Henry David Thoreau – “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”
“Think as I think,” said a man”
or you are abominably wicked,
You are a toad.”
And after I thought of it,
I said: “I will then, be a toad.”
– Stephen Crane
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” – Mark Twain
“Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Angry Wren by Me. I have a wish to open a bar and bookstore called The Angry Wren…
You scold me
from the branches of my cedar trees
Stranger danger
I’m too close
For your comfort
My trees are your trees
And I become the stranger then
These then I realize
That I am a visitor
In nature
And a brief one at that.
“Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.” – Mark Twain
“I have stood on top of a windswept hill, waved my hat at the breeze, shouted to the skies that I was alive.” – Sigurd Olson
“Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.” – Nicolas de Chamfort
Did the fruit fly that just crashed in my glass of Chardonnay and drowned know what it was doing?
Mom kept all of Dad’s cards—birthdays, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s, and, I might add, ’get out of the doghouse” cards—the latter were usually accompanied with flowers. They gushed with his undying love. He kept Mom’s cards as well. They were normally signed, “Love, Phyllis” with a “xo”. A rather ebullient expression from Mom was signed “xoxo”—German and Irish, quite the opposites. One got depressed and the other said: “Buck up!” One toed the emotional line while the other stumbled off the track. One taught me to express myself while the other taught me to be guarded. One drank and the other didn’t. I drink and offer no apologies—Irish blood, thank you. When I’m cremated, the fire will burn for at least three days, minimum. I think Dad’s funeral pyre is still smoldering. Even though their earthly flame has since gone out, their love for each other still smolders in my heart where its warm glow lights the darkest of my nights.
“God intended for you to be happy.” – Mom
