Sometimes The Glass is Half Full

He said:

Life is no straight and easy corridor along
Which we travel free and unhampered,
But a maze of passages,
Through which we must seek our way,
Lost and confused, now and again
Checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith,
A door will open for us,
Not perhaps one that we ourselves
Would ever have thought of,
But one that will ultimately
Prove good for us.

A.J. Cronin



She said:

Sometimes

Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, mucadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail,
sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war;
elect an honest man; decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave a stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best efforts do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen: may it happen for you.

Sheenagh Pugh

Mouse Words: I am so going to see this movie

Mouse Words: Conservative groups denounce "Kinsey" film, claim female orgasm "just a theory."

Dear Comcast Cable

(From an email to my best friend; I thought you'd get a kick out of it.)

Strike #1: Calling at all, because, dude… “I was eating/sleeping/watching a television show that I have to pay extra to see because you don’t offer the SciFi channel as part of the basic package, so thanks bunches for dragging me away from that.”

Strike #2: “May I speak to Mr. or Mrs. ... ?”

Um, you have my account right in front of you. It’s a fairly safe guess that “Elizabeth” is a female’s name. (Not like I’m named “Cody” or something.)

It isn’t even “Miss or Mrs. “; it’s “Mr. or Mrs.” “Gee, it must be some sort of mistake that Elizabeth is the name on the account because I live in the 1950’s when women had no power and wouldn’t be living alone and must be married and I’ll just be sure to ask for ‘Mr.’ so that I can talk to the man of the house.”

I feel like saying, “Sure. Here’s the number. Mr. and Mrs. ... are my parents, and live in out of state, of course, and have absolutely control over my cable bill, but if you really want to talk to them, knock yourself out.”

Strike #3: “Did you know we offer DSL?”

“Well, no. I guess I must have missed any of the hundreds of ads for that service that fill up the space between the ones for Ab-buster 1200, Avitra “Male Enhancement,” TNT’s All Law & Order All the Time line-up, the SciFi original movie “Centipede!” (totally looks like a new classic, by the way), that psychotic lady who dances around with Swifer’s latest dusting tool, and (I kid you not) what appeared to be commercials for the local strip joint.

“And of course, I’m also too dense to notice the flyer that lands in my mail-box every damn week promising $19.99 for the first three months, after which the cost goes up to $70 a month.

“That has to be the reason I haven’t taken you up on the offer. It can’t possibly be because I’ve taken a look at my finances and decided that I can’t afford it, but thanks so much for calling me and reminding me again that I’m flat broke. I really love it when people do that.”

I so want to do what my mother did that time when she listened to the whole spiel, then said, “Hold on while I get my husband.” Then, she put the receiver down on the table went back to reading her book. She said it took twenty minutes for the poor lady to realize that no one really going to be coming back to the phone.

A Penny Saved Is Impossible

I was supposed to blog, but I didn't until today because I was busy painting my office and having a new driveway put in.

The office is a color called "buttercream" which is lovely, and always kind of makes me hungry. I have new office furniture coming. Actually the enormous, glass-fronted, solid oak bookcase is already here. And the beautiful solid oak, Stickley-manufactured desk is on order and probably won't arrive until after Christmas. Did you know Stickley still made furniture? It's incredibly nice stuff if you go for the Mission style. It's also pretty expensive, but hey, I'm worth a little loveliness, aren't I?

The driveway was $6300 - not cheap either. But the old concrete drive lasted 40 years, so I'm expecting this one to out-live me. The concrete guys were very professional - quick and organized - and they cleaned up after themselves nicely. The driveway looks good.

All of this is leading up to my poems of the day:

He said --

A Penny Saved Is Impossible

The further through life I drift
The more obvious it becomes that I am lacking in thrift.
Now thrift is such a boon to its possessor that years ago they began to tax it,
But it is a bane to him that lacks it
Because if you lack it your will go into a shoppe and pay two dollars for a gifte.
But if you possess it you find something just as good for a dollar fifte.
A penny is merely something that you pull several of out of your pocket before you find the nickel you need for a telephone call, if thriftlessness is in your blood,
Whereas to the thrifty a penny is something to be put out at stud.
Thrifty people put two-cent stamps on letters addressed to a three-cent zone,
And thriftless people on the other end pay the postage due and the thrifty people chuckle and rub their hands because the saving on every six letters represents a year’s interest on a dollar loan.
Oh that I were thrifty, because thrifty people leave estates to delight their next of kin with;
Oh that I were thrifty, because then not only would I have money in the bank to pay my bills, but I could leave the money in the bank because I wouldn’t have run up the bills to begin with;
Oh that I were not a spendthrift, oh then would my heart indeed be gladsome,
Because it is so futile being a spendthrift because I don’t know any places where thrift could be spent even if I had some.

Ogden Nash

She said --

Barter

Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up,
Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like the curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.

Sara Teasdale