R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.

- Marilyn Monroe

Some days you just need a little...

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

Need A Reason To Run? Here Ya Go...

RUN because you have to. RUN because you love it. RUN because you want to be fast. RUN because you want to be skinny. RUN to find some quiet time. RUN to sweat. RUN to eat. RUN hear your heart pound in your ears. RUN because you're a runner. RUN because you gotta keep the streak. RUN because you don't know why the hell you're running. RUN because you fought with your partner. RUN because your job is s****y. RUN because you got no money. RUN for the sunrise. RUN for a race. RUN because it's impossible. RUN because it's easy. RUN instead of doing the laundry. RUN instead of watching TV. RUN because no one else understands. RUN because the cool kids do it. RUN because you're tired of talking. RUN for numbers. RUN for feel. RUN to prove something. RUN because it f******g hurts. Or don't run. If you got something better to do.

- Jeff Edmonds

An excuse for every pair. My Marine Corps Marathon 2010 pals are top center.

Beauty in Strength

I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.

-         Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre

Photo: www.morguefile.com



Missing Switzerland

In the mountains, there you feel free.

– T. S. Eliot

The Wasteland

Photo: Appenzel, Switzerland
 www.ryderwalker.com

True Love

Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken

It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

- William Shakespeare

Sonnet 116

Yoda Said It Best

Do or do not; there is no try.

-         Yoda

Together

Zusammen durch dick und dünn gehen.

(Together through thick and thin.)

-         German Proverb

Photo: An, Oma and Me
Hofbrauhaus, Munich 2009

Lobbest Thou Thy Holy Hand Grenade

King Arthur: How does it... um... how does it work?
Sir Lancelot: I know not, my liege.
King Arthur: Consult the Book of Armaments.
Brother Maynard: Armaments, chapter two, verses nine through twenty-one.
Cleric: [reading] And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats and large chu...
Brother Maynard: Skip a bit, Brother...
Cleric: And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.
Brother Maynard: Amen.
All: Amen.
King Arthur: Right. One... two... five.
Galahad: Three, sir.
King Arthur: Three.

Photo: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Inspiration

Sometimes it’s brilliance all around me
Sometimes it’s light I barely see
And though I utilize its grandeur
It does not belong to me
'Cause all I can do is vague description
As I do my best to share
The smooth perfection I can only dream of
The flow of all the life that's there
Life that's there

- Blues Traveler

Crystal Flame

Know When to Hold 'Em

You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ‘em,
know when to walk away, and know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.

-         Kenny Rogers

The Gambler

Photo: www.morguefile.com

Unanswered Prayers

Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

-         ­Garth Brooks

Unanswered Prayers

Photo: www.morguefile.com

Hope Springs Eternal

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-Alexander Pope,
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

Photo: www.morguefile.com

Are You Ready For Some...

To me, there is nothing better than taking the family out and tossing around the old pig skin. The squealing scares the kids, but it's a good warm-up for football.

-         Stephen Colbert

Photo: www.morguefile.com

Don't Complain, Try Again

 Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.

- Marie Curie

Photo: www.morguefile.com



Happy Birthday, Annie Fannie!

A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves - a special kind of double.

- Toni Morrison

Photo: Charlevoix, Michigan

Sh***y First Drafts

For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really sh***y first drafts.

- Annie Lamott

Bird by Bird

Photo: http://www.morguefile.com/

Everybody Has a Good Side

Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side; just keep waiting, it will come out.

- Randy Pausch

The Last Lecture

Photo: www.morguefile.com

Stay Curious!

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

- T. S. Eliot



Sunset fishing with Grandpa
Deer Lake
Boyne Mountain, Michigan

Are You Going to be Strong Today?

Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'

- Peter Maher

Canadian marathon runner

The King's Breakfast

In honor of my Boobalicious' 5th birthday, instead of a quote I bring you his favorite poem: "The King's Breakfast." (Best read aloud with exaggerated British accents.)

Photo: www.morguefile.com

The King asked the Queen, and
The Queen asked the Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid she curtsied,
And went and told the Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."
The Alderney said sleepily:
"You'd better tell his Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade instead."

The Dairymaid said, "Fancy!"
And went to her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me, your Majesty,
For taking of the liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very thickly spread."

The Queen said "Oh!:
And went to his Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people think that
Marmalade is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade instead?"

The King said, "Bother!"
And then he said, "Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody," he whimpered,
"Could call me a fussy man;
I only want a little bit
Of butter for my bread!"

The Queen said, "There, there!"
And went to the Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said, "There, there!
I didn't really mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer,
And butter for his bread."

The Queen took the butter
And brought it to his Majesty;
The King said, "Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down the banisters,
"Nobody, my darling,
Could call me a fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

- A. A. Milne

The King's Breakfast

Heaven or Hell?

The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.

-         John Milton

Paradise Lost

Photo: http://www.morguefile.com/ abpphotos@yahoo.com

Take Pleasure in Reading

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.

-                     Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey

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