On Reminiscing

Shared by a friend --

There are words and faces and places that never lose their hold upon the heart.

They may be...faces that we may never see on earth again, places that we are seldom permitted to revisit; but they were once the scenes, the associates, the joy of our life; they had a controlling influence in training our aspirations and in shaping our future, and they can never be wholly forgotten. The flight of years cannot sully their innocence nor diminish their interest, and eternity will preserve them among the dearest reminiscences of earth.

We may meet and love other faces, we may treasure other words, we may have other joys, we may mingle in other scenes and form other associations, but these old familiar faces and these dear old familiar scenes remain invested with a fadeless beauty, sacred in their exemption from oblivion and decay.

~ from a book of women's reminiscences 
from the early days 
in the western mining towns

 

 Thankful for dear faces, old and new.

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Nervy Stuff

Fact #1: "Merkel nerve endings are mechanoreceptors found in the skin and mucosa of vertebrates that provide touch information to the brain." (But you probably already knew that…)

Opinion #1: If you read the entire source article you may quickly find yourself thinking, "TMI."

Opinion #2: I think most people probably don't care about Merkel nerve endings.

Opinion #3: I think "Merkel nerve endings" sounds funny. Who is Merkel, anyway?

Fact #2: "The most sensitive areas of your body are your hands, lips, face, neck, tongue, fingertips and feet."

Fact #3: "Psychologists report that most people can remember up to 90 percent of the details of their first romantic kiss, a memory that is even more powerful than their first sexual encounter." Thought provoking.

Opinion #3: See Opinion #1

Opinion #4: Both are pretty vivid memories for me! I wonder how they come up with a percentage. The statisticians were not there for the events, now, were they?

Opinion #5: That's enough semi-related trivia for one post.

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Liquid Prayers

What a fine Hebraism, and what grand poetry it is in English! "He hath heard the voice of my weeping." Is there a voice in weeping? Does weeping speak? In what language doth it utter its meaning? Why, in that universal tongue which is known and understood in all the earth, and even in heaven above. When a man weeps, whether he be a Jew or Gentile, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, it has the same meaning in it. Weeping is the eloquence of sorrow. It is an unstammering orator, needing no interpreter, but understood of all. Is it not sweet to believe that our tears are understood even when words fail? Let us learn to think of tears as liquid prayers, and of weeping as a constant dropping of importunate intercession which will wear its way right surely into the very heart of mercy, despite the stony difficulties which obstruct the way. My God, I will "weep" when I cannot plead, for thou hearest the voice of my weeping.

~ Spurgeon on Psalm 6:8

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Yeats

❧

Those that I fight I do not hate,

those that I guard I do not love.

❧

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.

❧

All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions.

❧

Joy is of the will which labours,

which overcomes obstacles,

which knows triumph.

❧

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

❧

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot;

but make it hot by striking.

❧

A pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love.

❧

Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy.

Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit

makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

❧

But I, being poor, have only my dreams.

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.

❧

13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939

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Three Pillows

When I visited one day, as he was dying, my beloved friend Benjamin Parsons, I said, "How are you today, Sir?" He said, "My head is resting very sweetly on three pillows—infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom."

Preaching in the Canterbury Hall, in Brighton, I mentioned this some time since; and many months after I was requested to call upon a poor but holy young woman, apparently dying.

She said, "I felt I must see you before I died. I heard you tell the story of Benjamin Parsons and his three pillows; and when I went through a surgical operation, and it was very cruel, I was leaning my head on pillows, and as they were taking them away I said, 'May I keep them?' The surgeon said, 'No, my dear, we must take them away.' 'But,' said I, 'you cannot take away Benjamin Parsons’s three pillows. I can lay my head on infinite power, infinite love, and infinite wisdom.'"

~Paxton Hood, in "Dark Sayings on a Harp," 1865

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Love

And now abide

faith, hope, love,
these three;

but the greatest of these

is love.

~I Corinthians 13:13

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Ovals

When you start with a portrait and try to find pure form
by abstracting more and more,
you must end up
with an
egg.

~Pablo Picasso

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Food for Thought

It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - 

you know someone's fingers have been all over it. 

~Julia Child



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Line of Fire

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself . . .

~Proverbs 27:12

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Parable

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,
who, when he had found one pearl of great price,
went and sold all that he had and bought it.

~Matthew 13

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Special Delivery

Friendship is the breathing rose,
with sweets in every fold.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

The truck arrived without my even knowing it . . .

I looked up to see a grinning child and a box which she slid into my lap . . .

Then it was my turn to smile . . . over and over again.

Liz and Lisa, they are lovely.
Thank you for making this day so special.

I love you!

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Next Stop . . . RushMORE?

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Autograph Book

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Focus

When words become unclear,
I shall focus with photographs.
When images become inadequate,
I shall be content with silence.
~ Ansel Adams





I sure wish I had photography to fall back on when words became unclear...

When words become unclear, I shall focus with music.
When notes become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.
~ Mole

Well, I'm no Beethoven, either.

*silence*

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It's Right Here ;-)

Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy . . . and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
~ Douglas Adams

Somebody who can stay in control
of virtually any situation
is somebody who is said to know
where his or her towel is.
~ Wikipedia


Just sayin'...

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A Thought's Desire

Just one?

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A Home in Mind

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History

Never read through curiosity, and do not read hurriedly to get through a book quickly. Stop from time to time to relish your reading. Reflect on and examine yourself about what prevents you from practicing what you read.

~ John Baptist de la Salle

After a full day of touring the old haunts of my dad and listening to him add meaning to buildings and vacant lots and streets, the best shot of the day was one of old bricks. The rubble of a place very special in my father's memory. Not what I expected.

The quotation? I looked for one that was spoken by the founder of the old school and one that might make my dad smile. We'll see whether or not I succeeded.

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Cheese, Please!

So sorry . . . it's hard to read at this size.
Please click on the poster to view a larger version.

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Perspective

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