“O, Wind, if Winter comes,
can Spring be far behind?”
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Ode to the West Wind
We’re only here for a little stay.
Don’t worry.
Don’t hurry,
And be sure to stop,
And smell the flowers along the way.
~ Anonymous
"Just think of lovely things
And your heart will fly on wings"
And your heart will fly on wings"
Betty Comden and Adolphe Greene - Peter Pan 1954
Beautiful graphics!
ReplyDeleteI wish that spring were here right now! Red sky this morning, but I'm not sure just how much falling weather we're getting.
At least, two of our friends arrived at 1:30 A.M. and are staying here for the day. I have extra snow shovels, too!
Winter weather can look beautiful. See this series of 39 photos.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. FT and AoW! Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteNice Saturday post, FreeThinke. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSpring and Easter are indeed just around the corner
I really do like such posts, FreeThinke, but they do make for boring comment threads!
ReplyDeleteNot much cause to fight over hope for spring in the middle of a winter storm...
Hello, Kurt. I am very much against what-has-become-the-prevalent-ethos in the blogging world -- namely that the primary purpose here is to engage in COMBAT of one kind or another.
DeleteThe alternative to "combat" need not be a namby pamby, sissified exchange of platitudes, and tedious ritualized "compliments." I don't think we need to emulate Pollyanna, but even at that there are many role models far worse than that dear little girl.
Instead of TELLING everyone what I think they OUGHT to do, however, I'd much prefer to entertain a hope that offering items not directly related to current events and the clash of competing "idiotologies" might stimulate CURIOSITY and revive the use of our neglected, nearly-forgotten capacity to IMAGINE and to dig more deeply into our own minds in an attempt to find amiable, encouraging, appealing ideas that might help to break up the metaphorical log jamb that keeps us at each others' throats.
This "love me, love my dog" -- "love me, adopt my belief system" -- "love me, praise me or imitate me" -- or ELSE! -- has GOT to STOP.
I think the face Mary Matelin and James Carville have presented to the world since they fell in love and married, now more than twenty years ago, MIGHT be the best role model we could follow. Politically those two are polar opposites, but despite that they've been able to marry, raise a family and appear -- to all intents and purposes -- to have made a genuine success of their union.
Whether or not this be strictly true doesn't matter. It's a great example of how people OUGHT to present themselves in public.
I didn't have much time yesterday "to engage" on the blogs. Too busy with real life here! Yesterday's real life consisted of tutoring, a long and grueling white-knuckle drive home in a sudden snowstorm, and house cleaning. Not to mention the daily routine here -- a routine about which most at this thread already know.
DeleteBTW, I have an upcoming post entitled "The Contentious Online World." I feel another blog break coming on!
I must plead guilty to both of you for throwing gasoline on the flames. It's why I tried to quit blogging a few years back. I can't help diving in with both fists. I'm not Irish, but it reminds of the old joke about the Irishman coming upon two men fighting and asks, "Is this a private fight, or can anyone jump in?"
ReplyDeleteThe vitriol, idiocy and utter incoherence from the asinine left has only gotten worse as the Obama era drags on. I can't stand it. I keep thinking that they must be putting us on; no one can be that blind and illogical. It boggles the mind.
Leftists like Jersey and Ducky have minds like a steel trap: Forever rusted shut. There is nothing more dogmatic, doctrinaire and illiberal as today's so-called "liberal."
SF,
DeleteI must plead guilty to both of you for throwing gasoline on the flames.
Although I am a redhead (natural hair color) and have a terrible temper, I rarely get all riled up here in the blogosphere. Instead, I guffaw when I see the incoherence you mentioned.
Perhaps the reason that I stay calm is my mother's last words to me: "Don't hurt your health."
The only time that I blew a gasket here in the blogosphere was when I had to deal with the vile troll "John Brown" back in 2006 or 2007. All that crap with "John Brown" came to an end when two of my blogging buddies hacked his blog site. It was quite something, I tell ya -- that hacking, I mean. He never messed with us again.
We can ALWAYS "help ourselves" from doing what we now in our hearts to be destructive or unhelpful at the very least. If we honestly can NOT, we are in such serious trouble ithe fate of our souls may be un jeopardy in my never humble opinion.
ReplyDeleteERGO, I REPEAT what I said above ignore it though most surely will:
I'd much prefer to entertain a hope that offering items not directly related to current events and the clash of competing "idiotologies" might stimulate CURIOSITY and revive the use of our neglected, nearly-forgotten capacity to IMAGINE, and to dig more deeply into our own minds in an attempt to find amiable, encouraging, appealing ideas that might help to break up the metaphorical log jamb that keeps us at each others' throats.
This "love me, love my dog" -- "love me, adopt my belief system" -- "love me, praise me or imitate me" -- or ELSE! -- has GOT to STOP.
I think the face Mary Matelin and James Carville have presented to the world since they fell in love and married ... MIGHT be the best role model we could follow. Politically those two are polar opposites, but despite their differences, they've been able to marry, raise a family and appear ... to have made a genuine success of their union.
Whether or not this be strictly true doesn't matter. It's a great example of how people OUGHT to present themselves in public.
Indulging in endless diatribes and a generally witless exchange of insults and recriminations may feel like "fun," because it provides a (very) temporary relief from the prevalent feeling of helplessness with which circumstances and events beyond our control force most of us to live, but ALL it EVER does is magnify and exacerbate whatever problems we wish we didn't have to deal with in the first place.
"RETURN NOT EVIL for EVIL" is some of the very best advice people of any ideological or religious persuasion could hope to find Holy Writ.