It's four in the morning. Who will you call?

"Is there someone in your life whom you would feel comfortable phoning at four in the morning to tell your troubles to?  If your answer is yes, you will likely live longer than someone whose answer is no."

from Flourish by Martin E.P. Seligman

The songs of your childhood

For an inexplicable reason, I suddenly remembered this little ditty from my childhood:

"Where oh where has my little dog gone?
Where oh where can he be?
With his ears cut short and his tail cut long,
Where oh where can he be?"

Why, I haven't a clue!

I (Heart) Mondays

At least you woke up!

Summer solstice

Summer
Solstice
Sleep
outSide

The state of Yearning

 This state is populated with keeling bodies leaning against walls, keening over parapets.  In this state, no one is happy, but everyone will be happy soon.  The potential for happiness is the highest in the country, but so is the suicide rate.  When they quit yearning, they ablate.

Go Too Far

Last summer I was visiting my cousin Chris in Salt Lake City.  One morning while having coffee, we happened to meet a friend of hers, film maker Jan Andrews, who told us this anecdote about Werner Herzog, when he was filming True Believers, about a religious group in Russia who lived around a lake.

These "true believers" were convinced  that in the winter when the lake froze they could look through the ice and see a fallen city.  In making the film, there was a scene where two men were on their knees peering through the ice.  A young colleague of Jan Andrews was on hand when Herzog remarked that they were not members of the cult, but two drunken peasants that he paid to pose for the scene.  The young filmmaker was appalled that Herzog would do such a thing.

Herzog looked directly at him and said, "Go Too Far."

I (Heart) Mondays

Here's a concept:  I'm taking the day off!  Excuse me while I stretch out on the bed and read a book at 9:30 in the morning and I'm not sick, not depressed.  I'm taking Monday off!

Mum's the Word

Do you save scraps of conversation?  I do.  Found this in my notebook, from a conversation in England with an Englishwoman:

She:  The women were looking rather mumsey.

Me:  What does that mean?

She:  Old fashioned.

Me:  Oh, you mean like their Mums?

She:  Yes.  Exactly.

When Did You Get Old?

My ninety-six year old mother often says, "When you are as old as I am..." and it's always the preface to a pronouncement of one kind or another.

The other day I asked her, "So, when did you get old?  I mean, can you remember what age you said to yourself, 'I'm old'?"

She thought about it and said, "Ninety-three."

I (Heart) Mondays

This quote makes me think of the white rabbit, "I'm late.  I'm late, for a very important date."  Mea culpa, esp. on Mondays.

"Technology’s intent was to simplify our lives. And if used properly, it can maximize our time. I’m a big fan of technology. But one of its big downsides is how it can create the illusion that we are so much more important than we really are."
            from It Takes an Egg Timer:  A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life by Joanne Tombrakos