Cheer The Weed

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Lao Tzu
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Hello Sandy
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I was out walking yesterday and I noticed how small tufts of green were peeking up from the cracks in the side walk and parking lots. Give Nature a chance and it will find a way to flourish even in the midst of a concrete and asphalt world.

Next to the street at the last place I lived there was a tree. I loved that tree. It was very tall and healthy. Every Spring it got a bit taller, increased the size of its branches and put out some more twigs. I knew that once upon a time that tree was part of a forest. The forest had been leveled to make way for the town, but a few trees here and there were left standing. Those other trees were simply cut down and pulled up. Deep in the earth are the remnants of the relatives of my tree.

I pondered the fact that many of our manifestations of civilization, our roads, parking lots, buildings and bridges are intrusions on primeval landscape. And all that Nature wants to grow here is still underground waiting for the opportunity and the right conditions to begin the process. In fact those small patches of green, which we call "weeds," are the first hardy steps, (the advance guard you might say) of Nature's campaign to reclaim its own, original, slowly evolving design.

If this town was totally and permanently abandoned by all human life it may take hundreds, perhaps thousands of years but Nature would eventually break apart all the pavements, tear down all the buildings, swallow them all up and digest them. The grass would grow, the bushes would flourish, the meadows would stretch out and the forest would reappear.

So why the intrusion? Because there's another kind of Nature, called Human Nature. It is out nature to build shelter, to grow crops, to educate ourselves, to conduct commerce and transportation. And so we bend Nature to our will, leave a few trees and some bushes still standing, maybe we even plant a few, but the rest of it we tear down and replace with our roads. parking lots, buildings and bridges.

But the next time you see a small patch of green peeking up from a crack in the side walk admire its courage and brave but futile attempt to reclaim the world.

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
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The Med Puddle And The Stick

The compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation, profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.

Ansel Adams
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Hello Bruce
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The artist is one who lives on the edge of discovery. The artist is one who sees the brilliant stone that others don't see, who picks it up and takes it home. The artist is one who is isn't afraid to listen to the silence and describe the invisible. To the artist the creative experience is nature.

Painters look at paintings, actors watch acting, musicians listen to music. And one of the fascinating things and yet one of the most normal is how a painter can appreciate a work of art done by a good painter who works in a completely different genre. It doesn't matter what the style is it's the artistry that counts.

Those who know me well know that I'm a great fan of and know a lot about classical music and opera. At work one day something reminded me of a Donovan song and began to sing it. My boss looked at me with astonishment. How did I know that song? How should I not know it? I listen.

When I lived in Inwood, which is the northern tip of Manhattan Island, my bank was a few blocks away. Midway there was a record store which specialized in C The owner had a speaker out in front with music playing. I loved going by there and sometimes would stop and listen for a while. They were excellent musicians. Salsa was their language.

I think if you gi e him the right surface an artist could make a good drawing with a stick and a mud puddle. Materials are another thing. Ansel Adams was a great landscape photographer. There weren't always photographers. Someone had to invent the camera. With each new technological invention or improvement artists will get a hold of it and turn it into a way of creating some original work of art which defies what the invention was first intended to do. Thus we now have computer art and electronic music. Some day we may see some massive sculpture in low Earth orbit gliding overhead to please and intrigue the whole world. Think of it.

Why are we artists? We have to be because that's what we are. It's an obligation, a compulsion, a joy and a privilege, and because what we do nourishes the very roots of human life..

Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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Choose Well

He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.

Abe Lincoln
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Hello Arlene
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As we approach election day, politicians all over the country will be campaigning to get enough votes to win a job or keep a job. The President and Vice President jobs are at the top of the pile, but other positions from Congress, through State Governments on down to local governments are also being sought.

A lot of money will be spent trying to win votes. Speeches will be made, interviews will be held and debates will take place. There will be a lot of information and misinformation delivered to the voters. Accusations will be made and denied. Records will be held up for scrutiny. Our radios and TVs will be inundated with advertisements for and against one candidate or another. And. yes. unfortunately, lies will be told.

There will be talk of war, budgets, human rights, health care and the "future" of America. Programs, systems and traditions will be threatened by the sabers of opinion and policy.

One of the greatest things about the United States is that no matter where you live, stuffed into a small room in the ghetto of some inner city, in a shack on the desert, a remote island off the Alaskan coast, there is someone in Congress, in your state legislature and in some cities who represents you. It means you have a link to the government, and you have a right to contact that person at any time of you need help or if you feel the need to express an opinion. What that means to me is that although a tremendous amount of power resides with the President, the Vice President and the 50 Governors of our various states, and those people should be carefully chosen. it is equally as important to provide the best people you can for those representative positions.

I look at the records, I hear the speeches, I read the opinions, I consider the issues, I watch the debates. Unfortunately I also have to watch the mud slinging, the back slapping, the nose twisting and the hand shaking. But when it's all over and time to exercise my special privilege as an American citizen to cast my vote I look for the person who has the heart, the heart to care, the heart to help, the heart to heal.

Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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Whited Sepulchers

Beauty isn't worth thinking about, what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty dollar haircut on a fifty cent head.

Garrison Keillor
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Hello Lily
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Across the street from where I used to live is an old red brick building. The bricks were dirty and some of the cement between them was chipped, eroded and falling out. One day workers came, set up ladders and commenced to fill in the cement areas between the bricks where it was needed, Then, a few days later, they washed down the entire front of the building until the bricks looked almost new.

But then they took down their equipment and left. They never repaired or cleaned the sides or back of the building. I mentioned that to my neighbor and he patronizingly said it was because the front was the only part you can see from the street.

So that's it. It's only the superficial that counts. It doesn't matter what goes on behind the expensive suit or evening gown as long as it looks good. "Whited sepulchers, full of all uncleanness."

The kidnapper drives a good car. The sweet angelic girl is a liar. And when the con man finally takes off with your money everyone will say "But he was such a nice fellow."

What about the holy Christian pastor who burns Korans or the swift and sturdy politician, the family man, with a secret lover in the next town.

How about those who hide their ignorance behind a popular slogan (America, love it or leave it) or a misunderstood action (The Patriots Act). Like the woman with a big cross on her chest who proclaimed that she was a good Christian and believed in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The self appointed pastor who claims that God sends a hurricane or visits a disease upon us to punish us for our sins and bring us closer to Him. The idiots who flood the ACLU with mail at Christmas time out of pure ignorance.

People need to face facts, stop assuming things and start thinking for themselves, and if they don't know the facts, find them out. Look at the sides of the building, or behind it, and see what's there and what isn't.

DB - The Vagabond
Never give up.
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What Is This Thing Called Love

A love that can last forever takes but a second to come about.

Cuban proverb
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Hello George
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Isn't it amazing how quickly we can fall in love with something or someone. It often only takes a moment in time but it seems like the spinning of a world. There is something that catches a hold of a deep sinew of our mental or emotional being and plants itself there for good.

You may see a work of art, a painting, and there is something special about it that sets it apart from all the other paintings you've seen or maybe are in the same room. You may not be able to describe what it is about the work that makes it special to you but you know in your heart that it is something forever important to you.

It happened to me when I saw the Matisse painting "The Piano Lesson." The Museum of Modern Art in New York City was being renovated. While it was going on they mounted an exhibit in a room off the service elevator. It was of a few of their pieces. I went strolling around in there, everything was hung temporarily on peg board. I turned a corner and there it was. "The Piano Lesson." I spent a long time with it. I knew that among all the millions of art works in the world, most of which I will never see, this was my favorite. A critic might say that it isn't even great Matisse, but for me it's a love affair.

You may one day hear a snatch of music that has the same effect on you and in one instant you become in love with the whole piece. Sure, you will listen to it over and over again just to hear that one passage, but you will have expanded your love to include the entire work.

I became an opera lover at an early age when I heard the wonderful sextet that concludes the first act of "The Barber Of Seville." And when I heard the rich pandemonium that ends the second act of "Die Meistersinger" I became a Wagner lover. I can't get enough of it.

Shakespeare? I have a complete works, poems and plays . I never let it out of my sight. Shakespeare loved all of his characters and so do I.

I know of people who will carry the same novel around in their pockets or hand bags wherever they go because it is so important to them. That one book deeply touches their heart and soul. Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" was my constant companion for many years.

And what about other people? What about love at first sight? It happens. I know of a happily married couple who met each other on the subway. What is it that enables someone to grab your heart so completely all at once? You may meet them once and then you will meet them again because a golden thread has been woven that ties the two of you together. You have been thinking about each other, maybe without even knowing it.

I love that scene in "All In The Family" when the character played by Jean Stapleton says that when she was a girl the boys called her all kinds of fancy names but that somehow the name Ding Bat had an air of permanence about it.

Love is one of the strangest things of all. I have friends I've known for many years. I love them. I also have some new friends of a few years. I love them. But like the Matisse painting and the Wagner operas I don't think I could ever tell you why.

As Diane Ackerman puts it "Everyone admits that love is wonderful and necessary, but no one agrees on just what it is."

If you ever figure it out let me know.

Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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Page 24

We can do no great things - only small things with great love.

Mother Teresa
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Hello Rose
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This is the 1,862 issues of Vagabond Journeys. I began in 2006 to jot down quotes from many various sources to use to introduce each time I posted an item. My motive was to provide readers with a bit of wisdom, information, whimsy and humor. I have loved doing it. But I have so few readers now compared with what I use to have. Today I looked over some of the quotes I haven't used yet and see that some of them aren't as wise and clever as I once thought. I have 113 pages of them and it's a mining job to sift through them with flashlight and shovel to come to one I feel will be the most beneficial and interesting to you who read me. Today, instead of writing anything I thought I would give you some of the quotes I haven't used yet but without my comments. So here is

The Best Of Page 24

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them. John F. Kennedy

Happiness is not a destination, it is a method of life. Burton Hills

Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass. Confucius

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift. Pierre Corneille

The wise man must be wise before not after, Epicharmus

The best medicine in life is a friend. Saint Alfred of Rievaulx

All the sounds of the earth are like music. Oscar Hammerstein

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. General George Patton

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. Henri Bergson

Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. Garrison Keillor

It is a stupidity second to none, to busy oneself with the correction of the world. Moliere

Money is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master. P. T. Barnum

If you aren't going to go all the way, why go at all? Joe Namath

Always do right.. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest. Mark Twain

Observe how the life of this world deceives those around you. Sheik Abdul Jilliani

May you have the greatest two gifts of all. Someone to love and someone who loves you. John Sinor.
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I hope you find something here that brightens your day.

With love,
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*************************

Page 24

We can do no great things - only small things with great love.

Mother Teresa
***********************
Hello Rose
***********************
This is the 1,862 issues of Vagabond Journeys. I began in 2006 to jot down quotes from many various sources to use to introduce each time I posted an item. My motive was to provide readers with a bit of wisdom, information, whimsy and humor. I have loved doing it. But I have so few readers now compared with what I use to have. Today I looked over some of the quotes I haven't used yet and see that some of them aren't as wise and clever as I once thought. I have 113 pages of them and it's a mining job to sift through them with flashlight and shovel to come to one I feel will be the most beneficial and interesting to you who read me. Today, instead of writing anything I thought I would give you some of the quotes I haven't used yet but without my comments. So here is

The Best Of Page 24

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them. John F. Kennedy

Happiness is not a destination, it is a method of life. Burton Hills

Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass. Confucius

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift. Pierre Corneille

The wise man must be wise before not after, Epicharmus

The best medicine in life is a friend. Saint Alfred of Rievaulx

All the sounds of the earth are like music. Oscar Hammerstein

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. General George Patton

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. Henri Bergson

Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. Garrison Keillor

It is a stupidity second to none, to busy oneself with the correction of the world. Moliere

Money is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master. P. T. Barnum

If you aren't going to go all the way, why go at all? Joe Namath

Always do right.. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest. Mark Twain

Observe how the life of this world deceives those around you. Sheik Abdul Jilliani

May you have the greatest two gifts of all. Someone to love and someone who loves you. John Sinor.
-------------------------------------------------------
I hope you find something here that brightens your day.

With love,
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
*************************