Why does the turtle cross the road??

To climb up on a log!! :-)

For some reason I thought of this scene when reading the Emily Dickinson poem:

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us--don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

...she just makes me smile!! :-) Perhaps "nobody" is really a turtle??

No Man Is An Island

Today...has been a hard day. In Political Science we discussed genocide. HARD TOPIC!! To make it all the more painful, we watched a documentary. I definitely think that it is important to learn about such horrifying histories, but they really affect me. I tend to internalize things. I'm never quite certain how to find the balance between "learning" about an experience and "living" it. But in the end, I would be more worried were I not affected. I don't EVER want to be desensitized. My professor posed the following question: "Is it the moral responsibility of the US to intervene in situations like Rwanda?" Yes, yes, with all my heart and with no hesitation, YES. WE MUST. There is no alternative that I could live with.

I am reminded of the John Donne poem, "No Man Is an Island":

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Sunrise+Camera+a little Tennyson=

The Flower
Lord Alfred Tennyson

Once in a golden hour
I cast to earth a seed.
Up there came a flower,
The people said, a weed.

To and fro they went
Thro' my garden bower,
And muttering discontent
Cursed me and my flower.

Then it grew so tall
It wore a crown of light,
But thieves from o'er the wall
Stole the seed by night.

Sow'd it far and wide
By every town and tower,
Till all the people cried,
"Splendid is the flower!"

Read my little fable:
He that runs may read.
Most can raise the flowers now,
For all have got the seed.

And some are pretty enough,
And some are poor indeed;
And now again the people
Call it but a weed.

It's the little things...

Have you ever had days simply set up for disaster?? I do on a regular basis. But somehow, at the very moment that my load is about to crush me, some small thing happens. Some "tender mercy." Some little kindness which pierces you to your core and fills you will gratitude and joy and puts everything in perspective. Just as your heart faints, you are given a new one.

It was one of those days today...and yesterday...and tomorrow...Life is just full of them.

It can almost seem as if "the WORLD revolves around me!!" :D No...as fun as that feeling is, haha!! A rather more accurate description would be a greater sense of your own insignificance and smallness in the universe...and yet, you still mean something. Not just something, that you mean EVERYTHING. You are beloved. You have a place in your Heavenly Father's heart, which is none but yours. The whole purpose of this life becomes clear and all of your petty cares fall away. You remember your Savior who says simply "Come, Follow Me." I love the gentle invitation of our loving Shepherd. I am so grateful for his "tender mercies." These little every day reminders of a love incomprehensible.

We must take care How we put the flowers in our hair...

Otherwise it will just be a MISTAKE!!!

For proof of this, I give you evidence in this picture. I was at the park sitting under a beautiful flowering tree. I was playing with my hair and feeling very whimsical. I thought I would just arrange it as if for May Day or a Spring wedding...romantic, elegant, and simple. I was going to adorn my hair with the beauty of nature. The result? See for yourself:


DISASTER!!! I will next time bring a mirror or...where is Sarah, or Elise, or Angie--my hair muses!! :-)

My new favorite TV show...

Okay, so I like to waste time. It keeps me sane. And what is it that my wonderful despair.com says about procrastination?? "Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now." That says it all!! ;P

My latest favorite discovery found in avoiding the inevitable: The It Crowd. SOOOO FUNNY!! Watch it!! My handy-dandy Netflix suggested it to me...and I was glad to comply. :-)

PS--WARNING: BE PREPARED TO LAUGH UNTIL YOUR SIDES ACHE!!!

Have I mentioned how much I love Spring??

I am not one for picking favorites...but if forced to pick a favorite season, I might just pick Spring. The world is so fresh, so new, so green and blue!! :-) Yes, I had to rhyme.

Despite my love of the other seasons, the warm and sleepy (or dreamy) haze that summer brings...along with THE BEACH!! Autumn is so crisp and colorful...and those bouquets of sharpened pencils. Winters pure white snow and sweater weather made perfect by perfect cups of hot cocoa and warm fires. There is still just something about Spring.

The world is alive again. Waking up after its deep sleep. There is still a cool morning, but the day warms gloriously without becoming "hot" (unless you sat in my car today...pre-AC). I love the first bloom, the budding of leaves and delicate flowers...which lasts for such a little time. Ask any mother how long her precious little newborn remains as such. It is but an instant and the infant is grown. Those first few days of Spring are comparable to such a precious gift. There is that same fragile, delicate, pure beauty and innocence as those beings who have just left heaven to be with us.

Spring fills the world with hope. Cleanses us inside and out...we want to start afresh as this season reminds us. This early Spring is the season of Easter. We want to 'wake up and put on [our] beautiful garments.' I want to begin again every day...but what a joy to begin again with Spring and its glorious pastel colors. I feel very much as though I am in the garden of Eden or heaven...