Cypress

The Cat and the King A CAT was looking at a King, as permitted by the proverb. "Well," said the monarch, observing her inspection of the royal person,"how do you like me?" "I can imagine a King,"said the Cat,"whom I should like better." "For example?" "The King of the Mice." The sovereign was so pleased with the reply that he gave her permission to scratch his prime ministers eyes out.

Eccentric Stars

October 31

Brandy, n. A cordial composed of one part thunder-and-lightning, one part remorse, two parts bloody murder, one part death-hell-and-the-grave and four parts clarified Satan. Dose, a headful all the time. Brandy is said by Dr. Johnson to be the drink of heroes. Only a hero will venture to drink it.

Devil's Dictionary by

Ambrose Bierce

Windmill

Cartesian, adj.  Relating to Descartes, a famous philosopher, author of the celebrated dictum, Cogito ergo sum--whereby he was pleased to suppose he demonstrated the reality of human existence. The dictum might be improved, however, thus: Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum--"I think that I think, therefore I think that I am"; as close an approach to certainty as any philosopher has yet made.

Devil's Dictionary by

Ambrose Bierce

October 7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZdviximzww

ELO Rock 'n' Roll is King

The Double Square

October 18

Fool, n. A person who pervades the domain of intellectual speculation and diffuses himself through the channels of moral activity. He is omnifie, omniform, omnipercipient, omniscient, omnipotent. He it was who inventented letters, printing, the railroad, the steamboat, the telegraph, the platitude and the circle of the sciences. He created patriotism and taught the nations war--founded theology, philosophy, law, medicine and Chicago. He established monarchical and republican government. He is from everlasting to everlasting--suchas creation's dawn beheld he fooleth now. In the morning of time he sang upon primitive hills, and in the noonday of existence headed the processoin of being. His grandmotherly hand has warmly tucked-in the set sun of civilization, and in the twilight he prepares Man's evening meal of milk-and-morality and turns down the covers of the universal grave. And after the rest of us shall have retired for the night of eternal oblivion he will sit up to write a history of human civilization. 

Devil's Dictionary by

Ambrose Bierce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ner9nim8yjk
ELO Evil Womn

Windmill II

Craft, n. A fool's substitute for brains.

Devil's Dictionary by 

Ambrose Bierce

October 29

Windmill II

October 29

Cat, n.  A soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle.

This is a dog,

This is a cat,

This is a frog.

This is a rat.

Run, dog, mew, cat,

Jump, frog, gnaw, rat.

Elevenson.

Devil's Dictionary by

Ambrose Bierce

Windmill II

October 29

Nobody Home

I can tell by the way

There ain't no lights in the windows

And by the way your curtains hang

Yeah, I know which way the wind blows

I said no

I said no

I said no

Ain't nobody home

(Nobody home)

Ain't nobody home

(Nobody home)

You went away with your heavy load

Yeah, you must have took it with you

Down and out, to no thanks to boat

But no one can get ya

I said no

(Nobody)

I said no

(Nobody)

I said no, no

Ain't nobody home

(Nobody home)

Ain't nobody home

(Nobody home)

I said nobody

(No)

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

From the way that you act

I guess you hardly been there

By the look in your eyes

There's nobody in there

I said no

(Nobody)

I said no

(Nobody)

I said no

Ain't nobody home

Nobody home

I said nobody

(No)

Nobody

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

I said no

(Nobody)

I said no

(Nobody)

I said no, no, no

Ain't nobody home

(Nobody home)

There's nobody home

(Nobody home)

I said nobody

(No)

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

Ain't nobody home

(Nobody home)

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

Ain't nobody, nobody home

Nobody home

Nobody home

Songwriters

Lynne, Jeff

Read more: Jeff Lynne - Nobody Home Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Pussy in the Corner

"Don't Do Me Like That"

I was talking with a friend of mine, said a woman had hurt his pride
Told him that she loved him so and turned around and let him go
Then he said, "You better watch your step,
Or your gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size"

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't do me like that

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Someday I might need you baby
Don't do me like that

Listen honey, can you see? Baby, you would bury me
If you were in the public eye givin' someone else a try
And you know you better watch your step
Or you're gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size

Don't do me like that
Dont' do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't, don't, don't, don't

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I need you baby?
Don't do me like that

'Cause somewhere deep down inside
Someone is saying, "Love doesn't last that long"
I got this feelin' inside night and day
And now I can't take it no more

Listen honey, can you see? Baby, you would bury me
If you were in the public eye givin' someone else a try
And you know you better watch your step
Or you're gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't, don't, don't, don't

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
I just might need you honey
Don't do me like that

Wait!
Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Baby, baby, baby,
Don't, don't, don't

No!
Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Baby, baby, baby...

Oh, oh, oh

Tom Petty 

and the Heart Breakers

October 15

Mosaic #10

October 28

2014

Little Boy Blue

by Eugene Field (1850-1895)

The little toy dog is covered with dust,

   But sturdy and stanch he stands;

And the little toy soldier is red with rust,

   And his musket moulds in his hands.

Time was when the little toy dog was new,

   And the soldier was passing fair;

And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue

   Kissed them and put them there.

"Now, don't you go till I come," he said,

   "And don't you make any noise!"

So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,

   He dreamt of the pretty toys;

And, as he was dreaming, an angel song

   Awakened our Little Boy Blue---

Oh! the years are many, the years are long,

   But the little toy friends are true!

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,

   Each in the same old place---

Awaiting the touch of a little hand,

   The smile of a little face;

And they wonder, as waiting the long years through

   In the dust of that little chair,

What has become of our Little Boy Blue,

   Since he kissed them and put them there.

Grandma's Shirt & Spleen

Designs by Stacey Peter

2012

Twas the day after Thanksgiving

And all through the place

Dirty glasses and dishes staring me in the face.

While grama and grampa and great-grandpapa

Have gone pheasant hunting

At a place quite far.

The three girls were sleeping

All snug in their nest

And only great-grandma to

Clean up the mess.

One more cup of coffee

One more cigarette.

I’ll wash and I’ll dust

And I’ll scrub and I’ll clean.

But I know the idea

Is only a dream.

Then the mighty hunters

Will come home from a far

And find me sitting

Just as I are.

So I just sit here

My thoughts on the roam

Oh how I wish

I was any place but home

       Written by my Grandma  
 Savilla Wilson

              1976

Boxes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKPvx38D4GM

Edith Piaf-Non, je ne regrette rein

October 22

Cross and Chains

Cross, n.  An ancient religious symbol erroneously supposed to owe its significance to the most solemn event in the history of Christianity, but really antedating it by thousands of years. By many it has been believed to be identical with the crux ansata of the ancient phallic worship, but it has been traced even beyond all that we know of that, to the rites of primitive peoples. We have to-day the White Cross as neutrality in war. Having in mind the former, the reverend Father Gassalasca Jape smites the lyre to the effect following:

"Be good, be good!" the sisterhood

Cry out in holy chorus,

And, to dissuade from sin,parade

Their various charms before us.

But why, O why, has ne'er an eye

Seen her of winsome manner

And youthful grace and  pretty face

Flaunting the White cross banner?

Now where's the need of speech and screed

To better our behaving?

A simpler plan for saving man

(But, first, is he worth saving?)

Is, dears, when he declines to flee

From bad thoughts that beset him,

Ignores the Law as 't were a straw,

And wants to sin--don't let him.

Devil's Dictionary of

Ambrose Bierce

October 23

Willow Haven

Electric Light Orchestra

"Wishing"

Little darlin',don't you cry,
You know I'll try to be there with you by and by
When everything is going wrong now don't you cry.
I'm wishin'.
Little darlin',far away,
I see the world go rollin' by my window pane,
But I can only wish that I was there again.
I'm wishin'.

[CHORUS]
I wish that everything was cold,
I wish you were here to hold,I'm wishin'.

Little darlin',the night is long,
I thought I'd be back now I must have got it wrong
You and California call me in this song.
I'm wishin'.

[Repeat Chorus]

Little darlin' I see you,you're cryin' in the sun
I gotta be with you,
I'm gonna be with there soon I'll make it all come true.
I'm wishin'.

[Repeat Chorus]

October 19

Five Diamonds

October 17

Dr Who 

S8/Ep08 Mummy on the Orient Express

"I'm trapped!"

"What? Where are you? Clara! Is that you?"

"Yes! yes, ah can you hear us?" 

"No! Computer, can you open the door please?"

"Call me Gus. I'm afraid this door can only be opened by executive order."

"Oh forget it!" *sigh*

"Now the stupid super sonic-screwdriver's not working!"

"What? What do you mean it's not working! Why?"

"I don't know, some kind of supression field, I would guess.

It would have to be a guess, because as I said the stupid sonic screwdrivers not working. What are you even doing in there?

"O, I was looking for you, Mr. Nothing to worry about!"

"What, was I suppose to waken you up? Drag you out of bed, because I had a hunch. Thought you didn't want to do this anymore."
"Now look, please can we just not do this now, I think we might not be alone in here. There's a sarcophagus."

"Is it in there?"

"I think we might just be able to find out. Turns out the sonic is working, just not on the door we need right now."

Rhode Island

October 9

Shakespeare's Sonnets

23

As an unferfect actor on the stage,

Who with his fear is put besides his part,

Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,

Whose strength's abundan`e weakens his own heart;

So I, for fear of trust, forget to say

The perfect ceremony of love's rite,

And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,

O'erchard'g with burden of mine own love's might.

O, let my books be then the eloquence

And dumb presages of my speaking breast,

Who plead for love, and look for recompense,

More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.

  O, learn to read what silent love that writ:

  To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

24

Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd 

Thy beauty's form in table of my heart;

My body is the frame wherein 'tis held,

And perspective it is best painter's art.

For through the painter must you see his skill,

To find where your true image pictur'd lies,

Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still,

That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes.

Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:

Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me 

Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun

Delights to peep, togaze therin on thee;

  Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art,

  They draw but what they see, know not the heart.

Flying Shuttles

October 16

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night 

Sailed off in a wooden shoe--

Sailed on a river of crystal light,

Into a sea of dew.

"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"

The old moon asked the three.

"We have come to fish for the herring fish 

That live in this beautiful sea;

Nets of silver and gold have we!"

Said Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,

As they rocked in the wooden shoe,

And the wind that sped them all night long 

Ruffled the waves of dew. 

The little stars were the herring fish

That lived in that beautiful sea--

"Now cast your nets wherever you wish--

Never afeard are we";

So cried the stars to fishermen three:

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw

To the stars in the twinkling foam--

Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,

Bringing the fishermen home;

'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed

As if it could not be,

And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed

Of sailing that beautiful sea--

But I shall name you the fishermen three:

Wynken, 

Blynken,

And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,

And Nod is a little head,

And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies 

Is a wee on'e trundle-bed.

So shut your eyes while mother sings

Of wonderful sights that be,

And you shall see the beautifuill things

As you rock in the misty sea,

Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.

Poems of Childhood

Eugene Field

Moments

Designed and handmade by Stacey Peter

Medieval Eventide Song

Come hither, lyttel childe, and lie upon my breast tonight, 

For younder fares an angell yclad in raimanunt white,

And yonder sings ye angell as onely angells may,

And his songe ben of a garden that bloometh farre awaye.

To them that have no lyttel childe Godde sometimes sendeth 

down

A lyttel childe that be a lyttel angell of his owne

And if so bee they love that childe, he willeth it to staye,

But elsewise, in his mercie, he taketh it awaye.

And sometimes, though they love it, Godde yearneth for ye 

childe,

And sendeth angells singing, whereby it ben geguiled;

They fold their arms about ye lamb that croodleth at his 

play,

And beare him to ye garden that bloometh farre awaye.

I woulde not lose ye lyttel lamb that Godde hath lent to me;

If I  colde sing that angell songe, how joysome I sholde be!

For, with mine arms about him, and my musick in his eare,

What angell songe of paradize soever sholde I fear?

Soe come, my lyttel childe, and lie upon my breast to-night, 

For yonder fares and angell yclad in raimaunt white,

And youder sings that angell, as onely angells may,

And his songe ben of a garden that bloometh farre awaye.

Poems of Childhood 

Eugene Field

Kansas Star

Poems of Childhood

Eugene Field 

With illustrations by Maxfield Parrish

The Dinkey-Bird

In an ocean, 'way out yonder

(As all sapient people know),

Is the land of Wonder-Wander, 

Whither children love to go;

It's their playing, romping, swinging,

That give great joy to me

While the Dinkey-Bird goes singing

In the amfalula tree!

There the gum-drops grow like cherries,

And taffy's thick as peas--

Caramels you pick like berries

When, and where, and how you please;

Big red sugar plums are clinging

To the cliffs beside that sea

Where the Dinkey-Bird is singing

In the amfalula tree.

So when children shout and scamper

And make merry all the day,

When there's naught to put a damper

To the ardor of their play;

When I hear their laughter ringing,

Them I'm sure as sure can be 

That the Dinkey-Bird is singing

In the amfalula tree.

For the Dinkey-Bird's bravuras

And staccatos are so sweet--

His roulades, appoggiaturas,

And robustos so complete,

That the youth of every nation--

Be they near or far away--

Have especial delectation

In that gladsome roundelay.

Their eyes grow bright and brighter

Their lungs begin to crow,

Their hearts get light and lighter,

And their cheeks are all aglow;

For an echo cometh bringing

The news to all and me,

That the Dinkey-Bird is singing

In the amfalula tree.

I'm sure you like to go there

To see your feathered friend--

And so many goodies grow there

You would like to comprehend!

Speed, little dreams, your winging

To that land across the sea

Where the Dinkey-Bird is singing

In the amfalula tree!

Soul

Session Six 

Leader:  Lord Jesus we believe that you are present with us now that you as we gather in your name. We ask that you guide everything we do and say with your light and love.  Now follow these instructions closely and in silence:

Close your eyes and relax yourself completely. Begin with your face muscles (pause), shoulders (pause), arms and torso (pause), legs and feet (pause).

If you still feel any tenseness anywhere, relax it.

Now I am going to read a brief passage. Try to see, feel, hear, smell, taste everything that is described (pause and then read reflectively):

We had spent several weeks in southern Spain, at the hottest time of the year.  Every morning my young son went to the balcony of our hotel to see what kind of day it would be, and every day it was the same--inexhaustibly sunny=untile one morning I heard a whoop of joy and the exultant words, "Hurray! It's reaining!"

Glorious to see the dusty streets and rooftops running with rain!

Delightful to breathe the cleansed air, to smell the wet earth!

Through the whole of that sreaming day, Longfellow's poem sang in my mind:  "How beautiful in the rain! After the dust and heat, In the broad snd fiery street, In the narrow land, How beautiful is the rain!" (pause.) Elizebyth Starr Hill "Hurray! It's Raining!"

Now imagine you are lying on a deserted beach. It has been torridly hot all day. Suddenly a cloud appears, then a breeze, and then drops of resreshing rain. (pause)

See the raindrops fall on the lake, forming millions of tiny little ringlets. 

(30-second pause.)

Listen to the rain falling on the lake, the beach, and on metal objects on or near the beach. 

(30-second pause)

Feel the rain fall on your body, soothing it, running down you shoulders, arms, and face. 

(30-second pause)

Taste the rain as it falls on your parched lips and trickles across them. 

(30-second pause)

Now, for the next 3 or 5 minutes, just lie there, enjoying the rain with all of your 5 senses. 

(Silent Period)

Mark Link, SJ

          YOU

Prayer for Beginners 

and Those Who 

Have Forgotten How

         

October 19 2013
Potholderz Stacey Peter

Alice

Change your Brain Change your Life

(before 25)

Jesse Payne, Ed.D.

Chapter 16

Working the Brain to be Smarter

pg. 216 

Researchers at Columbia University compared hundreds of fifth grade children who were praised for their intelligence with those who were praised for their efforts and hard work. The study (1998) showed that the kids who were praised for being smart became more performance oriented and were less prepared to deal with setbacks. When faced with a challenging task, they were less likely to tackle it with persistence, they exhibited less enjoyment and they did less well on it than the children who were praised for their efforts and hard work. Also, the kids who earned praise for being smart tended to say that intelligence couldn't be improved or developed. Students who were praised for their efforts and hard work believed that they could learn strategies to improve their intelligence and performance.

An important element of intelligence is self-control. Research shows that preschoolers who know how to delay gratification achieve higher academic performance, cope better with stress and frustration, and have better social and cognitive skills as adolescents. Psychology professor and researcher Walter Mischel's famous "marshmallow experiment" illustrates how this works. In the late 1960's Mischel and his colleagues invited dozens of preschoolers into a laboratory room one at a time and had them sit down at a table on which there was a single marshmallow. The researchers told each child that he or she could either eat the marshmallow right away or wait for several minutes and get two marshmallows. Some of the children couldn't wait and ate the marshmallow right away. Other children came up with ways to distract themselves, such as clapping their hands, or to manipulate the environment, such as turning their chair so they faced away from the marshmallow, to keep themselves from eating it.

Mischel followed these children for fourteen years and found that those who were able to delay gratification, to wait for two marshmallows, fared much better in life than those who ate the marshmallow right away. The "waiters" had higher self-esteem, were better at coping with stress and frustration, performed better academically, scored an average of 210 points higher on their SATs and were more socially adept than the "gobblers."

October 19 2013

Potholderz Stacey Peter

Hour Glass II

Understanding Stupiddity

James F. Welles, Ph.D.

III The Schema as Adaptive

Language--Norms--Groups--Roles

pg. 61 The Self

Against stupidity the very gods 

Themselves contend in vain.

Schiller, The Maid of Orleans, III, 6.

Of course, this is a crucial conflict if the job is related to relief efforts and public safety. 

As a person shifts roles with changing circumstances, certain attitudes and elements of behavior remain constant and define the "Self". As a manifestation of the individual's core schema, the self consists of perceptions, motivers and experiences fundamental to identity. Moving outward from this central, consistent essence of character, each person has multiple, superficial attitudes and behavioral programs designed for the various roles to be played--each slightly different and each relating to a different reference group. Behavior in any situation is an expression of the self drawn out by the given role applied to specific conditions. 

Expression of the self by role playing may not always be healthy. Although it is normal for people to play roles, in that most people do so most of the times, it can be distressing. If playing a particular role means hiding one's real self, then that is the price that must be paid for the social reward of acceptance. While it may be psychologically distressing to hide from a required role, it can be socially deleterious to bury oneself in a role. Roles and situations are often said to dehumanize or "Deindividuate" the people caught up in them, but it is very human for individuals to take narrow roles to uncritical extremes. Even the happy state of "Being oneself" in a congruent environment can be both ideal and injurious, if the role has become limited or the environment artificially contrived. An example might be the archetypical "Pig" policeman who loves to push people around and gets away with it as long as official word of his abuses can be contained within the precinct.

October 13

Temple Court

"Black Dog"

Led Zeppelin

Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.
Oh, oh, child, way you shake that thing, gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting.
Hey, hey, baby, when you walk that way, watch your honey drip, can't keep away.

[Chorus:]
Ah yeah, ah yeah, ah, ah, ah. Ah yeah, ah yeah, ah, ah, ah.
I gotta roll, can't stand still, got a flaming heart, can't get my fill
Eyes that shine burning red, dreams of you all through my head.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.

Hey, baby, oh, baby, pretty baby, tell me that you'll do me now
Hey, baby, oh, baby, pretty baby, do me like you do me now
Didn't take too long 'fore I found out, what people mean by down and out.
Spent my money, took my car, started telling her friends she's gonna be a star.
I don't know but I been told, a big-legged woman ain't got no soul.

[Chorus]

All I ask for when I pray, steady rollin' woman gonna come my way.
Need a woman gonna hold my hand, won't tell me no lies, make me a happy man.
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

October 4

Windmill Square

IV

The Cave

Autumn, 97 A.V.

No light, but rather darkness visible

Served only to duscover sights of woe.

--Milton,

Paradise Lost

Chapter 24

--"Hello, she said.

I am sorry I have been away. I've missed you.

--I've missed you, too.

The space around them had altered; the room had dispersed into a darkness in which only the two of them existed, like a pair of actors on a spotlit stage.

Something is changing. 

--Yes. I think that it is.

You will need to go to him. Amy.

--Who? Who should I go to?

He's different from the others. I could see it the first time I laid eyes on him. A glass of iced tea. That was all he wanted, to cool himself off in the heat. He loved that woman with his whole heart. But you know that, too, don't you Amy?

--Yes.

An ocean of time, that's what I told him. That's what I can give you. Anthony, an ocean of time. A sudden bitterness came into his face. I always did hate Texas, you know. He had yet to look at her; Amy sensed that the conversation neither required nor even allowed this. Then: I was thinking just now about the camp. The two of us, reading together; playing Monopoly. Park Place, Boardwalk, Marvin Gardens. You always beat me. 

--I think you let me.

Wolgast chuckled to himself. No, it was always you, fair and square. And Jacob Marley. A Christmas Carol, that was your favorite. I think you had the whole book memorized. Do you remember?

--I remember all of it. The day it snowed. Making the snow angels.

He wore the chains he forged in life. Wolgast frowned in sudden puzzlement. It was such a sad story.

The Twelve

Justin Cronin

Blocks in a Box

Rocco  "Got a million dollars?" 

 Frank  "No."

 Rocco  "How much?"

 Frank  "Nothing.

Rocco  "But your a wise guy." 

Frank  "You see, I was educated only in impractical things. With you it's just the opposite."

Excerpt from Key Largo 1948

October 1