Quotes About Life by Three Bearded Men

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.


George Bernard Shaw

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

Charles Darwin

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.

Havelock Ellis


Does having a beard make you smarter than other people?  What do you think?

Return from Paradise

Just returned from ten days in Hawaii.  What better place to spend my birthday?  Waikiki is a lovely place to get older.  My daughter had a professional meeting in Honolulu and got to bring a guest.  What a nice birthday/Mother's Day present.

Here are the things I liked best about Hawaii:
The views
The climate, warm with a constant refreshing breeze
The beaches
The flowers
The scent of plumeria
Laheina Grill in Maui
Peter Lik's gallery in Maui
The flowery beach clothes
The shopping malls in Waikiki--waay more elegant than our Galleria
The Hawaiian phrases inscribed on the stone sidewalks in Waikiki
The Bishop's Museum in Honolul
The sight of Maui from a helicopter

Here's what I didn't like:
Traffic in Honolulu--reported to be the most traffic-congested city in America.  Residents lose an average of 58 hours a year sitting in traffic.
Not many interesting shells on the beaches we visited
Chinatown in Honolulu:  Despite what our travel book said, it was mostly run down looking buildings, outside produce stands, restaurants and innumerable hair salons
The amazingly assertive birds that would perch on your table, waiting to grab a crumb from your plate
Poi: tried it once, never again.  It tasted like paste.

Would I go back?  Absolutely.

Quote for the Week

Juvenal

If Juvenal looks like a grumpy old man, he was.  He wrote biting satires about Roman life in the late first century and early second century A.D.  But he was also wise, and here is his recipe for a good life:  "Ask for a brave mind, with no fear of death, which puts a long life last among Nature's gifts, which can bear any hardship, which doesn't know anger, and which lusts after nothing."

I'll be back on line on May 26.

Mother's Day Memories

Memories of my Mother:

She was barely 5 feet tall and she always (I mean, always) wore high heels.

She hated cooking but enjoyed baking.  When I was little, I always got to bake a miniature pie when she baked pies and lick the bowl when she made cakes.

She rarely missed an episode of "As the World Turns."

She never learned to drive.

One thing she would say to my sister and me:  "I know you better than you know yourselves."


Memories of my Mother-in-Law

She baked "cardboard cookies," a recipe she got from a Norwegian neighbor, and sent us a box every year at Christmas.

She had strong opinions.  When a new minister came to her church, she made an appointment to tell him how she thought things should be run.

When Ralph and his buddies had a "secret club," she left messages in their clubhouse, signed "Your secret friend."  Finally she confessed and the messages stopped.

Even though Ralph was hospitalized with leukemia, it fell to him as the oldest to tell her it was time to give up driving.  Instead of becoming housebound, she got a little scooter and buzzed around town in it.

One of her great-grandchildren called her "Grandma Grape" because she always gave him grapes when he visited.

Website Review: Paperback Swap

Want a book (yes, a real book with pages) for practically nothing?  Check out http://www.paperbackswap.com/   Here's a place to list books you've read that aren't keepers and a place to get gently used books in perfect condition.  Set up an account, post books, and then after the first few, you are eligible for one book for each book you send to another member.  All you pay is the postage for the books you send, usually around $2.50, and you get the ones you request free. 

Besides the thousands of available books, there are discussion groups, swapping games and lists of new books you can use your credits plus a little cash to purchase.  What could be better for readers?  Stop by their website and see what's available.  I've been swapping for about two years now and I've saved gazillions...well, quite a bit of money.

Quote for the Week

Birthday Gift from Me for Me: Decisions

My birthday is coming up this month.  I'm not saying which one, just that it's a two-digit number with a lot of tens in it.  Anyway, I've decided I should give myself an iphone4s.  Or maybe I shouldn't. 

On the one hand:
         My current phone is so twentieth century.  You actually have to open it and it has no apps.
        I'll have someone to talk to me (Siri, or whateveer her name is) when I'm lonely.
        I'll be able to play Words with Friends.
        I can take pictures without lugging my camera around.
        I can check the weather.
        I'll look like everyone else.

On the other hand:
       An iphone costs more per month than the phone I have.
       Do I need to be connected to the Internet all day long?
       Do I want to be connected to the Internet all day long?
       I can check the weather by looking outside.
       I'll look like everyone else.

Decisions, decisions.   Any advice would be appreciated.
       

Website Review: The Great Courses:

I love The Teaching Company.  I discovered it by accident some years ago when I received their brochure in the mail.  Since then I've been a committed (maybe addicted) fan of The Great Courses. 

Want to listen to a professor from major university lecture on a subject you've always wanted to learn about?  Just think.  No tests, no homework, no papers to write, just absorbtion of knowledge from the very best teachers in the country.  (No, I'm not a stockholder...if they even have stock...just a fan.) 

Visit their website at http://www.thegreatcourses.com/ and see what they have to offer.  Their courses range from the practical on nutrition to the philosophical.  Ever wonder why evil exists?  There are courses on history--ancient, medieval, modern--on literature, musci, art, science.    And if you decide to buy, here's a tip:  never, never pay full price.  Most of their courses are on sale once or twice a year, sometimes as much as 70% off. 

Check them out.  Enjoy.  Learn.

Quote for the Week

The world’s favourite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.” (Edwin Way Teale)