David Austin loved roses

"He lived and breathed them all the time. He was not a particularly social man. He was quite shy and very happy to dedicate his life to roses.

"He'd carry around a little book, forever making notes in his barely decipherable handwriting."

He had a very inquiring mind but it was mostly about roses."

Obituary of David Austin, founder of David Austin Roses, December 29, 2018, NYT

(Note: Constance Spry, a pink climbing rose with a myrrh scent.)

Tribute to Tereze Gluck

"An indelible presence, with a genius for pleasure, insatiable in her love the world...she was someone widely and deeply loved."

NYT obituary December 19, 2018

Photographer gains permission--a heart feels a heart

Photographer approached a father and son who refused to be photographed. They changed their mind after she took the time to explain that her father had profound reason to look favorably on Japanese. His father had escaped Nazi Germany on a visa issued by a Japanese diplomat.

Goal setting

"We skate to where the puck is going."--Wayne Gretsky

Art world and negative criticism

There is so much ingenious work, so much intelligence, so much dedication, and really so much high midedness in the at world that, were it shared by the rest of the world, we would have entered a golden age."--Arthur C. Danto

Quoted in his obituary, October 28, 2013, NY Times

He avoided negative criticism, which he considered cruel.

Birthdays

"Oh, I don't celebrate birthdays....we should celebrate each glad moment as it comes."

"I'll make you a glad moment cake then."

Crooked Heart, by Lissa Evans, page 239

Technology pipe dreams

"Ideally, one day our technology will address everything."--Monica Bickert, the head of global policy management at Facebook, speaking about complaints that not enough is being done to keep extremist content off social media platforms.

NYTimes, Friday June 16, 2017

Taekwando ambassador on Sports

My philosophy is: What is so great about beating people? Most sports only emphasize winning, but I want to transform the training in the gym to human qualities. From endurance to perseverance, timing to punctuality, power to knowledge."--Jhoon Rhee, quoted in his obituary in the New York Times, May 11, 2018

Cartoonists vs. reporters

"Reporters labor under the terrible requirement that what they report must be true. Opinion writers need to endure the less stringent demand that what they opine be at least plausible. Nobody ever expects what cartoonists do to be either true or even plausible. That's why we're happy as larks."

--Robert Grossman, quoted in his obituary written by Neil Genzlinger, NYT 3/20/2018

Reinhold Niebuhr

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness."

--The Irony of American History by Reinhold Niebuhr

Public Works in Mink River by Brian Doyle

Cedar and Worried Man have lunch together every day. "They are, collectively, the Department of Public Works. They have publicworked together for more than forty years, in various jobs....Other towns and cities use their departments just to fix roads and sewer lines and streambeds and such....We are prey to what I might call a vast and overweening ambition. I mean, really, to preserve history, collect stories, repair marriages, prevent crime, augment economic status, promote chess, manage insect populations, run sports leagues, isn't that a bit much? We even give haircuts."

Fox news' impact on retirees

"My  mother lived out the end of her fortunate life in a state of bitterness and panic, never having had the slightest brush with any experience that would confirm in these emotions, except, of course, Fpox News."

--Marilynne Robinson, "Slander," in What Are We Doing Here?, 2018, quoted in a review in NY Times

Cubs' new era

"This is where we had our hearts set the whole time," [Tyler] Chatwood said. "They didn't have to sell much. They are the Chicago Cubs." And they have one of baseball's deepest rotations, thanks to a fifth starter people likely won't overlook for long.

Chicago Tribune, February 23, 2018

Take a breath

You are the only judge of what it is that shuts off the internal dialogue that's always urging you to do more, do faster, and do better. But shut off the internal dialogue we must, if the system of the body and mind is to restore itself. Spend one hour each day to relax in whatever way you enjoy.

Peace is like a sun that's always shining in your heart. It's just hidden behind the clouds of fear, doubt, worry, and desire that continually orient you toward the past or future. When you feel crazy busy, take a deep breath and let go. Think, Here I am.

When you're feeling stressed, take 5 or 10 belly breaths.

Exercise. Eat well. Converse meaningfully, Hug and touch. This calms the linbic system, the seat of survival functions.

from Inner Peace for Busy People by Joan Borysenko, 2001

Trump's mandate, based on his campaign

I'll fix it, was Trump's message. In Democracy, it is the people who work together to fix it. So his victory does not indicate he tapped a new group who's willing to work to improve their community. ON the contrary, he tapped a group who's now waiting fo a magical stroke, wave the wand. And when that doesn't happen, what then?

(no source written in the note)

Hell, defined

To me the definition of hell is simple. It is a place where there is no understanding and no compassion.

(no source written down in the note)

Gwen Ifill's advice on life

"You can't spend a lot of time assuming the worst about why people do things. It almost always has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with them. My job is to force them to see me in a different role."

Her parents taught her to avoid bitterness or a chip on your shoulder. Keep your eyes on the prize. She had relentless optimism. She was aware of tripwires.

She died November 2016

Acceptance

"I thought I had accepted Rich's accident, even though I kept putting myself in a place where it hadn't happened yet...I thought that not accepting meant turning my face to the wall, unable to function. So now today I look up the word acceptance and the definition is 'to receive gladly' and that doesn't sound right. I flip to the back, and look up its earliest root, 'to grasp,' and discover this comes from the old English for 'a thread used in weaving,' and bingo, that's it.  You can't keep pulling out the thread. You have to weave it in and then you have to go on weaving."

--Abigail Thomas, Three Dog Life, a memoir of building a new life after her husband goes out to walk the dog, is hit by a car, and is left without short term memory

"...like listening to a very charming mountain speak..."

So says Philip Levine about poet Adam Fitzgerald. He published The Late Parade in 2013.

Dwight D. Eisenhower on leadership

 “Now, look, I happen to know a little about leadership. I’ve had to work with a lot of nations, for that matter, at odds with each other. And I tell you this: You do not lead by hitting people over the head. Any damn fool can do that, but it’s usually called ‘assault’ — not ‘leadership.’” He went on: “I’ll tell you what leadership is. It’s persuasion, and conciliation, and education, and patience. It’s long, slow, tough work. That’s the only kind of leadership I know, or believe in, or will practice.”

Jon Meacham, NY Times, December 29, 2017, Donald Trump and the limits of the Reality TV Presidence