Vermeer Girl in a Red Hat








line
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.
Then, they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew...
Then they came for the Catholics. I didn't speak up then because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up."
Reverend Martin Niemoller, German Lutheran pastor arrested by the Gestapo in 1937


When men yield up the privilege of thinking,
the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
—Thomas Paine


"It's amazing what God can do with a broken heart
- when given all the pieces." (Anonymous)








reflections
To My Dear and Loving Husband (1678)
by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,

Nor ought but love from thee, give recompence.

Thy love is such I can no way repay,

The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.

Then while we live, in love let's so perserver,

That when we live no more, we may live ever.




swans


How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
(Annie Dillard)

bluebirds


Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies.
-John Donne




Vermeer Woman with Water Pitcher




"The richest love is that which submits to the arbitration of time."
-Lawrence Durrell





Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house.
Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor...
Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.
Be the living expression of God's kindness;
kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes,
kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.
-Mother Theresa


Love is not blind - It sees more and not less,
but because it sees more it is willing to see less.
-Will Moss





___





child by a pool


The best things in life are nearest:
Breath in your nostrils,light in your eyes,
flowers at your feet,duties at your hand,
the path of right just before you.
Then do not grasp at the stars,
but do life's plain, common work as it comes,
certain that daily duties and daily bread
are the sweetest things in life.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson






a quote




THE ROSErosebud
It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design,
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.
- The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I,
The flower God opens so sweetly,
In my hands would fade and die.
- I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?
- So I'll trust Him for His leading
Each moment of every day
And I'll look to Him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.
- For the pathway that lies before me
My heavenly Father knows
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments
Just as He unfolds the rose.
~Anonymous.




rose











"Love me, love my graphics."











my house

MEN and WOMEN!
The Scoring System!



SIMPLE DUTIES!

You check out a suspicious noise at night: 0
You check out a suspicious noise and it's nothing: +1
You check out a suspicious noise and it's something: +5
You pummel it with a six iron: +10
It's her cat: - 10

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENTS!

You stay by her side the entire party: 0
You stay by her side for a while, then leave to chat with a buddy: - 2
Named Tiffany: - 4
Tiffany is a dancer: - 6
Tiffany has implants: - 8

SATURDAY AFTERNOONS!

You visit her parents: +1
You visit her parents and actually make conversation: +3
You visit her parents and stare vacantly at television: - 3
The television is "off": - 6
You spend the afternoon watching college football in your underwear: - 6
You didn't even go to college: - 10

HER BIRTHDAY!

You take her out to dinner: 0
You take her out to dinner, and it's not a sports bar: +1
Okay, it's a sports bar: - 2
It's an all-you-can-eat night,
and your face is painted the color of your favorite team: - 10
You give her a gift, and it's a small appliance: - 10
You give her a gift, and it's NOT a small appliance: +10
You give her a gift, and it isn't chocolate: +2
You give her a gift that you'll be paying off for months: +30
You wait until the last minute, and buy her a gift that day: -10
With her credit card: - 30
And whatever you bought is two sizes too big: - 40

THOUGHTFULNESS!

You forget to pick her up at the bus station: - 25
Which is in Newark, New Jersey: - 35
And the rain dissolves the cast on her leg: - 50

DRIVING!

You lose directions on a trip: - 4
You lose the directions, and end up getting lost: - 10
You end up getting lost in a rough part of town: - 15
You get lost in a rough part of town, and meet the locals: - 15
She finds out you lied about having a black belt: - 60

COMMUNICATION!

When she wants to talk, you listen; displaying a concerned expression: +5
When she wants to talk you listen, for more than 30 minutes: +5
You listen for more than than 30 minutes without looking at the television: +10
She realizes this is because you have fallen asleep: - 10



_____



"I had the strangest dream last night,"
a man was telling his psychiatrist.
"I saw my mother, but when she turned around to look at me,
I noticed that she had your face. And you can imagine,
I found this very disturbing, and in fact I woke up immediately,
and couldn't get back to sleep.
I just lay there in bed waiting for morning to come,
and then I got up, drank a Coke,
and came right over here for my appointment.
I thought you could help me explain the meaning of this strange dream."
The psychiatrist was silent for a full minute
before responding: "A Coke? That's a breakfast?"





A psychiatrist's secretary walks into his study and says,
"There's a gentleman in the waiting room asking to see you. Claims he's invisible."
The psychiatrist responds, "Tell him I can't see him."





on a jetplaneThere was a religious lady that had to do a lot of traveling for her business,
so she did a lot of flying. Flying made her very, very nervous,
so she always took her Bible along with her to read
as it helped relax her on the long flights.
One time, she was sitting next to a man.
When he saw her pull out her Bible,
he gave a little chuckle and smirk and went back to what he was doing.
After awhile, he turned to her and asked,
"You don't really believe all that stuff in there do you?"
The lady replied, "Of course I do. It is the Bible."
He said, "Well, what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale?"
She replied, "Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that, it is in the Bible."
He asked, "Well, how do you suppose he survived
all that time inside the whale?"
The lady said, "Well, I don't really know.
I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask him."
"What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically.
"Then you can ask him," replied the lady.





tiny clown
"There is nothing in which people more betray their character
than in what they laugh at."
-Goethe

Children seldom misquote you.
In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.
—Anonymous

"I always prefer to believe the best of everybody
- it saves so much trouble."
-Rudyard Kipling

I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man,
and I hate people like that!
—Tom Lehrer

"You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely."
-unknown

Slightly sick,but I thought funny


People are more violently opposed to fur than leather
because it's safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.

I think animal testing is a terrible idea;
they get all nervous and give the wrong answers.


Maybe in order to understand mankind,
we have to look at the word itself.
Mankind. Basically, it's made up
of two separate words: "mank" and "ind".
What do these words mean?
It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

If you were a pirate, you know what would be the one
thing that would really make you mad?
Treasure chests with no handles.
How are you supposed to carry it?!


A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture
of the entire planet Earth taken from space.
On the back it said, "Wish you were here."

All of the people in my building are insane.
The guy above me designs synthetic hairballs for ceramic cats.
The lady across the hall tried to rob a department store...with a pricing gun
...She said, "Give me all of the money in the vault,
or I'm marking down everything in the store."

I have an answering machine in my car. It says, "I'm home now.
But leave a message and I'll call when I'm out."

Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more
than some sort of striking surface attached
to the end of a long stick.


For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here's a tip:
Why not add a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness.


Why do the caterpillar and the ant have to be enemies?
One eats leaves, and the other eats caterpillars. Oh, I see now.


One-Liners



jack says hi

I used up all my sick days. Now I'm having to call in dead.

Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!

Sorry I got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.

I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

If a word in the dictionary were misspelled,
how would we know?


If the police arrest a mime,
do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?


If your wife wants to learn to drive, don't stand in her way.
Stan Levenson


"I do not like this word bomb.
It is not a bomb; it is a device which is exploding."
Jacques Le Blanc, French ambassador to New Zealand,
describing France's nuclear testing, 1995




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