And Now For Something A Little Different

It's been some time since I've had a similar post, but I guarantee you will enjoy these links that friends have sent me.  Exquisite Cuban ballet dancers in Havana's streets, French chateaux for sale, majestic libraries old and new, and photos of D-Day that morph into the same setting 70 years later.


1.  Cuban dancers  (give it a little time for the images to come up)

2.  French chateaux

3.  Majestic libraries

4.  D-Day scenes (drag the mouse back and forth to see the scene in 1944 and then 2014) D-Day 

Apple Time in Vermont

People around here (mostly tourists) think about this as being leaf season which it is, of course, but for those of us who actually live here, it's also apple time.  And apples can be gotten rain or shine whereas leaf viewing is enhanced by having glorious weather ... and this last holiday (which I understand is now to be called Indigenous People's Day) was 1) gloomy on Saturday and 2) gloomy and rainy on Sunday.  It was Monday (I.P. Day, itself), with everyone back on the road going home again, that turned out to be gorgeous.  But regardless of the gloomy weekend, visitors still flocked this way.  I chose to stay in, make soup, read David Copperfield, catch up on my ironing, and marvel at all the company at the neighbor's across the street.  I also got to the farmers' market early enough to find a parking spot, gather my weekly head of butter-crunch lettuce (THE best) plus a bouquet of zinnias, then skedaddle home.

The Sunday before, some of us made a PYO trip to a local apple orchard where we filled a bag with (mostly) Cortlands and (a few) McIntosh. (The Cortlands are crisper.)  At the end, here, you'll see what I did with mine.  I also went out one day to another orchard which, incidentally, was used as the setting for the bunk house in that movie some years back, Cider House Rules.

Picking time at our local Cortland Hill Orchard

For wasps, squirrels, deer ... plus cider-makers.

Scott Farm, a wonderful 571-acre farm that produces 120 varieties of ecologically-grown apples.
The building on the extreme right served as the bunk-house setting in the movie, Cider House Rules.

Scott Farm dates from 1862.  (You can just make out the year on the sign.)

More apples from another farm stand.

My heavenly mostly-Cortland apple pie

Some Favorite Quotations

Over the years, I've made lists of quotations from my reading that I'm then never quite sure what to do with.  What it mostly amounts to is running into them when cleaning out my office files.  Now, I ask myself, why not share a few with you?


          Chaos should be regarded as extremely good news.
                   Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

          Life is always this choice--to choose an old house nearer the office or the new one sitting amidst coconut gardens.
                    Raja Rao, The Cat and Shakespeare

          You mean can one be "just angry" with nothing extra--like a thunderstorm that comes and goes?  Gosh, I wish I could do that.
                    Zen Master Suzuki Roshi

          Committee Defined:  A group of people who, individually, can do nothing, but collectively can meet and decide that nothing can be done.
                    Thomas L. Martin, Jr., Malice in Blunderland

          .... he had endless time on his hands, which in itself is the mark of a great soul.
                    Henry Miller, Colossus of Maroussi

          Just watch the movie of life, without judging it, avoiding it, grasping it, pushing it, or pulling it.  You merely Witness it ....
                    Ken Wilber, One Taste

          .... the nature of politics is to subtract meaning from language.
                    Bernard S. Bowdlerberg

          Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.
                    Mae West

          We stand today at a crossroads:  One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness.  The other leads to total extinction.  Let us hope we have the wisdom to make the right choice.
                    Woody Allen