Quotes

Going through my drawer underneath my bed, I kept coming across slips of paper that had quotes on them, written down who knows when and long forgotten. I really liked these three and thought I'd share. 


Ninety percent of women are afraid of being conspicuous and of what people will say. So they buy a gray suit. They should dare to be different.
-Schiaparelli


There's no such thing as bad weather. Just bad clothes.
-unknown (that is, on the slip of paper it was written on, I didn't attribute it to anyone, so I don't know who said it :D)


I created flower women with gentle shoulders and generous bosoms, with tiny waists like stems and skirts belling out like petals.
-Dior

Pink: Where's Korea?
Me: Across the ocean underneath China.
Pink (in astonishment): So it is real!


A few days later -
Pink: Are you sure Korea's real?
Me: I'm telling you the truth, Pinks, it really does exist!

A little love --- Drew's version

Drew: Why did the turtle cross the road?
Me: Ummm, to get to the shell station?
Drew: Nope, to give you a kiss!
Me: awwww . . .
Drew: Yep, it was a really big snapping turtle!

Havalah asked me today: "What's the name of the man who has an ear on his head?"


I didn't know which one it was. Last time I checked, all the men I knew had an ear (or two) on their heads.

The moment I heard Miss Halcombe's name I gave up. It is a habit of mine always to give up to Miss Halcombe. I find, by experience, that it saves noise.

-Frederick Fairlie, The Woman in White

"Strangers," Miss Boo said once, "are just your friends that you don't know yet."
-Time For Miss Boo

Joshua Quote

Joshua: "Naomi's the BEST SISTER EVER!!!"
            [looks sideways at me] "No offense, Keturah."

Yesterday I went to St. Louis with Mara Unni, Exie, and Havalah for Rachel's birthday. On our way to meet Rachel at the Container Store, we stopped at Whole Foods Market and stocked up on (delicious) vegan jerky! Per Rachel's request, we ate lunch at Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe (the cupcakes were AMAZING!) and then went to the St. Louis Art Museum! At the art museum there was a painting of fishes swimming in the Hao river and a placard was beneath it with this dialogue:


Zhuangzi: "See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That's what fish really enjoy!"


Huizi: "You are not a fish, how do you know what fish enjoy?"


Zhuangzi: "You are not I-so how do you know I don't know what fish enjoy?"


Huizi: "I'm not you, so I certainly don't know what you know. On the other hand, you're certainly not a fish-so that still proves you don't know what fish enjoy!"


Zhuangzi: "Let's go back to your original question, please. You asked me how I know what fish enjoy-so you already knew I knew it when you asked the question. I know it by standing here beside the Hao."




p.s. pictures of the trip will be posted sometime next week, because Exie has the camera and is attending a horse camp!

"We're free Narnians, Hwin and I, and I suppose, if you're running away to Narnia, you want to be one too. In that case Hwin isn't your horse any longer. One might just as well say you're her human." -Bree the Horse

Quotes from Nancy Drew Books

One of the first books I remember reading (outside of school books) was a Hardy Boys book. I liked it, but it didn't quite click with me. So I read The Secret of the Old Clock, the first book of many in the Nancy Drew series. I loved it. At the time, I thought it was a real mystery novel. It wasn't, of course, but I read every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on. When I was twelve I read Sherlock Holmes for the first time and I realized that Nancy Drew books didn't even have a plot. Thankfully, it doesn't stop me from enjoying (even now) the quaint little stories. And I love Nancy Drew quotes. Mara Unni gave Qix, Exie and I a Nancy Drew Guide to Life booklet, from which all of the quotes below are taken.

If you are afraid of being followed when you leave your house, buy a new car and have it brought around to the back of the house for a sneaky escape.

          - Password to Larkspur Lane

If a guy's hunch results in a dead-end, don't flaunt your better judgment and intuition in front of him. Smirk secretly to yourself.

          -The Phantom of Pine Hill

When searching for important clues, anything labeled "Top Secret" might be a good place to start.

          -The Crooked Banister

Spend time at the gym to build upper body strength. Detective work may require fending off a vicious hair pulling.

          -The Thirteenth Pearl

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

-Ralf Waldo Emerson

An Unbirthday Celebration

There are so many people in our family that we have one birthday every month. In a couple months such as June, August, and September, there are two or three birthdays. But no one was born in April. Being the party-happy family that we are, in April we celebrate our unbirthdays. Mom got the idea from Alice in Wonderland, where the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse are always celebrating their unbirthdays (it's an occasion that happens many times because you have 364 unbirthdays a year!). For the celebration, we dress up as a character from Alice in Wonderland, and then we play a series of games (pin the grin on the cheshire cat, anyone?), ending with the mad tea party. The mad tea party is my favorite part, because, well it's mad. :D

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6) 




"Well, in out country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else -- if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 2) 


Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 5) 

Ji Magnet: "You sound like an old woman."
Jung-Sook: "Yah! You're supposed to say I've matured into an adult! Don't say I sound like an old woman!"

-Sweet 18

An Exie Quote

Mara Unni very generously bought us three girls necklaces with a little Japanese girl hanging from the chain. They are way to adorable. :D Anyway, Qixi and I were talking about naming ours. I finally decided to name mine Mitsu and Qixi settled on Kira. So Exie decided to name hers as well. However, she was lamenting the fact that she didn't know any Japanese names. 

I said, "Just think a little and I'm sure you'll come up with some. You've read parts of Japanese manga, haven't you?"

She said, "Yes I have, but I can't remember any." Her face fell, but a couple minutes later it brightened. "I know one," she said, "Hong Kong!!!"

If there is anything disagreeable going on,

men are always sure to get out of it.

-Persuasion

          

Reading Know Why You Believe, I came across this quote of Mark Mittleberg's which I really like;
"Religion is spelled 'Do,' because it consists of the things people do to try to somehow gain God's forgiveness and favor. . . . Thankfully Christianity is spelled differently. It's spelled 'D-O-N-E.'"

A Conversation with Havalah

The week has flown by! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with our family in Missouri! A couple days ago, I asked Havalah some Thanksgiving - related questions. Her answers were interesting, so I thought I'd write them down.
Me: Who were the Pilgrims?
Havalah: They lived where the Indians lived, in the woods, and they were hiding from the Indians 'cause they were scared of them. The Pilgrims told all Squanto's friends that they were nice, and then they trapped the Indians and took them to where the Pilgrims lived.
Me: *thinking* they trapped the Indians?
Havalah: (continuing to speak) Squanto went to his Mom and Dad, but he wasn't human anymore, he was an Indian.
Me: What's an Indian like?
Havalah: They wear a feather, and they sing when people come to visit them. People think Indians are nice, but they aren't. They hide in trees. The Pilgrims got them food, but it didn't taste good.

This conversation lasted much longer, but I'm not going to write it all down. Havalah kind of rambles when she talks, and it's hard to keep track of. Besides, I can't really read all the notes I made while she was talking to me. They just look like a bunch of scribbles. :D

Grandma gave Mom a book that had been in the family for awhile. It had been given to our great, great, great aunt somewhere around the 1930's. The book is titled 'Shakespeare Birthday Text Book.'

Here is what is written for Moxie's Birthday;

July 29.

More inconstant than the wind who wooes
Even now the frozed bosom of the north,
And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.
                                           Romeo and Juliet, Act i.

Qixi's Birthday;

August 20.

Chaste as the icicle
That's curdied by the frost from purest snow
And hangs on Dian's temple.
                    Coriolanus, Act v.

Is she not passing fair?
Two Gentleman of Verona, Act iv.

A Few of My Favorite Quotes

'Food for thought requires a mind with teeth' - Two Princesses of Bamarre

'It really is a hard life. Men will not be nice to you if you are not good-looking and women will not be nice to you if you are.' - The Man in the Brown Suit

" . . . but I'll try and find a more agreeable piece of news . . . . Old Margery is dead. " - Wives and Daughters

'Small applause is better than no applause, even when it is a little Lacking In Smack.' - Eeyore

'Sam is an excellent fellow, and would jump down a dragons throat to save Frodo if he did not trip over his own feet first.' - The Fellowship of the Ring

'If there is anything disagreeable going on, men are always sure to get out of it.' - Persuasion