Hemlock (Photo credit: John Tann)
As I seem incapable of deep thoughts, or at the moment any kind of coherent thoughts, I thought I might call on Socrates to keep my place in the blog post line today. Since wisdom seemed to be his middle name, here are a few of the wise guy’s words:
“The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.”
You would have thought he would have seen that hemlock thing coming.
consumerism (Photo credit: the|G|™)
“One of our most popular activities has become the acquisition of things. In our consumer society, feelings of depression, meaninglessness, and despair are widespread. These feelings can be reflective of what’s missing in our society. We often lack gratitude for all the things, material and immaterial available to us. Changing our perspective, so that we enjoy and focus on what we already have, we feel better. This enables us to have more compassion and understanding for those who have less than we do. Usually we only become aware of our good fortune when there’s a threat of losing it due to illness, old age, death or conflict.” ~ Annabelle Zinser, Small Bites-Mindfulness for Everyday Use
“Every man has one thing he can do better than anyone else and usually it is reading his own handwriting.” ~ G. Norman Cole
Tongue in cheek (Photo credit: pcgn7)
On first reading, this quote made me smile. Then it made me think, as I am sure that is what it was meant to do, however tongue in cheek the wisdom may seem.
We do not seem to see our strengths but know all our weaknesses. Sometimes we bask in our failures. Marinate in what we deem our mediocrity and lack of success instead of seeing that success is in the eye of the beholder, but that eye is often much too critical.
I am not saying that we should be satisfied with just being able to read our own writing, I am saying it is a stepping stone–a metaphor for accepting ourselves and the fact that maybe we have something of value to say.
What do you think?
(Photo credit: lawndart)
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. ~ Carl Sagan
books (Photo credit: brody4)
Magic ~ something I have long been looking for and it has been right there in front of me all along. Sagan is right–books are magic—and they are a magic that is available to everyone!
This quote has to be my all time, hands down, forever and always, FAVOURITE. It speaks to my very core. Sagan says exactly what I believe about books—that thay transcend time; that they are a conversation that never ends; and they are the very thing that “binds us together” and are “proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
I found the quote on one of my favourite blogs mybeautfulthings, and I have to thank her profusely for providing this inspiration. Many times I think writers wonder what the point is– if adding another book to the number that are already out there is worthwhile—but Sagan answers these questions beautifully.
Books put you “inside the mind of another person” and by doing so give comfort, teach you something, and provide you with another point of view, or one that agrees with what you already think.
I am inspired now to keep writing,….
What inspires you?
English: Vegetables. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I just threw out my good intentions. Something like throwing the baby out with the bath water. (Doesn’t that turn of phase seem so wrong?)
One of my many jobs around the house is taking out the garbage—and I do not really mind because no one else can really purge the house of the unwanted like I can. But today I purged my fridge and had to throw out some fresh green beans (okay they were fresh about two weeks ago), a red pepper hiding at the back of the fridge on the bottom shelf instead of in the crisper (where I hide my wine which is why there was no room for it), some cucumbers, mouldy cheddar cheese (ouch!), two lonely meatballs, something mysterious wrapped in tin foil, and a couple of potatoes that got lost in the shuffle. I also went through the cupboards and found some mouldy bread and a container of something that used to be something else (don’t ask).
I really hate throwing out food, and find that when I am busy with other things my grocery buying skills are skewed. I buy too much, thinking I am going to make healthy wonderful meals, then get too busy to really fix anything other than the easy.
The lesson I learned today is to use what I have and not allow myself to go to the grocery store until the supplies are wanting. One of the things that I find I do when I am a bit stressed is fill the larder—it is a kind of security in an insecure world.
The good news? My fridge is cleaner and I can actually see what I have. The even better news? I found my jar of blackberry jam I have been looking for in the last couple of weeks. Toasted English muffin and jam, with a spot of tea here I come!
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Mine is paved with rotten vegetables.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Monday morning. The day, the week, the rest of the month lay ahead. In this day, I have a chance at a fresh perspective. I have the chance to cast aside my troubles and worries and find solutions. Last Monday was filled with despair, with loathing of the responsibilities that needed to be met, with a tightness in my chest that formed a lump in my throat that I could not swallow.
What a difference a week makes. The essentials have not changed much. The facts are still the facts. The responsibilities have not dissolved. Yet something has changed—there has been a defining, a stillness, a listening, a realization.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I often wonder who would want to eat an elephant, but I guess an elephant is the very definition of a big thing. An overwhelming thing. I no longer want to be engulfed by the vastness of those things I need to overcome. I am going to beat the things that threaten to overthrow my kingdom; vanquish my foes (for we all have them: mine are self-doubt and worry); pick up the gauntlet that has been thrown down.
Brave words. I hope I listen to them.
“When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
I am hanging on.
Picnic (Photo credit: Carlos López Molina)
Summer breezes cool
The blazing sun’s white hot breath
Time for a picnic!
I love picnics and I love picnic food. I remember when my mom would pack for a picnic, she would fix fried chicken, potato salad, and coleslaw. I loved her fried chicken. She would boil the chicken first, then coat it with her magic coating of flour and spices and fry it up to brown it. She made the best fried chicken in the world.
(Watermelon) Citrullus lanatus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Another picnic food I remember fondly is my Aunt Elma’s made from scratch macaroni and cheese she would bring to the church picnics. It was wonderful and I often wondered how the heck she kept it hot–but she did. It was the creamiest cheesiest mac and cheese–and all the more special because my mom did not make it–so it was a treat.
Favourite picnic desserts were cold watermelon and brownies. As a kid pies held no real delight for me, but as an adult, I appreciate them. My favourite is cherry but there are very few I would say no to.
What is your favourite picnic food?
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