I must remember to use words of no more than one syllable

when addressing human beings.

What Man has Wrought

The little cares that fretted me,

I lost them yesterday

Among the fields above the sea,

Among the winds at play.
~  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Women and cats will do as they please,

and men and dogs should relax

and get used to the idea."

~ Robert A. Heinlein

Surfer Girl Credo

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Surfer Girl Credo

I was browsing through some old files I found on a thumb drive and found this from way back when.  Gave me a nostalgic chuckle about who I used to be and what my attitudes once were (not bad, actually).  I was very happy in those days, but, of course, didn't realize it. 

Wanda's Surfer Girl Credo

Even though surfer girls may have a don't-care attitude, they are classy. They relax and take life as it rolls in with the waves.  They are chilled.

*A surfer girl is confident, optimistic and friendly.
*She never takes life too seriously. She's cool and down with it; that means she is open-minded and ready to try new things.
*If someone does something she doesn't agree with, she doesn't start criticizing: let others do what they want, it's none of her concern.
*If someone complains about her, she takes it in stride--you can't please everyone.
*If someone's nasty to her face, she smiles and shrugs. 

“She was hurt to find life made up of so many little things. At first she believed most faithfully that they had a deeper meaning and a coherent larger purpose; but after a while she saw to her dismay that the deeper and larger things were merely shadows cast by the small. So she buried the whole great treasure of winged dreams and iridescent shades under an oak-tree in the farthest corner of her heart, and planted a bush of wild roses over it. A small grave of dreams. Secretly and silently she buried them, a little ashamed, as a burglar might be who had long pursued some gleaming ruby necklace, and, having by infinite stealth and risk obtained it, found that it was red glass.”
― Barbara Newhall Follett 

Naval officer etiquette from 1944

  An era one with Nineveh and Tyre...

If Calvin lived in Elizabethan England

Haha!

Fortunately, I avoided that fate.  Thank you, John Paul Jones!

Sometimes I worry about things and can't sleep -- who doesn't?  But often I can't fall asleep because my mind keeps running on, continuing discussions I've had, or thinking about things I've read.  I have conversations with friends and relatives.  At some point I drift off and the conversations become dreams.
Oh, and I sleep in the buff, too.  I'd rather add another blanket or turn up the electric blanket a notch than wear night clothes.

Odors of orange-flowers and spice
  Reached them from time to time,
Like airs that breathe from Paradise
  Upon a world of crime. 
               
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Longfellow is, perhaps, my favorite poet.  Most only know him from the bit of children's doggerel**, and that's such a shame.  He had such a masterful way with words and such keen insight into the human heart.  He created so many memorable phrases, too, that people all these years later still repeat, not knowing at all that they were first thought of and written down by dear Henry.  Oh, well, into each life some rain must fall.
Now who said that...?

We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints
on the sand of time

** "I'm a poet but don't know it, but my feet do because they're long fellows."

Shut up, he explained

From the comic novel The Young Immigrunts by Ring Lardner, Jr., published in 1920, a very expressive phrase that probably has more significance today than it did when it was written a century ago.

The Young Immigrunts

Now, Only Now

“If I could, I would stop the passage of time. But hour follows on hour, minute on minute, each second robbing me of a morsel of myself for the nothing of tomorrow. I shall never experience this moment again.”
― Guy de Maupassant

Idly playing Satie on a quiet evening.

Evening

It's when the swallows finish up their last swoops and hand over the night to the bats.  It's when an uncertain breeze springs up from nowhere, rustling the grass and rippling the leaves.  It's when coyotes begin to yip and howl, padding through the spreading shadows.  It's when Venus brightens into visibility in the western sky and an owl glides silently overhead.  It's when there are sudden silences and strange stirrings behind you.
It's when I feel peaceful and happy.