Yesterday wasn’t a good day. I misjudged a step, fell down and broke my thumb. When I got home from the emergency room, my sister called to tell me Aunt Lucille died. Sometimes, there isn’t any choice but to accept whatever happens.
Well why do the hands of time
So easily unwind?
Some lessons we learn the hard way.
Some lessons don’t come easy and
That’s the price we have to pay.
Song by Melody Gardot, Some Lessons
The Great Pumpkin was Alone. He thought “I am One. I want to become Many.” This single thought caused a Vibration, which eventually became Sound (“Om”), which prompted all Creation. Empty furrows–the space between vibrations– begat more Pumpkins, which represent the dream state of all consciousness.
A Pumpkin at rest is Perfect Bliss. Therefore, carve a pumpkin at your own risk.
Creating a Devil Pumpkin Using Kerosene-Soaked Toilet Paper (ExtremePumpkins.com)
“Who is it knocking in the night,
That fain would enter in?”
“The ghost of Lost Delight am I,
The sin you would not sin,
Who comes to look in your two eyes
And see what might have been.”
Poem from Theodosia Garrison
Saturday is Halloween. Despite the giant spiders and scary pumpkins I leave on the porch to scare them away, children still come looking for cookies and candy. They think their little plastic masks and bedsheets will protect them. Heh heh.
Lisa, vampires are make believe, like elves, gremlins and eskimos.
Quotation from Homer Simpson
ENVELOPE, n. The coffin of a document; the scabbard of a bill; the husk of a remittance; the bed-gown of a love-letter.
Quotation from Ambrose Bierce
Well-meaning people tell me I should eat fish. My being a vegetarian seems to bother them. But no, I don’t have to eat fish. Omega-3 fatty acids are available in DHA or EPA supplements made from plant-based algae. Omega-3 is also available in eggs. So there.
Everyone knows that some young bucks among the epicures, by continually dining upon calves brains… have little brains of their own, so as to be able to tell a calf’s head from their own heads; which, indeed, requires uncommon descrimination.
Quotation from Herman Mellville, Moby Dick
In some countries, Friday is the equivalent of Sunday, meaning Saturday is the beginning of their work week, or my equivalent Monday. Some consider Friday to be an unlucky day to begin a voyage, but others say its a lucky day to plant potatoes. It proves not all Fridays are the same; there are Good Fridays, Black Fridays, First Fridays, Casual Fridays and Friday the 13ths. But I shouldn’t complain. Some people work seven days a week– for them, Friday doesn’t really exist at all.
Always strive to excel, but only on weekends.
Quotation from Richard Rorty
President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Let us wish him well for all our sakes.
I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture. And I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.
Quotation from President Barack Obama
If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.
Another Quotation from President Obama
What is it about romantic movies that feels so good?
Holden: I love you.
Alyssa: You love me?
Holden: I love you. And not, not in a friendly way.
Quotation from the movie Chasing Amy
A life without pain offers no opportunity for self-examination or spiritual fulfillment. Everything that is perceived to be worthwhile and good would become meaningless without suffering and resolution. Accept your pain, but don’t passively accept the pain of others. And remember: Pain is never cool when one person inflicts it on another.
Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Quotation from Kahlil Gibran
The pain passes, but the beauty remains.
Quotation from Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Phemie Alcott’s MySpace Page I love her music!
I’m on my way out, she said,
like she was picking up keys
after finishing the grocery list
and buttoning her coat
before quietly closing
the door after her.
Poem for Aunt Lucille, recently diagnosed with incurable liver cancer.
Today was wonderful in the San Francisco bay area. For the first time in months, we got a “real” rain with rivulets and puddles. It rained all day, and it is forcast to rain again tomorrow. It’s been a very dry year, and we need the water.
The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Rain
The monotone of the rain is beautiful,
And the sudden rise and slow relapse
Of the long multitudinous rain.
Poem by Carl Sandburg, Monotone
The night rain, dripping unseen,
Comes endlessly kissing my face and my hands.
Poem by D.H. Lawrence, Embankment at Night, before the War
I have no sense of direction. I know the sun sets in the west, and I can locate the North Star by following the Big Dipper. But going from Point A to an unknown Point B by myself usually involves drifting, unplanned side trips and lots of frustration. If you find a trail of skittles, please come and get me.
And I am willing to come to you now, my dear,
As a pigeon lets itself off from a cathedral dome
To be lost in the haze of the sky, I would like to come,
And be lost out of sight with you, and be gone like foam.
Poem by D.H. Lawrence, Elegy
This October is the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. More than 40,000 men and women will die from this disease this year. Early detection can save your life. Although men and women of all ages can get breast cancer, women especially aged 40 and older should get a mammogram and clinical breast exam every year. Please have yourself checked. And if you don’t already know how, it’s important that you learn how to self-examine your breasts.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists.
Grace is loving those who don’t deserve to be loved. It’s giving an undeserved gift.
Grace in women gains the affections sooner, and secures them longer, than any thing else. It is an outward and visible sign of an inward harmony of soul.
Quotation from William Hazlitt
Grace is available for each of us every day- our spiritual daily bread- but we’ve got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow.
Quotation from Sarah Ban Breathnach
This is comic #700. I am grateful for every comment, every kind word, given over the last 2 1/2 years. Thank you so much for overlooking my faults and petty mistakes. I am blessed because of you.
As Anheuser-Busch InBev prepares to possibly sell its SeaWorld theme parks to Blackstone Group, PETA is suggesting that SeaWorld orca whales and dolphins be released (after rehabilitation) back into nature. They propose replacing the real animals with bionic “animatronics” and virtual-reality exhibits. “This could be the end of injustice at SeaWorld, where orcas and other dolphins are imprisoned in tiny tanks and forced to do silly tricks,” said PETA Director Debbie Leahy.
PETA Donor Offers to Buy SeaWorld From New Owner–To Set the Animals Free (PETA.com) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
The autonomous Festo AirPenguins do more than just fly (Mechanical Engineering) Three flying [autonomous robot] penguins interacted with one another in tight airspace above Festo’s booth.
Maybe its the change in weather. Winter. Icy fingers inches away, ready to grab you.
An aged man now entered, and without
One word, stept slowly on, and took the wrist
Of the pale maiden. She looked up, and saw
The fillet of the priest and calm cold eyes.
Then turned she where her parent stood, and cried
“O father! grieve no more: the ships can sail.”
Poem by Walter Savage Landor, Iphigeneia
I’ve added some new widgets to Encore Seraphine, including a Search function and a Tag Cloud. I hope you like the changes and decide to try them. The current publication pace of a new comic roughly every other day is working great for me. In about a week, I’ll be presenting my 700th comic. Thank you for your encouragement and wonderful comments.
We live in an age disturbed, confused, bewildered, afraid of its own forces, in search not merely of its road but even of its direction. There are many voices of counsel, but few voices of vision; there is much excitement and feverish activity, but little concert of thoughtful purpose… It is our duty to find ourselves.
Quotation from Woodrow Wilson, 1907