Whenever I’m asked why Southern

writers particularly have a penchant

for writing about freaks, I say

it is because we are still able

to recognize one.

-Flannery O'Connor

Raphael, detail from The School of Athens

Character is destiny.
-Heraclitus (535-475 BC)

Nine tenths of

education is

encouragement.

-Anatole France

8We blink about 17,000 times a day.

8Dreamt is the only English word ending in mt.

8More than a million Earths could fit inside the Sun.

The first to present

his case seems right,

until another comes

forward to question him.

-Proverbs 18:17

photograph by annie huntington

Photography helps people

to see.

-Berenice Abbott

The seed of every sin

is in my breast.

-Robert Murray McCheyne (1813 -1843)

Two things doth prolong thy life:

A quiet heart and a loving wife.

-Proverb (17th century)

This is the man behind the music. You've probably heard

his lilting ukulele version of Somewhere Over The

Rainbow. It's featured in the Free Hugs campaign of

YouTube fame. His name is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole or "Iz"

for short. He was universally known and loved in his native

Hawaii. I say "was" because he died in 1997 at the age of

38. Can you picture a tiny ukulele lovingly and expertly

played by a 700 pound man with a beautiful voice?

-

(click on highlighted words for YouTube and Wikipedia links)

People fail forward

to success.

-Mary Kay Ash

It's a dangerous business

going out your front door.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

Watch the way you talk.

Let nothing foul or dirty

come out of your mouth.

Say only what helps,

each word a gift.

-Ephesians 4:29 (The Message)

Frisbeetarianism is the

belief that when you die,

your soul goes up on the

roof and gets stuck.

–George Carlin

Albrecht Durer, Self-Portrait

The treasure secretly

gathered in your heart

will become evident through

your creative work.

-Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)

I just need enough to tide

me over until I need more.

-Bill Hoest

Wow, my own giant robot. I am

now the luckiest kid in America!

-Hogarth, The Iron Giant

-

This movie is one for the ages. Kyrie and I enjoyed it for

the umpteenth time a couple days back. We kept smiling and

chuckling. Chalice wandered in and started mouthing the lines.

Somehow it never gets old or stale. Click here if you'd like to

watch the trailer.

Many littles make a much.
-Cervantes

-

This is the cover art from the Talking Heads album

More Songs About Buildings and Food. The composite image

is made up of 529 individual polaroid photographs.

Click it to enlarge a bit.

It is amazing what you can
accomplish if you don't care
who gets the credit.
-Harry S. Truman

Beloved, do not be children

in your thinking.

-1 Corinthians 14:20

Boys will be boys. Unfortunately they're not

often encouraged to be just that. Here's a new

book based on an old approach that's been a

real success in Britain over the last year and is

now available in the States. To read an interesting

review by Al Mohler click here.

photo by Jason Evans

See what you're missing at The Daily Nice?

All that we are not

stares back at what we are.

-W. H. Auden

The least deviation from

truth will be multiplied

later.

-Aristotle

Organized crime in

America takes in over

40 billion dollars a year

and spends very little

on office supplies.

-Woody Allen

The mother's heart is

the child's schoolroom.

-Henry Ward Beecher

He who laughs last

didn't get it.

Happy is the man

whom God corrects.

-Job 5:17

The hardest job kids face today

is learning good manners

without seeing any.

-Fred Astaire

photo by Jason Evans

If you've never checked out The Daily Nice you should.
Every single day roving British photographer Jason Evans

posts a brand new shot for our edification. Back when

I started fingerpost Lowen suggested I provide a link for

The Daily Nice. (It's under my FUN links as "photo a day.")
If you'd like to read a short rundown on Mr. Evans just
click here.

Sweet Sienna Turns Twenty

She's got a way about her

I don't know what it is

But I know that I can't live without her

-

She's got a way of pleasin'

I don't know why it is

But there doesn't have to be a reason

Anyway

-

She's got a smile that heals me

I don't know why it is

But I have to laugh when she reveals me

-

She's got a way of talkin'

I don't know why it is

But it lifts me up when we are walkin'

Anywhere

-

-Billy Joel, She's Got A Way

(click HERE for YouTube link)

Let's pray that the human race

never escapes from Earth to

spread it's iniquity elsewhere.

-C. S. Lewis

illustration by sam brown

Let your hook always

be cast. In the stream

where you least expect it,

there will be a fish.

-Ovid

You must be the change

you wish to see in the world.

-Mahatma Gandhi

...snail mail rate hike

Remember, today is the day that postage

goes up two cents. The rate for a normal

letter is now 41 cents (17 cents for each

additional ounce). And postcards have

jumped from 24 to 26 cents. Click here to

see a really cool new triangular stamp you

can buy right now from your Post Office.

If you had to identify, in one word,
the reason why the human race has not
achieved, and never will achieve,
its full potential, that word would
be "meetings."
-Dave Barry

She is far more precious

than jewels.

-Proverbs 31:10

Boy those French, they

have a different word for

everything!

-Steve Martin

Proper words in proper
places make the true
definition of style.
-Jonathan Swift

He who would travel happily

must travel light.

-Antoine de St. Exupery

*

Today Lowen is headed for Uganda to work with Dr. Krabbendam,

and Sienna is arriving in Norway to be with her dear friend Signe.

Both will be gone for several weeks. Bon Voyage!

If at first you don't succeed, try

try again. Then quit. There's no

sense in being a damn fool about it.

-W. C. Fields

photo by jill greenberg

If I rest,

if I think inward,

I go mad.

-Sylvia Plath

Hot or Cold?

"There are ominous signs that the Earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production--with serious political implications for just about every nation on earth. The drop in food production could begin quite soon. ... The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard-pressed to keep up with it." The story is from Newsweek. The year was 1975 and the threat was global cooling.

This excerpt is from a review written by Tim Challies on his site Discerning Reader. The book he's reviewing is called The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism) by Christopher Horner. Go here if you'd like to read the entire review or just check out the site.

For God is in heaven and

you are on earth. Therefore

let your words be few.

-Ecclesiastes 5:2

drawing by von glitschka

To draw, you must close

your eyes and sing.

-Pablo Picasso

These little snap-on buttons for your

Crocs are called Jibbitz. Click here

if you want to see the website. What

an inventive little accessory. The woman

who came up with the idea started her

own company with her two young daughters.

She eventually sold it to Crocs for a cool

20 million bucks. Not a bad little venture.

We cannot comprehend

what comprehends us.

-Wendell Berry

A conclusion is the place

where you got tired of

thinking.

-Stephen Wright

photo by pax

Away is good,

but at home is best.

-Swedish Proverb

(Welcome home Kyrie and Sienna!)

Q --U --E-- E --R- <- F-- A-- C-- T-- S

8There are 18 different Animal Cracker shapes.

8Globally, more goat's milk is consumed than

cow's milk.

8We spend an average of two years on the

phone over the course of our lives.

I meant to do my work today,

But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land,

tossing the grasses to and fro,

And a rainbow held out its shining hand,

So what could I do but laugh and go?

-Richard LeGallienne