Good Question!

What might we be doing, thinking, feeling about if we didn't think about body image, ever?

~ Caroline Knapp ~



Image courtesy openclipart.

Endangered Species Act, 40 Years Old

Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans.

~ Richard Nixon ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

CISCIS afflicts one in three cats.

~ Paul Klusman ~

Reading Is a Sport

Never tell your reader what your story is about. Reading is a participatory sport. People do it because they are intelligent and enjoy figuring things out for themselves.

~ George V. Higgins ~

Poetry Friday

An artwork must challenge us with questions not soothe us with simple answers. Public art must be more than mere decorative embellishment, it must have poetry.

~ Douglas Kornfeld ~
Photo courtesy Douglas Kornfeld's Google+ page.

She Spoke the Truth

Friendship with one's self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~
Photo courtesy National Archives.

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas morning when I was a child, my mother would leave a book wrapped at the foot of the bed, which was a hint that Santa had come. It was also her way of keeping us in bed a little longer before we went downstairs. So I’ve always associated books with happiness and gifts. And they are. I can’t get enough of them.

~ David McCullough ~

Cooking

If you are a chef, no matter how good a chef you are, it's not good cooking for yourself; the joy is in cooking for others--it's the same with music.

~ will.i.am ~

A Right Jolly Old Elf

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

~ Clement C. Moore ~

Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1912.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Why not share with the world the way it is and tell them my feelings about my cat, and how I played with my kids, and how addicted to Christmas time I am, and the smell of pine needles and hearing my kids laugh.

~ Steven Tyler ~
Photo by Karen Carlton.

Mine, Too!

"What day is it?"
"It's today," squeaked Piglet.
"My favorite day," said Pooh.

~ A. A. Milne ~

Ernest Shepard drawing courtesy Pindolla.

Poetry Friday

People expect to find poetry in small literary magazines and at hushed events where a few people read aloud. In fact, poetry is tucked into such small nooks and crannies that some people who might want to find poetry don't know where to begin. Help place poetry in unexpected places.

~ Vivé Griffith ~

Okaaay...

I'd like to see Paris before I die. Philadelphia will do.

~ Mae West ~





Postcard courtesy NYPL Digital Gallery.

Gotta Love the Birds

We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit.

~ Tom Brown, Jr. ~
Photo by DennyMont.

Art

Art is what remains of a civilization after it has crumbled or been sold into
history. Art is its only claim to immortality. Only art demonstrates that at that time, in that place, there was something excellent. It is art, therefore, which makes life worth living.

~ Kent Thompson ~
Photo "Karnak (Thèbes)" by Félix Teynard, circa 1858, courtesy Library of Congress.

Chocolate!

Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two but can't remember what they are.

~ Matt Lauer ~
Photo by John Loo.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

The beauty of the cat is very deceptive, for under the grace of the furry exterior lie concealed steel-like muscles.

~ Carl Van Vechten ~
Photo by Dave Edmonds/Blue Horizon.

Rinse, Repeat

This is how it works. We get mad, we fight, we get tired, we get mad, we start again. Rinse, repeat. Feminism isn’t without its flaws, and it doesn’t seem able to speak with one voice or crystallize answers on the darker, stickier aspects of human nature and sexuality. But if I may get Rumsfeldian for a minute, this is the army we have. The fight comes to us whether we seek it or not, whether we want it or not, and whether we are ready or not.

~ Admin Jen ~

Poetry Friday

There's a relationship between the great poems of the world and the great screenplays: they both deal in compact images.

~ Ray Bradbury ~

Photo courtesy raybradbury.com.

Cookie Weather!

She stuck her head out and took a deep breath. If she could eat the cold air, she would. She thought cold snaps were like cookies, like gingersnaps.

~ Sarah Addison Allen from The Sugar Queen ~
Photo by picturemommy.

Paris

Living in Paris was a crash course in chic.

~ Rebecca Romijn ~
Illustration from Origin and Early History of the Fashion Plate by John L. Nevinson.

Go Exercise!

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.

~ John F. Kennedy ~

The Power of Shopping

If you're a queen, you're powerless, so I'd probably demote myself and go shopping.

~ Helena Bonham Carter ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

How lucky to be a cat
Free to accept or--refuse
What is offered!

~ Walter Leon Hess ~

Rest in Peace

Political division, based on colour, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one colour group by another.

~ Nelson Mandela ~
Photo © The World Economic Forum, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Poetry Friday

To say, then, that the writer's lot is a lonely one is not to complain of this, but simply to make the point that to be creative is to be different from those who are not; and so, to that extent also, to be cut off from those others.

~ Mollie Hunter ~

Reindeer Talk

Hermey: Hey, what do you say we both be independent together, huh?

Rudolph: You wouldn't mind my--red nose?

Hermey: Not if you don't mind me being a dentist.

Rudolph: [shaking hands with Hermey] It's a deal.


~ from Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the tv movie ~

Books

Books are standing counselors and preachers, always at hand, and always disinterested; having this advantage over oral instructors, that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often as we please.

~ Louis Nizer ~

Interpretation

I love the movies, and when I go to see a movie that's been made from one of my books, I know that it isn't going to be exactly like my novel because a lot of other people have interpreted it.

~ Stephen King ~

Reading

Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work.

~ Khaled Hosseini ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

The best reason for a knitter to marry is that you can't teach the cat to be impressed when you finish a lace scarf.

~ Stephanie Pearl-McPhee ~
Photo by Sharon G.

Inoculation

When you get inoculated, a nurse injects a vaccine, which actually exposes you to a dose of the very disease your body must learn to overcome. It’s a good thing. Only then do we develop an immunity to it. Similarly, our kids must be inoculated with doses of hardship, delay, challenges and inconvenience to build the strength to stand in them.

~ Tim Elmore ~
Illustration courtesy openclipart.

Poetry Friday

Traditional matter must be glorified, since it would be easier to listen to the re-creation of familiar stories than to quite new and unexpected things; the listeners, we must remember, needed poetry chiefly as the re-creation of tired hours.

~ Lascelles Abercrombie ~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Vintage postcard courtesy NYPL Digital Gallery.

From the Bah Humbug School of Presidents

A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?

~ Ronald Reagan ~
Photo by Patrick Beeson.

A Shooting Star

I am not going to die, I'm going home like a shooting star.

~ Sojourner Truth ~

Ready Or Not, Here It Comes

I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.

~ Fred Rogers ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Unlike humans, cats get their energy from fat and protein, not carbohydrates. It is also a fact that by nature, cats are not designed to digest grains.

Corn is actually a grain.

~ Jodi Ziskin ~
Photo of Hemingway allowing his cat to eat corn on the cob, courtesy Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

Good Advice

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

~ Oscar Wilde from An Ideal Husband ~





Portrait of Oscar Wilde by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, courtesy The Athenaeum.

Poetry Friday

And it’s hardly an accident that Robert Frost coupled poetry and power, for he saw poetry as the means of saving power from itself. When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

~ John F. Kennedy ~
Photo courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

It Seems We Have Forgotten This

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.

~ John F. Kennedy ~
Image courtesy The White House.

It's All Good

I think movies do play a valuable role in turning people on to the act of reading. I think that phenomenon just creates readers. At first they're going to love Harry Potter, or they may love The Hunger Games, but after that, they're going to love the act of reading and wonder, "What else can I read?"

~ Gary Ross ~
Poster courtesy The Wrap.

Eternal Words

Photo of the dedication ceremony by Alexander Gardner, courtesy Library of Congress.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

~ Abraham Lincoln ~

It's All About Story

If you're sitting in your minivan, playing your computer animated films for your children in the back seat, is it the animation that's entertaining you as you drive and listen? No, it's the storytelling. That's why we put so much importance on story. No amount of great animation will save a bad story.

~ John Lasseter ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

A novel must be exceptionally good to live as long as the average cat.

~ Lord Chesterfield ~
Photo by edmittance.

Everyone Has a Dark Closet

All a closet is, is a hard conversation.

~ Ash Beckham ~

Poetry Friday

Perhaps the most important quality, the one that is most consistently present in all creative individuals, is the ability to enjoy the process of creation for its own sake. Without this trait, poets would give up striving for perfection and would write commercial jingles...

~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ~

Never Be Afraid!

I've constantly tried new things, even as a child, and have always been obsessed with pink. Now I'm just a little more ladylike and fearless. You should never feel afraid to become a piece of art. It's exhilarating.

~ Nicki Minaj ~

A Wise Mother

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to "jump at the sun." We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.

~ Zora Neale Hurston ~
Illustration courtesy openclipart.

Slavery

But to the slave mother New Year's day comes laden with peculiar sorrows. She sits on her cold cabin floor, watching the children who may all be torn from her the next morning; and often does she wish that she and they might die before the day dawns.

~ Harriet A. Jacobs ~


Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Veterans' Day

So hold your nose against the stink
And never stop too long to think.
Wars don't change except in name;
The next one must go just the same,
And new foul tricks unguessed before
Will win and justify this War.

~ Robert Graves from "The Next War"

[Sadly true words. Therefore, vote for peace, and pray for our veterans. --KK]

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).

~ Haruki Murakami ~








"Cat Lying in front of a Bouquet of Flowers" by Suzanne Valadon [1919], courtesy The Athenaeum.

Figuratively, Of Course

If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.

~ Pablo Picasso ~







Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Amedeo Modigliani [1915], courtesy The Athenaeum.

Poetry Friday

I read poetry to save time.

~ Marilyn Monroe ~
David Conover photo of Norma Jean Dougherty from 1945 Yank: The Army Weekly magazine, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

NaNoWriMo

Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.

~ Flannery O'Connor ~
Illustration courtesy openclipart.

Dream Job

I love being an illustrator because I get to read really great stories, work with amazing people, travel and see places I never would've seen. And I get to draw all the time.

~ Brian Selznick ~


Photo by Bookavore.

Oh, Those Cheeky Grannies!

I've had lots of kids come up and ask for my autograph, I've had a grandmother stop me and ask me if I know a good place to buy underwear.

~ Prince William ~
Photo of Selfridge's elevator by failing_angel.

It's World Vegan Month!

Being vegan just gives you such great karma.

~ Alicia Silverstone ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Posted on Henri's Facebook page, 10/20/13. (Who knew Henri was able to text?)

Empathy

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

~ Neil Gaiman ~

Poetry Friday

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

~ Mary Oliver ~

Ghosts!

Now about those ghosts. I'm sure they're here and I'm not half so alarmed at meeting up with any of them as I am at having to meet the live nuts I have to see every day.

~ Bess Truman ~
Graphic courtesy openclipart.

Is There?

There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out.

~ William Shakespeare from Henry V ~

Happy Birthday, Richard Dreyfus!

I don't know what it's like for most actors, but really clearly for myself acting has always been the fulfillment of personal fantasies. It isn't just art, it's about being a person I've always wanted to be, or being in a situation, or being a hero.

~ Richard Dreyfuss ~


Photo by Nightscream, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.