.a gift from within.

You give but little when you
give your possessions. It is
when you give of yourself
that you truly give.
~Kahlil Gibran

Anything that has real
and lasting value is
always a gift from
within.
~Franz Kafka

.take time to.

Take the time to be courteous.
It is the mark of a gentleman.

Take time to play with children.
It is the joy of joys.

Take time to think.
It is the source of power.

Take time to play.
It is the secret of youth.

Take time to look around.
IT is too short a day to be selfish.

Take time to laugh.
It is the music of the soul.

Take time to read.
It is the fountain of wisdom.

Take time to be friendly.
It is the road to happiness.

Take time to love and be loved.
It is the privilege of the gods.

Take time to dream.
It is hitching your wagon to a star.

Take time to work.
It is the price of success.

Take time to live.
That is what time is for.

~The Los Angeles Herald

I found this worn, discolored, newspaper cutout within the pages of my Great-Grandmother Sylvia's copy of Streams in the Desert. I must say, I most definitely needed this today. Thank you, Grandma.

.gimme some java.

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.  ~

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

.thirteen days and counting.

She's almost here. . . 

Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees,

rock'd in the cradle of the western breeze.

~William Cowper

P.S.  Don't forget to "spring forward" an hour tonight!  Bye-bye one hour of sleep.  

.ode to the flower.

If it were not for these simple and yet so meticulously beautiful posies, I think many of us would find the dreariest of days to be absolutely unbearable.  Here are some quotes that I found quite fitting for such lovely, little beings.

It is at the edge of a petal that love waits.  ~William Carlos Williams

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.  ~John Ruskin  

Life is the flower for which love is the honey.  ~Victor Hugo

The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.  ~Jean Giraudoux

When words escape, flowers speak.  ~Bruce W. Currie

.is it spring yet?.

So here lately, I have detected quite a bit of "spring fever" taking place on the internet.  Unfortunately, it looks like we've still got two months of winter to deal with before Mother Nature "officially" announces that spring has arrived.  The weather today was much warmer than it has been.  Some trees are already starting to bud.  The picture above was taken several years ago at the BiCentennial Mall here in Nashville.  The cover of the recent Rangefinder magazine reminded me a little of this photo, with its more monotone look at the bottom and gradually working into the pinks and green on top.  Soon enough, the droll grays of winter will be replaced with the more jovial hints of pastel colored tulips, and trees sprinkled with delightful blossoms.  I know.  Doesn't seem like it could get here any quicker.  But it will.  So until then, I shall follow the wisdom of an old Japanese proverb:

One kind word

can warm

three winter months.