Afar

A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain? ~Kahlil Gibran

Peace and Joy to those near and far.

Merry Christmas!

Winter Joy

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
~William Blake

Happy Winter Solstice!

Talent

I believe that every person is born with talent. ~Maya Angelou

Culture

A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people. ~Mohandas Gandhi

Give Thanks

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton

Happy Thanksgiving to all those celebrating!

No Shame

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. ~Will Rogers

Note: Pictured is "Jerry", my mom's African Grey parrot. And he's a hoot (no pun intended).

My Own

In search of my mother's garden, I found my own. ~Alice Walker

Change

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

Face Fear

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Speak for Peace

As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this. ~Paul Robeson

Little Things

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.
~Leo F. Buscaglia

Move

Move and the way will open. ~Zen Proverb

Life

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. ~Abraham Lincoln

Dawn

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. ~Rumi

Toothless Grin

Other than a dimple in a cute little chin, What's more adorable than a toothless grin? ~Azu "Betty" Espezia

Cake

Let them eat cake – "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"
~Marie-Antoinette

However, there is debate as whom to credit for this saying.

Children

Children make you want to start life over. ~Muhammad Ali

Speak Out

If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. ~Abigail Adams

Summer

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. ~Ada Louise Huxtable

SEX

It is not sex that gives the pleasure, but the lover. ~Marge Piercy

Simple Beauty

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. ~Anne Frank

Keep Moving

I always tell my kids if you lay down, people will step over you. But if you keep scrambling, if you keep going, someone will always, always give you a hand. Always. But you gotta keep dancing, you gotta keep your feet moving. ~Morgan Freeman

Dreams

People need dreams, there's as much nourishment in 'em as food. ~Dorothy Gilman

Time

The water of the valley stream is always flowing. It races on, not pausing for even an instant. Its sound, to me, is the sound of time. ~Shundo Aoyama

Dear fellow bloggers, I will be spending less time with blogging so that I can focus my energy on creating my online portfolio for getting a new graphic design position. I will be posting some and commenting here and there. I will miss the daily visits, but will not be gone forever. Enjoy your time by the valley stream. Peace to all.

Old Friends

Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Intelligence

Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas. ~Susan Sontag

Reason

Reason, I sacrifice you to the evening breeze. ~Aimé Césaire

Old Women

So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?
~Harriet Beecher Stowe

Fear

Feel the fear and do it anyway. ~Susan Jeffers

Déjà vu

This is like deja vu all over again. ~Yogi Berra

Great Hearts

Great hearts steadily send forth the secret forces that incessantly draw great events. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Disadvantaged

African American children can't be educationally disadvantaged for 12 years and then experience a miracle cure when it comes time for admission into college. ~Chaka Fattah

This Novel

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force. ~Dorothy Parker

Learning

Always keep learning. It keeps you young. ~Patty Berg

Dance

If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it. ~Isadora Duncan

Health Nuts

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. ~Redd Foxx

Happy New Year!

It doesn't matter how new an idea is: what matters is how new it becomes. ~Elias Canetti