Just wondering what the alternatives are

for Six-Word Saturday and Life in Colour: purple

One Word Sunday…literal

Literal: expressed by letters.  In this case, the sentiment is also expressed, I am compelled by my inner grammarian to add, incorrectly.  It should read “Fake happiness is the WORST kind of sadness” (unless there are only two kinds).  I’m also quite sure this isn’t a quote from the fiddling Nero, but I think the sentiment worthy of sharing and it was a fun find as we wandered the streets of Philadelphia last year.

Debbie at Travel with Intent hosts One Word Sunday (as well as Six-word Saturday–what is it with the number thing?), but she set us a hard one this week.  Looking forward to seeing other interpretations.

Make hay while the sun shines

OK, where was I?  I was in France, home for a week, then in Wyoming, and now home again.  On my blog, I’ve been all those places, but I still have lots to share about my French trip.  So let’s head back there, at least for today.

The truth of “Make hay while the sun shines” was evident during my time in France.  The area where I was most of the time consists of small farms.  Closer to Plombières-les-Bains, where we spend more than a little time, and Nancy and Colmar, the fields are much larger.  But no matter the size, farmers were cutting and drying hay.  Hay is, as Wikipedia says:

“…grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing animals such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep.”

Sunday sayings

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

~fortune cookie saying

Ben Franklin and the America’s Cup

I don’t think Ben Franklin would be at all surprised to see the boats of this year’s America’s Cup, boats which seem no longer like sailboats but like an almost mythical hybrid of water creature and bird, equally at home flying through the water or above it. Ben Franklin admired the outriggers used by the Pacific Islanders, realizing that they were fast and stable.

The America’s Cup boat:

Sunday sayings for Saturday

Shared joy is a double joy, shared sorrow is half a sorrow.

~Swedish saying

My-tea sayings

Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.
~Anonymous

Remember the tea kettle – it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!
~Anonymous

“Talk and tea is his specialty,” said Giles. “He has come along inside… We’ll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place.”
~Kenneth Graeme, The Wind in the Willows

“Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.”
~Okakura Kakuzo, Book of Tea (1906)

“[I am a] hardened and shameless tea drinker, who has for twenty years diluted his meals only with the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and with tea welcomes the evening.”
~ Samuel Johnson

“In my own hands I hold a bowl of tea; I see all of nature represented in its green color. Closing my eyes I find green mountains and pure water within my own heart. Silently sitting alone and drinking tea, I feel these become a part of me.”
~Soshitsu Sen, Grand Master XIV, Urasenke School of Tea

Sunday sayings–Hemingway

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk.  That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

I like to listen.  I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.  Most people never listen.

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters.  A character is a caricature.

~Ernest Hemingway

Sunday sayings

Money without honor is a disease.
~ Balzac

Poverty wants much, but avarice, everything.
~Publilius Syrus

Sunday saying

Life is making every route scenic.
–Caribou Coffee