"Fashion is general. Style is individual." (--Edna Woolman)

Some people just HAVE IT: a sense of style...that certain je ne sais quoi..



You know who they are. You could swathe them in paper towels, mummy-style, and somehow, they'd manage to look good, maybe fashioning a bow, tied loosely, and trailing off to the side.
What is it about them?... Did they learn this somewhere? I think not. They're born with it.

"STYLE--go ahead talking about style,
You can tell where a man gets his style just
as you can tell where Pavlova got her legs
or Ty Cobb his batting eye.

Go on talking.
Only don't take my style away.
It's my face.
Maybe no good
but anyway, my face.
I talk with it, I sing with it, I see, taste and feel with it,
I know why I want to keep it.

Kill my style
and you break Pavlova's legs,
and you blind Ty Cobb's batting eye."

(--Carl Sandburg)

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

"To fight aloud, is very brave--
But gallanter, I know,
Who charge within the bosom,
The Cavalry of Woe--

Who win, and nations do not see--
Who fall-- and none observe--
Whose dying eyes no Country
Regards with patriot love--

We trust, in plumed procession--
For such, the Angels go--
Rank after Rank, with even feet--
And Uniforms of Snow."

(-Emily Dickinson)



Happy Memorial Day weekend, all!
sue

"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." (-Franklin P. Jones)

When my son Eric was just a little boy, one of his best friends was a little girl named Laura, who was a year older than Eric. Since he had no other siblings, he loved Laura, and he'd always go along with whatever she wanted to do. They lived just a few houses from each other, and they played so sweetly together.

Laura's mom loved it when Eric and Laura were together. She'd sit the two of them at her kitchen table, where she'd sometimes give them milk and cookies.

One day, Eric was sitting having a snack at their place as Laura's mom was filling the dishwasher. She told me that Eric watched her intently and finally said, "We don't have that kind of dishwasher."

Laura's mom was surprised, thinking that our dishwashers were both pretty much exactly the same, and so she said "I think they're the same, Eric."

Eric insisted, "No, we don't have that kind." Suddenly, Laura's mom realized that Eric wasn't talking about the dishwasher itself. He was looking at the dishwashing detergent! So, she calmly said, "I see, Eric...well, we use ALL."

Eric looked at her, and with a deadpan face, just replied, "Oh. We just use a tiny bit."
(Eric in Norway, below:)


"Out of the mouths of babes..."

"A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother." (--Author unknown)

This Sunday is Mother's Day.

All mothers work hard. They put their own needs aside as they selflessly help prepare their young to flourish in this world.

They give their little ones life itself, they comfort them, and care for them constantly, tirelessly bringing them food for the stomach as well as for the soul.


I am definitely remembering my own mom and all she did for me over many years as I watch these sweet families all around us.


This weekend, if you can, tell your mother you love her.


"Only mothers can think of the future--because they give birth to it in their children." (--Maxim Gorky)

The Happiest of Mothers Days to everyone!