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The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sustained,
enlightened and decorated by the intellect of man.
~ Charles Sumner
PLACE: Cubicle Hell
SUBJECT: Decorated
The tree went up at work. That means I don't have to put one up at the house, right??
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The time at our disposal each day is elastic; the passions we feel dilate it, those that inspire us shrink it, and habit fills it.
~ Marcel Proust
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Dilate
I took today off from work and went to the eye doctor. It had been three years since my last exam and my vision was getting a bit blurry, especially with my contacts. I went ahead and let them dilate my pupils as I've recently started experience "floaters". GAHHHH! I'm old ... but not quite that old. I was able to avoid bifocals for another year!
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"According to superstition, empty egg-shells should always be broken up ~ lest witches make boats thereof."
~ Dorothy Hartley (1892-1985)
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Shells
Hmmm ... I think there is a fleet here!
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“Sign language is useful to the deaf but vital to the Italians.”
~ Paul Carvel
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: E
This is my letter E (also in sign language and in braille) for the Christmas collaborative project at church. Twenty of us were given a 12" x 12" canvas and told to do some sort of interpretation of that letter. The only requirement was that we use a 9" capital letter.
When all 20 of these canvases are put together, they will say:
JESUS: LIGHT OF THE WORLD
I'll get a photo of the completed project too!
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In almost every survey of consumers, they say they don't mind spending money. What they hate is the shopping experience.
~ Alan Bush
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Shopping
My newspaper was smaller than the ads for Black Friday. Although I was tempted by the laptop a Walmart, I decided staying home would be less expensive!
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"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon."
~ Doug Larson
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Bacon
There really is a turkey under the bacon, stuffed with sweet onions and apples. It was good ... VERY good!
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Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice.
~ George Jackson
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Jackson
It seems Cam made a friend while he was at Fall Retreat last weekend.
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I could have been a Rhodes Scholar, except for my grades.
~ Duffy Daugherty
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Grades
Ahhh ... my dear son. He brought home his midterm progress report Monday and Tuesday I found this test. Frustrating ...
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“A girl came up to me in a bar and said she wanted to be my apple pie. I wish I'd said something cool, but I was stunned.”
~ Jason Biggs
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Apple Pie
I spend a lo of time carting one of Cam's friends to church functions. I was a little surprised when his mom stopped by with a pie for us just to say "Thanks"!
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I'm not following anybody's tracks, I'm making my own baby.
~ Picabo Street
PLACE: Burlington Illinois
SUBJECT: Tracks
Errands brought me outside of Podunk and I happened upon these tracks. Wonder which one I should take ...
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From reading too much, and sleeping too little, his brain dried up on him and he lost his judgment.
~ Miguel de Cervantes
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Dried
A few dried berries left on the bush, but soon those too will be gone.
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A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.
~ Adlai E. Stevenson
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Conservation
And just what do you suppose the Conservation Police do? This guy was hanging out at the truck stop in Podunk.
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Tattoos aren't meant for everybody and they're too goddamn good for some people.
~ Lyle Tuttle, tattoo artist, author, and lecturer
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Tattoo
I need to find a barber shop where they actually know how to use these. I love my hairstylist, but the white chick with clippers made a mess of Cam's poor head.
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My trumpeting sounds like a goose farting in the fog.
~ Alex O'Loughlin
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Fog
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Marlin: Now it's my turn. I'm thinking of something dark and mysterious. It's a fish we don't know. If we ask it directions, it could ingest us and spit out our bones.
Dory: What is it with men and asking for directions?
Marlin: I don't want to play the gender card right now. You want to play a card, let's play the "let's not die" card.
~ Finding Nemo (2003)
PLACE: Cubicle Hell
SUBJECT: Marlins
We have an intern in accounting - today was his last day. Yes, his internship is over, but more exciting, he is headed to Florida to try out for the Florida Marlins.
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I punch left-handed.
~ Mike Weir
PLACE: Cubicle Hell
SUBJECT: Punch
Getting ready for our December 1st audit requires lots of punching.
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My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - it gives a lovely light!
~ Edna St. Vincent Millay
PLACE: Lutheran Church, Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Light
I went back to the church early in the morning to help clean up the what was left of the ladies tea. Just a few of the lights were on in the sanctuary.
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Wine is the drink of the gods, milk the drink of babes, tea the drink of women, and water the drink of beasts.
~ John Stuart Blackie
PLACE: Lutheran Church, Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Tea
I was invited to a ladies holiday tea at one of Podunk's smaller churches. It was quite enjoyable to see all of the older (70's) ladies dressed in their church best.
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“The question is, why are politicians so eager to be president? What is it about the job that makes it worth revealing, on national television, that you have the ethical standards of a slime-coated piece of industrial waste?”
~ Dave Barry
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Slime
Cam made slime in science class today. I couldn't stop playing with it.
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Going around under an umbrella interferes with one's looking up at the sky.
~ Jerzy Kosinski
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Umbrella
It rained today, and I got to use my new umbrella. Umbrellas make me homesick.
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The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself.
~ Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Cappuccino
Look at him - smirking at me ...
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“If we could just find out who's in charge, we could kill him”
~ George Carlin
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Charge
We have a bit of a problem - a chewing cat. I had to pick up a THIRD phone charger for Cam today. It's not that Cam is being irresponsible and leaving the phone charger where it doesn't belong. This time Cam's phone was up on a table being charged. Then to bed we all go and Radar uses his ... well ... radar (?) and in the morning we experience severed cord syndrome.
Damn cat!
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Don't forget it's daylight savings time. You spring forward, then you fall back. It's like Robert Downey Jr. getting out of bed.
~ David Letterman
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: DST
I'm used to taking my pics after work, but the end of DST means that is is DARK when I leave work. It's going to take some time getting used to this ...
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“A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.”
~ Mark Twain
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Stair
I've got a few habits that aren't cooperating with the stair method ...
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There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk.
~ Jean-Paul Sartre
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Dusk
With clocks being set back an hour tonight, I thought I had better get one last shot of a "late" dusk.
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“People who don't Think probably don't have Brains; rather, they have grey fluff that's blown into their heads by mistake.”
~ Winnie the Pooh
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Fluff
This photo a day project has surprised me on many levels, but two things have stood out as "uber" surprising. First, it seems there is always something in bloom at the Forest Preserve - no matter what season there is always life - and second, sometimes my camera sees things much differently than I do and what I think is a mistake turns out to be my favorite shot.
I think there are a couple of life lessons in there ...
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For me, the summer will be pure gray - mother-of-pearl gray, very pale gray. To me, this is the big statement for summer. Then we have light blue, light turquoise, lots of pink.
~ Gianni Versace
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Pink
I was taking out the trash when I looked up and saw the most monochrome rainbow I've ever seen. It was early - the sun was just beginning to rise - and everything, including the rainbow, was pink.
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We do not read the Bible the way it is; we read it the way we are.
~ Evelyn Uyemura
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Bibles
Many of the kids who show up on Wednesday nights do so without Bibles.
There's an "Easy Button" for that!
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American youth attributes much more importance to arriving at
driver's license age than at voting age.
~ Marshall McLuhan
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Vote
I wasn't going to do it. I was convinced my silence would be my strongest voice.
Then I changed my mind.
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I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.
~ Edward Steichen
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Branches
The sunsets are beautiful this time of year - illuminating the naked branches.
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