Winter Comforts

The Badger's winter stores, which indeed were visible everywhere, took up half the room---piles of apples, turnips, and potatoes, baskets full of nuts, and jars of honey; but the two little white beds on the remainder of the floor looked soft and inviting, and the linen on them, though coarse, was clean and smelt beautifully of lavender; and the Mole and the Water Rat, shaking off their garments in some thirty seconds, tumbled in between the sheets in great joy and contentment.

from Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Graham

Poem Sunday: Sir Walter Raleigh 1552-1618

from The Pilgrimage

Give me my scallop
shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy,
immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation:
My gown of glory, hope's true
gauge,
And thus I'll take my pilgrimage.

'I love you like eskimos love furry hoodies'

speaking of furry hoodies, i got a furry hooded coat/jacket. it is pretty much the sweetest thing since sliced bread. it is army green with sweet pocket detail on the arm and lined with real synthetic rabbit fur! then it has got this wicked awesome trim around the hood and when you put it up, you look like one of those eskimos with awesome fashion skills. ever since i got it i've been wearing it around the house enjoying the soft warmth of it and the way i feel so secure in it. i don't know what i'll do when i grow out of it, or when the big poofiness of it goes out of style. actually, i do know what i'll do: i'll wear it anyway. who cares about style when you feel so wonderful?



thank you, mama and old navy.

In case you need something to think about...

"An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh."

Eudora Welty on the 'word'

One of the most amazing paragraphs I have ever read:

"In my sensory education I include my physical awareness of the word. Of a certain word, that is; the connection it has with what it stands for. At around age six, perhaps, I was standing by myself in our front yard waiting for supper, just at that hour in a late summer day when the sun is already below the horizon and the risen full moon in the visible sky stops being chalky and begins to take on light. There comes the moment, and I saw it then, when the moon goes from flat to round. For the first time it met my eyes as a globe. The word 'moon' came into my mouth as though fed to me out of a silver spoon. Held in my mouth the moon became a word. It had the roundness of a Concord grape Grandpa took off his vine and gave me to suck out of its skin and swallow whole, in Ohio."

Eudora Welty, One Writer's Beginnings

~hat tip to MJ Tate

Poem Sunday: Herbert

Redemption

Having been tenant long to a rich lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancel th' old.

In heaven at his manor I him sought:
They told me there that he was lately gone
About some land which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.

I straight returned, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great resorts--
In cities, theaters, gardens, parks, and courts:
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth

Of thieves and murderers; there I him espied,
Who straight, "Your suit is granted," said, and died.

--George Herbert
(1593-1633)

more George-isms

6th Sleep not when others Speak, Sit not when others stand, Speak not when you Should hold your Peace, walk not on when others Stop.

7th Put not off your Cloths in the presence of Others, nor go out your Chamber half Drest.

8th At Play and at Fire its Good manners to Give Place to the last Commer, and affect not to Speak Louder than Ordinary.
(if someone comes to join your game or group around the fire, give your place to him)

9th Spit not in the Fire, nor Stoop low before it neither Put your Hands into the Flames to warm them, nor Set your Feet upon the Fire especially if there be meat before it.

10th When you Sit down, Keep your Feet firm and Even, without putting one on the other or Crossing them.
(keep your feet flat on the floor)

11th Shift not yourself in the Sight of others nor Gnaw your nails.
(don't wiggle around when you are with company, and don't bite your nails)

12th Shake not the head, Feet, or Legs rowl not the Eys lift not one eyebrow higher than the other wry not the mouth, and bedew no mans face with your Spittle, by approaching too near him when you Speak.
(don't be obnoxious)

13th Kill no Vermin as Fleas, lice ticks &c in the Sight of Others, if you See any filth or thick Spittle put your foot Dexteriously upon it if it be upon the Cloths of your Companions, Put it off privately, and if it be upon your own Cloths return Thanks to him who puts it off.
(don't squish bugs with other people around (unless you're showing off for a girl), and if there's gunk on a friend's clothes, take him aside and get it off)

14th Turn not your Back to others especially in Speaking, Jog not the Table or Desk on which Another reads or writes, lean not upon any one.
(don't turn your back to someone talking to you, don't bump a table when someone is using it, and don't lean on people)

15th Keep your Nails clean and Short, also your Hands and Teeth Clean yet without Shewing any great Concern for them.
(keep them kempt, but don't be vain about them)

George Washington's 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior

~monolog

We've got a little white book called George-isms. I'm going to put the essence of the introduction to the book here...

When he was a boy, George Washington was given by a teacher (possibly his father) a list of one-hundred-ten rules for living. George had great ambitions as a boy, and he knew that these rules would be invaluable to him. He wrote out the rules in his own handwriting and kept them with him all his life, trying his best to follow them. His intelligence, leadership and vision were not the only things that were part of his success but his gentility and courtesy as well. They took him from the farmlands of Virginia to the battle-fields of the Revolution and eventually, to the first presidency of the United States (under the Constitution; there were multiple presidents before him under the Articles of Confederation but that is neither to the point nor of considerable importance). He knew how to talk to heads of state and common soldiers; he knew how to behave in royal courts and local taverns. The 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior is a standard we would all do well to imitate.

Here and there I will post a few "George-isms" in the original spelling, sometimes giving a paraphrase so one won't be obliged to sit and puzzle out the meaning if one is already late for one's bath...


1st Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.

2d [sic] When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usualy Discovered.
(don't figet or scratch unseemly parts of the body in the presence of others)

3d Shew Nothing to your Freind that may affright him.

4th In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.

5th If You Cough, Sneeze, Sigh, or Yawn, do it not Loud but Privately; and Speak not in your Yawning, but put Your handkercheif or Hand before your face and turn aside.
(I recommend it being your handkerchief )

Today I shot an airbourne moth with a rubberband.

monolog
don't pay attention to this part.

Happy Birthday ~e ! You sweet thang, you!

15. Yep Fifteen! Hard to believe, isn't it. Why, only yesterday...blah, blah, blah...
You know we love you, ~e --- our SweetBabyGirl. May sound cliche', but you really do fill our lives with music. In so many ways. ~Love, Muth

Poem Sunday: Cowper

When in the slippery paths of youth
With heedless steps I ran,
Thine arm unseen conveyed me safe,
And led me up to man.

Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths,
It gently cleared my way;
And through the pleasing snares of vice,
More to be feared than they.

O how shall words with equal warmth
The gratitude declare,
That glows within my ravished heart?
But thou canst read it there.

Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss
Hath made my cup run o'er;
And, in a kind and faithful Friend,
Hath doubled all my store.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a cheerful heart
That tastes those gifts with joy.

On Second Thought...

...this poem is worth seeing in its entirety:

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

~Alfred Lord Tennyson