Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Pop-Up Books

As the Depression years deepened, American book publishers sought ways to rekindle book buying. In the 1930s, Blue Ribbon Publishing of New York hit upon a combination that proved successful. They animated Walt Disney characters and traditional fairy tales with pop-ups. Blue Ribbon was the first publisher to use the term "pop-up" to describe their movable illustrations.

~ Ann Montanaro from A Concise History of Pop-up and Movable Books ~

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

This Is So True!

All those people whose faces decorate the shopping bags of Barnes and Noble, with a few exceptions, would never get published today.

~ Mark Crispin Miller ~

Monday, November 28, 2011

The Allowing Is the Hard Part

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

~ Scott Adams ~

Dilbert by Scott Adams courtesy Dilbert.com.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sunday's Kat Kwote






remember that
there is a
cat
somewhere
adjusting to the
space of itself
with a delightful
grace








~ Charles Bukowski from "In Other Words" ~

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Absolutely Necessary

It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced.

~ Theodore Roosevelt ~

Friday, November 25, 2011

Poetry Friday

Poetry in its most simplistic definition is the artistic use of words that we shrink down into a brief form.

~ Fabu ~

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving Day


May we recall the courage of those who settled a wilderness, the vision of those who founded the Nation, the steadfastness of those who in every succeeding generation have fought to keep pure the ideal of equality of opportunity and hold clear the goal of mutual help in time of prosperity as in time of adversity.

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt from the 1933 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation ~


Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Bring On the Pie


Men may come and men may go...but Pie goes on for ever.

~ George Augustus Sala from America Revisited ~


Photo by Stef Noble.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Who Knew He Had a Sense of Humor?






If you're hanging around with nothing to do and the zoo is closed, come over to the Senate. You'll get the same kind of feeling and you won't have to pay.

~ Robert J. Dole ~

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Moon

If you strive for the moon, maybe you'll get over the fence.

~ James Wood ~

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sunday's Kat Kwote




















His purrs lightly
Embroider the air.


~ May Sarton from "Luxury" ~

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Envelope Pushing

Conan O'Brien may be about to push the envelope on late night television.

~ Original source unknown ~


About one minute into the video below you'll find a striking example of what is wrong with the media today. --KK

Friday, November 18, 2011

Poetry Friday

Writing for me is a way of understanding what is happening to me, of thinking hard things out. I have never written a book that wasn't born out of a question I needed to answer for myself. Perhaps it is the need to remake order out of chaos over and over again. For art is order, but it is made out of the chaos of life.

~ May Sarton ~

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Not a Gobble?


A group of Turkeys is called a rafter rather than a flock or a gobble as most people incorrectly refer to them.

~ from Think Differently About Sheep website ~


Photo by brentdanley.

Monday, November 14, 2011

He Gave It His Best


Some people have been kind enough to call me a fine artist. I've always called myself an illustrator. I'm not sure what the difference is. All I know is that whatever type of work I do, I try to give it my very best. Art has been my life.

~ Norman Rockwell ~


Norman Rockwell's studio photo by Carol M. Highsmith courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Sunday's Kat Kwote


Thinks when we stroke him he's doing us a favour
Maybe he's right, at that
.
~ Joan Aiken from "Cat" ~


Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Political Parties





All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

~ John Arbuthnot ~




Photo by rexhammock.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Poetry Friday

Everything is complicated; if that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore.

~ Wallace Stevens ~

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Conversation



The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another man's observation, not overturning it.

~ Edward George Bulwer-Lytton ~

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Meditation


Fishing provides that connection with the whole living world. It gives you the opportunity of being totally immersed, turning back into yourself in a good way. A form of meditation, some form of communion with levels of yourself that are deeper than the ordinary self.

~ Ted Hughes ~

Monday, November 7, 2011

An Admirable Woman





Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.

~ Helen Keller ~







Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sunday's Kat Kwote
















This is the Cat, that killed the rat,
That ate the malt,
That lay in the house that Jack built.

~ Mother Goose rhyme ~

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Life Is a Party


Someone said that life is a party. You join in after it's started and leave before it's finished.

~ Elsa Maxwell ~

Friday, November 4, 2011

Poetry Friday




If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for?

~ Alice Walker ~

Thursday, November 3, 2011

It Can't?







As much as I'd like to meet the tooth fairy on an evening walk, I don't really believe it can happen.

~ Chris Van Allsburg ~

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

A Definition of Life




Life is about rhythm. We vibrate, our hearts are pumping blood, we are a rhythm machine, that's what we are.

~ Mickey Hart ~