Tag Archives: nature

The 06/03/13 Joy Jar

2 Jun

 

Moi was walking around today and she noticed that there is green grass and there is green grass. Grass comes in shades and in comes in different types. Grass that is well-tended looks happy and grass that has been left to its own devices looks disheveled and lost. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is grass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.
Thomas Jefferson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow.
Khalil Gibran

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
Henry Miller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.
Walt Whitman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To us also, through every star, through every blade of grass, is not God made visible if we will open our minds and our eyes.
Thomas Carlyle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.
John Steinbeck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.
Hal Borland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I’d like to give my love to everybody, and let them know that the grass may look greener on the other side, but believe me, it’s just as hard to cut.
Little Richard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bible tells us that God will meet all our needs. He feeds the birds of the air and clothes the grass with the splendor of lilies. How much more, then, will He care for us, who are made in His image? Our only concern is to obey the heavenly Father and leave the consequences to Him.
Charles Stanley

 

The 05/12/13 Joy Jar

11 May

 

The past few days in Seattle have been glorious with sun and pleasant temperatures. Rain is predicted to start tomorrow and last for the next several days. A Seattle rain cleans the air and plumps up the skin. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the Seattle rain which cleans the air.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
Dolly Parton

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
Langston Hughes

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.
Roger Miller

It ain’t no use putting up your umbrella till it rains.”

Alice Caldwell Rice

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

The 05/06/13 Joy Jar

5 May

Most of the folk in the South or any tropical region would refer to Seattle folk as weather wimps. We are in the midst of a Seattle ‘heat wave.’ That means the temperature is over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets close to 90, then many folk indigenous to the area complain. Transplants from warmer climes love it because it reminds them of the home they left. The great thing about the Puget Sound region is that after a while the natural air conditioning kicks in. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar is the rhythm of weather in the Puget Sound region.

It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn’t hear the barbarians coming.
Garrison Keillor

Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat”

Lao Tzu

Although an ass is tired, he continues to carry his burden; he is unmindful of cold and heat; and he is always contented; these three things should be learned from the ass.”

Chanakya

Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The Eternal.”

Dante Alighieri

HEAT, n.

Heat, says Professor Tyndall, is a mode Of motion, but I know now how he’s proving His point; but this I know –hot words bestowed With skill will set the human fist a-moving, And where it stops the stars burn free and wild.
_Crede expertum_ –I have seen them, child. –Gorton Swope”

Ambrose Bierce

Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers”

William Penn

I have discovered that the world over, unusual weather prevails at all times of the year.”
Edgar Rice Burroughs

Don’t knock the weather. If it didn’t change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn’t start a conversation.”
Kim Hubbard

The 04/30/13 Joy Jar

29 Apr

The past couple of days have been a pause in the march toward Spring. This evening is downright chilly and fleece is actually welcome. But, everything is changeable and the temperature should head toward the 70s in the next couple of days. These chilly days make us appreciate the warm which is coming our way. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are the chilly days which really make us appreciate Spring.

Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.

Mark Twain

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

Oscar Wilde

Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it

Mark Twain

An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.
Washington Irving

A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.
Marcel Proust

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
Anthony J. D’Angelo

The 04/28/13 Joy Jar

27 Apr

 

The past several days have been sunny in Seattle. Today and for the next couple of days there will be a series of Spring storms coming through. Today there was a spurt of wind which caught moi. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the wind.

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
William Arthur Ward

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.
Bruce Lee

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
Henry Ford

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church is often labeled today as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, look like the only attitude acceptable to today’s standards.
Pope Benedict XVI

The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.
Chanakya

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
Jimmy Dean

The 04/27/13 Joy Jar

26 Apr

 

Rhododendrons and azaleas grow in most parts of the world, but they grow especially well in Seattle. Gardens all over the city are adorned with these beautiful flowers. They are a sure sign of the arrival of Spring and early summer. Today;s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are the beautiful rhododendrons and azaleas.

And in the woods a fragrance rare
Of wild azaleas fills the air,
And richly tangled overhead
We see their blossoms sweet and red.
Dora Read Goodale—Spring Scatters Far and Wide.

The earth laughs in flowers.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I must have flowers, always, and always.”
Claude Monet

In joy or sadness flowers are our constant friends.”
Kakuzō Okakura, The Book Of Tea

A flower blossoms for its own joy.”
Oscar Wilde

Now Spring returns with leaf and blade,
Some seek the garden, some the glade;
And all to Nature turn, but I
To the fresh fields of Poetry,

Sweet are the first green leaves, and sweet
The scents, and genial the first heat;
And backed by pine or cypress glooms
How rich the rhododendron blooms!

Yet rich or sweet as these appear,
They were as wonderful last year;
And all as then move without pause
Through the same course by the same laws….

Archibald Young Campbell

The 04/25/13 Joy Jar

25 Apr

 

Moi read this story about 72,000 Ladybugs Released in Mall of America and she was immediately intrigued because Ladybugs are one of the few bugs that moi actually likes. Not only are Ladybugs helpful bugs, but they are cute. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the Ladybug.

Little red bug, oh so cute,
Here’s a black spot for your suit…
Susan M. Paprocki

How brave a ladybug must be!
Each drop of rain is big as she.
Can you imagine what you’d do,
If raindrops fell as big as you?
Aileen Fisher

The Ladybug wears no disguises.
She is just what she advertises.
A speckled spectacle of spring,
A fashion statement on the wing….
A miniature orange kite.
A tiny dot-to-dot delight.
J. Patrick Lewis, “The Little Buggers”

Never hurt a ladybug
We need them in the garden
Ladybugs help flowers grow
So we must give them pardon!
Unknown

The 04/21/13 Joy Jar

21 Apr

 

Even though April showers bring May flowers, April is still cool in Seattle amd one needs a coat. A raincoat fills the bill nicely. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is moi’s raincoat.

Raincoats are not invented to stay indoors.

Loesje

Honor wears different coats to different eyes.
Barbara Tuchman

I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.
Benjamin Harrison

He that respects himself is safe from others. He wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

With an evening coat and a white tie, anybody, even a stockbroker, can gain a reputation for being civilized”

Oscar Wilde

I’m an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat

Harold Wilson

The 04/15/13 Joy Jar

14 Apr

Everyone thought we had settled into a predictable Seattle weather pattern of showers and drizzle. Just as one was ready to settle in, Mother Nature had a delicious surprise. A sun break. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is unexpected sunshine.

The world goes up and the world goes down, the sunshine follows the rain; and yesterday’s sneer and yesterday’s frown can never come over again.

Charles Kingsley

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

John Ruskin

Even on a cloudy day the sun is shining somewhere!
Unknown

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.
Henry Ward Beecher

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.
James Matthew Barrie

Keep your face always towards the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.
Walt Whitman

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.
Anthony J. D’Angelo

The 04/06/13 Joy Jar

5 Apr

One of the great joys of Spring is the season of the tulip. Tulips grow well in Washington in more colors and varieties than one can imagine. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the Tulip.

 

A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower. You didn’t have to struggle to make your face different than anyone else’s on earth. It just is. You are unique because you were created that way. Look at little children in kindergarten. They’re all different without trying to be. As long as they’re unselfconsciously being themselves, they can’t help but shine. It’s only later, when children are taught to compete, to strive to be better than others, that their natural light becomes distorted.

Marianne Williamson

But I have always thought that these tulips must have had names. They were red, and orange and red, and red and orange and yellow, like the ember in a nursery fire of a winter’s evening. I remember them.

Neil Gaiman

Here tulips bloom as theyare told; Unkempt about those hedges blows An English unofficial rose.

Rupert Chawner Brooke

The fountain is my speech. The tulips are my speech. The grass and trees are my speech.”

George T. Delacorte

 

The business of a poet, said Imlac, is to examine, not the individual but the species; to remark general properties and large appearances. He does not number the streaks of the tulip.”

Samuel Johnson

Every person is like a single tulip. While they may blend when together, each one is special in its own light.

Daniella Kessler