Now You Know...

"Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home. Your house is on fire, your children will burn!"

Do you know how that curious couplet came into use? Its origin is probably this: In England and other European countries, the ladybird larvae,or young,feed principally on the aphides, or plant lice, which infest the hop vines; and when, in spite of the efforts of the ladybird, these aphides multiply excessively in the hop gardens, the usual remedy is to let a fire run through the latter, and thus burn up leaves, plant lice, ladybird larvae, and all. It was their acquaintance with this practice, which, many generations ago, suggested to the children of those countries the warning lines now so familiar on both sides of the ocean.

~ From The New Dominion Monthly May 1871 ~

Photo by aten.

Question: So Why Does He Keep Reading It?

Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

~ Mark Twain ~






Answer to the question above: professional jealousy? --KK

Photo courtesy Rohan@Rohan

I Know What She Means

Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.

~ Jane Austen ~


Photo by Hil

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Among ashcans. He leaps and lightly
Walks upon sleep, his mind on the moon.
Nightly over the round world of men,
Over the roofs go his eyes and outcry.

~ Ted Hughes from "Esther's Tomcat" ~

Photo by Kristof Borkowski

Lovely!

There are some woods that are like stately sonnets and others of which the truth would best be told in tender lyrics.

~ Helen Hunt Jackson ~

Photo by akahodag

Poetry Friday

This time
        we tap with joy
                on mystery's door

~ Jakushitsu ~





Image courtesy the Library of Congress.

Cherry Blossoms!

though my rice sack
is empty...
cherry blossoms!

~ Issa translated by David G. Lanoue ~

Image courtesy the Library of Congress.

Can't They Be One and the Same?

The truth is more important than the facts.

~ Frank Lloyd Wright ~

Which Can't Happen If We Don't Start!

Solar power is clean, renewable and cost effective, but it also needs time to develop.

~ J. D. Hayworth ~

Image courtesty Open Clip Art Library

Coolidge Knew Who His Best Friends Were

Any man who does not like dogs and want them about does not deserve to be in the White House.

~ Calvin Coolidge ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Cats

Cats sleep
Anywhere,
Any table,
Any chair,
Top of piano,
Window-ledge,
In the middle,
On the edge,
Open drawer,
Empty shoe,
Anybody's
Lap will do,
Fitted in a
Cardboard box,
In the cupboard
With your frocks -
Anywhere!
They don't care!
Cats sleep
Anywhere.


~ Eleanor Farjeon ~

It's Nearly Here!

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment.

~ Ellis Peters ~

Poetry Friday

That children love to scrutinize things at close range--anthills and animals, grasshoppers and gyroscopes--persuades us that, with a little encouragement, they may care to look closely at poems as well.

~ X.J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy from Knock at a Star ~

I'll Bet!

A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.

~ Edmond de Goncourt ~

A Blessing--Definitely!

The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, one sometimes forgets which.

~ J. M. Barrie ~

The Very Empty Caterpillar

I'm so pleased that my caterpillar can help to promote healthy eating in the fight against childhood obesity, and I hope The Very Hungry Caterpillar will be a happy reminder for children to grow healthy and spread their strong wings, like the butterfly in my book.

~ Eric Carle ~

Fragile Indeed

Today’s events remind us of just how fragile life can be. Our hearts go out to our friends in Japan and across the region and we’re going to stand with them as they recover and rebuild from this tragedy.

~ Barack Obama ~

To contribute to relief efforts, click here.

Photo courtesy U.S. Navy

Sunday's Kat Kwote

one by one
even the cats come home...
cold nights

~ Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue ~

With prayers for the people, and cats, of Japan. --KK

Photo by nic0

We Will Not Give Up Our Souls!

The smug rich have overplayed their hand. They couldn't have just been content with the money they raided from the treasury. They couldn't be satiated by simply removing millions of jobs and shipping them overseas to exploit the poor elsewhere. No, they had to have more--something more than all the riches in the world. They had to have our soul. They had to strip us of our dignity. They had to shut us up and shut us down so that we could not even sit at a table with them and bargain about simple things like classroom size or bulletproof vests for everyone on the police force or letting a pilot just get a few extra hours sleep so he or she can do their job--their $19,000 a year job.

~ Michael Moore ~

Poetry Friday

And how exciting it is to find that a poetic language will liberate and not constrain.

~ Eavan Boland ~

It May Not Be Possible!

I have now one ambition: to retire before it becomes essential to tweet.

~ Barney Frank ~



Image courtesy twitter.com

What Is Art?

Art is the signature of civilizations.

~ Beverly Sills ~

Women's History Month

Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others.

~ Elizabeth Janeway ~

Lincoln on Labor

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

~ Abraham Lincoln ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

How nice to be the gardener's cat,
She troubles not for mouse or rat,
But when it's coming down in streams,
She sits among the flowers and dreams.

~ Patrick Chalmers from "The Gardener's Cat" ~

Photo by kretyen

It Sure Is Troublesome

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

~ Bertrand Russell ~



Photo by Gnal

Poetry Friday

It is the responsibility of society to let the poet be a poet.

~ Grace Paley ~

Image courtesy Steve Rhodes

Really?

With a stout heart, a mouse can lift an elephant.

~ Tibetan proverb ~



Photo by revdode

Babar

For over seventy years, Babar has been the most famous elephant in the world—and the most controversial. He has been praised as a benevolent monarch, an ideal parent, and a model of family affection, loyalty, justice, good manners, and civilized living. He has also been damned as a sexist, an elitist, a colonialist, and a racist.

~ Alison Lurie ~

Image courtesy The Morgan Shop

Groucho

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know.

~ Groucho Marx ~



Photo courtesy Squidoo

Neutrality is Overrated

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

~ Desmond Tutu ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Then fill up the glasses as quick as you can,
And sprinkle the table with buttons and bran:
Put cats in the coffee, and mice in the tea--
And welcome Queen Alice with thirty-times-three!

~ Lewis Carroll from Through the Looking Glass ~
Photo by elycefeliz

You Can!

If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.

~ African proverb ~

Poetry Friday

What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.

~ John Keats ~

Hmmm...

Hair is the first thing. And teeth the second. Hair and teeth. A man got those two things he's got it all.

~ James Brown ~

Gaze Up!

I have long thought that anyone who does not regularly--or ever--gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe.

~ Brian Greene ~

Photo by Sarah G

Friendship in Everything

The greatness of a craft consists firstly in how it brings comradeship to men.

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~

There's a Reason He's Called "The Father of Our Country"

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

~ George Washington ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Mistress, there are portents abroad of magic and
        might,
And things that are yet to be done. Open the door!

~ Elizabeth Coatsworth from "On a Night of Snow" ~
Photo by greenshock

Go, Wisconsin Union Workers!

It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions.

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt ~

Here's some information on the situation in Wisconsin. More here. --KK

Poetry Friday

One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach--waiting for a gift from the sea.

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~

Photo by Adam Glasgow

Especially If You Live in NH!

Make sure your blanket covers your feet.

~ Azerbaijani proverb ~

Photo by amanky

Smelling Books

Smelling books is really nostalgic for me--I am often reminded of my grandparents’ homes, or libraries where I used to go when I was a child.

~ Rachael Morrison ~

A Big Puzzle

There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.

~ Deepak Chopra ~
Photo by puzzlepics

Happy Valentine's Day!

Postcard image courtesy riptheskull

Sunday's Kat Kwote

For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.

~ Christopher Smart ~

Photo by Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

In Honor of the People of Egypt

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: "This is my country."

~ Benjamin Franklin ~

Photo by Kodak Agfa

Poetry Friday

Old Will Has a Way With Words...

She is mine own,
And I as rich in having such a jewel
As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.

~ William Shakespeare ~

Love Songs

Even a good love song can sort of awaken people. The way we travel and meet one another at the crossroads is important.

~ Dar Williams ~

Photo by Dorothea Lange courtesy Library of Congress

Suggestion: A Poet With Homicidal Tendencies

It's difficult to get films made, especially films about poets.

~ Dougray Scott ~



Image courtesy Open Clip Art Library

Proverbial Wisdom

A beautiful thing is never perfect.

~ Egyptian proverb ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Kittens in the garden
Looking in her face,
Learning how to spit and swear--
Oh, what a disgrace!

~ Elizabeth Anna Hart from "Mother Tabbyskins" ~
Photo by yazeed

Listen to the Birds

Be grateful for luck. Pay the thunder no mind--listen to the birds. And don't hate nobody.

~ Eubie Blake ~

Image by Elizabeth Abernathy

Poetry Friday

A poem is true if it hangs together. Information points to something else. A poem points to nothing but itself.

~ E. M. Forster ~

Photo by Josep Ma. Rosell

And a Traditional Romance?...

Tradition wears a snowy beard, romance is always young.

~ John Greenleaf Whittier ~

Water

Water is the driving force of all nature.

~ Leonardo da Vinci ~

How Are the Two Connected?

A fat stomach never breeds fine thoughts.

~ St. Jerome ~

Image courtesy Visipix