“Don’t laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender,
tragical romances are hidden away in the hearts
that beat so quietly under the sober gowns,
and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself,
make the faded faces beautiful in God’s sight.”
Louisa May Alcott, 1832-1888
“Little Women”
Great sadness for my friend, Mark, who lost his best friend, Duke, yesterday.
Read here. He was a great dog and we hiked many trails together, photographing
much of what you see on this blog.
A Boy and His Dog
A boy and his dog make a glorious pair:
No better friendship is found anywhere,
For they talk and they walk and they run and they play,
And they have their deep secrets for many a day;
And that boy has a comrade who thinks and who feels,
Who walks down the road with a dog at his heels.
He may go where he will and his dog will be there,
May revel in mud and his dog will not care;
Faithful he’ll stay for the slightest command
And bark with delight at the touch of his hand;
Oh, he owns a treasure which nobody steals,
Who walks down the road with a dog at his heels.
No other can lure him away from his side;
He’s proof against riches and station and pride;
Fine dress does not charm him, and flattery’s breath
Is lost on the dog, for he’s faithful to death;
He sees the great soul which the body conceals–
Oh, it’s great to be young with a dog at your heels!
Edgar Guest, 1881-1959
Journalist and Poet
“Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4
Doe River, Roan Mountain State Park
“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the
concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime,
and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting,
swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing
and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”
G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936
English author
“Ah! on Thanksgiving day….
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?”
John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892
Quaker poet
Biltmore, Asheville, NC
“I believe love is primarily a choice
and only sometimes a feeling.
If you want to feel love,
choose to love and be patient.”
“Silly things do cease to be silly
if they are done by sensible people
in an impudent way.”
Jane Austen, 1775-1817
Emma
“‘Cause a face without freckles
Is like a sky without the stars
Why waste a second
Not loving who you are
Those little imperfections
Make you beautiful, lovable, valuable
They show your personality inside your heart
Reflecting who you are”
Natasha Bedingfield, b. 1981
British singer/songwriter
“Freckles“
“Give all to love; obey thy heart.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
“There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.”
Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, 1838-1912
American poet and author
Roan Highlands
“And the thought came to me, sudden and shocking,
that the broken and contrite heart
is something far more terrible than penitence.”
Alan Paton
Worchester, MA (2008)
“We must always change,
renew, rejuvenate ourselves;
otherwise we harden.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
“Nobody ever says, ‘I think I will lie to myself today.’
This is the double treachery of self-deception:
First we deceive ourselves, and then we convince ourselves
that we are not deceiving ourselves.”
Lewis Smedes
Author of “A Pretty Good Person”
“It is amusing to see souls who, while they are at prayer,
fancy they are willing to be despised and
publicly insulted for the love of God,
yet afterwards do all they can to hide their small defects;
if anyone unjustly accuses them of a fault,
God deliver us from their outcries!”
Teresa of Avila
Rocky Fork
“Life is just one damned thing after another.”
Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915
Influential exponent of the Arts & Crafts movement
“To find a fault is easy;
to do better may be difficult.”
Plutarch, 46 AD – 120 AD
“Living apart and at peace with myself,
I came to realize more vividly the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance.
To refrain from giving advice, to refrain from meddling
in the affairs of others, to refrain,
even though the motives be the highest,
from tampering with another’s way of life –
so simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit. Hands off!”
Henry Miller, 1891-1980
“No trumpets sound
when the important decisions of our life are made.
Destiny is made known silently.”
Agnes de Mille, 1909-1993
“The older I get, the more I feel almost beautiful…”
Sharon Olds, b. 1942
Poet and author
Sill Branch Falls, Unicoi County
“When you really trust someone,
you have to be okay with not understanding some things.”
Unaka Mountain
“I am patient with stupidity
but not with those who are proud of it.”
Edith Sitwell, 1887-1964
British poet
