting for dandelions to kill. She thought of holding up a sign "Dandelions are flowers too" but decided not to, in accordance with the first rule of friendly gardening "Mind your own garden."
When I was in grade school, maybe about 9 years old, I loved my teacher. I lived close to school so my friend and I walked to school. One day I was a few minutes late to school because I stopped to pick a fabulous golden dandelion bouquet for teacher. She was charmed by the bouquet and as I recall, she did not mark me tardy that day.
Did you ever read three books in a row that you liked very much and read quickly? That happened to me recently. Often I read excellent books but rather slowly. The three I found to be page turners are Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler, The Friend by Sigrid Nunez and Buried for Pleasure by Edmund Crispin.
Breathing Lessons centers around Maggie and her husband Ira in a 24 hour period. They attend a funeral in the morning and pay a surprise visit to their ex-daughter-in-law and grandchild age 7 in the afternoon. Maggie is a force of nature, she is known for trying to fix and change people and hopeless situations, sometimes with disastrous results.
My favorite of this trio of books is The Friend by Sigrid Nunex. I had not read any books written by this author so was delighted to find this book so refreshing and interesting. It is about a woman writing in the first person and the dog Apollo, a Great Dane dog she is stuck with, and her relationship as a dear male friend of many years to Apollo's owner. Apollo is wonderful. Nunez writes perceptively as the main character thinks while watching dogs play: You know nothing of envy. No yearnings or nostalgia. No regrets. You really are a different species.
I had not read any of the Gervase Fen mysteries by Edmund Crispin, and Buried for Pleasure was fun to read. Fen is a light hearted Oxford Don and amateur detective and there are 10 books in this series. Fen was bored with his routine of teaching and decided to run for MP in a small rural area. During his campaign he works to solve several murders and mysteries, and starts to hope he will lose the election. Fen's quips and thoughts are entertaining.
If you have found some great books to read let me know about them.
Do you love Freya Stark, woman adventurer in the Middle East? She explored on camels and riding horses in tough conditions in the desert in 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. She had great spirits and endured danger and heat and thrived and lived to be 100, from 1893-1993. I like the romantic inscription in my used copy: "March 2003 Juanita, another book to inspire our travels. Your passion for me and for travel inspires my own life. Love Joaquin." I would like to meet Juanita and Joaquin.
The last photo lists the books Freya Stark wrote. Some memorable titles: The Valley of the Assassins, Letters from Syria, The Minaret of Djam, Dust in the Lion's Paw and many more.
