How Sad Is This?

Every time a child says, "I don’t believe in fairies," there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.

~ J.M. Barrie from Peter Pan ~

An Admirable Hobby

I took up a sort of a hobby of just hanging around the local library. I'd pick out an author and I would read all their books.

~ Tom T. Hall ~

Photo by Kevin H.

Fishing

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

R.I.P. Peter Falk

Usually, I get hired because I'm tall.

~ Peter Falk ~



Sketch by Peter Falk courtesy PeterFalk.com.

Sunday's Kat Kwote

If there were to be a universal sound depicting peace, I would surely vote for the purr.

~ Barbara L. Diamond ~

Photo by spear of the nation

The Power of Imagination

...you will find with the proper use of "imagination" almost all the problems in one's life and possibly the world would vanish as if they were illusions.

~ Sidney Madwed ~

Poetry Friday

That's how poetry has always been for me. It's been a way of sustaining my questions about life and mortality and all those things that we don't like to talk about, but they're always there, you know, knocking on the window.

~ Charles Wright ~

Write Your Own Ending

Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.

~ Kermit the Frog from "The Rainbow Connection Finale" ~

Stories

The richest most meaningful stories are found in small places: made, carried, crafted, told, and retold by apparently unimportant people.

~ Louise Brown ~

Music Is a Gift

A singer starts by having his instrument as a gift from God...When you have been given something in a moment of grace, it is sacrilegious to be greedy.

~ Marian Anderson ~

Photo by Carl Van Vechten courtesy Library of Congress.

The Big (Hearted) Man

I do read music, but I prefer playing from the heart.

~ Clarence Clemons ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

They say the test of literary power is whether a man can write an inscription. I say, "Can he name a kitten?"

~ Samuel Butler ~






Photo by PDXdj.

Summer's Here

Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very May; but at length the season of summer does come.

~ Thomas Carlyle ~

Poetry Friday

Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.

~ William Blake ~

A "W"

I cannot remember back to a year in which I did not consider myself to be a writer, and the younger I was the bigger the capital "W."

~ Maud Hart Lovelace ~

Let It Shine!

But what I hope for from a book--either one that I write or one that I read--is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

~ Anne Tyler ~

"Pernicious" Is a Little Strong

Know thyself! A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever observes himself arrests his own development. A caterpillar who wanted to know itself well would never become a butterfly.

~ Andre Gide ~

Photo by Michael McDonough.

Teamwork

I'm not under too much of an illusion of how smart or un-smart I am, because filmmaking ultimately is about teamwork.

~ Guy Ritchie ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Long hair, soft as satin,
    A musical purr,
'Gainst the window she'd flatten
    Her delicate fur

~ Frederick Locker-Lampson from "Loulou and Her Cat" ~

Photo by sean94110.

Extremes

Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another.

~ Reinhold Niebuhr ~

Image courtesy Open Clip Art Library.

Poetry Friday

A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.

~ W. H. Auden ~

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

History is Not a Political Issue

The Archivist of the United States essentially works for the American people across partisan lines and not, regardless of which Administration nominates the person, for a particular President or political party.

~ Allen Weinstein ~

Photo courtesy National Archives.

Comics

I found one remaining box of comics which I had saved. When I opened it up and that smell came pouring out, that old paper smell, I was struck by a rush of memories, a sense of my childhood self that seemed to be contained in there.

~ Michael Chabon ~

Weddings

Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own.

~ Ethel Merman ~

Does anyone remember Ethel Merman? --KK

And We're Happy He Did It!

It's a precious thing to be communicating to children, helping them discover the gift of language and thought. I'm happy to be doing it.

~ Richard Scarry ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Cats eat catnip excitedly,
Get drunk and jump around

~ Howard Moss from "Catnip and Dogwood" ~

Smudge in a drunken stupor on a catnip mat.

'Tis the Season

In the span of my own lifetime I observed such wondrous progress in plant evolution that I look forward optimistically to a healthy, happy world as soon as its children are taught the principles of simple and rational living.
~ Luther Burbank ~

Poetry Friday

If I could catch the green lantern of the firefly
I could see to write you a letter.

~ Amy Lowell "A Lover" ~



Note: this is the complete poem--only two lines!

Photo by art farmer.

Much Better!

Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.

~ Wendell Berry ~
Photo by adwriter.

Really?

If I have to spend time in purgatory before going to one place or the other, I guess I'll be all right as long as there's a lending library.

~ Stephen King ~

A Great Book

The great book for you is the book that has the most to say to you at the moment when you are reading. I do not mean the book that is most instructive, but the book that feeds your spirit.

~ Robertson Davies ~





Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Which Will Never Happen, People!

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Pussycat Sits on a Chair

Pussycat sits on a chair
Implacably with acid stare.

Those who early loved in vain
Use the cat to try again,

And test their bruised omnipotence
Against the cat's austere defense.

~ Edward Newman Horn ~

Photo by jabberwik.

A Lovely Image

Ever drifting down the stream--
Lingering in the golden gleam--
Life, what is it but a dream?

~ Lewis Carroll from Through the Looking-Glass ~



Photo by taratp

Poetry Friday

We all write poems; it is simply that poets are the ones who write in words.

~ John Fowles ~

Patience and Fortitude

Patience and fortitude conquer all things.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith courtesy Library of Congress.

A Lucky Fool

A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.

~ Roald Dahl ~

70 Years Old Today

This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway.

~ Bob Dylan ~

Practical Advice

I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

~ Harry S. Truman ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

Now and then I may possess
Hours of perfect gladsomeness.
--Pleased by any random toy;
By a kitten's busy joy,

~ William Wordsworth from "The Kitten and Falling Leaves" ~

Photo by notti cabirian.

Not Happy!

The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?

~ David Attenborough ~

Poetry Friday

Write what moves you. Write what interests you. Write what frightens you. Write what thrills you. Take a cue from the poets, bless their underfunded little hearts.

~ Monica Wood ~





Photo by Infrogmation.

He's Right!

I cringe when I hear a teacher talk about a poetry unit. That means they’re going to spend two or three days on poetry and then be done with it. But children will not gravitate to poetry; you have to bring it to them. I think poetry needs to be an everyday affair.

~ J. Patrick Lewis ~

E-Waste

Main Entry: e-waste
Part of Speech: n
Definition: any discarded electronic or electrical devices or their parts; also called electronic waste
Example: E-waste has raised concern considering that many components of such equipment are considered toxic and are not biodegradable.
Etymology: by 1980
Usage: computing

Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2011 Dictionary.com, LLC

WEEE Man photo by polymer808

Teach Your Children Well

It's never too early to start teaching children about places that matter. From art to social studies, lessons that incorporate historic preservation topics go beyond typical textbook activities by teaching your students to recognize and appreciate the rich heritage that surrounds them.

~ from the National Trust for Historic Preservation website ~



Photo by drtana.

Something We Should All Consider

The most common trait of all primitive peoples is a reverence for the life-giving earth, and the Native American shared this elemental ethic: The land was alive to his loving touch, and he, its son, was brother to all creatures.

~ Stewart Udall ~

Sunday's Kat Kwote

What mystery is it that lies,
    Behind those slits that glare and gleam,

~ Lytton Strachey from "Cat" ~


There have been some MAJOR Blogger problems over the past few days. I hope they are now over and that posting will return to normal! --KK

Poetry Friday

The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.

~ Salvador Dali ~

Photo by Carl Van Vechten courtesy the Library of Congress.

Clouds of Darkness

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.

~ Thomas Jefferson ~

Photo by Niklas Barsk.

Age Isn't Just a Number

The fake ID has gone digital, and spread to elementary school.

~ Matt Richtel and Miguel Helft from "Facebook Users Who Are Under Age Raise Concerns" ~


Image courtesy Open Clip Art Library

Better Talking Dogs Than Talking Cats!

If dogs could talk it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.

~ Andy Rooney ~


Photo by gryhrt

Sunday's Kat Kwote

~ Eliza Lee Follen ~

The Best Company!

Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people---people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.

~ E.B. White ~

Poetry Friday

Once a poet launches a poem like an arrow into the world, it belongs to the reader.

~ Sage Cohen ~



Image courtesy Open Clip Art Library

Let's Hope This Is True

The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes ~

Painting

Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one's sensations.

~ Paul Cezanne ~

"Stilleben mit offener Schublade" by Paul Cezanne, courtesy The Yorck Project.

Writing for Children

I always write for the child in me, and she is still in there.

~ Katherine Paterson ~

Amen

I believe in Michelangelo, Velasquez, and Rembrandt; in the might of design, the mystery of color, the redemption of all things by Beauty everlasting, and the message of Art that has made these hands blessed. Amen. Amen.

~ George Bernard Shaw ~
Rembrandt, "Artist in His Studio," courtesy Museum of Fine Arts.