A few lovely things for today, when I’m packing up to head back to AZ and planning a few stops along the way.
A few lovely things for today, when I’m packing up to head back to AZ and planning a few stops along the way.
I have a 12 hour train ride to North Dakota on Saturday, so I’ve been looking for some new books to help pass the time.
So far, I’m interested in this one or this one, but I also came across The Portable Dorothy Parker. It’s not available on Kindle, and the hard copy won’t arrive before I leave, but some of her quotes are too good not to share:
“Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful.
You might as well live.”
-Enough Rope
“In youth, it was a way I had,
To do my best to please.
And change, with every passing lad
To suit his theories.
But now I know the things I know
And do the things I do,
And if you do not like me so,
To hell, my love, with you.”
“You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”
“If you wear a short enough skirt, the party will come to you.”
“I don’t care what is written about me so long as it isn’t true.”
“A hangover is the wrath of grapes.”
“Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.”
A few lovely things for a beautiful sunny day in Phoenix. I have a mango for breakfast, and absolutely no weekend commitments for the first time in 2016.
I came across this poem just before the holidays, and I really liked the message, especially the last few lines.
My mom always says “You can’t control what other people do”, as in, it doesn’t do you any good to stress and get upset over the things other people do, the only thing you can control is yourself and your actions, so just make sure you are doing what you need to be doing.
Or to put it another way, I was talking to my brother while I was in Mexico and he said “My kindergarten teacher told us something on the first day of school that really stuck with me, she said ‘Just worry about yourself’ so that’s what I do”.
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
‘Mend my life!’
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-Mary Oliver
A few lovely things for today, when I’m snuggling up under the covers and dreaming of Christmas in Mazatlan. Wake me up when December ends.
“Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes’, otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.” ~ Ian Fleming
I’m writing this from a beach house in Waianae, Hawaii. I booked my ticket Friday night, and left Saturday morning.
I struggled for a few minutes, over whether or not this was a practical thing that a normal, well-adjusted person would do, and then realized, I don’t care.
Lately I’ve feeling a little bit unsure of what’s next for me. There are a few things I’ve been working towards, but everything I want to do suddenly feels daunting and impossible, and I don’t really know why or what changed.
Last night I went to yoga on the roof of the W in Scottsdale, and at the end of class, our instructor played excerpts from this speech. It was exactly what I needed to hear.
“Barn’s burnt down —
now
I can see the moon.”
-Mizuta Masahide
A few lovely things for today, when I’m back in Arizona for 11 days in a row, the longest unbroken stretch since May.
This summer I was lucky enough to spend a week in North Dakota visiting my sister and her family. I don’t remember the last time I was able to do that, but it has definitely been a few years.
And even though North Dakota is about the last place in the world you want to be in the winter (unless you are bundled up by the fireplace drinking Rumchata), it sure is pretty in the summer.
loveliness. 