Pride & Prejudice & Memory Loss

Number three AND number four of my homages to Jane Austen and my quest to have certain incomparable truths become universally acknowledged.

It’s Thursday, but here’s my back-filled one for Wednesday:

Oops, forgot to blog yesterday!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that just when one believes one can remember to post to one’s blog every day in a week, one will have a crazy, busy, and all-around mind-losing day, and forget all about posting to one’s blog of a Wednesday afternoon, and for that, gentle readers, I apologize.

And here’s the one for today:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the little sibling who was devoutly wished for, will become the bane of one’s existence once said little sibling becomes old enough to talk, take one’s toys, and have his or her own opinion on how the world should work.

“IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”  (Pride & Prejudice)

Gentle reader: nothing would give me, your humble servant, greater pleasure than reading your own truths in the comment area that follows.

~Thanks!

Pride & Prejudice & Dog Baths

“Guess I’ll be needing another bath, eh?”

 

Number two of my homages to Jane Austen and my quest to have certain incomparable truths become universally acknowledged:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that right after one has bathed one’s filthy dog, one’s dog will commence to roll ’round and ’round in the dirt and grass until said dog has become even filthier than before said bath.

“IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”  (Pride & Prejudice)

Gentle reader: nothing would give me, your humble servant, greater pleasure than reading your own truths in the comment area that follows.

~Thanks!

Pride & Prejudice & Unwanted Facial Hair

“IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”  (Pride & Prejudice)

I felt the need to create my own, potentially universally acknowledged truisms, in the manner of Jane Austen.

I shall present one each day this week.  I do hope you appreciate them, gentle reader, and I further hope that you would feel compelled in turn to offer up your own truism in the comment area.

Don’t do it! Don’t look. You don’t have your tweezers anyway.

Here is the first:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that when one gazes into the bathroom mirror, one cannot see all the tell-tale errant hairs of one’s girlstache; however, one will see them while gazing upon oneself in the automobile mirror, paused at a stoplight, when one does not have a pair of tweezers handy.

~Thanks!

Bees do it.

Took this picture at Dolly Sods in WV.
Apparently these flowers were especially sweet!

How doth the little busy bee
Isaac Watts

How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labors hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labor or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play,
Let my first years be passed,
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.

Just thought I'd share another pretty picture I took this summer...
accompanied by a nice poem (not my own, of course...
since I'm a prose artist).

~Thanks!

Wildflowers in the gloaming

   

   

Flower Gathering

By Robert Frost

I LEFT you in the morning,
And in the morning glow,
You walked a way beside me
To make me sad to go.
Do you know me in the gloaming,
Gaunt and dusty gray with roaming?
Are you dumb because you know me not,
Or dumb because you know?

All for me And not a question
For the faded flowers gay
That could take me from beside you
For the ages of a day?
They are yours, and be the measure
Of their worth for you to treasure,
The measure of the little while
That I’ve been long away.

I gathered pictures of wildflowers while visiting my parents’ farm last week.  This bittersweet poem, as so many of Frost’s are, makes me think of the farm, but also of my parents, who are aging.  I know I won’t have them long.  They are fading flowers now, and, like the wildflowers, not infinite.  Going “home” to the farm always makes me feel like I’m trapped between memories of growing up there and the realization of my parents growing old there.  The farm is not like a bug forever preserved in amber.  Every time I visit, I notice changes.  The farm is aging.  Trees that were once small are grown tall.  Trees that were once tall have fallen down.  The pond is no longer as large I as I remember it.  The hills no longer as high. Of course, that is because I have grown.  Grown up and grown away.  But the sky is still  quite blue, and the meadows quite verdant.  I know I will not have my parents forever, and perhaps, some day, the farm itself will pass out of the family.  But the wildflowers I have captured here, with the pictures from my digital camera, will always be mine for the measure – worth to treasure.  Memories that, I hope, will never fade.

~Thanks!

Sunset story

Sunset at my parents’ farm

There’s a story here, isn’t there?  Feel free to write it.  I’d love to “hear” from you and what this photo inspired.

~Thanks!

Oh well.

As the summer goes on, I begin to lose creativity.  I think it might have something to do with being with my kids all day long.

This is sooooo me.

 

Mmm,Tastes Like Cricket, Part 2

I ended up eating several crickets this evening, just to prove to the kids that they were – in fact – edible.

Eat your crickets!  They’re GOOD for ya!

~Thanks!

(For more information on why the heck we’re eating crickets, please see my previous post.  Thanks!)

Mmm, Tastes Like Cricket

When I was in high school French class, my teacher was preparing us for our trip to France, and giving us some great advice.  Monsieur told us to take in the country with all five senses.  He told us to eat different foods, savoring different tastes than what we were used to.  So I visited a perfumerie, a patisserie, a flower market, and smelled as many scents as I could.  I purchased a cassette tape (yes, that tells you how old I am – approximately) and listened to French pop music.  I pet the street dogs of Paris who roamed into the open-door cafes.  And, of course, I saw as many new and incredible sights as possible . . . and took almost as many pictures.

I did all that, and I’m glad I did.  And now I’m a forever fan of  crusty French baguettes, L’eau de Temps perfume, Jean-Jacques Goldman’s songs, wet pup noses, and the bright white glory of the Sacre Coeur.

I encourage this sort of five-senses tourism with my children when we vacation some place new.  I also encourage it in the classes I teach.

This week, I happen to be teaching  Bible stories to young children.  I always try to include a little snack and music, as well as pictures, and often, scents that help them remember the story and/or feel a stronger part of it.

So, I’m off to our local hardware store (of all places), where, I have been told, I can buy fried and flavored crickets.

I’ll let you know how they taste.

Because we’re learning about John the Baptist, and he survived on insects while he lived and preached in the wilderness.

Submerge yourselves in life, folks! 

Dive deep!

~Thanks!