"Travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. Travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.” – Freya Stark


And so channeling Freya Stark, a woman who knew a little something about travel, I love to go to grocery stores when I travel. The juxtaposition of the familiar with the foreign crystallizes the differences between my everyday(quotidian!!) experience and an everyday (quotidian!!!) experience in the country I am visiting. Going to the movies in a foreign country is another way to experience the dissonance. Although, since most of the movies on offer seem to be American it can be a sharp dissonance to emerge from a movie theater having been watching an American movie and walk out onto the pavement in an African country. I've done it, it's weird. But incredibly memorable.

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."
Mohandas Gandhi


Tired and true statement, so often repeated it borders on corny, but today I embrace it wholeheartedly.

"President Karzai has been declared the winner of the Afghan election... So obviously he's the legitimate leader of the country."
Peter Gibbs White House Spokesperson

"Obvious" & "legitimate" are not adjectives that spring to mind when describing the electoral debacle that just took place in Afghanistan.

“People ask me what advice I have for a married couple struggling in their relationship. I always answer:
pray and forgive. And to young people from violent homes, I say: pray and forgive. And again, even to the single mother with no family support: pray and forgive."

– Mother Teresa


And when that doesn't work?

"Writing essays for college admissions sucks."
Anonymous


Some things never change. Generations of college bound students will recognize anonymous' sentiments.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou

For better or for worse.

“Happiness is the greatest hiding place for despair.”
Soren Kierkegaard


What ever does he mean? I am intrigued.

"Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, everyday, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”
Christopher Morley

Good advice. If you are reading this blog, you are already doing # 1, #2, #3 and, by extension, #4 of Morley's advice.

"Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress."
Mohandas Gandhi


The whole world must be progressing at the moment.

"There is a hard law… When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.”
- Alan Paton


Ain't that the truth.

"In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she's a feminist or a masochist."
—Gloria Steinem


Is the Obama White House too much of a frat house? A question poised by the NYTimes today. Has Obama changed so much as president? When he was running for office he was widely touted as a feminist - remember? Strong mother, strong wife, strong mother-in-law, strong woman as chief advisor. Now he is president and because he likes to play a game of basketball in which no women played his feminism is being questioned. Gotta love the media. Something always has to be wrong.

“I want to do it because I want to do it”
Amelia Earheart

And she did do it. You go girl.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say goodnight til it be morrow."
William Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet

Sweet Dreams.

"Civilization runs a greater risk if we maintain our present attitude to religion than if we give it up."
Sigmund Freud


I am reading about the Catholic Church's courting of disgruntled Anglicans with much glee. Five hundred years after Henry VIII and those who opposed him brought much suffering to the world in the name of religious freedom, some Anglicans are finding their church too liberal and considering returning to the conservative fold of Catholicism. What would Henry [VIII] think?

"Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences."
—Susan B. Anthony

Of course, if those earnest people who are willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates fail at their proposed reform and do not become famous, like Susan B., the consequences can be severe. It can be a very lonely ride. Is it worth it? I believe it is. Loneliness is preferable to hypocrisy.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."
Abraham Lincoln


I thought an appropriate quote on the day it was revealed that the whole hot air balloon episode involving 6 year old Falcon Keene was a hoax staged by his parents for publicity. The poor child. His parents used him and all the rescue workers and law enforcement people who came to Falcon's "rescue", the desire for fame placed above the well-being of their child and all those who potentially risked their lives to rescue Falcon. I hope their shame knows no end.

"In the long run, we only ever hit what we aim at.”
Thoreau


Aim high and straight. Don't take your eye off your target.

"A host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."
William Wordsworth


Planted 300 + of the little yellow buggers today. I look forward to seeing them dancing in the breeze 6 months from now.

"The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest .... The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness."
Brother David

Oh, how I long to believe this, and find my wholeheartedness. Blogging just isn't doing it for me, but it's a start.

"In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships."
John Gottman
Emotional Intelligence

Too late for some of us.

"Looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
An thinking of the days that are no more."
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

After a wordless (long) weekend, I'm back.

“In the beginning of heaven and earth there were no words, words came out of the womb of matter"
Lao Tzu

"The world’s troubles are your troubles … and there is nothing wrong with the world that better human beings cannot fix."
John Sloan Dickey


I'm working on both at the moment...fixing the world's troubles and being a better human being. Of course, Obama has me beat in both categories, but hey , thank god for that.

‘’surprised and deeply humbled”
Barack Obama on winning a Nobel Peace Prize


But I hope he's also pleased. I am pleased for him, and for us.

"CAVEAT EMPTOR."


It's worth learning Latin to learn the meaning, literal and educational, of this popular saying.
But, if you're busy learning other languages at the moment, the translation is "BUYER BEWARE".
How true it is since the beginning of time.

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men."
Herman Melville


...unfortunately. We are connected, but not all connections are positive. As the connection endures, we have to endure.

"No good deed goes unpunished."
Clare Booth Luce

A cynical observation by a worldly woman.

"A son is a son till he takes him a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life."
~Irish Saying


Happy Birthday to my daughter.

"I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances."
—Martha Washington

Do we know if our dispositions stem from our circumstances, or our circumstances from our dispositions? According to new research done by Jerome Kagan, a psychologist at Harvard, people are born with their dispositions. He has proven that it is possible to see in infants the characteristics of an anxious personality. I would like to see the research that shows us how to improve our dispositions, and by extension, our circumstances.

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


A local fellow, our Henry. A local quote for the local rain.

"Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress."
Mohandas Gandhi


Today is the 140th Anniversary of the Mahatma's birthday.

"Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit."
- Oscar Wilde




OUCH! Called on the carpet by the master himself.

"Chance encounters are what keep us going."
— Haruki Murakami


And so it was true for me today. I took myself out of my cocoon for a walk where I knew I would encounter people. We did encounter each other. I like to think I improved their day as much as they improved mine.

"The world is passing through troublesome times. The young people of
today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as
if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is
foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest
and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."

Peter the Hermit  1274 AD


Plus ca change......
    '

"Maybe you just had the worst day of your life, but you know, there's no escape, there's no excuse, so just suck up and be nice.”

-Ani DeFranco


OK, OK, I did just have a lousy day and I am just sucking up and being nice BUT I'M NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT.

"She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life."
-Frances E. Willard, 'How I learned to ride the bicycle' 1895


Is it really so simple, the mastery of life? I'm willing to try, I'm game. Out of the garage comes my bicycle.

"Believe that with your feelings and your work you are taking part in the greatest; the more strongly you cultivate this belief, the more will reality and the world go forth from it."
- Rainer Maria Rilke

I do believe it, I do believe it, I do believe it.

"With unfailing kindness, your life always presents what you need to learn. Whether you stay home or work in an office or whatever, the next teacher is going to pop right up."
Charlotte Joko Beck

I just hope the next teacher who pops up for me isn't my fifth grade teacher.

".... a highly innovative pursuit designed to foster a vibrant agora of creative
media that generates both social and aesthetic influence. "

School of Visual Arts/MFA in Social Documentary


WOW! I wanna do that. When was the last time anyone used the word 'agora' in a sentence? Sign me up!

"That’s just what happiness is, the heart being free"
-mipham






Now we know the secret of happiness. How do we execute it?

"The Master…trusts people who are trustworthy"
- Lao Tzu

Well, that makes it easier to trust.

"IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY!"
U2



and so it is.....

"Pessimists need a kick in the can'ts"

- unattributed


I saw this odd comment posted outside a Baptist church today. Even driving by at a moderate speed I got the pun.

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent”
Victor Hugo


Which is most of life, that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent. So without music there would be so much less to life.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." —Margaret Mead


One of my all time favorite quotes. Who could doubt such power?

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live."
-GOETHE


Interesting dilemma, this, no?

"How good does a female athlete have to be before we just call her an athlete?"
- Anonymous

Or, in today's world of sports, one can ask "How female does an athlete have to be before we just call her female?"

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence” Helen Keller


True words from someone who learned the lesson the hard way. Here's to hoping you all find the magic optimism, hope and confidence you need today, and everyday.

"I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman." ~Anaïs Nin


Of course, Anais didn't choose just one man....she kept choosing.

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."
-Rebecca West


Quoted last century by a remarkable woman, women in the 21st century who have opinions are still being labeled feminist. Perhaps it’s not a “dirty” word anymore, but ‘feminist’ still carries connotations of a wrong type of attitude. How can that be changed? More specifically, how can we change that?

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
- Harry Truman

What was Harry talking about? The kitchen is the Best place in the house. It's where all the good stuff happens, and it's the warmest place in the cold weather, which is descending upon us. I got back in the kitchen today. My youngest is driving herself to her last year of high school. Because I no longer have to drive her to the bus, I now no longer have a distinction between weekdays and weekends. To replace my strong need to nurture I've started to cook again. Really cook...butter, the use of several different pans, more than one item that needs to be cooked, meat vegetable starch. It's great. I don't even mind the washing up. And there's always something good at the end of the effort.

Absque Labore Nihil.


Happy Labor Day.

"Architecture, interior design, and gardening are all about balance and scale."

-John Saladino


And so as in the garden, as in life, balance and scale for success.

"Well-behaved women seldom make history; against Antimonians and witches, these pious matrons have had little chance at all”

- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Don't women ever get a break?

"Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity."

- David Whyte

So today I will practice a new discipline, a discipline I only discovered existed today, that of alertness. As I go about my day in my very familiar surroundings, among my familiar things, doing my familiar tasks I will attempt alertness and revel in the delights. Join me.

biotope

A usually small or well-defined area that is uniform in environmental conditions and in its distribution of animal and plant life.



So, where does this exist? I would like to visit one. "A uniform environment", I am intrigued. Would it be interesting, or boring? Normal or exotic? Would it even be recognizable as a biotope?

"Sailing is a good sport. You don't have to beat up the other guy like you do in boxing and football; you just try to outsmart him, and then you go out and have a beer with him"
-John Kolius

I'm living this quote this week...hope all of Quotidian's readers are having as wonderful a week...including and especially the women sailors among us.

Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.
-- Gustave Flaubert

To the thousands of you who read my blog daily and so have noticed I have not entered a post in 3 days, you will appreciate Flaubert's quote. To those of you who are reading my blog for the first time today, you will also appreciate Flaubert's quote. I am traveling, outside the USA and internet access has been patchy - not because I am in some remote part of the world, but only because the house I am living in does not have internet.
But how right is Flaubert. It is one reason I love to travel. To appreciate my insignificance and so all the more to appreciate my life. When I am reminded I am but a tiny speck in the universe, I am better able to accept that my actions do not have an enormous impact on anyone but those immediately around me and so I can be very kind to those around me and the rest of the world will not know or care I am soft.

“Deny the passport, throw it away and make a great decision that you will not leave this shore until and unless you have liberated all the human beings.”
-BUDDHA

It's the denying me without the passport which concerns me at the moment.

"ALL IS CLOUDED BY DESIRE."
Wayang

What do we see when we remove desire?

"To err is human, to forgive divine."
- William Shakespeare


Well, thank God for that.

"MAKE NEW FRIENDS, BUT KEEP THE OLD, ONE IS SILVER AND THE OTHER GOLD."


I was lucky enough to have lunch today with an old friend from college. Old friends are amazing experiences. I haven't seen this friend in 4 years, and before that it was probably 4 years. She lives on one coast and I on the other. Yet today she arrives at my front door and it is instant ease, picking up as if we saw each other yesterday. I've known her since 1980 so more than 1/2 my life, is it any wonder I feel completely at home with her?

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch."
-anonymous

Anonymous was a woman, as we all know. In this circumstance, probably some poor farmer's wife who cut off some tail after her husband told her "just wait til spring when the chickens hatch, we'll be rich"...and then they lost the farm.

The hummingbird competes
With the stillness of the air.
- Chogyam Trungpa

"A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough"

- Benjamin Franklin

As promised yesterday, I spent the 3 hours alloted to work by Benjamin Franklin to discover how he defined "powerful goodness". Alas, it was not enough time, and so rather than give you Benjamin Franklin's definition of powerful goodness, or just simple goodness, I am giving you another quote by him. I have not abandoned the plan to learn how he defined goodness, it will just take me longer than 3 hours. Keep checking back, one day it will be here on Quotidiannee.

DAILY GOALS

"Rise, wash, and address Powerful Goodness;"
-Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin has been on my mind this summer. I spent a couple of days in Philadelphia at the beginning of the summer and well, if you have ever been to Philadelphia, you know it is impossible to avoid being inundated with Benjamin. Franklin. He is the city's founder and participant in all the important historical events that took place there, and there were many. The signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to name just two. His statue is EVERYWHERE, unmistakeable as he was a particular looking gentleman. His inventions were many, his accomplishments many. And this is why he is on my mind, for his accomplishments, not his historical greatness. He kept a list of things to accomplish daily, divided into how many hours he would spend on each task. At the top of his list each morning was the above quote: "Rise, wash, and address Powerful Goodness;". He allotted 3 hours to this task, from 5 to 7 am each morning. He believed in Goodness, goodness with a capital G. What did he mean by Goodness? How did he define it? These are the questions I am asking myself today, and answering these questions is the goal I am setting for myself. I only hope I can be as productive as Benjamin and answer the questions from 8 am - 11 am, the hours he set assigned for "Work". Tomorrow, after spending 3 hours in the morning attempting to answer how Benjamin Franklin defined Goodness, I will be back to tell you about it.

"BLOGS ARE THE NEW CULTS"
- Quotidianne

Don't take my word for it. Think about it. There is a blog for everything. Hey, I'm all for blogs. But as in all walks of life, I'm mostly for that which makes one think. If a blog only agrees with your point of view, or is only interested in making you conform to its point of view, then it's a cult. Do a little research, as I say, don't take my word for it. But above all else, THINK ABOUT IT.

"Blogging is the new poetry."


Is it true? ? Can it be true? ? ??? Is this anonymous quote saying that the number of people who blog now in the 21st century are equal to the number of people (proportionally anyway) who wrote poetry in previous centuries? I find that hard to believe, even if I stretch my overactive imagination. Up until the 20th century vast proportions of the population were illiterate, never mind poetic. I choose this quote for today to bring focus to my own idea of blogs & blogging. I believe that "Blogging is the new cult culture."

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

I am pondering where exactly Confucius wrote down these and all his other words of wisdom. Did he have a blog? or a journal? Did he come up with all this wisdom himself, or did he just listen and choose the best lines he heard and had the foresight to write them down. I think all three. I am going to emulate Confucius and write down the best of what I think, what I hear, and what I come up with on my own. It will be up to you all to figure out what is what. In the meantime, the journey begins with this single step: write.

Absque Labore Nihil

["Nothing without Labor"]

So true, so true.....

Two quotes in Latin in two days. Don't get the wrong idea that all quotes will be in Latin. I think I only know one other Latin quote, which I will not post tomorrow. In the meantime, carpe diem.

AND SO IT BEGINS...the first blog entry:

CARPE DIEM.