October 4

I’m making a bingo card of all the places in Florida my book [Wrecker] gets banned. ~ Carl Hiaasen

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. ~ Joseph Conrad

This is a further consideration of things that happened in the past. ~ Me

[My photo of the originally-named Sears Tower under construction in February 1973 as shot from the John Hancock Center in Chicago. Well, I think it’s cool . . . ]

One of the delights known to age, and beyond the grasp of youth, is that of Not Going. ~ J. B. Priestley

August 17 – The Soiree

I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. ~ Oscar Wilde

[The annual fund raiser for the theatre . . . ]

It might seem that being a genius is a golden ticket to a life of glamorous soirees with the intellectual elite, champagne flute in hand, arm candy at your side, surrounded by a throng of smiling sycophants. But you might be confusing this scene with the lifestyle of a diplomat. ~ Andre De Guillaume

[The Super rang for champagne which was handed to her through the plant wall . . . ]

Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances. ~ Victor Hugo

[Three members of the theatre board, a photobomber not meaning to, and one trying to duck under the paparazzo lens . . . ]

I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability. ~ Oscar Wilde

[A point was being made . . . ]

Of course we all come to the theatre with baggage. The baggage of our daily lives, the baggage of our problems, the baggage of our tragedies, the baggage of being tired. It doesn’t matter what age you are. But if our hearts get opened and released — well that is what theatre can do, and does sometimes, and everyone is thankful when that happens. ~ Vanessa Redgrave

[Why yes, it is a big par-tay . . . ]

From the start it has been the theatre’s business to entertain people … it needs no other passport than fun. ~ Bertolt Brecht

I believe that in a great city, or even in a small city or a village, a great theatre is the outward and visible sign of an inward and probable culture. ~ Sir Laurence Olivier

[The new patio is a stellar performer for such events . . . ]

When life gives you lemons, squirt someone in the eye. ~ Cathy Guisewite

[The entertainment was provided by Noah Sonie, an unbelievable magician . . . ]

For me, the most exciting thing is to create good magic that’s entertaining for an audience, and it would be lovely if a magician was fooled as well. ~ Ricky Jay

I think the theatre is as essential to civilization as safe, pure water. ~ Vanessa Redgrave

[The old lodge in the background from the days when this was a resort . . . ]

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome. ~ Isaac Asimov

[Noah covered here by event photographer, Cassy Bender . . . ]

The theatre is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life. ~ Arthur Miller

[Mesmerized . . . ]

When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific. ~ Lily Tomlin

[Mesmerized, part 2 . . . ]

The theatre was created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation. ~ Stella Adler

[Just walking around, creating angles . . . ]

Don’t waste so much time thinking about how much you weigh. There is no more mind-numbing, boring, idiotic, self-destructive diversion from the fun of living. ~ Meryl Streep

[For the evening’s wining and dining . . . ]

Do things that make you happy within the confines of the legal system. ~ Ellen DeGeneres

Theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. ~ Tom Stoppard

[The cabins from the old resort . . . ]

Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place. ~ Martha Graham

[Taking it all in . . . ]

Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter. ~ Ansel Adams

[Wrapping up the mesmerization part of the show . . . ]

There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes. ~  Abraham Lincoln

[Cassy enjoying her job . . . ]

People say money is not the key to happiness, but I have always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made. ~ Joan Rivers

[Moving into the tent area, this is Sidney Imsande, the theatre’s operations manager . . . ]

Speak the truth, but leave immediately after. ~ Slovenian proverb

[Sidney announces things past, things current, and things future . . . ]

The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it’s taken place. ~ George Bernard Shaw

[And, apparently, things funny . . . ]

Humor is a rubber sword – it allows you to make a point without drawing blood. ~ Mary Hirsch

I have no desire to spend every night of the next few months at balls and soirees or drowning in tea with morning callers. ~ Sarah M. Eden

[Sidney hands off to the theatre’s executive director, Nicole Mulder . . . ]

When you come into the theater, you have to be willing to say, “We’re all here to undergo a communion, to find out what the hell is going on in this world.” If you’re not willing to say that, what you get is entertainment instead of art, and poor entertainment at that. ~ David Mamet

[The list of what was, what is, and what will be . . . ]

Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Speech is power. Speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Go to heaven for the climate, hell for the company. ~ Mark Twain

[Guests who allowed us to share their table . . . ]

My tastes are simple: I am easily satisfied with the best. ~ Winston S. Churchill

[Other table guests of similar kindnesses . . . ]

Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that. ~ Ellen DeGeneres

[Meanwhile, Nicole continues . . . ]

Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it. ~ David Lee Roth

[Time to raise money with auctioneer Glen Fladeboe and theatre board member Phil Eidsvold . . . ]

There is no such thing as fun for the whole family. ~ Jerry Seinfeld

Look your audience straight in the eyes, and begin to talk as if every one of them owed you money. ~ Dale Carnegie

I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. ~ Dr. Seuss

[The assembled masses bid to have local artist Lyssa Lovejoy paint a subject of their request . . . ]

When genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot. ~ D. H. Lawrence

[Lyssa also often hosted the Wednesday fine dining group at the golf club . . . ]

Your smile is a messenger of your goodwill. ~ Dale Carnegie

Everybody wants to save the earth. No one wants to help mom do the dishes. ~ P.J. O’Rourke

[The McGranes, mom and daughter Tessa, who was a multi-sport athlete for the Alexandria Cardinals . . . ]

I hate housework. You make the beds, you wash the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again. ~ Joan Rivers

[I occasionally sat with Mom McGrane to cheer on her daughters, Mia and Tessa . . . ]

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple. ~ Jack Kerouac

[Theatre board member Deb Trumm about to be bamboozled by Noah . . . ]

Magic is the only honest profession. A magician promises to deceive you and he does. ~ Karl Germain

 I knew I was going to be famous later in life. ~ Sharon Jones

[“Didn’t I give you a fifty?”]

All the things I like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening. ~ Alexander Woollcott

[Fan Ken Howell regales the audience on the pleasures of local theatre . . . ]

Be wise, because the world needs wisdom. If you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would. ~ Neil Gaiman

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence — then success is sure. ~ Mark Twain

The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public. ~ George Jessel

There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars. ~ Mark Twain

[Theatre board member Michael Tisserand with further regalement . . . ]

Eloquence is the essential thing in a speech, not information. ~ Mark Twain

The truth is, this being errand boy to one hundred and fifty thousand people tires me so by night I am ready for bed instead of soirees. ~ Rutherford B. Hayes

[They’re wearing their name tags, thus losing anonymity . . . ]

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true. ~ James Branch Cabell

[But nonetheless patron saints of theatre . . . ]

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it. ~ W. C. Fields

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

[Saying goodnight to the theatre . . . ]

How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon? ~ Dr. Seuss

Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night. ~ William Blake

My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends – it gives a lovely light! ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

[Art by Lyssa Lovejoy . . . ]

You have to smile, if you expect anybody to smile back. ~ Jonathan Evison

[Lyssa accompanying her art . . . ]

Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light. ~ Dylan Thomas

August 22

A child’s learning is a function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher. ~ James S. Coleman

[Graduates of the Alexandria class of ’65 with their much more distinguished spouses dining at Pike & Pint . . . ]

Middle age is when your old classmates are so grey and wrinkled and bald they don’t recognize you. ~ Bennett Cerf

I loved school so much that most of my classmates considered me a dork. ~ Natalie Portman

August 23

I remember when I was younger, and in school, our teachers showed us films of plastic in the ocean, starving polar bears and so on. I cried through all the movies. My classmates were concerned when they watched the film, but when it stopped, they started thinking about other things. I couldn’t do that. Those pictures were stuck in my head. ~ Greta Thunberg

[The next day (see August 22) at Bradley’s, who couldn’t attend the previous day’s festivities for health reasons . . . ]

August 24

Almost 50 years old now, some 30 years after graduation, I look at my Caltech classmates and conclude that math whizzes do not take over the world. ~ Sandra Tsing Loh

[Tom and Pam came up from Austin, Texas, the day Austin’s streak of 100-degree days ended at 47 – it was only 99 that day. Unfortunately for them, the heat index in Alex that day was 106! Say what? We had a nice visit before they left for Texas with the remaining family household items. . . ]

I actually went to law school with Jim Comey. We were in the same class, and he was respected by our classmates just like he was respected by the agents that he supervised. ~ Amy Klobuchar

[Wondering how they could go back to Texas on a beautiful Minnesota morning like this?]

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination. ~ Earl Nightingale

Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate. ~ J. R. R. Tolkien

August 25

There is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and useful for life in later years than some good memory, especially a memory connected with childhood, with home. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

[A tour of Victoria Heights, the neighborhood from whence I grew from a small child to a version of a larger person . . . ]

Somewhere slightly before or after the close of our second decade, we reach a momentous milestone–childhood’s end. We have left a safe place and can’t go home again. We have moved into a world where life isn’t fair, where life is rarely what it should be. ~ Judith Viorst

The home is the laboratory of our lives, and what we learn there largely determines what we do when we leave there. ~ Thomas S. Monson

People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home. ~ Dagobert D. Runes

[Our home then; now it has a “Private Property” sign next to the front door. (Duh?) . . . ]

I cannot see it any other way. All of my fundamental principles that were instilled in me in my home, from my childhood, are still with me. ~ Hakeem Olajuwon

It was the most magical fun childhood. We had grape arbours and we would make jam with my mom. My dad would go to work and he’d come home. He’d clean out stalls and fix split-row fences. ~ Taylor Swift

[Was our ball field back in the day . . . ]

You can go other places, all right – you can live on the other side of the world, but you can’t ever leave home. ~ Sue Monk Kidd

[New construction trending toward the longtime public landing . . . ]

August 26

Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts. ~ James Beard

[If it’s Saturday morning, it’s the doughnut run to Roer’s Bakery. At the last stoplight on the south end of downtown (3rd and Broadway), the skeleton of a large apartment/condo (The Rune) rises to soon be a new city landmark . . . ]

I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it. ~ Mae West

I’m a one-man band! ~ Jose Feliciano

[Another afternoon with Jeff James at Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]

I didn’t love Jim Morrison. There was something very reptilian about him. And I didn’t care for his singing, but his band! The Doors were fantastic. ~ Linda Ronstadt

Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart. ~ Andres Segovia

I’m not a big fan of lead vocalists, people who sing but don’t play. I never wanted to be in a band where the guy who was up front just sang. ~ Eric Clapton

August 27

Now that I’m coming out with my own record people can see I’m a solo artist. ~ John Legend

[Another afternoon with Anthony Miltich at Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]

I discovered that it was a lonely world being a solo artist. Then I started working with another solo artist, Rod Stewart, and he used to tell me how lonely he was! ~ Andy Taylor

I knew I didn’t want to make a country record just because that’s not really what I would have ever made as a solo artist. ~ Natalie Maines

I sing and play the guitar, and I’m a walking, talking bacterial infection. ~ Kurt Cobain

I’ve always wanted to smash a guitar over someone’s head. You just can’t do that with a piano. ~ Elton John

I never studied anything, really. I didn’t study the drums. I joined bands and made all the mistakes onstage. ~ Ringo Starr

[And later that same day at Theatre L’Homme Dieu . . . ]

Sometimes you lie in bed at night and you don’t have a single thing to worry about. That always worries me! ~ Charlie Brown

[The Super and the Tenor hanging out on the TLHD patio awaiting Vintage Cruise . . . ]

When I was growing up and listening to bands like the Dave Clark Five, the groove was what initially got me going. I really like that funky, heavy groove. ~ Eddie Van Halen

A lot of rock bands are truly a legend in their own minds. ~ David Lee Roth

We’ve been gone five years and the best they could come up with was boy bands? ~ Jon Bon Jovi

TLHD: We’re bringing in the big Alomere stage for a beautiful outdoor experience! The smooth & soulful music of the 70s and 80s, performed by some of MN’s great artists. “This is it” This is our final performance of the 2023 Season. We will also have season finale specials on our fine wines, beer, and merch.

Public speaking is very easy. ~ Dan Quayle

[Nicole Mulder made the pre-concert announcements . . . ]

Before every show, we get into a circle, hold hands, and someone makes a speech. Most bands are too cool for that. ~ Flea

So it was out of necessity that Blackheart was born. I think it’s great that now, 25 years later, we’re not only putting out our own music, but are able to put out music by other bands. That’s really exciting for us. ~ John Jett

Rock ‘n’ roll accepted me and paid me, even though I loved the big bands… I went that way because I wanted a home of my own. I had a family. I had to raise them. Let’s don’t leave out the economics. No way. ~ Chuck Berry

[Heads in the crowd . . . ]

The signing of the Sex Pistols was a turning point for Virgin. It put the company on the map and, over the years, attracted bands such as Genesis, the Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz, and Janet Jackson. It also attracted Culture Club, who were ground-breaking. ~ Richard Branson

[It was hot! Damn hot! Fans displayed normal herd instinct by heading for shade on a hot, sunny day . . . ]

Some bands today have the experience of really working together and honing their craft. And other bands are very much like, ‘I just got a guitar for Christmas, let’s start a band.’ And you can hear the difference. ~ Robbie Robertson

Rock n’ roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the ‘roll’ and called it ‘rock,’ which became a sort of umbrella term for anything with a guitar in it. Like hair bands. How could we possibly believe that? It’s just gotten downright silly, to the point where now it’s sort of become like professional wrestling. ~ Tom Petty

If you started in New York you were dealing with the biggest guys in the world. You’re dealing with Charlie Parker and all the big bands and everything. We got more experience working in Seattle. ~ Quincy Jones

I played in garage bands and rock and roll bands when I was in junior high and high school and saw some of the great talents of all time in the local area where I lived. ~ David Cassidy

[“This Is It” featuring Jack Cassidy (2nd from right with an Alexandria connection) . . . ]

There is a definite sound with all-girl bands, a good rudimentary sound, and that’s what’s cool and punk about all-girl bands that you still find, largely – it’s really kind of primal. ~ Nancy Wilson

Big companies are like marching bands. Even if half the band is playing random notes, it still sounds kind of like music. The concealment of failure is built into them. ~ Douglas Coupland

If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

If you have to tell people you are powerful, it means you aren’t. ~ Margaret Thatcher

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. ~ Ray Bradbury

Up Next: Same kind of old stuff . . .

October 6

When something’s happening politically that concerns me, my first reaction is how can we throw a party and have a positive event surrounding an issue. ~ Michael Tisserand

Any book worth banning is a book worth reading. ~ Isaac Asimov

Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. ~ Laurie Halse Anderson

Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’s exactly what you need to know. ~ Stephen King

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. ~ Joseph Brodsky

The important task of literature is to free man, not to censor him, and that is why Puritanism was the most destructive and evil force which ever oppressed people and their literature: it created hypocrisy, perversion, fears, sterility. ~ Anaïs Nin

Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice. ~ Henry Louis Gates Jr.

[The place where people come to speak, and from whence Cherry Street Books live streamed the speakers on Facebook . . . ]

If a public school were to remove every book because it contains one word deemed objectionable to some parent, then there would be no books at all in our public libraries. ~ Peter Scheer 

[Host Michael Tisserand introduced speakers who did readings from books that have been banned at various times through the ages . . . ]

Banning books gives us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight. ~ Stephen Chbosky

Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it. ~ Mark Twain

[The total tally of attendees, as verified by the nonpartisan group We Don’t Have Skin in the Game (Seriously), was 107 . . . ]

I’m not, like, a book guy, but isn’t the point of all this book stuff like what Ms. Croft was teaching us—that unrestricted access to books allows us to be challenged and changed? To learn new things and to critically think about those things and not be afraid of them? To be better than we were before we read them? ~ David Connis

A dangerous book will always be in danger from those it threatens with the demand that they question their assumptions. They’d rather hang on to the assumptions and ban the book. ~ Ursula K. Le Guin

[Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (1920) read by James Pence]

Most troubles are unnecessary. We have Nature beaten; we can make her grow wheat; we can keep warm when she sends blizzards. So we raise the devil just for pleasure–wars, politics, race-hatreds, labor-disputes. ~ Sinclair Lewis

It has not yet been recorded that any human being has gained a very large or permanent contentment from meditation upon the fact that he is better off than others. ~ Sinclair Lewis

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist. ~ Salman Rushdie

[Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937) read by Thressa Johnson]

I hate it that Americans are taught to fear some books and some ideas as though they were diseases. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

When these people call Eleanor & Park an obscene story, I feel like they’re saying that rising above your situation isn’t possible. That if you grow up in an ugly situation, your story isn’t even fit for good people’s ears. That ugly things cancel out everything beautiful. ~ Rainbow Rowell

[Co-host Barbara Benson doubled as microphone adjuster . . . ]

A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill. ~ Robert A. Heinlein

[Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (1952) read by Jessica Chipman]

There are no bad authors for children… because every child is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories. ~ Neil Gaiman

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. ~ James Baldwin

[Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (1956) read by Lewis Mundt]

Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. ~ James Baldwin

Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always will be the last resort of the boob and the bigot. ~ Eugene O’Neill

[To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) read by Sandy Susag]

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear. ~ Judy Blume

[Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (1970) read by Carla Grover Barnhill]

Yes, books are dangerous. They should be dangerous – they contain ideas. ~ Pete Hautman

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show its own shame. ~ Oscar Wilde

He who destroys a good book kills reason itself. ~ Milton

[Maus by Art Spiegelman (1991) read by Tami Hinz and Michael Tisserand]

Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you’re going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book… ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance. ~ Lyndon B Johnson

All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship. ~ George Bernard Shaw

[And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (2005) read by Rowan, age 11]

Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself. ~ Potter Stewart

I can’t imagine a greater compliment for an author than making the banned book section. ~ Chris Colfer

[The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (2007) read by Alysa Ilchert]

Every burned book enlightens the world. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. ~ Ray Bradbury

[Emily Regnier, owner, Cherry Street Books]

Torch every book. Burn every page. Char every word to ash. Ideas are incombustible. And therein lies your real fear. ~ Ellen Hopkins

The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion. In the long run it will create a generation incapable of appreciating the difference between independence of thought and subservience. ~ Henry Steele Commager

Every dictator gets rid of the artist first… They burn the books and execute the artist first… Art might do something. It’s dangerous. ~ Toni Morrison

[Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe (2019) read by Drac]

You can’t know something’s missing if you don’t know it exists. And that, to me, is sort of the greatest tragedy about all of this (in regard to the removal of LGBTQIA+ stories from libraries and classroom shelves). ~ Mark Oshiro

He drinks espresso coffee made in a little Italian percolator and seeks out controversial or banned books on the premise if a book is banned, it is probably interesting. ~ Tracy Sorensen

The school board banned one of Maya Angelou’s books, so the librarian had to take down her poster. I fished it out of the trash. She must be a great writer if the school board is scared of her. ~ Laurie Halse Anderson

Well, the man who first translated the bible into English was burned at the stake, and they’ve been at it ever since. Must be all that adultery, murder and incest. But not to worry. It’s back on the shelves. ~ Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Calling a book “Young Adult” is just a fancy way of saying the book is censored. ~ Oliver Markus

Censors don’t want children exposed to ideas different from their own. If every individual with an agenda had his/her way, the shelves in the school library would be close to empty. ~ Judy Blume

Some children were lucky enough to have their Potter novels banned by witch-hunting school boards and micromanaging ministers. Is there any greater job than a book you’re not allowed to read, a book you could go to hell for reading? ~ Ann Patchett

Books and all forms of writing have always been objects of terror to those who seek to suppress truth. ~ Wole Soyinka

Photos on loan from other sources . . .

Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me. ~ Judy Blume

[In honor of Kathleen Pohlig, founder of Cherry Street Books]

All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let’s get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States — and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death! ~ Kurt Vonnegut

When the Viennese government compiled a Catalogue of Forbidden Books in 1765, so many Austrians used it as a reading guide that the Hapsburg censors were forced to include the Catalogue itself as a forbidden book. ~ Craig Nelson

Books were despised by the Viking Tribes, as they were seen as a horrible civilizing influence and a threat to the barbarian culture. ~ Cressida Cowell

Up Next: Back to catching up with the old stuff . . .

September 30

I always have a quotation for everything – it saves original thinking. ~ Dorothy Sayers [Editor’s note: I’ve always said Ms. Sayers knows whereof she speaks . . . ]

Leading off with the rehab team at Alomere Health, our local hospital (photo from a local newspaper ad). I spent three months (three days a week until 36 sessions completed) with them this spring. I was surprised to learn that less than a third of the people eligible for this program take it. I was a regular, as well as several other people on pretty much the same cycle as me, but I could never get the staff to buy into the notion that doughnuts have great nutritional value? ~ Me

Some people have knees, ankles. It’s always been my back. That’s been one thing I’ve always had to be conscious about strengthening and being in rehab. Pretty much I’ve always rehabbed it. ~ Diana Taurasi

I do a lot of heart rehab exercise, and cardio as well. I do some specialist stuff and then some bog-standard ‘bike to nowhere,’ as I call it. ~ Paul Whitehouse

Cardiac rehabilitation is a supervised program that includes: Physical activity. Education about healthy living, including how to eat healthy, take medicine as prescribed, and quit smoking. Counseling to find ways to relieve stress and improve mental health.

[This was on May 26, I believe my penultimate session. I seem to recall Emily took the photo . . . ]

Everyone I tell that I had an aneurysm always says, ‘Oh, my cousin died from that.’ Well, I didn’t, so I’m amazed. I was in a wheelchair, and I had to go to rehab. And now I’m walking! ~ Teri Garr

[I assume Emily’s taskmaster abilities came from the fact she was a member of the 2018 undefeated state champion Sauk Centre basketball team. By the time I was finished with this machine, it required a complete overhaul . . . ]

July 21

The Legacy of the Lakes Museum is pleased to welcome back Davina & the Vagabonds to the Legacy Gardens!

“Davina Sowers creates her own Americana mishmash — a little Amy Winehouse-worthy neo-soul here, a little Great American Songbook-influenced songcraft there.” ~ Rolling Stone Magazine (legacyofthelakes.org)

Davina and the Vagabonds is a jazz blues band based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota and formed in 2006. The band consists of Davina Lozier (formerly Sowers), Zack Lozier (trumpet), Steve Rogness (trombone), Connor McRae Hammergren (drums), and Andrew Foreman (upright bass). Their 2014 release titled Sunshine charted at #13 on the Billboard Blues Chart (Wikipedia).

Music is art, and art is important and rare. ~ Taylor Swift

Music can change the world because it can change people. ~ Bono

Without music, life would be a mistake. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Music is my religion. ~ Jimi Hendrix

Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours. ~ Elton John

Please don’t stop the music. ~ Rihanna

I love rock n’ roll, so put another dime in the jukebox, baby. ~ Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

If music be the food of love, play on. ~ William Shakespeare,

[Lowell Pickett, the Minneapolis native helped found the famous Dakota Jazz Club in the Twin City in 1985, and helps out around Alexandria frequently as well . . . ]

A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. ~ Elvis Presley

By the ’90s, I wasn’t really an actor anymore. I was someone who went on the road with these gigantic concerts. ~ Bette Midler

[Davina!]

I’ve been to too many Dead concerts. There’ve been smokin’ holes where my memory used to be. ~ Ken Kesey

[Deadheads?]

July 22

I could never in a hundred summers get tired of this. ~ Susan Branch

[My second visit to Pilgrim Point, here on far side of Lake Ida, in one season . . . ]

Stay close to the serenity of a lake to meet your own peace of mind. ~ Munia Khan

[With thanks again to our Lake Ida hosts . . . ]

Summertime and the livin’ is easy. ~ Porgy and Bess

[Pilgrim Point with a paraglider . . . ]

July 23

One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by. ~ Jeannette Walls

[Another Sunday breakfast at the golf club . . . ]

The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I’ll keep playing until I feel like I can’t. ~ B. B. King

[And then it was on to Carlos Creek Winery for a musical interlude with Greg Donahue and Erik Schultz . . . ]

A lot of people that come to the concerts are in their 20s. I think they come to listen to something new, and I want to be able to provide that. ~ Joe Hisaishi

I think my meditation helps me to transcend and get beyond the grip of all the negativity and regenerate from within a more positive attitude, which comes in very handy when you’re going to do 150 concerts a year. ~ Mike Love

[Greg is taking on a more “vocal” role of late . . . ]

Concerts every night, autograph signings, endorsements, and so on. That’s not what real life is about. ~ Vanilla Ice

All my concerts had no sounds in them; they were completely silent. People had to make up their own music in their minds! ~ Yoko Ono

For a long time, I couldn’t actually deal with playing concerts; it was a totally alien concept to me, ’cause I was used to playing in clubs and dance halls. ~ Van Morrison

There’s a tendency to make more money at concerts. That’s from a financial standpoint. Night clubs have a better feel, better contact between the artist and the audience. ~ Al Green

[The kids in the truck . . . ]

I’ve looked at photographs of myself during concerts and it sometimes looks as if I’m in a fencing move, with a guitar in my hands instead of a sword. ~ Neil Diamond

[Fans, i.e., two of Greg’s three daughters, getting close-ups . . . ]

Barbra Streisand is without a doubt one of the most honest people I have ever known. There is no doubt in my mind that she will not be doing any more concerts. Of course, she still will be making records and starring and directing in movies. ~ Marvin Hamlisch

[The entire Donahue family . . . ]

Do you know how many concerts I’ve done in my whole life, in more than 35 years of performing? Sixty-four. ~ Carly Simon

[The traveling fan club . . . ]

We do a lot of light classical programming with that, too… obviously… a lot of Tchaikovsky music, Grieg, things like that which have become less classical with classical concerts. ~ Skitch Henderson

The biggest problem with American music right now, is that kids don’t listen. They come by it honestly, Americans don’t listen anyway. When people go to concerts, they say I’m going to see… not, I’m going to hear. ~ Branford Marsalis

July 24

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. ~ Edward Abbey

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. ~ G. K. Chesterton

July 26

Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water. ~ Christopher Morley

[Honoring our biggest rainfall of the season . . . ]

Life’s not about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain. ~ Vivian Greene

July 27

Gray skies are just clouds passing over. ~ Duke Ellington

[Happy Birthday, USA . . . ]

I know that if odour were visible, as colour is, I’d see the summer garden in rainbow clouds. ~ Robert Bridges

If you want to relax, watch the clouds pass by if you’re laying on the grass, or sit in front of the creek; just doing nothing and having those still moments is what really rejuvenates the body. ~ Miranda Kerr

We have chased away the clouds, the sky is all ‘rose.’ ~ Francois Hollande

I prefer the mystic clouds of nostalgia to the real thing, to be honest. ~ Robert Wyatt

In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

When you’re a kid, you lay in the grass and watch the clouds going over, and you literally don’t have a thought in your mind. It’s purely meditation, and we lose that. ~ Dick Van Dyke

Before we had airplanes and astronauts, we really thought that there was an actual place beyond the clouds, somewhere over the rainbow. There was an actual place, and we could go above the clouds and find it there. ~ Barbara Walters

August 7

I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

[The Salty Dogs with this Monday performance at Gathered Oaks . . . ]

Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~ Henry James

[The Super orders our pizza . . . ]

Summer bachelors, like summer breezes, are never as cool as they pretend to be. ~ Nora Ephron

[The boys . . . ]

A little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about. ~ John Mayer

Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter. ~ Henry David Thoreau

I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer – its dust and lowering skies. ~ Toni Morrison

I wanna soak up the sun. ~ Sheryl Crow

[The owner of the establishment and previous a fellow board member at Theatre L’Homme Dieu in the right background . . . ]

August 8

In my career I have never felt that my being a woman was an obstacle or an advantage. I guess I’ve been oblivious. ~ Carole King

[This will go down as one of the most entertaining days of my life: “Barbie” in the afternoon; “Beautiful” at night . . . ]

It is the best day ever. So was yesterday, and so is tomorrow, and every day from now until forever. ~ Barbie

Thanks to Barbie all problems of feminism have been solved. ~ Narrator

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever changing view. ~ Carole King

[We were fortunate this show had a two-week run because we were at camp the first week . . . ]

I only wanted to be a songwriter. I never wanted to be a singer. And I never wanted to be famous. ~ Carole King

[The stage is set for the big hit of the summer . . . ]

I’ve had a remarkable life. I seem to be in such good places at the right time. You know, if you were to ask me to sum my life up in one word, gratitude. ~ Carole King

When I was younger, I was kind of fearless. I think it takes more courage to do things when you know more. I was completely naive, and I was like, ‘Why can’t I do anything I want to do? ~ Carole King

[The entire cast out for a standing ‘O’ . . . ]

My one area of vulnerability was I didn’t know how to have a healthy relationship with a man. ~ Carole King

[Katherine Fried, who starred as Carole in the show, is the niece of Anthony Miltich, oft-featured in this blog . . . ]

I write heavily under the influence of James Taylor. ~ Carole King

I’ve had a remarkable life. I seem to be in such good places at the right time. You know, if you were to ask me to sum my life up in one word, gratitude. ~ Carole King

I just sort of try to be a good person; try to write music that lifts people and makes me feel good to sing. ~ Carole King

[Fans! As also a theatre volunteer, Jeanne saw this show perhaps a record number of times, so many that she recruited her son Jay to come from Madison, Wisconsin to see it . . . ]

I used to hate the sound of my voice. ~ Carole King

The downside of videos is that it will put my vision in front of other people, so they might not get the chance to create their own. ~ Carole King

My name at birth was Carol Joan Klein. It would take me five decades to appreciate my surname and the history that came with it. Along the way, I would add an ‘e’ to Carol and acquire several more surnames. ~ Carole King

There is a downside to having one of the biggest-selling albums ever. ~ Carole King

[I am not unique in owning this album. I may be rather unique in that I purchased it when I was stationed on Okinawa . . . ]

August 11

I wish I could relate to the people I’m related to. ~ Jeff Foxworthy

[As the sun settles slowly in the west, the view of Lake L’Homme Dieu from the Lure Lakebar patio . . . ]

There are no ‘Leave It to Beaver’ families. Everybody’s family’s got that one nut that comes to the family reunion and you’re like, OK, that guy’s here. ~ Eddie Griffen

[My “little” brother, Cam, came up from Mounds View for his class reunion. But he did not graduate from Alex – the family moved to D.C. in 1966. He came for the Alex reunion with a classmate, Rog, from his graduating class from Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia . . . ]

I’ve never been to a school reunion. Mainly because I’m still in touch with my two friends and after them, I only really liked the teachers. I’m pretty sure no one invites teachers to school reunions. ~ Sarah Millican

[Rog reportedly had more fun at the Alex reunion with Cam than he had at his Yorktown reunion . . . ]

Just thinking about the Pittsburgh franchise and Dan Rooney when he hired me, my first goal was just not to get fired before my 20th high school reunion. ~ Bill Cowher

[I’ve never been here, but whenever Rog comes to Minnesota the boys have to make a run to Cloquet for Gordy’s Hi-Hat (photo posted by Rog on FB, September 29) . . . ]

August 12

An actor without a playwright is like a hole without a doughnut. ~ George Jean Nathan

[Doughnut (?) Saturday . . . ]

August 13

We will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain showers can delay the launching of a space rocket. ~ George Carlin

[A rainy afternoon at the winery for the wine pick up party . . . ]

August 14

Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards. ~ Vladimir Nabokov.

[A rainfall that topped July 26 . . . ]

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. ~ Roger Miller

August 16

I kept telling myself: Cold roast beef. Cold roast beef. Cold roast beef. ~ Stephen King

[A beef commercial at the golf club . . . ]

If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse. ~ Ryan Blair

Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him. ~ Narrator

We fixed everything in the real world so all women are happy and powerful. ~ Barbie

Up Next: Still more of this same exciting stuff . . .

September 25

As summer begins to heat up in Vacationland USA, we continue our quest to catch up with events gone by. ~ Me

You start way down on a low B flat on the tuba and you have a chromatic scale; you can match the colours all the way up, till you get to the top of the trumpet. ~ Gerry Mulligan

[This was the swan song for our long-time local trumpeter, Bill Riggs. Long since retired as a teacher in the Alexandria school system, he has played with many bands over the years as someone who can “fill in the blanks” absent music crib notes. He and Anne are moving to Northfield to be closer to the younger generations of the family. He will be missed (as I recall, this photo is on loan from Michael Tisserand) . . . ]

There’s a quality to the sound of a trumpet that you can really twist for any kind of sound and mood that you want to create. ~ Alexandre Desplat

July 11

I played football. I played trumpet. I could draw. ~ Jimmy Breslin

[Bill and company, i.e., Tuesday Nightclub, for what may have been the final performance of the group at the Garden Bar . . . ]

A superb tenor voice, like a silver trumpet muffled in silk. ~ Alec Guinness

Life is like a trumpet – if you don’t put anything into it, you don’t get anything out of it. ~ William Christopher Handy

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. ~ Theodore Hesburgh

There are those who wrap themselves in flags and blow the tinny trumpet of patriotism as a means of fooling the people. ~ George Galloway

The computer is not, in our opinion, a good model of the mind, but it is as the trumpet is to the orchestra – you really need it. ~ Gerald Edelman

[The aforementioned photographer, Michael Tisserand . . . ]

The first time I ever played the trumpet in public, I played the Marine Hymn. I sounded terrible. ~ Wynton Marsalis

I started playing trumpet when I was 11 years old. All I wanted to be was a jazz trumpet player when I grew up. ~ Flea

My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem. But they don’t really know me. ~ Garry Shandling

[“Hmmm, I wonder what this button is for?”]

Also, I’d like to play an athlete again, while I’m still physically fit, or a musician, like Nat King Cole, because I play the trumpet and sing. I’d like to incorporate that into a character. ~ Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

[The Super shares a front row table with Sue and Harvey (also a retired teacher and active member of the Fat Boys Walking Club) . . . ]

Louis Armstrong playing trumpet on the Judgment Day. ~ Al Stewart

The E Street band casts a pretty wide net. Our influences go all the way back to the early primitive garage music, and also, we’ve had everything in the band from jazz players to Kansas City trumpet players to Nils Lofgren, one of the great rock guitarists in the world. ~ Bruce Springsteen

There are two kinds of artists left: those who endorse Pepsi and those who simply won’t. ~ Annie Lennox

[Mary Lou Thunselle often participates in such gatherings as “the girl singer” . . . ]

You’re gonna have to learn to get out there in front of those cameras and hold your head up. Take charge when you’re singing. ~ Patsy Cline

It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts. ~ Ella Fitzgerald

I don’t try to sound like anyone but me anymore. If something is out of my element, I try to avoid it. ~ Norah Jones

As a singer I tried on all these hats, these voices, these clothes, and eventually out came me. ~ Carly Simon

Always be smarter than the people who hire you. ~ Lena Horne

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~ Judy Garland

We needed something to express our joy, our beauty, our power. And the rainbow did that. ~ Gilbert Baker

[Bill with the aforementioned Anne Riggs, nee my high school French teacher . . . ]

Before we had airplanes and astronauts, we really thought that there was an actual place beyond the clouds, somewhere over the rainbow. There was an actual place, and we could go above the clouds and find it there. ~ Barbara Walters

[Thanks for the memories . . . ]

I’ve always taken ‘The Wizard of Oz’ very seriously, you know. I believe in the idea of the rainbow. And I’ve spent my entire life trying to get over it. ~ Judy Garland

Man’s greatest joy is to slay his enemy, plunder his riches, ride his steeds, see the tears of his loved ones and embrace his women. ~ Genghis Khan

July 12

You might not be riding high on a great show for as long because you didn’t have people to share the joy with. ~ Aoife O’Donovan

Of course we all come to the theatre with baggage. The baggage of our daily lives, the baggage of our problems, the baggage of our tragedies, the baggage of being tired. It doesn’t matter what age you are. But if our hearts get opened and released – well that is what theatre can do, and does sometimes, and everyone is thankful when that happens. ~ Vanessa Redgrave

[I think would probably be considered the surprise hit of the season – we loved it . . . ]

Theatre is a mirror, a sharp reflection of society. ~ Yasmina Reza

There’s no real theatre without taking risks. ~ Haris Pasovic

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to. ~ Willem Dafoe

[And now for my photos . . . ]

The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation. ~ Stella Adler

[The stage . . . ]

A video taped stage performance is just – you know, it’s never gonna be the same as it is if you’re sitting there live in the theatre. ~ Nathan Lane

[An after play discussion with Nicole and the actors . . . ]

Because theatre is a story-telling art form, we feel entitled to assume that the playwright got there before we got there. ~ Tom Stoppard

If I only did theatre I would have had to waitress, and I didn’t want to waitress. ~ Kim Cattrall

July 14

I’m just a garbage American who only speaks English. And a little Gollum. ~ Audrey (Ashley Parks)

[Summer movie time . . . ]

Do not enjoy yourself. Enjoy dances and theaters and joy-rides and champagne and oysters; enjoy jazz and cocktails and night-clubs if you can enjoy nothing better; enjoy bigamy and burglary and any crime in the calendar, in preference to the other alternative; but never learn to enjoy yourself. ~ G. K. Chesterton

We must not be ambitious. We cannot aspire to masterpieces. We may content ourselves with a joy ride in a paint-box. ~ Winston Churchill

July 16

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. ~ Henri Nouwen

[Why yes, another Sunday breakfast at the golf club . . . ]

You can’t take up golf on a whim and find yourself competing against Tiger Woods in the Masters six months later. ~ Richard Roeper

[The new pro shop . . . ]

Age is just a number. It’s totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine. ~ Joan Collins

[Approach to the Rolling Forks Vineyard . . . ]

What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others. ~ Diogenes

Beauty is worse than wine, it intoxicates both the holder and beholder. ~ Aldous Huxley

[Where we went for an afternoon of music with Anthony Miltich. That’s Anthony with his back to the camera chatting with other Alexandrians who had made the trip to Glenwood . . . ]

[It was quite windy that day, Anthony used an overturned table as a wind block . . . ]

Either give me more wine or leave me alone. ~ Rumi

[The aforementioned Anthony at work . . . ]

I drink and I know things. ~ Tyrion Lannister

Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you. ~ William Shakespeare

Work is the curse of the drinking classes. ~ Oscar Wilde

[The Super checks out overhead Italian satellites, positioning to fraudify the 2024 elections . . . ]

A man’s got to believe in something. I believe I’ll have another drink. ~ W.C. Fields

[As Lake Minnewaska naps in the background . . . ]

There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne. ~ Bette Davis

[Leaving the winery via the long road, Selnes, down to the lake . . . ]

A lake is a landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. ~ Henry David Thoreau

There’s only one way to tackle life, enjoy a day at the beach, and jump into a Great Lake: Headfirst! ~ Viola Shipman

[Minnewaska lakeshore drive . . . ]

Do lovely was the loneliness of a wild lake. ~ Edgar Allan Poe

[Peters Sunset Beach Resort, long a local area landmark . . . ]

Real freedom lies in wilderness, not in civilization. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

July 18

He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter. ~ John Burroughs

[Summer in the backyard . . . ]

I still consider it a summer job, though. So, I try to maintain that summer job as long as I can. But it’s exciting to be able to have the opportunity to do things I always dreamed of as a kid. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time. ~ John Lubbock

People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy. ~ Anton Chekhov

I don’t ask you to love me always like this, but I ask you to remember. Somewhere inside of me there will always be the person I am tonight. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Meanwhile, back at Theatre L’Homme Dieu . . . ]

I love you more than anybody in the world… I love you for millions and millions of things, clocks and vampires and dirty nails and squiggly paintings and lovely hair and being dizzy and falling dreams. ~ Dylan Thomas

[The actors, rather well-known in Minnesota . . . ]

My blind eyes are desperately waiting for the sight of you. You don’t realise of course, E.B., how fascinatingly beautiful you have always been, and how strangely you have acquired an added and special and dangerous loveliness. ~ Richard Burton

Meg Ryan was nice [ in When Harry Met Sally] … the writing was good … but it was really kind of a boy’s club, I mean, there was Bruno Kirby, Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal – talk about your testosterone trio! ~ Carrie Fisher

I carry my iPod everywhere. My favorite group is the John Butler Trio, an Australian jam band. The lead singer and guitarist writes amazing lyrics. ~ Hope Solo

When I first organized the King Cole Trio back in 1937, we were strictly what you would call an instrumental group. To break the monotony, I would sing a few songs here and there between the playing. I sang things I had known over the years. I wasn’t trying to give it any special treatment, just singing. I noticed thereafter people started requesting more singing, and it was just one of those things. ~ Nat King Cole

A lot of musicians have a tough time hearing what we’re doing in a trio format. ~ Branford Marsalis

I don’t want to live – I want to love first, and live incidentally. ~ Zelda Fitzgerald

[The stage, unattended . . . ]

I answer one of your letters, then lie in bed in apparent calm, but my heart beats through my entire body and is conscious only of you. I belong to you; there is really no other way of expressing it, and that is not strong enough. ~ Franz Kafka

[Theatre executive director Nicole Mulder “sets the stage . . . “]

You made me happy and you made me laugh, and if I could do it all over again, I would not hesitate. Look at our life, at the trips we took, the adventures we had. As your father used to say, we shared the longest ride together, this thing called life, and mine has been filled with joy because of you. ~ Nicholas Sparks

[A reunion of two former Hoosiers (photobombed by a local celebrity) . . . ]

You know these love letters mix with whisky, just don’t light a match when you kiss me. ~ Jon Bon Jovi

[Mr. Shelby with some of the theatre’s finest . . . ]

My number-one website is brainpickings.org. It opens you up to different authors and gives insights into the literary world. Reading about the love letters novelist Vladimir Nabokov wrote to his wife Vera blew my mind. Fascinating. ~ Brie Larson

[Don and Nicole . . . ]

My dream as a child was to play with a bass player like Ray Brown, who played with the Oscar Peterson Trio. The feeling I had listening to his work was almost carnal, so to actually play for him was earth-shattering for me. ~ Diana Krall

[Mr. Shelby joined the band for a little post-play entertainment . . . ]

I believe the core of most of us women is very simple. We want to feel appreciated, acknowledged, and something as simple as flowers with a little note or some love letters goes a long way. ~ Yolanda Hadid

[These people were all subsequently recaptured and returned to custody after a 20-county search . . . ]

July 19

I played a lot of tough clubs in my time. Once a guy in one of those clubs wanted to bet me $10 that I was dead. I was afraid to bet. ~ Henny Youngman

[Wednesday night fine dining at the golf club . . . ]

I like to be home on a Friday night. I don’t go out. I don’t go to clubs. It’s not my thing. I sit at home with my glass of wine and watch hours of reality TV. ~ Kaley Cuoco

[Don’cha just love eating your food container?]

July 20

I started out with a carpet-cleaning business. Then I had a lunch wagon business, where you pull up and serve food. Then I had bars and then restaurants. ~ Mike Lindell

[The new adjunct to the Garden Bar on 6th – just across the street . . . ]

When I was about 12, I had my first paying gig – 8 dollars to play rhythm guitar in a polka band. Pretty soon, I ended up playing in all the bars within driving distance of Abbott, Texas. ~ Willie Nelson

It’s okay to look at the past and the future. Just don’t stare. ~ Lisa Lieberman-Wang

Work is against human nature. The proof is that it makes us tired. ~ Michel Tournier

Up Next: Still in the catch up mode . . .

September 23

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society. ~ Mark Twain

What they could do to make it easier is combine the two, real estate and obituaries: Mr. Klein died today leaving a wife, two children, and a spacious three-bedroom apartment with a wood-burning fireplace. ~ Billy Crystal

[Just wanted to let you know, it will be coming . . . ]

There’s nothing wrong with you that an expensive operation can’t prolong. ~ Graham Chapman

July 2

I went to a restaurant that serves ‘breakfast at any time’. So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance. ~ Steven Wright

[Sunday breakfast at the golf club . . . ]

My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don’t think about it, I just have it. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. ~ John Gunther

[To include watching golfers ascend the 9th hole . . . ]

Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. ~ Lewis Carroll

Every morning, I would actually look at the obituaries before I had breakfast. And as a joke I said if I was not in it, I would have the breakfast. ~ Carl Reiner

The stainless-steel frets were a major breakthrough, because of the amount of playing and bending that I do. I have to get my guitars refretted every couple of months. ~ Eddie Van Halen

[In the afternoon, internationally-renowned Julie Patchouli and Bruce Hecksel at Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]

Guitars are like women. You’ll never get them totally right. ~ Slash

I wish they’d had electric guitars in cotton fields back in the good old days. A whole lot of things would’ve been straightened out. ~ Jimi Hendrix

Out of all the guitars in the whole world, the Fender Mustang is my favorite. They’re cheap and totally inefficient, and they sound like crap and are very small. ~ Kurt Cobain

I can’t take any more white boys noodling around on their guitars. ~ Gene Ween

Why did they keep changing guitars and amplifiers when they were perfect? They did the same things with cars, if you ask me. They forgot how to make them right, because they focused on style and bells and whistles. ~ Buddy Guy

Trent likes to record guitars direct, whereas I’ve always preferred playing through an amplifier. ~ Daisy Berkowitz

I love to collect guitars made in the 1950s. I like preserving and playing them. ~ Joe Bonamassa

He was like a real dad, you know. We used to sit down with guitars and mess around. ~ Julian Lennon

Never follow anyone else’s path. Unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path. Then by all means follow that path. ~ Ellen DeGeneres

[Major music aficionados, the family Trumm . . . ]

July 3

I like guitar. It just turned out that it’s the instrument I learned to play. I have a lot of respect for it, and I’m learning more and more every day. For me, the classic band setup – guitars, drums, bass – will stay fresh forever. I don’t know. I’m still into it. ~ Mac DeMarco

[Anthony Miltich at Lure Lakebar, fronting for Lake Le Homme Dieu . . . ]

I’m not too picky about guitars. I love to collect them, mostly oddballs, but I’m not married to any brand or model. Whatever guitar has the best character for the song is the one I want to use, because if you’ve got a style, you’re going to sound like yourself no matter what guitar you play. ~ Dan Auerbach

[The Super enjoying an afternoon snack and beverage . . . ]

And as far as guitars go, I loved Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West’s stuff. ~ Willie Nelson

I’ve had three wives and three guitars. I still play the guitars. ~ Andres Segovia

I’m not a collector, however, and I have no desire to own 50 or 60 guitars. ~ Mark Knopfler

I’ve always been into guitars… we want to put keyboards on, but keyboard players don’t look cool onstage, they just keep their heads down. There has never been a cool keyboard player, apart from Elton John. ~ Noel Gallagher

July 4

Dear optimist, pessimist, and realist—while you guys were busy arguing about the glass of wine, I drank it! Sincerely, the opportunist! ~ Lori Greiner

[A beautiful morning for the nation’s birthday . . . ]

I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up. ~ Benjamin Franklin

I have a lot of growing up to do. I realized that the other day inside my fort. ~ Zach Galifianakis

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. ~ Oscar Wilde

I have the same goal I’ve had ever since I was a girl. I want to rule the world. ~ Madonna

You know you are in love when the two of you can go grocery shopping together. ~ Woody Harrelson

July 5

Simien is a two-time Grammy-winning Zydeco artist with a 34-year road warrior history of playing more than 7000 shows in 40 different countries. He’s an eighth generation Creole who settled in Mallet, just north of Lafayette area of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana and is a standard bearer for the Creole heritage called “one of the most pervasive yet overlooked cultures on the planet” by Kreol Magazine. ~ Dan Wilcox

[The beginning of back-to-back great shows . . . ]

Many have never heard of the Creoles, a name for a hybrid of Spanish, French, African, and native American cultures, but they consist of 15 million people in the southern swamps of Louisiana, Caribbean Islands, island nations of Seychelles and Mauritius in Indian Ocean. ~ Dan Wilcox

Zydeco is the energetic music of the Creoles. Simien quotes venerated musicologist Alan Lomax as saying that pre-Zydeco music called jure recorded in the 1920s was “the most African sounding music he heard in the country.” ~ Dan Wilcox

He’s a person that’s always there for everybody. If you got a benefit dinner, Terrance is there. It’s not about the money for Terrance. He’s always showing up and saying, hey, what can I do to help somebody. ~ Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr.

Mr. Terrence has been in the music industry for so long, and it’s opened many pathways for artists like myself. It’s very heartbreaking to hear of something of that nature. ~ Lil’ Nate

Legend has it that the word zydeco originated in the lyrics of Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés, a popular Cajun dance tune. Loosely translated, the song’s title means “the beans are not salty,” and when spoken in French Creole, les haricots (French for beans) sounds something like “zydeco.” “Zydeco” first appeared in print in 1960 and has been used to describe this kind of music ever since. ~ Mirriam-Webster

Simien is a Zydeco master: his voice yearning like Sam Cooke, he delivers soul worthy of Stax greats and shows crossover class. ~ Rolling Stone

An alluring zydeco talent. ~ Village Voice

You know it’s been a great night when, at the end, your smile muscles are just as tired as your dance muscles. ~ Philadelphia Inquirer

[A wonderful night, the group was glorious . . . ]

July 7

So remember when you tell those little white lies that the night has a thousand eyes. ~ Bobby Vee

[Following Terrance Simien with the Killer Vees remembering Bobby Vee – can’t get much better . . . ]

Come back when you grow up girl, you’re still living in a paper doll world. ~ Bobby Vee

I’m one stomach flu away from my goal weight. ~ Emily Blunt

[One of the few nights of rain this summer. We waited it out in the car . . . ]

Frank Sinatra is the only one that went from teen idol to superstar. ~ Leif Garrett

The great thing about rock and roll is that someone like me can be a star. ~ Elton John

If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’. ~ John Lennon

[Theatre executive director Nicole Mulder announces the show . . . ]

Elvis may be the King of Rock and Roll, but I am the Queen. ~ Little Richard

I don’t know how much more expressive you can get than being a rock and roll singer. ~ Robert Plant

Should the Moody Blues [and Bobby Vee ~ Editor] be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? That’s absurd. Of course they should be. ~ Steve Miller

I played in garage bands and rock and roll bands when I was in junior high and high school and saw some of the great talents of all time in the local area where I lived. ~ David Cassidy

[Matt Velline, lead vocal, is Bobby’s Nephew; Tommy, on bass, is Bobby’s son; and lead guitar on the right is Bobby’s grandson . . . ]

Rock and roll music – the music of freedom frightens people and unleashes all manner of conservative defense mechanisms. ~ Salman Rushdie

All of a sudden, someone threw me in front of this rock and roll band. And I decided then and there that was it. I never wanted to do anything else. ~ Janis Joplin

Rosa Parks is rock and roll. ~ Yungblud

The biggest problem in rock journalism is that often the writer’s main motivation is to become friends with the band. They’re not really journalists; they’re people who want to be involved in rock and roll. ~ Chuck Klosterman

[Matt and Julie’s son Will on drums. We’ve watched Will from an early age when the family lived in Alex . . . ]

For guitar players especially, blues is the foundation of rock and roll. You take country music and rock and roll and jazz and you mix it together, and that’s my basic makeup. ~ Steve Miller

[Will solos . . . ]

I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music. ~ Aretha Franklin

I take my job as a rock and roll sax player very seriously. To do it the way that I must do it, I must be in good condition. The better shape you’re in, the harder you can rock. ~ Clarence Clemons

Mickey’ is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a one-hit wonder. ~ Toni Basil

Some people come to our shows and think they’re gonna spend the night just listening to love songs, and they’re pretty much surprised cause we do a lot of rock and roll. ~ Bobby Hatfield

July 8

Australia is filled with roundabouts and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road. In the end we decided to split up the work and I feverishly watched the GPS and yelled, “Left! Right! ROUNDABOUT! ~ Jenny Lawson

[The Roundabout is ready!]

Until you’ve learned to drive, you’ve never really learned how to swear. ~ Robert Paul

[The Saturday morning it opened I had to give it a go on my way to get doughnuts . . . ]

The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it. ~ Dudley Moore

That’s why I love road trips, dude. It’s like doing something without actually doing anything. ~ John Green

My therapist says I’m afraid of success. I guess I could understand that, because after all, fulfilling my potential would really cut into my sitting-around time. ~ Maria Bamford

[This is not a roundabout. It’s a new parking lot on Pilgrim Point . . . ]

Trying is the first step toward failure. ~ Homer Simpson

[I’ve lived here since before Big Ole, but I’d never been on Pilgrim Point before. Jutting out into beautiful Lake Ida about halfway up the eastern shore, it shows off the beauty of an acclaimed lake . . . ]

There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it. ~ Mindy Kaling

[Looking north, so you’re just seeing half the lake . . . ]

Doing nothing is very hard to do… you never know when you’re finished. ~ Leslie Nielsen

[Looking south, beautiful sandy bottom on both sides of the point . . . ]

Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring: ‘How to Build a Boat.’ ~ Steven Wright

A good rule to remember for life is that when it comes to plastic surgery and sushi, never be attracted by a bargain. ~ Graham Norton

I’m not insane. My mother had me tested. ~ Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons)

There are only three ages for women in Hollywood: babe, district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy. ~ Goldie Hawn

Up Next: Yup, still more catching up . . .

September 14

Without geography you’re nowhere. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Heading full steam ahead into the summer entertainment season. This is still part of playing catch up in the blog . . . ~ Me

I’m growing older, but not up. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[Why yes, I once was indeed a mountain man . . . ]

You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. ~ Albert Camus

June 30

In the Troubadour days, it was all those songwriters that I hung around with all the time, so I could get songs and find out what was going on. So we all knew each other, and we just carried each other’s word around. ~ Linda Ronstadt

[Galaxy Road at Carlos Creek Winery . . . ]

Traditionally, songwriters can’t sing. And that holds true in my case, also. ~ John Phillips

[With Aksel Krafnick on voice and guitar . . . ]

Most of the best songwriters that ever lived couldn’t read music. ~ Tim Minchin

Songwriters aren’t always performers, and even performing songwriters aren’t always the kind of show-biz performers you think they’d be. ~ Lyle Lovett

And I can say this, most of the people who have recorded my songs are songwriters themselves. ~ Smokey Robinson

As far as songwriters, I’ve always been a fan of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin; those guys mean a lot to me. ~ Mel Brooks

[Things really rock ‘n roll when the Armadillos come to town . . . ]

Humor has bailed me out of more tight situations than I can think of. If you go with your instincts and keep your humor, creativity follows. With luck, success comes, too. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[The eight members of The Fabulous Armadillos include (left to right) Pat Thorn, Cassandra Ronnie, Greg Armstrong, Mike Kreitzer, Chris Hawkey, Jay O’Donnell, Paul Diethelm and Mike Zeleny.]

Indecision may or may not be my problem. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[The stage is set at the Legacy of the Lakes Gardens . . . ]

We are the people our parents warned us about. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[The back view from the front row . . . ]

Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don’t know and I don’t care. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Searching is half the fun: life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party. ~ Jimmy Buffett

If it doesn’t work out there will never be any doubt that the pleasure was worth all the pain. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[The usual suspects with loge seating . . . ]

If I couldn’t laugh I just would go insane, If we couldn’t laugh we just would go insane, If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane. ~ Jimmy Buffett

My mother insisted that her children read. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[Kelli Minnerath, on behalf of the Alexandria Education Foundation, addressed the assembled masses . . . ]

I sell escapism. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[Ms. Minnerath with thank yous to all . . . ]

I still consider it a summer job, though. So, I try to maintain that summer job as long as I can. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Well, I’m still here. Didn’t have to go to rehab, and I’m not broke. ~ Jimmy Buffett

At 57, to have a No. 1 album, I wasn’t expecting it. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[Stretch . . . ]

Elvis was the only man from Northeast Mississippi who could shake his hips and still be loved by rednecks, cops, and hippies. ~ Jimmy Buffett

It’s been wonderful for me, and I feel so privileged to have fans that are that loyal. ~ Jimmy Buffett

I always said that I wouldn’t use a teleprompter, and if I start to sing real flat, I’ll hang it up. ~ Jimmy Buffett

I’m inspired by people who keep on rolling, no matter their age. ~ Jimmy Buffett

I always said that I wouldn’t use a teleprompter, and if I start to sing real flat, I’ll hang it up. ~ Jimmy Buffett

And I try to give the best bang for the buck. I love performing more than anything else. ~ Jimmy Buffett

To describe my scarce leisure time in today’s terms, I always default to reading. ~ Jimmy Buffett

If there’s a heaven for me, I’m sure it has a beach attached. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Take it all in… it’s as big as it seems. Count all your blessings. Remember your dreams. ~ Jimmy Buffett

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Changes in latitude. Changes in attitude. ~ Jimmy Buffett

It’s important to have as much fun as possible while we’re here. It balances out the times when the minefield of life explodes. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Life is just a tire swing. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, but I know it’s my own damn fault. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Lust for the future, treasure the past. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Wasting away in Margaritaville, looking for my lost shaker of salt. ~ Jimmy Buffett

If life gives you limes, make margaritas. ~ Jimmy Buffett

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Breathe in, breathe out, move on. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Shells sink, dreams float. Life’s good on our boat. ~ Jimmy Buffett

It’s a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning. ~ Jimmy Buffett

It was too much tequila, or not quite enough. ~ Jimmy Buffett

No working during drinking hours. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Go fast enough to get there, but slow enough to see. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Some of it’s magic and some of it’s tragic but I had a good life all the way. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been. ~ Jimmy Buffett

[This could have been a scene from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” . . . ]

Only time will tell if it was time well-spent. ~ Jimmy Buffett

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear. ~ Albert Camus

Alas, after a certain age every man is responsible for his face. ~ Albert Camus

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world. ~ Albert Camus

Up Next: I’m still catching up – but I am catching up . . .

September 10

I don’t think I would encourage executives that work for me to blog. ~ Mark Cuban

Sometimes, reading a blog, which I do infrequently, I see that generations of Americans have been wilfully crippled, and can no longer spell or write a sentence. ~ Alice Walker

The photo displayed from the blog on Facebook is always the first photo in the post. I know of no way of changing that arrangement. So, why not go with Nicola Walker? ~ Me

A daily blog would just about finish me off completely. ~ Robert Plant

August 2

We shall not be happy unless we live like good animals, unless we enjoy the exercise of the ordinary functions of life: eating, sleeping, loving, walking, running, swimming, riding, sailing. ~ William Morris

[Well, doesn’t everybody take their dog and their bird kayaking?]

And to me, sailing the open ocean is a real challenge, because it’s life or death. ~ Morgan Freeman

[I’m always amazed at how kids become world-class sailors after one week at camp . . . ]

I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full. ~ Arthur Ashe

[OK, now they’re just showing off . . . ]

The hands are the feet of the arms. ~ Seth Meyers

Sailing became one of the mainstreams of my life. I suppose my father was an influence. I remember seeing a photo of him at home sailing a big boat to Bermuda in his 20s. I still have it. ~ David Crosby

Sailing is such a variable sport. There could be no wind, or there could be 25 knots. You never know what you’re going to get. ~ Hannah Mills

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked. ~ Warren Buffett

[The aforementioned, Ye Olde Swimming Hole . . . ]

Swimming is a confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. And when I’m swimming, sometimes I’m not sure which one it is. ~ Demetri Martin

If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead. ~ Erma Bombeck

[Let the games begin! I must have slept through horseshoes this year – already on to cornhole on the hottest day at camp . . . ]

Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock-n-roll. ~ Shigeru Miyamoto

[Kent, on the left, is on “our team,” and son to the Fort Wayners sitting on the bench . . . ]

Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal. ~ George Will

[And Jenny, tossing here, is Kent’s partner in life and cornhole . . . ]

As long as there are games to play it is not over. ~ Alex Ferguson

[Ed, on the right, is also on “our team” . . . ]

Playing games can contribute to making you happy, perhaps even without therapy. ~ Gyles Brandreth

[Weather conditions permitted me to, on occasion, go out and pour water on his head . . . ]

Expanded outdoor dining has created a vibrancy in many of our neighborhoods in ways that we haven’t seen before, all while supporting locally owned, small businesses. ~ Ned Lamont

[Dining outside is routine as through the years we seem to enjoy weather like this . . . ]

‘Fine dining.’ I’d love to know who coined the term and whether they meant it to be as offputting as it is. The words evoke an idea of phoney refinement, of needless flummery, snooty waiters, and an atmosphere designed to intimidate the customer. ~ John Lanchester

[And when we’re finished the chipmunks come around to clean up the detritus . . . ]

August 3

The idea of elegance and aristocratic indulgence of an ocean cruise was born out of the image of the rich men and women who ruled the British Empire slowly sailing to India and the Far East while sipping gin and tonic on deck – served by men in white jackets. ~ Adam Curtis

[Sailing lessons appear to be absorbed immediately as kids then go out on their own . . . ]

Whether or not you discover your talents and passions is partly a matter of opportunity. If you’ve never been sailing, or picked up an instrument, or tried to teach or to write fiction, how would you know if you had a talent for these things? ~ Ken Robinson

From the moment I climbed into that 8-foot dinghy in 1952, I knew instinctively what to do and sensed I had done it before. ~ David Crosby

Geography was the lesson I always looked forward to most. It was a form of escapism. It could be bleak midwinter outside but inside you’re learning about African farming methods or the Great Lakes. No other lesson had that excitement. ~ Ben Fogle

[Daily 9:00 am flag raising, to sing the birdie song, the Camp Brosius song, and the IU school song . . . ]

We’re definitely honest with each other… if your sisters can’t tell you that you look ridiculous, who can? ~ Kourtney Kardashian

[The Biddies with their respective white Subaru Outbacks. (I should submit this as an advertising photo for the Outback?) . . . ]

The family is one of nature’s masterpieces. ~ George Santayana

[The Northern California wing of the Hatch family had to leave camp early . . . ]

The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege. ~ Charles Kuralt

[We hope they’re hooked now for future visits . . . ]

Sometimes I can’t believe I’m going to be 60. I always say there’s no point moaning about getting older, when there’s nothing you can do about it. But still, I do find it quite funny. I look at that number, 60, and I think, ‘Really? Me?’ ~ Twiggy

[Photobombed by Reetz! With The Biddies as my chauffeurs all week, I was much more comfortable seeing where we had been rather than where we were going . . . ]

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. ~ Willa Cather

[People poo-pooed the dark sky . . . ]

Anyone who has spent a few nights in a tent during a storm can tell you: The world doesn’t care all that much if you live or die. ~ Anthony Doerr

[But it was the real thing . . . ]

The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes. ~ Paulo Coelho

[It rained hard with winds that blew out the window fans . . . ]

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

[But as strong campers we rode it out with only minor whimpering . . . ]

If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm. ~ Frank Lane

Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do. ~ Golda Meir

[We cleared out of the porch . . . ]

I once dated a weather girl, we talked up a storm. ~ Jay London

[The euchre game was moved indoors. Even then, the storm blew open the French doors on the right . . . ]

The preparations are what they are. We’re here. The storm is coming. We are as best prepared as we can be as the eye of the storm approaches. ~ Russel Honore

[Looking out the front door . . . ]

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. ~ John Muir

August 4

I loved being in the film called ‘Carnal Knowledge’ – the one with Jack Nicholson, which was very dark but a really brilliant movie. I loved being in ‘The Ritz.’ ‘The Ritz’ I think is just hilarious. I just saw it again recently and by God, it’s still funny! ~ Rita Moreno

[Rappaport, out home away from home . . . ]

Remember to play after every storm. ~ Mattie Stepanek

[Happy to be an early riser the morning after a storm . . . ]

So the storm passed and every one was happy. ~ Kate Chopin

[There is usually great light and everything is fresh and clean . . . ]

Here’s to the pilot that weathered the storm. ~ George Canning

[The Hobie Cats appear to be OK . . . ]

The whole climate is changing: the winds, the ocean currents, the storm patterns, snow packs, snowmelt, flooding, droughts. Temperature is just a bit of it. ~ John Holdren

[The water tower and our sail boats survived the storm . . . ]

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed. ~ Walt Whitman

[As did the canoes and kayaks . . . ]

Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes – every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man. ~ Orison Swett Marden

[The Sputh Round House, the place where early risers meet at 7:00 am for coffee and muffins and discussions on thermodynamics . . . ]

Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do – they all contain truths. ~ Muhammad Ali

[The dining hall . . . ]

It’s one thing to get a letter from your kid at camp telling you he wants to come home. It’s another to get a letter from a grown child saying they’re coming back to live with you! ~ Walt Handelsman

[Fine dining, three squares a day . . . ]

Chaos in the midst of chaos isn’t funny, but chaos in the midst of order is. ~ Steve Martin

For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature. ~ Ann Druyan

[I hiked to the end of the camp entrance road to the public access to the lake . . . ]

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

[Yup, hit the right time of day for photos . . . ]

The sky takes on shades of orange during sunrise and sunset, the colour that gives you hope that the sun will set only to rise again. ~ Ram Charan

[And there’s the Sputh Round House from the other side. Liked the photo well enough to make it my computer background . . . ]

In camp when I was eight – a bunch of kids threw me outside naked. I got ’em back! ~ Kelsey Grammer

[And now walking back into camp . . . ]

If your life ever begins to bore you, risk it. ~ Henry de Montherlant [Editor’s note: I’ve never been THAT bored. Really.]

[The lake swim, about a mile across beginning in the vicinity of the Barefoot Tiki Bar on the far side. As to whether or not I’ve ever attempted this, see the above quote . . . ]

Somebody said to me, ‘But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.’ That’s a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, ‘Now, let’s write a swimming pool.’ ~ Paul McCartney

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. ~ John Muir

[That’s our screen porch. We did not know until morning that this rather sizable tree branch came down during the storm and just missed us. Now, I suspect, it will provide the fuel for future campfires . . . ]

Many people don’t give a rip about politics and know as much about public affairs as they know about the topography of Pluto. ~ Tony Snow

[There are some terrific vistas driving east from Lake Winnebago to Elkhart Lake . . . ]

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. ~ Barack Obama

[The theme at camp this year was “Out of This World” . . . ]

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. ~ Mark Twain

[And Mabel was the camp princess this year . . . ]

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. ~ Steve Jobs

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. ~ Oscar Wilde

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[Sisters . . . ]

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[Daughter and mother . . . ]

Sister is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship. ~ Margaret Mead

[The Biddies in all their glory . . . ]

As women, we have super powers. We are sisters. We are healers. We are mothers. We are goddess warriors. ~ Merle Dandridge

It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us, as the confidence of their help. ~ Epicurus

[The Hoosiers from Fort Wayne . . . ]

A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. ~ Jackie Robinson

[The last campfire . . . ]

August 5

What other people call dark and despairing, I call funny. ~ David Sedaris

[Last day at camp, we come down for a last doughnut on the patio and then head for home . . . ]

I know a lot about cars, man. I can look at any car’s headlights and tell you exactly which way it’s coming. ~ Mitch Hedberg

[Heading west from Elkhart Lake, the long down hill ride into Fond du Lac . . . ]

I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. ~ George Best

[Then north past Oshkosh . . . ]

Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car. ~ E. B. White

[See, I told you . . . ]

If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend. ~ Doug Larson

[Then west across the St. Croix River on I94 into Minnesota . . . ]

If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG. ~ Bill Gates

[Minnesota on the left; the St. Croix in the middle; Wisconsin on the right . . . ]

And ending with –

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything. ~ Aaron Siskind

[In 1965, Brad Anderson and I, friends from Alexandria, lived in Territorial Hall on the U of M campus for our freshman year. Pat Myers (below), from Seymour, Indiana, lived right across the hall from us. We lost total contact with him since then until I met someone at Camp Brosius this year who knew Pat – we were reconnected . . . ]

[Pat, on the left, with Alexandria classmates Greg (Mayo) and Bradley in a photo taken some time after the invention of the electric light bulb . . . ]

What the Internet’s value is that you have access to information but you also have access to every lunatic that’s out there that wants to throw up a blog. ~ George A. Romero

Humanity is a failed experiment, but I think I’m God and I’d like to start over. I don’t want to die, I just want everyone else to. I certainly would not be lonely. It would be exciting never having to listen to another person again but just my own self droning on and on. That’s why I write a blog. And I read it, too. ~ Roseanne Barr

Up Next: Getting back to stuff that has been rusting in archives . . .

September 2

The forest is the root of all life; it is the womb that revives out biological instincts , that deepens our intelligence and increases our sensitivity as human beings. ~ Akira Miyawaki

I love Wisconsin. It’s a great place. ~ Donald Trump

Green Bay Packers fans practiced their own religion in Wisconsin. ~ Holly Quinn

My mother was born in Wisconsin; it wasn’t her fault. ~ Me

July 30

We’re not going into Moscow. It’s Czechoslovakia. It’s like going into Wisconsin. ~ From “Stripes”

[Sunday morning sightseeing in Sheboygan . . . ]

We spent three years at the Sheboygan Conservatory of Music. ~ From “Some Like It Hot”

[The Biddies outside the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, our annual visit on Sunday mornings before leaving for camp in Elkhart Lake . . . ]

Were they sent to hell? Worse. Wisconsin. ~ From “Dogma”

[Sanity reigns at the Arts Center . . . ]

A thousand units in Oshkosh? Tommy, that’s fabulous. Your father never sold a thousand in Oshkosh. ~ From “Tommy Boy”

[The restrooms are always a highlight here – think about what Kohler means to you . . . ]

How do you like Wisconsin in February? I like it if you’re there. And I know a killer burger in Milwaukee. ~ From “Up in the Air”

This is sweet, man, because if this crook’s a Brewers fan, his ass has got to be from Wisconsin. ~ From “Reservoir Dogs”

[The Super leads off the tour of the current art displays. I apparently failed to pick up a brochure to describe what we were looking at . . . ]

Who is this? Baxter? Baxter, is that you? Bark twice if you’re in Milwaukee. ~ From “Anchorman”

Why are you always one step behind me? Because if I wasn’t, you’d be the most popular history professor at the University of Wisconsin. ~ From “The American President”

Do you seriously expect me to tell the President that an alien has landed, and assumed the identity of a dead house painter from Madison, Wisconsin? ~ From “Starman”

I bought a ticket to the States, to a fantastic place called Wisconsin. Wisconsin babes! ~ From “Love Actually”

I’m a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600s to trade with the Native Americans. ~ From “Wayne’s World”

Ever been to Wisconsin? They have some of the coldest winters around. I grew up there, near Chippewa Falls. ~ From “Titanic”

It is a well-documented fact that guys will not ask for directions. This is a biological thing. This is why it takes several million sperm cells… to locate a female egg, despite the fact that the egg is, relative to them, the size of Wisconsin. ~ Dave Barry

Wealthy individuals have always had the capacity to influence politics, of course, but only after two key campaign finance cases – Wisconsin Right to Life and and Citizens United, have they been able to do it in such a large and blatant way. ~ Zephyr Teachout

I’m a Wisconsin kid, so I like brats and burgers and stuff like that. Cheese curds. ~ J. J. Watt

Washington, DC is to lying what Wisconsin is to cheese. ~ Dennis Miller

It’s a great culture to be a part of: there are hockey players all over the world. It has taken me to an education, getting an education at Wisconsin. I’ve been able to travel the world. ~ Hilary Knight

[These are contributions to the Art Center’s restroom walls from local school children . . . ]

In the state of Wisconsin it’s mandated that teachers in the social sciences and hard sciences have to start giving environmental education by the first grade, through high school. ~ Gaylord Nelson

There’s no reason that anybody from Wisconsin or Turkey can’t relate to ‘Atlanta.’ ~ Brian Tyree Henry

In Wisconsin, style-wise, it was all about bundling up, maybe wearing a hat and forgetting about your hair. ~ J. J. Watt

Weirdness is not my game. I’m just a square boy from Wisconsin. ~ Willem Dafoe

Prayer and dependence on God has been our history. How unfortunate it is now that an unaccountable and unelected and misguided judge from Wisconsin, Judge Barbara Crabb, has declared National Days of Prayer – established by the Congress – to be unconstitutional. ~ James Dobson

I don’t think Wisconsin should become known as a state where we shoot cats. ~ Jim Doyle

Sarah Palin is brilliant. She is a media magnet and a media magnate. She creates headlines and draws crowds wherever she goes, whether it’s 98 degrees in the desert of Arizona or below freezing in the snow of Wisconsin. ~ Mark McKinnon

[The Biddies peruse the art room-by-room . . . ]

As an individual, and I have to say as a person of color, the thing about being an ‘other’ in America is I really feel like you’re bilingual. I’m from a small town in Wisconsin, but even when I’m in New York and I’m working for MSNBC or CNN, you’re used to being the only black person in the room. ~ John Ridley

Wisconsin is a very liberal state and a very conservative state. We’re the home of the progressive movement. We’re the home of the Republican Party. ~ Sean Duffy

[A hand up . . . ]

My favorite flowers are orchids and peonies. In Wisconsin, where I grew up, peonies were everywhere, and I have loved them all my life! I also love using succulents in my decor because they last forever and add great texture to any arrangement. ~ Kendra Scott

I definitely felt out of place at first, not unlike being lactose intolerant in Wisconsin. ~ Jared Brock

[A show of hands, please . . . ]

My father had season tickets to the Packer games, and I have several of those. I have a lot of family that still lives in the Bay Area and in Wisconsin, too. And so, I like to get back as often as I can. ~ Tony Shalhoub

[Another annual event, upon arrival in Elkhart Lake, before camp opens at noon for the 8th week attendees, we stop here for an adult beverage and snack overlooking the lake – this is on the southeast side of the lake while camp is on the northwest side . . . ]

There’s a concept in Wisconsin called deer widows, which is basically when all the menfolk leave town to go on their [hunting] trips and the women are left behind, bewildered and confused, to do whatever it is women do without men. (Celebrate.) ~ Don Zolidis

[The view from the Barefoot Tiki Bar . . . ]

Wisconsin doesn’t look kindly on the weeks that slip in between the death of cold and the birth of warmth . . . ~ Seanan McGuire

There was a point in time in Wisconsin football when people used to just go to watch the band. ~ Bret Bielema

[It appeared to be synchronous sailing . . . ]

You think all teenagers care about are musicians and movie stars? Spend some time in Wisconsin. We’ll blow your socks off. ~ Joan Bauer

…Minnesota, Wisconsin, all around there… has the kind of women I liked when I was younger. ~ Neil Gaiman

She was always threatening to move to be nearer to Rosie and the boys, but Wisconsin was obviously, non negotiably, self-evidently-too cold. But she came up for the summers. Phoenix’s weather need not be clutched to the breast for June through September. ~ Laurie Frankel

[The new staircase from the camp’s living quarters and recreation area down to lakeside . . . ]

My first joke that ever aired on ‘Late Night’ was for a list of ‘Top 10 Least Popular Summer Camps.’ My contribution – ‘Camp Tick in beautiful Lyme, Connecticut’ – squeaked in at No. 10. ~ Nell Scovell

[Lakeside, where we introduced ourselves to each other and were greeted by staff announcing plans for the week . . . ]

A lot of parents pack up their troubles and send them off to summer camp. ~ Raymond Duncan

[The first night campfire . . . ]

I played 15 years of hockey, and I got more injured doing two weeks of cheer camp. ~ Eric Christian Olsen

As a kid, I was terrified. I was a bed wetter, and I had to go to sleepaway camp every summer, which was humiliating and terrifying. I had lots of insecurities and scaredness. ~ Sarah Silverman

July 31

Doo, doo, doo, lookin’ out my back door. ~ John Fogerty

[The view from our living room out through the screen porch to the lake below . . . ]

I bought an island in 1987. It’s in one of the lakes in Canada. I went around it in my boat and went to the real estate office and bought it. It’s the best $65,000 I’ve ever spent. My family camp on it and we have great times there. ~ Dan Aykroyd

[The view from outside our front door . . . ]

I spent two summers working at Camp Curry and at Yosemite Lodge as a waiter. It gave me a chance to really be there every day – to hike up to Vernal Falls or Nevada Falls. It just took me really deep into it. Yosemite claimed me. ~ Robert Redford

[Ye Olde Swimming Hole at camp . . . ]

I play a female Indiana Jones, a professor who hunts down precious objects, like a bowl that belonged to the Buddha. They tailored the role to me: I wanted to be smart, funny, and to kick some ass. ~ Tia Carrere

[Phyllis is a longtime camper who provides perspective here . . . ]

Camp is so universal. It buys that sense of togetherness. You have camp friends that you only see at camp and couldn’t see an entire year. ~ Kevin Jones

[Last year the flagstone patio was redone with smooth pavers. Now old(er) campers can use the patio without fear of falling down . . . ]

I think the fascination with zombies is that they don’t obey the rules of monsters. The first rule of monsters is that you have to go find them. You have to make a conscious choice to go to the swamp or the desert or the abandoned summer camp. ~ Max Brooks

[Said old(er) people . . . ]

If I have to be remembered for something, I want it remembered that I really liked children and was a good camp counselor. ~ Francis Ford Coppola

[Looking across Elkhart Lake to the town of Elkhart Lake on the other side . . . ]

The ‘Billionaire’ song is what my kids tease me with. They sing it to me. It’s funny. ~ Bill Gates

[Lest you’re not sure, that is indeed the Elkhart Lake water tower seemingly with a fresh coat of paint . . . ]

As a woman, you can be funny and 50, but you can’t do much else – unless you’re Helen Mirren! ~ Caroline Quentin

[Rita stops for a visit with Jenny and Kent. Kent is what you would call if this was Harvard, a legacy camper. His folks and Rita have been campers here for over 40 years . . . ]

Camp Southern Ground is a lot more than a camp. It’s more of a campus. ~ Zac Brown

[The Biddies meet the lifeguard . . . ]

I actually like snakes! When I was young, I was a boy scout nature camp counselor, and one of our projects was collecting snakes and creating an environment for them, so I’m quite familiar with snakes and think they’re fantastic creatures. ~ Harrison Ford

Queen is my all-time favorite band in history. I was an obsessive growing up after I discovered them at 10 at summer camp. ~ Adam F. Goldberg

It’s really time for the State of Wisconsin to form a better relationship with the greater Milwaukee area. ~ Tony Evers

I think our Batman had to be fun, light-hearted, funny, tongue-in-cheek… and I think that made kind of an homage to those earlier comic books, where Batman always had a quip or something. ~ Adam West

Midwest kids got to summer camp. There is something very special about being away from your parents for the first time, sleeping under the stars, hiking and canoeing. ~ Jami Gertz

It’s been a dream of mine to run my own summer camp. I went to one as a kid, and I put on productions, and got lots of confidence. ~ Idina Menzel

The snow continues with high winds we remain at this camp to day in consequence of the weather. ~ William Henry Ashley

In earlier times, so many people sang much more. You know as a kid you’d go to some kind of religious training and or summer camp or whatever it was and you’d learn to sing a lot of songs. ~ Michael Tilson Thomas

All the guys called the Olympic Village a high-class Boy Scout camp. ~ Johnny Weissmuller

[The city beach in the right background; to its left (in the photo), the aforementioned Barefoot Tiki Bar is hidden by the trees on the point in the near left foreground . . . ]

Frontiersmen good and bad, gunmen as well as inspired prophets of the future, have been my camp companions. Thus, I know the country of which I am about to write as few men now living have known it. ~ Buffalo Bill

If a man falls down and gets up, it’s funny. If he falls down and doesn’t get up it’s not funny. ~ Soupy Sales

[The staircase up from the swimming deck to the camp lodging area . . . ]

I had 500 kids at camp this past summer for example. We do nine weeks for kids and nine days for grown ups every summer. The adult camp is a lot of fun. ~ Wavy Gravy

[And looking down on the waterfront and mess hall area . . . ]

I don’t hunt, I don’t camp, and I get lost on my subway to work here in Times Square! ~ David Grann

[I usually took the back seat of the golf cart to make sure no one was following us . . . ]

August 1

Our Congress should stay in session all summer – camp out in D.C., and turn off the AC. Put on their stuffiest powdered wigs and sweat it out, until they give in and put their John Hancocks (and their Nancy Pelosis and their John Boehners) on at least one meaningful law that no one wants to repeal. ~ Kevin Bleyer

[A smoky sunrise through the porch screen . . . ]

Show me a rock imported from France, and I’ll show you de Gaulle stone. ~ Soupy Sales

I’m really not that funny in real life! But I am the best audience one could find. I love to laugh. ~ Carol Burnett

[The camp game of choice leading to euchre tournament brackets . . . ]

Once you get past funny, my other qualities are so below average. It’s not like I’m handy. ~ Seth Meyers

[Our cabin, Rappaport, hidden amongst the trees in photo center . . . ]

Some of the best conversations I’ve had are sitting around a campfire. ~ Robyn Davidson

[And that’s certainly true for Biddie 1 and The DOM, who between them have over 80 years of experience coming to Camp Brosius . . . ]

Location is everything, I’d rather camp in the Lake District or Scotland than sit in a five-star hotel in Frankfurt. ~ Rory Bremmer

[They got to keep the hats (and may have to declare them on their W2’s) . . .]

From fifth grade on, I worked at our public library. The pay, a pittance, was almost superfluous. All through high school, I looked forward to summer as the time when I could work at the library four or five days a week. I was never a camp counselor, a lifeguard, a scooper of ice cream. ~ Julia Glass

[It’s all in the wrist . . . ]

I hate camping, but I love summer camp. ~ Zooey Deschanel

[With thanks to Rita and the DOM . . . ]

For me, take Tiger Woods. I always thought he was great, but I never truly understood how good he was until I had the chance to go to Tiger Woods Golf Camp. He taught me how to swing and was hitting the ball, and this dude was unreal. ~ Larry Fitzgerald

[The ultimate camp scene – young kids learning how to sail . . . ]

I’d love to open a camp focusing on the arts accessible to kids from all income brackets. ~ Idina Menzel

I love to travel but hate traffic and planes. I wish I could just beam myself anywhere instantly. ~ Jordan Ladd

[And how to right a Sunfish that has toppled over . . . ]

My ideal travel companions are my surfboard, wetsuit, and guitar. ~ Alexander Ludwig

We live in a society where sleep is really such an afterthought. Not getting enough sleep is an epidemic in our country and it’s something that is not talked about or taken seriously. ~ Gabby Thomas

Politics have no relation to morals. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli

[August 1, 2023, a date that will live in infamy . . . ]

In politics stupidity is not a handicap. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

[And yet a date that produced these many faces of celebration . . . ]

Vote for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing. ~ Bernard Baruch

[Much of camp activity takes place on our porch . . . ]

We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~ Aesop

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. ~ Aristotle

A fool and his money are soon elected. ~ Will Rogers

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first. ~ Ronald Reagan

Politics is the art of controlling your environment. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all. ~ Noam Chomsky

There ain’t no answer. There ain’t gonna be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer. ~ Gertrude Stein

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. ~ W. C. Fields

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There’s nothing to do but to stand there and take it. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. ~ Caskie Stinnett

I love to travel, anywhere in the world. Wherever it is… India… Tibet… wherever. I’ll go anywhere. ~ Guillermo del Toro

I was 12 when it really hit me. I did children’s theatre camp during the summers and played a fairy in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ The next summer, I played Clytemnestra in ‘Agamemnon’ and I was like, ‘OK, this is amazing.’ ~ Rachel McAdams

The junior senator from Wisconsin, by his reckless charges, has so preyed upon the fears and hatreds and prejudices of the American people that he has started a prairie fire which neither he nor anyone else may be able to control. ~ J. William Fulbright

I travel Europe every couple of weeks. I just came back from London, Holland and Denmark. Every nation on this planet has its issues with race, and I am not sure if everyone has figured out how to deal with it. ~ Montel Williams

Up Next: Even more from camp . . .

August 31

When you are living in relentless heat, you become easily distracted, irritable. The fans, swamp coolers, and heat pumps we have in our homes can only take you so far out of the malaise. You become limp, despondent, and slow-moving like a lizard at high noon. Many throughout our desert communities are confronting the possibility that this untenable sustained heat and drought will force us to leave. ~ Terry Tempest Williams

[I was subsequently released under a $200k bond, all the while claiming (strongly) my innocence and that it was a political witch hunt . . . ]

Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light. ~ Dylan Thomas

A man’s character is his fate. ~ Heraclitus

May 30

I’ve searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

[A relatively new local area park. Just a drive through to see the improvements . . . ]

We’ve got to get people out of their cars, out of those drive-thru windows, get them walking, get them in parks and get them more active. ~ Mick Cornett

The making of the far-famed New York Central Park was opposed by even good men, with misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity, but straight right won its way, and now that park is appreciated. So we confidently believe it will be with our great national parks and forest reservations. ~ John Muir

[Well, this looks nice . . . ]

Child welfare ought really to cover all sorts of topics, such as better water and sanitation and good roads, and clean streets and public parks and playgrounds. ~ Marjorie Stoneman Douglas

[Restrooms at the beach . . . ]

Conservation of any endangered species must begin with stringent efforts to protect its natural habitat by the enforcement of rigid legislation against human encroachment into parks and other game sanctuaries. ~ Dian Fossey

A society – any society – is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, public universities, and so on. ~ Robert Reich

Objects in a park suggest static repose rather than any ongoing dialectic. Parks are finished landscapes for finished art . ~ Robert Smithson

[There were subsequently three substantial music events here (2,000 – 3,000 attendees) this summer. Those crowds were a little too big for our tastes . . . ]

June 20

If you’re old, don’t try to change yourself, change your environment. ~ B. F. Skinner

[Because what could be more exciting than the construction of a roundabout at the Y. It has since been completed and is working marvelously . . . ]

June 21

All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child. ~ Marie Curie

[The proposed Alexandria Nature Trail . . . ]

Nature is my church. The wind in the trees and the bugs and the frogs. All those things are comfort to me. ~ Sissy Spacek

[You may recall Barb Benson from the previous post as a leading Friend of the Alexandria Nature Trail . . . ]

The purpose of education is to make good human beings with skill and expertise… Enlightened human beings can be created by teachers. ~ A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

[From Barb Benson: Tim Schoonhoven (red shirt), Alexandria City Engineer, will start us off with a brief informational presentation in Discovery. Lukas Gotto (gray shirt), Discovery Middle School (DMS) teacher, will lead us on a 1.5 mile trail walk. Following the walk…we will meet back at DMS to determine interest in a Friends of the Nature Trail.]

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. ~ John Muir

[An osprey nest at DMS . . . ]

Joys come from simple and natural things: mists over meadows, sunlight on leaves, the path of the moon over water. ~ Sigurd F. Olson

I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness. ~ Aldo Leopold

[The hike through the DMS part of the trail begins (the osprey nest in the background) . . . ]

Wilderness to the people of America is a spiritual necessity, an antidote to the high pressure of modern life, a means of regaining serenity and equilibrium. ~ Sigurd F. Olson

[Looking back at DMS . . . ]

Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. ~ Aldo Leopold

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~ John Muir

Nature’s beauty is a gift that cultivates appreciation and gratitude. ~ Louie Schwartzberg

A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke [of the axe] he is writing his signature on the face of the land. ~ Aldo Leopold

I care to live only to entice people to look at Nature’s loveliness. ~ John Muir

[The students named the ponds after area lakes . . . ]

To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. ‘Tis much better to do a little with certainty & leave the rest for others that come after you. ~ Isaac Newton

To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part. ~ Aldo Leopold

[Hiking back toward DMS . . . ]

I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains. ~ Anne Frank

We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean… and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect. ~ Michelle Obama

[DMS . . . ]

Simplicity in all things is the secret of the wilderness and one of its most valuable lessons. ~ Sigurd F. Olson

[But still more trail to go . . . ]

Beauty is composed of many things and never stands alone. It is part of horizons, blue in the distance, great primeval silences, knowledge of all things of the earth. It embodies the hopes and dreams of those who have gone before, including the spirit world; it is so fragile it can be destroyed by a sound or thought. It may be infinitesimally small or encompass the universe itself. It comes in a swift conception wherever nature has not been disturbed. ~ Sigurd F. Olson

Six days shalt thou paddle and pack, but on the seventh thou shall wash thy socks. ~ Aldo Leopold

I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. ~ John Muir

[The Super leads the way out . . . ]

The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. ~ Sigurd F. Olson

June 22

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~ William James

[The kids from Minnetonka did it again. They performed their tied for first place in the state one-act play contest “Honk & Holler” at Theatre L’Homme Dieu on Thursday night. Incidentally, Alexandria tied them for first place . . . ]

“1972. A then-lawyer at the ACLU named Ruth Bader Ginsburg set out to convince an all-male Supreme Court to take sex discrimination seriously with an unconventional strategy. She didn’t just bring cases where women were the victims of discrimination; she also brought cases where men were the victims. In this episode, we look at how a key battle for gender equality was won with frat boys and beer.*

This world premiere one act play is adapted with permission from NPR and Radiolab from one of their most popular podcast episodes. Minnetonka Theatre is excited to bring this remarkable true story back to life on the TLHD stage. Two performances only.”

Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Whatever you choose to do, leave tracks. That means don’t do it just for yourself. You will want to leave the world a little better for your having lived. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

[The Super approves of pre-show adult beverages on the patio . . . ]

I pray that I may be all that [my mother] would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve and daughters are cherished as much as sons. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

[Becky helps keep the wheels of the theatre operating smoothly . . . ]

Justices continue to think and can change. I am ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

[Trent Boyum, artistic director, Minnetonka Theatre, and Nicole Mulder, executive director, Theatre L’Homme Dieu, discuss what we were about to see . . . ]

Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We have made huge strides … but we have not reached nirvana. There’s still rampant discrimination on the basis of race, gender. It’s true that most of the explicit classifications — men are treated this way, women that way — are gone from the law books. But what remains is what has been called unconscious bias. One excellent example of that is the symphony orchestra. In my growing up years I never saw a woman in a symphony orchestra, except perhaps a harp player. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

[The kids were very much terrific . . . ]

June 24

Jazz stands for freedom. It’s supposed to be the voice of freedom: Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don’t be a perfectionist – leave that to the classical musicians. ~ Dave Brubeck

It’s not that people don’t like classical music. It’s that they don’t have the chance to understand and to experience it. ~ Gustavo Dudamel

[Classical music fans arrive at the evening’s venue at Mount Carmel on Lake Carlos . . . ]

There is a lot of science in bubbles. They are just like our weather system. The earth is, in effect, trapped inside a liquid sphere, the troposphere, where our weather forms. The bright colors on the outside of a bubble are just varying thicknesses of bubble, just like the varying thicknesses of clouds. ~ Tom Noddy

[We had an incredible summer evening sky on the drive home . . . ]

When I look at the clouds over the Earth, and I know how high clouds are, I get a sense we are really, really far above those clouds. I wouldn’t call it scary, but I am aware I am in space. ~ Scott Kelly

The Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford is an astonishing building, designed by Christopher Wren. Its painted ceiling has just been restored so that the darkish miasma that was Robert Streeter’s original allegory of truth and light striking the university is now bright with playful cherubs and lustrous clouds. ~ Justin Cartwright

I read this book when I was young. It’s about a black girl growing up in Heaven, Ohio. The cover has a black girl with clouds behind her. It was the first book cover I ever saw with a girl that looked like me. ~ Jamila Woods

Every customer wants to run on all the clouds. ~ Diane Greene

Among the plausible niches for extraterrestrial life in our solar system, the clouds of Venus are among the most accessible and the least well explained. ~ David Grinspoon

When you can stand over the clouds and watch them roll through the mountains below you, it shifts absolutely everything in your brain. ~ Jamie Chung

June 27

Twice a year, I take myself off to a self-imposed ‘writer’s retreat’, staying at a small inn or on a friend’s farm, where I am all alone and do nothing other than write. ~ Jane Green

[A wedding and event center that has happily decided to feature music one day a week – this time our friend Anthony Miltich . . . ]

Japan is the most intoxicating place for me. In Kyoto, there’s an inn called the Tawaraya which is quite extraordinary. The Japanese culture fascinates me: the food, the dress, the manners and the traditions. It’s the travel experience that has moved me the most. ~ Roman Coppola

[The music and pizza venue . . . ]

I don’t read music. I don’t write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself. ~ James Taylor

[Overlooking a lake (well, it is Minnesota) . . . ]

I believe 100 percent in the power and importance of music. ~ James Taylor

I am myself for a living. I don’t animate a character. ~ James Taylor

[Another Kilroy selfie . . . ]

If Willie Nelson had been Rosa Parks, there never would have been a civil rights movement in this country, because he refuses to leave the back of the bus. ~ Kinky Friedman

[Yup, this is the start of the parade to put bread in Anthony’s jar . . . ]

If it hadn’t worked out professionally, I would be teaching music theory and composition in a small college somewhere and playing drums in a jazz trio at the Holiday Inn on weekends, and I’d be happy there, too. ~ J. D. Souther

There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern… No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn. ~ Samuel Johnson

Things started to get out of control when I began reading that I was a superstar. ~ James Taylor

[And the finish . . . ]

I collect hats. That’s what you do when you’re bald. ~ James Taylor

A concert is always like a feast day to me. ~ James Taylor

[Thanks for the pizza!]

I’m very unstable; there’s no stability in a musician’s life at all. You live on a bus or on the road hand to mouth and you don’t know where your money’s coming from. ~ James Taylor

Certain things in life are more important than the usual crap that everyone strives for. ~ James Taylor

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages. ~ William Shakespeare

[Meanwhile, back at Theatre L’Homme Dieu . . . ]

Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good plays, good company, good conversation – what are they? They are the happiest people in the world. ~ William Lyon Phelps

If they ever do my life story, whoever plays me needs lots of hair color and high heels. ~ Charlize Theron

June 28

I’ve never been to a class reunion or anything because I’m always afraid of that one – there’s going to be some ‘Carrie’-like incident. ~ Paul Feig

[The venue for the monthly reunion lunch, the winery on the south side of Lake Minnewaska in Glenwood . . . ]

The future is built on brains, not prom court, as most people can tell you after attending their high school reunion. But you’d never know it by talking to kids or listening to the messages they get from the culture and even from their schools. ~ Anna Quindlen

[Mayo and I represented a two-person reunion . . . ]

There’s some horrible connotations in the word ‘reunion.’ ~ Carrie Brownstein

It takes a certain amount of guts to go to your class reunions. ~ Dick Cavett

[The hazy view of Lake Minnewaska . . . ]

Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different? ~ C.S. Lewis

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public. ~ Bryan White

[The views from the winery . . . ]

I’ve never been to a class reunion or anything because I’m always afraid of that one – there’s going to be some ‘Carrie’-like incident. ~ Paul Feig

[This was a visit of first impression for Mayo . . . ]

It takes a certain amount of guts to go to your class reunions. ~ Dick Cavett

[The winery . . . ]

Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different? ~ C.S. Lewis

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public. ~ Bryan White

There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives. ~ Scott Adams

[And then it was on to golf course fine dining . . . ]

Sheep, like people, are ungovernable when hungry. ~ John Muir

[Yup, meat loaf . . . ]

June 29

Every class is drama class when you’re in high school. ~ Timothy Bird

[Basketball is not usually the first thing that comes to mind at the end of June . . . ]

To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. ~ A. A. Milne

[Cardinal coach Wendy Kohler is hoping to lead her team to the state tournament again next March . . . ]

I went to the 30th reunion of my preschool. I didn’t want to go because I’ve put on, like, a hundred pounds. ~ Wendy Liebman

[Hadley Thul (11) was all-state last year as a sophomore . . . ]

Don’t go to a school reunion. There’ll be a lot of old people there claiming to be your classmates. ~ Tom Dreesen

[With team quickness and depth, the Cards will be hard to beat this season . . . ]

People want to take sex education out of the schools. They think sex education causes promiscuity. Hey, I took algebra. I never do math. ~ Elayne Boosler

In California, some high schools are requiring students to wear uniforms. They say uniforms create a safe, stable environment. Like the post office. ~ Jay Leno

[If that’s all the starters on the floor, the shooter appears to be junior-to-be point guard Allie Haabala . . . ]

Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra. ~ Fran Lebowitz

[Half time score with the game played on running time . . . ]

As long as teachers give tests, there will always be prayer in schools. ~ Unknown

[This is Allie Haabala (33) shooting the free throw . . . ]

Education costs money, but then so does ignorance. ~ Claus Moser.

[Junior-to-be Chloe Scholl (15) . . . ]

To be good is noble, but to teach others how to be good is nobler—and less trouble. ~ Mark Twain

[The next game . . . ]

It’s easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school. ~ Laurie Halse Anderson

[Hadley . . . ]

The difference between try and triumph is a little umph. ~ Marvin Phillips

[High school girls are “bigs” in basketball when they’re over 6-feet tall. Here 6’2″ Hadley passes in to 6′ sophomore-to-be Kate Hennessy . . . ]

A liberal is a man too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel. ~ Robert Frost

He [Tony Bennett] was always available, always gracious. That old-school elegance, the jazz-era royalty – I don’t know if that’s going to exist anymore. Maybe he was its last remaining proprietor. That is one of the things that I mourn the most. ~ k. d. lang

Up Next: Likely Camp ’23 (Day 3 – ) . . .

August 29

In both business and personal life, I’ve always found that travel inspires me more than anything else I do. Evidence of the languages, cultures, scenery, food, and design sensibilities that I discover all over the world can be found in every piece of my jewelry. ~ Ivanka Trump

“Camp, (noun): a place with temporary accommodations of huts, tents, or other structures, typically used by soldiers, refugees, prisoners, or travelers.” Every year for many years the Super and I have spent the first week in August at Camp Brosius in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin (thus, always missing the Resorters at home, the largest match play golf tournament in the country with over 500 players). It’s an Indiana University alumni camp that runs for 8 weeks each summer, turning over about 100 campers per week. Ruthie and Rita are both IU alums. And our group has always been week 8. ~ Me

No matter where you go, there you are. ~ Proverb

July 28

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. ~ Clifton Fadiman

[All our bags were packed, we were ready to go . . . ]

Travel is glamorous only in retrospect. ~ Paul Theroux

[We have developed a habit of spending a night (two nights this year) in Sheboygan before checking into camp at 1:00 on Sunday. Sheboygan is a 475 mile, 7 1/2 drive from Alexandria with one lunch and one gas stop . . . ]

I still make sure to go, at least once every year, to a country where things cannot be taken for granted, and where there is either too much law and order or too little. ~ Christopher Hitchens

[The view out our window in the Inn of Sheboygan. The humpback whales there last year came back again this year . . . ]

I think a major element of jetlag is psychological. Nobody ever tells me what time it is at home. ~ David Attenborough

Paris is always a good idea. ~ Audrey Hepburn

[We went out to dinner on the Sheboygan waterfront after checking in – Lake Michigan in the distance . . . ]

The Ritz in London has an old-fashioned charm, with waiters wearing tails and white gloves. The dining room is exquisite, with immaculate service and ornate details. ~ Anton du Beke

[At Parker John’s BBQ and Pizza, a regular stop on the waterfront tour . . . ]

Dining should be something that isn’t always taken extremely seriously. ~ Graham Elliot

[Not to be outdone by her younger sister . . . ]

Dining with a married couple can be uncomfortable. ~ Carice van Houten

[Rita was enjoying a little “Sex on the Farm” . . . ]

A lot of Americans say the food in England sucks. I don’t think the food in England sucks – the food is great – but I’ve got to say, the Americans have got the dining out experience nailed down. ~ Michael Bisping

[The Super had a similarly-named sangria – we just can’t recall the name . . . ]

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~ Marcel Proust

Life is like a roller coaster, live it, be happy, enjoy life. ~ Avril Lavigne

[I forget what Beth (Rita’s daughter) ordered, but she remembered it was what she ordered last year . . . ]

So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being. ~ Franz Kafka

[Otherwise known as a light snack . . . ]

June 29

Innovations that are guided by smallholder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and environment will be necessary to ensure food security in the future. ~ Bill Gates

[Day 2: A farmers’ market in the park across the street from our motel . . . ]

The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

I restore myself when I’m alone. ~ Marilyn Monroe

You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food. ~ Paul Prudhomme

Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. ~ Mark Twain

[Beth and “The Biddies” ISO – food . . . ]

I have struck a city – a real city – and they call it Chicago… I urgently desire never to see it again. It is inhabited by savages. ~ Rudyard Kipling

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not. ~ Georgia O’Keeffe

The city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo. ~ Demond Morris

A city is not gauged by its length and width, but by the broadness of its vision and the height of its dreams. ~ Herb Caen

[Ruthie with a young man at the Positivity Booth . . . ]

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake. ~ Wallace Stevens

[The Super and Beth on a stroll around Lake Michigan . . . ]

My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, ‘Mom, they weren’t trying to teach you how to swim.’ ~ Paula Poundstone

[You will meet Charley (Beth’s nephew) later in this screed. On his later walk here he lost his glasses when struck by a wave (later replaced at a same day glasses establishment) . . . ]

Exercise is really important to me – it’s therapeutic. So if I’m ever feeling tense or stressed or like I’m about to have a meltdown, I’ll put on my iPod and head to the gym or out on a bike ride along Lake Michigan with the girls. ~ Michelle Obama

One of my favorite places on the planet is a place in northern Michigan: Long Lake in Traverse City. ~ Gregory H. Johnson

[Beth may be looking for a yacht to take back to San Diego . . . ]

I write for a radio show that, no matter what, will go on the air Saturday at five o’clock central time. You learn to write toward that deadline, to let the adrenaline pick you up on Friday morning and carry you through, to cook up a monologue about Lake Wobegon and get to the theater on time. ~ Garrison Keillor

When I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, it’s called hospitality. ~ Al Capone

[“The Biddies” provide scale for an ancient wooden boat wreck . . . ]

Whether or not we can save Lake Michigan, whether or not we can avoid a breakdown in our criminal justice system are more important than whether or not I’m going to be governor. ~ Bill Scott

When you’re working on a lake and it’s dark and cold out and you can’t see what’s underwater, it is freaking scary! ~ Jessica Szohr

[We learned this breakwater had just been completed – a nice half mile walk to the end . . . ]

I remember going out alone in a canoe. Somebody told me to lie in the bottom of the canoe and just drift. It was a small lake and I was perfectly safe. So I did that, and I drifted. It was quiet and peaceful. Suddenly, I heard a loon cry the first time I ever heard that marvelous sound. ~ Lorne Greene

[There is a Coast Guard station to their left . . . ]

L.A. is great, but it’s a completely different beast. I go back to Minnesota, and I borrow a bike from my neighbor and go around Lake Harriet saying ‘Hi’ to people. Some of that is missing in L.A. ~ Yara Shahidi

[Looking back from whence we came . . . ]

When I was a boy, one of my uncles had a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin. My family went there for parts of three summers, and I loved it! ~ Kevin Henkes

[Hiking to the end of the breakwater with a group of our close personal friends . . . ]

I’m definitely writing my fears. It’s almost therapeutic to at least voice a terror, to say, ‘I’m worried that Lake Powell looks low and Lake Mead looks even lower.’ ~ Paolo Bacigalupi

[Rita and I followed behind to make sure nobody got lost . . . ]

My ideal date would involve a park or rowing in those little boats on a lake. ~ Aja Naomi King

[Ruthie, Beth, and Rita, not realizing if you’re 3 or more you may be considered a cabal, or even worse, an LLC . . . ]

When I was a kid, getting on Lake Shore Drive from the south side to go downtown was magical. ~ Jamila Woods

An ice-fishing shanty is basically a tin outhouse on a frozen lake, except that in an outhouse, the hole has a purpose. In ice fishing, the hole is what you stare at for hours, hoping that at some point you’ll break the monotony by falling in. ~ W. Bruce Cameron

[Just “The Biddies” and me . . . ]

No hidden talents, but I have a lot of hobbies. Acrylic painting – I got a whole set, and I light candles at night and sit there and paint and look out on Lake Michigan. ~ Christen Press

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. ~ Francis Bacon

[This is the end . . . ]

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. ~ Maya Angelou

[Auntie and niece . . . ]

I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller. ~ Michael Palin

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. ~ Oscar Wilde

[Ooh-la-la . . . ]

If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all. ~ Dan Rather

Never go on trips with anyone you do not love. ~ Ernest Hemingway

[This is an anchor. Undoubtedly from a boat. From Lake Michigan . . . ]

My art originates from hallucinations only I can see. I translate the hallucinations and obsessional images that plague me into sculptures and paintings. ~ Yayoi Kusama

Sculpture is the art of the intelligence. ~ Pablo Picasso

Sculpture is an art of the open air. Daylight, sunlight, is necessary to it, and for me, its best setting and complement is nature. ~ Henry Moore

[We had no idea about this place – it turned out to be a real highlight . . . ]

Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture. ~ Michelangelo

Sculpture is the art of the hole and the lump. ~ Auguste Rodin

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul. ~ Joseph Addison

Moonlight is sculpture. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

I look at every piece of furniture and every object as an individual sculpture. ~ Kelly Wearstler

Architecture is inhabited sculpture. ~ Constantin Brancusi

The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions. ~ Paul Klee

At a certain point, I just put the building and the art impulse together. I decided that building was a legitimate way to make sculpture. ~ Martin Puryear

I have tried to get close to the frontier between architecture and sculpture and to understand architecture as an art. ~ Santiago Calatrava

[Peek-a-boo . . . ]

Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at a painting. ~ Ad Reinhardt

[Here’s looking at yourself, kid . . . ]

It is not hard to understand modern art. If it hangs on a wall it’s a painting, and if you can walk around it it’s a sculpture. ~ Tom Stoppard

This world is but a canvas to our imagination. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. ~ Pablo Picasso

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. ~ Edgar Degas

There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. ~ Ansel Adams

Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad. ~ Salvador Dali

Painting and sculpture are very archaic forms. It’s the only thing left in our industrial society where an individual alone can make something with not just his own hands, but brains, imagination, heart maybe. ~ Philip Guston

I used to think that the great thing about sculpture was that, like Stonehenge, it was something that stood against time in an adamantine way, and was an absolute mass in space. Now I try to use the language of architecture to re-describe the body as a place. ~ Antony Gormley

Why must art be static? You look at an abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, spheres, nuclei, entirely without meaning. It would be perfect, but it is always still. The next step in sculpture is motion. ~ Alexander Calder

When a finished work of 20th century sculpture is placed in an 18th century garden, it is absorbed by the ideal representation of the past, thus reinforcing political and social values that are no longer with us. ~ Robert Smithson

The skull is nature’s sculpture. ~ David Bailey

It’s hard for people to understand editing, I think. It’s absolutely like sculpture. You get a big lump of clay, and you have to form it – this raw, unedited, very long footage. ~ Thelma Schoonmaker

If you look at sculptures from hundreds of years ago, everyone’s naked. It’s not a bad thing. ~ Gigi Hadid

[Thoughts and prayers . . . ]

I did photography, painting, and drawing, but I prefer sculpture. I like it because it’s very physical. ~ P. J. Harvey

A sculpture is just a painting cut out and stood up somewhere. ~ Frank Stella

Take a relief. You draw it, you carve it out. Later you build it up from a flat surface. There is no other way to do a sculpture – you either add or you subtract. ~ Urs Fischer

I’ll bet there are a lot of artists that nobody hears about who just make more money than anybody. The people that do all the sculptures and paintings for big building construction. We never hear about them, but they make more money than anybody. ~ Andy Warhol

[Otherwise known as two babes in the woods . . . ]

Sculptures created from found materials like ice and thorns, driftwood, and even bleached kangaroo bones all presuppose that artistic design will yield to the cycles of time and climate, whether over an hour or a decade. ~ Simon Schama

In our own time it has been seen… that simple children, roughly brought up in the wilderness, have begun to draw by themselves, impelled by their own natural genius, instructed solely by the example of these beautiful paintings and sculptures of Nature. ~ Georgio Vasari

[The artist-in-residence is from the State of Virginia. At least that’s what the car license plate said . . . ]

I have no conceit as a writer; in fact, I find it very difficult to start writing about sculpture generally & my aims in particular. ~ Henry Moore

[This is the road side sign indicating the place name – no wonder we drove by it twice before we noticed it . . . ]

Art is an expression of who you are. Parts that I play are my sculptures. ~ Kim Cattrall

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~ Saint Augustine

[Driving back to Sheboygan along the lakeshore drive . . . ]

Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs. ~ Susan Sontag

Fine dining is an occasional treat for most people. ~ Rene Redzepi

[Over the years has become our regular “pig out” place. Ed, in the foreground, will soon be introduced . . . ]

Shared dining fortifies us. ~ Deng Ming-Dao

The biggest piece is my family… From watching films like The Godfather on our dining room wall, to having a great relationship with my sibling. Or going on weekend trips with our cousins to the beach and eating all day… it’s been a crazy childhood; a ‘bohemian one’. ~ Zoya Akhtar

[Group thoughts prior to placing orders . . . ]

History has long had a wall up between the kitchen and the dining room. Front of house, back of house – one group always wielded more power and influence. ~ Daniel Humm

[A glance around the room . . . ]

If Broadway shows charge preview prices while the cast is in dress rehearsal, why should restaurants charge full price when their dining room and kitchen staffs are still practicing? ~ Marian Burros

[Across the street from “the pig” . . . ]

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ~ Mark Twain

I painted one dining room red and I must say, the conversation became very heated in that room. ~ Amanda Pays

[My meal was sans pig . . . ]

The world of fine dining can be frightening, if it’s not what you grew up in. I think when the doors are just thrown open, and you’re given the confidence to step into that world without any barriers at all, and you’re made to feel very welcome in it, that you belong, then it’s no longer as frightening. ~ Monica Galetti

[Ruthie & Rita, front and center, long time attendees at Camp Brosius; Ed and Elke (across from Rita) have attended Camp Brosius several times, are Chris’s parents from Ohio. Chris and Beth (Rita’s daughter) are on the back right and have been to Camp many, many times. In the middle of the table both sides are Chris’s sister, Emily, her husband, Shane, and their two boys, Henry and Charley – they are from England and this is their first visit to Camp (when we asked how would we know their kids, we were advised they have an accent). Chris’s other sister and family from California had yet to arrive for, I believe, their second Camp visit . . . ]

The dining room in my old house was truly magnificent, but by far the worst room for conversation. I’d get up from the table, a very long table, and somebody would always say, Paul, I never got to talk to you. ~ Paul Lynde

We were saving, saving, saving then going to France and blowing the money eating. She was a nurse and had never experienced fine dining but she loved it, too. Our mates thought it absurd. ~ Heston Blumenthal

If you’re dining with someone who wants the same cut, it’s always better to get a 16-ounce steak and split it than to order two eight-ounce steaks. The longer something cooks, the more flavor it develops, so you’ll get a better taste with a bigger piece of meat. ~ Tom Colicchio

By itself, tofu is like wet foam rubber, but you’d no more eat it by itself and expect fine dining than you would stare at a blank canvas and expect to see fine art. ~ Victoria Moran

[The trick to a meal with a group of this size is to figure out how many things were left behind upon departure . . . ]

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. ~ Martin Buber

[Drat, we were a week early for ABBA . . . ]

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water. ~ W. C. Fields

[Back at our motel, a whole block “the pig.” This unique playground, just outside motel room window, had a soft, spongy floor(?) . . . ]

Wherever you go, go with all your heart. ~ Confucius

Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit. ~ Frank Borman

[Ed took a crack at it, too . . . ]

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. ~ Lin Yutang

[We left Sheboygan as we found Sheboygan . . . ]

Just got back from a pleasure trip: I took my mother-in-law to the airport. ~ Henny Youngman

[With mama and baby humpback whale . . . ]

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles. ~ Audrey Hepburn

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. ~ Albert Camus

Up Next: Well, I’ve posted two full days, and we’re not even at camp yet . . .