Warsaw Uprising, August 1, 1944

After nearly five years of uninterrupted and heavy fighting underground, today you will carry your arms in the open in order to free your country again and to render exemplary punishment to the German criminals for the terror and crimes committed on Polish soil.

~ General Tadeusz 'Bor' Komorowski ~

Knitting

That no matter how well you knit, looking at your work too closely isn't helpful. It's like kissing with your eyes open: nobody looks good that close up.

~ Stephanie Pearl-McPhee ~

Resume

Resume: a written exaggeration of only the good things a person has done in the past, as well as a wish list of the qualities a person would like to have.

~ Bo Bennett ~

No Winners

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

~ Jeannette Rankin ~





Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

I admit it, I’m a catholic, I’ve been addicted to cats my whole life.

~ Anonymous ~

Vulnerable People

I did research into suicide for a novel I was writing. I learned that in Britain when domestic gas ceased to be fatal, the suicide rate fell dramatically. People did not seek a new method. The same thing happened here when barriers were put up along a bridge notorious for suicides. Again the death rate went down. Vulnerable people need to be protected from their impulses of despair and violence.

~ Margot Livesey ~

Poetry Friday

I believe in the miracles of art, but what
prodigy will keep you safe beside me,
fumbling with the radio while you drive
to find late innings of a Red Sox game?

~ Jane Kenyon from "Afternoon at MacDowell" ~

Photo courtesy MacDowell Colony.

Quotations

I always have a quotation for everything--it saves original thinking.

~ Dorothy L. Sayers ~



Photo by Howard Coster, courtesy Dorothy L. Sayers Society.

Collaboration

Politeness is the poison of collaboration.

~ Edwin Land ~

Use It!

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

~ Carl Sagan ~

Music

Music is intended and designed for sentient beings that have hopes and purposes and emotions.

~ Jacques Barzun ~
Alan Lomax photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

"Straight homeward I'll go, where I am well fed,
Where mistress is kind, and soft is my bed;
Let other cats travel, if they wish to roam,
But as for myself, I shall now stay at home."

~ L. Frank Baum ~

Photo © Diane Mayr.

Why Worry?

Strange things blow in through my window on the wings of the night wind and I don't worry about my destiny.

~ Carl Sandburg ~





Illustration courtesy openclipart.

Poetry Friday

I don't at all believe that a writer must be well-traveled to speak to readers. I think it much more important that a writer bring a unique and specific focus of attention to his/her place and situation.

~ Michael Hettich ~

Photo courtesy the Prairie Schooner blog.

Nursery Rhymes

Poetry carries its history within it, and it is oral in origin. Its transmission was oral. Its transmission today is still in part oral, because we become acquainted with poetry through nursery rhymes, which we hear before we can read.

~ James Fenton ~

A Stunning Sketch

Customer: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.

Pet Shop Clerk: No, no...No, 'e's stunned!

~ Monty Python ~
Photo by Taylor Herring.

Wouldn't Having Nothing to Read Qualify as an Emergency?

When I turned fifteen, I remember my father gave me a credit card which I was allowed to use for two things: emergencies and books.

~ Ann Brashares ~

Who Needs Fancy?

If you play more than two chords, you're showing off.

~ Woody Guthrie ~




Photo by Al Aumuller, courtesy Library of Congress.

Grim, Indeed...

The battle for women to be treated like human beings with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of involvement in cultural and political arenas continues, and it is sometimes a pretty grim battle.

~ Rebecca Solnit ~

Poetry Friday

Music is the universal language of mankind--poetry their universal pastime and delight.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~



Photo by Julia Margaret Cameron [1868], courtesy Wikipedia.

Beans

Whole foods like grains and beans release their sugar very, very slowly because of the fiber in them, and they don't give you a sugar rush. They feed your cells as needed, and as a result, you have loads of stable energy that powers you through the day.

~ Kathy Freston ~
Photo by Jeff Cushner.

Good Question!

If we are what we eat, with all the genetically modified and imitation foods we now eat, what the heck are we?

~ Anonymous ~
Photo by Saint Angel.

Are We Ever As Smart As We Should Be?

Reincarnation occurs because we decide that we haven't learned enough lessons.

~ Sylvia Browne ~
Graphic courtesy Symboldictionary.net.

Names

Words do not change their meanings so drastically in the course of centuries as, in our minds, names do in the course of a year or two.

~ Marcel Proust ~



Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

The gingham dog went "Bow-wow-wow!"
And the calico cat replied "Mee-ow!"
The air was littered, an hour or so,
With bits of gingham and calico,

~ Eugene Field from "The Duel" ~
Photo by Olga Kuba.

On the Recent SCOTUS Decision

Decisions about a woman’s health care should be made in a doctor’s office, not in a boardroom. If certain contraceptive options violate a woman’s personal religious beliefs, she is free not to pursue those options, but her employer should not be allowed to make that decision for her.

~ Chris Coons ~
Photo by Franz Jantzen, courtesy SupremeCourt.gov.

[Please notice the inscription at the top of the building "Equal Justice Under Law." In recent years, however, the rights of corporations seem to be more "equal" than those of the general population--and certainly more so than the rights of women. --KK]

Poetry Friday

Poetry is the art which is technically within the grasp of everyone: a piece of paper and a pencil and one is ready.

~ Eugenio Montale ~

It's Not the Mountains

Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains.

~ Marilyn French ~
Photo by Pip Wilson.

Not Dogs

Tofu hot dogs are actually scarier than real hot dogs. It's like wanting the worst possible meat product without even the thrill of it actually being meat.

~ Douglas Coupland ~
Photo by Stef.

Happy National Blueberries Month!

Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods. Naturally sweet and juicy, berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients--they are among the best foods you can eat.

~ Joel Fuhrman ~
Illustration courtesy NYPL Digital Gallery.