G.K. Chesterton

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.” ― G.K. Chesterton
Believed
in 
Christmas and Santa Claus
“Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.” ― G.K. Chesterton
Fairy tales are more than true...
"Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." ~ G.K. Chesterton
He saw the world differently and seemed to live in a state of inexhaustible wonder.
K is for Keith, which is G.K. Chesteron's middle name
“Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
New light to sometimes forgotten literary genius
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton 
“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions
“Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
Santa Claus in Tablet of London
“There's a lot of difference between listening and hearing.” ― G.K. Chesterton
Victorian

"What has happened to me has been the very reverse of what appears to be the experience of most of my friends. Instead of dwindling to a point, Santa Claus has grown larger and larger in my life until he fills almost the whole of it. It happened in this way.

"As a child I was faced with a phenomenon requiring explanation. I hung up at the end of my bed an empty stocking, which in the morning became a full stocking. I had done nothing to produce the things that filled it. I had not worked for them, or made them or helped to make them. I had not even been good – far from it.

"And the explanation was that a certain being whom people called Santa Claus was benevolently disposed toward me. . . . What we believed was that a certain benevolent agency did give us those toys for nothing. And, as I say, I believe it still. I have merely extended the idea. Then I only wondered who put the toys in the stocking; now I wonder who put the stocking by the bed, and the bed in the room, and the room in the house, and the house on the planet, and the great planet in the void.

"Once I only thanked Santa Claus for a few dollars and crackers. Now, I thank him for stars and street faces, and wine and the great sea. Once I thought it delightful and astonishing to find a present so big that it only went halfway into the stocking.

"Now I am delighted and astonished every morning to find a present so big that it takes two stockings to hold it, and then leaves a great deal outside; it is the large and preposterous present of myself, as to the origin of which I can offer no suggestion except that Santa Claus gave it to me in a fit of peculiarly fantastic goodwill."
 – G.K. Chesterton, Letter to The Tablet of London

Mistletoe: two very different perspectives

Article about mistletoe, how it grows and how it is spread... Ancient understanding of 
Biology and how they put it to use in their stories and myths. source

How stuff works: "Hanging mistletoe over a doorway during the holiday season is a tradition around the world. But Have you ever stopped to think about the story behind it?" 
Intriguing plant.
Just because you asked
L

"Mistletoe" is derived from the Old English words, "mistel" (dung) and "tan" (twig). The plant is thought to be named after bird droppings on a branch. source
N
O
Poem : Mistletoe
Q
Romantic, isn't it;)
Sitting under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
One last candle burning low,
All the sleepy dancers gone,
Just one candle burning on,
Shadows lurking everywhere:
Some one came, and kissed me there.

Tired I was; my head would go
Nodding under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
No footsteps came, no voice, but only,
Just as I sat there, sleepy, lonely,
Stooped in the still and shadowy air
Lips unseen - and kissed me there.

Walter de la Mare (1913)


Bidding farewell?

That is my nephew Andrew behind that tree. My Mom and I helped him cut his tree and get it back to NYC. I thought it apropos for the final blog post of the Carlyle Campbell Library's 23 Things project.

Bidding farewell? I don't think so... unless we mean it in the most rudimentary sense of the word as in "farewell: to get along well" ... CCL23 has been a very fun project of working together with many people in different departments in our library. I have learned to try new things and to keep going with playful enthusiasm. My favorite discoveries were how much fun blogging can be.
This program provided a clear focus of items to explore.

One unexpected outcome that I have enjoyed the project so much I'm going to keep going...
But first onto Christmas decorations, breakfast, a tree, mail gifts to Alaska, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and it is a beautiful December day, oh! and I just remembered I was going to make banana bread But! I am sure I will return here at some point to blog about all of that! :)

Computing in the Cloud

I thought of this photo I took this summer as soon as I read the name of this CCL 23 item so I just had to include it. Google Docs is incredibly easy to use and would be an especially helpful tool if more of my family members had computer access and ability. I decided to upload a file I had been wanting to update and share with family members who have called a number of times to asked for a relatives address, phone number or birthdate. With my recent trip to CT, I was given documents that motived me to continue some genealogy work I began years ago. This tool will allow me to combine those efforts and do it from anywhere. I wasn't sure if Google docs would allow for an EXCEL workbook (vs. a simple spreadsheet) to be uploaded and modified, but it does! and very simply and easily. I checked Ted's slideshow and Laura's webpage then built one myself - just for the heck of it. Carine shared her file with me, so I shared mine with her. I think I am going to thoroughly enjoy "computing in the cloud" :)

November 2008... Lois Bailey Thomason


A long overdue tribute to my grandmother, Lois
Bailey Thomason
Connecticut was always her home
Dear to many
Enjoyed smiling and being with friends and
Family
Gathered November 29th, 2008:
 Harrison, Tracy, Me, Pat, Kerry... 
It was the mournful and yet celebratory occasion of memorial service for my maternal grandmother.
Jessica, Brendan, Bob, Bonnie, Andrew, Caroline, Sue, Matthew...
Katie, Dad (75). Ken is in the back, right behind our Mom. Her mom,
Lois Bailey Thomason, was born on May 8, 1918 and died on November 25, 2008
MMom, her daughter, had just turned 72 at the time of her Mom's passing
 Now, Dad has passed on as well... Aug 10,2016
Purple was one of Gram's favorite colors, light though, like lilac, or the lavender like the...
Quilt on the bed in her room on Isham Street in Mystic, Connecticut was
Stonington, and She loved to Socialize, participate in family gatherings, and travel with friends and family. She was also an avid walker
Thomasons in their Isham Street apartment



she fell in love with this...
US Coast Guard guy
Very old photo - the only one I have with me on my grandmother's lap
Winter Solstice 2007
 
Xmas 1934?

originally posted November 18, 2008



Mary Engelbreit's version of My Symphony
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common–this is my symphony.” –William Henry Channing


Early Saturday morning...



BUTTERFLY

Transmutation, Dance of Joy
The butterfly is the symbol of change, joy, and color.

It is the symbol of the soul.
They remind us that life is a dance,

not to take things quite so seriously.

They also remind us to get up and move.

Dance brings the sweetness of life.

Butterflies bring color and joy to your life.

Look at them and remember what joy is in your life,

if its a lot or a little, it is still joy.
They teach us that growth and transformation does not have to traumatic;

it can occur gently, sweetly, joyfully.
If a butterfly totem has shown up in your life,

make note of the most important issues in your life,

and see what needs to be changed.






Quotes by Anais Nin

"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say."
~Anais Nin.

"A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked. "


"Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age."

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

The Beginning - Summer 2008

This blog began as part of the "23 Things" project I participated in during the summer of 2008. Laura Davidson gave us, the staff of Meredith College's Carlyle Campbell Library, the opportunity to explore some "new" web technology as part of our staff development. It was based on (well...copied and lightly adapted) from the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County's Learning 2.0 Project, created by Helene Blowers.
And so began the "23 Things" project
1) Get more familiar with the scope of the project
2) Think about lifelong learning
3) Set up a blog
4) Learn about wikis (like the one Laura set up for the purpose of this project)
5) Add an entry to the wiki
6) Discover Flickr
7) Have some Flickr fun
8) Write about technology in your blog
9) Serious about gaming
10) Learn about RSS feeds
11) Locate some interesting blogs to get RSS feeds from
12) Play with an online image generator
13) Look at LibraryThing
14) Roll your own search tool
15) What is Del.icio.us
16) Learn about Technorati and tagging blogs
17) Read about Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries
18) Face to Facebook  < many of the 20 or so co-works balked at this one and stopped 
19) Explore some award winning Web 2.0 sites
20) Discover YouTube < this one makes me laugh the most now (Oct 2020)
21) Computing in the Cloud
22) Explore some final Web 2.0 apps < I have to wonder - what version are we "on" now?
23) Now for some valedictory remarks

The decision to turn it into ABCs happened later, but the seed was planted long ago. For example, the Sept 2006 issue of Skirt! magazine's "ABC's of Feelings" inspired this list:

a: afternoon delight
b: book, bike ride with Elizabeth !! :)
c: "Change the rules, tend to your wounds but play."
d: drink creation
e: enjoy a spiritual life today
f: "Fall for Nothing" and is by Mindy Smith
g: GRAB Breakfast every day
h: have fresh veggies
i: in a rut?
j:  Josh Radin - "Closer"
k: kid's eye view
l: love, lust, luxuriate, lounge
m: "Mistakes are painful, but they're the only way to find out who you are." ~ Grey's Anatomy
n: Nalick, Anna "Wreck of the Day"
o: "Only You" also by Josh Radin
p: "Play hard, play fast, play loose and free. Play as if there's no tomorrow."
q: quiet place
r: read, rest
s: "show me a garden that’s bursting into life!”
t: "turns out, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing..."
u: understanding
v: VANQUISH FEAR
w: write my paper for Friday ahead of time
x: xperience life fully
y: Yes Yourself into a new experience
z: Zest