The Poets light but Lamps

The Poets light but Lamps—
Themselves—go out—
The Wicks they stimulate—
If vital Light

Inhere as do the Suns—
Each Age a Lens
Disseminating their
Circumference— 

Emily Dickinson


jpr: The winning submission by Ellie Sue (3 yrs old)

the pill solution

Make all pills large!
Make all pills coated with marshmallow!
Make all pills labeled in chocolate!

what makes english grammer so hard

example #1:
Its = belonging to it. “The frying pan has a dent in its handle.”
It’s = it is. “It’s not my fault the frying pan is dented!”


Example  #2:In fact, almost any adjective can be used as a noun, just put “the” in front of it: “The dead shall walk the earth.” And any noun can be used as a verb, like in the famous example, “I’ll cookie you!”

example #3:.The verb-adverb combination is peculiar to English, as illustrated by constructions such as "turn on," "turn off," "mark up," or "mark down".

why English spelling is difficult

English is sometimes described as orthographically ‘deep’ – that means it is often not written as it sounds.

The language started on a small island which was invaded several times by different groups of people. Each group influenced the language spoken in England. It’s not very regular!

 In English, however, spelling is rarely changed when we take a word from another language. So ‘chef’ (from French) is not changed to ‘shef’, although this would be a better phonetic spelling for this word in English.

The English spoken in many countries show great variation so the spelling cannot reflect the pronunciation – or the spelling would also be different in each country!

Then when the printing press arrived in England in the 16th century, the early printers felt it was their job to standardise English spelling and they made some strange decisions. It has been suggested that ‘women’ is spelled like that because the printers thought that all the up and down strokes in ‘wimin’ would be too difficult to read. Now it’s just difficult to spell!

Why English pronunciation is so difficult-

The bandage was wound around the wound. 

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. 

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present. 

state bird of georgia

The Brown Thrasher

 He sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
That first fine careless rapture!

by  Browning

GEORGIA STATE FLOWER

Cherokee Rose

john gary

listen to a great voice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WKywu-Kfnc

vale of tralee

Tibet's wild berry

The Well of Youthful Living

a cool well beside the monk’s house
a clear spring feeds the well and the water has great powers
emerald green leaves grow on the wall
the deep red berries shine like copper
the flourishing branch like a walking stick
the old root in a dog’s shape signals good fortune
the goji nourishes mind and spirit
drink of the well and enjoy a long life

-Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi (772-842 AD)

michelle beadle

Michelle Beadle will depart ESPN for NBC Sports with the plan for her to land eventually at Access Hollywood as co-host. 

Before Beadle transitions to NBCUniversal-distributed Access Hollywood, she'll cover Olympics, appear on Today Show, among other duties.

Blackberry Picking by Ronald James de Langen

A wonderfull day is unfolding.
A child has gone blackberry picking.
Along a thorn freckled hillside,
these bursting fruits do reside.
Nary a cloud in the sky.
Only sunshine by and by.
Nature’s gladdest moment does shine,
All along that slope of mine.
A happy jaunt in his step,
For blackberry thoughts do pep.
Later on after a culling’s done,
its off to home with berries won. 

JPR: Is there not a poem for everything?

wild blakberries

Pies are in the oven!

an Irish father

God made an Irish father with able, helping hands
 and the strenth to carrythe weight of life's demands. 
He blessed him with the wisdom to discipline and lead, 
to lay down the foundation that helps me to succeed.
God made an Irish father, as perfect as can be...
He filled his heart with love that overflows to me.


jpr: and it's for sure the same of an Irish grandfather

fathers

To you, your father should be as a god;
One that compos’d your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax 
By him imprinted, and within his power 
To leave the figure or disfigure it. 
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1.1.50-4)

portulaca rock garden

Took me a section along the deck in the back. Put down  some small stones between several large stepping stones. Mixed some wild flowers seeds in the soil along with some portulaca.

If'n it comes good...i'll be showing it!

Portulaca  was one of my grandma's favorite.

intelligent Crow

A New Caledonian crow was observed whittling twigs and leaves with its beak to fashion grabbers designed to retrieve grubs from the ground. The New Caledonian crows are among few known non-primates to manufacture and use tools in the wild.

angry boy's sms

 I want to scream
I don't know why
I want to cry
I don't know why
This is breaking me down
I don't know why
I am beyond furious
I don't know why
But I don't want to hate you
& I know why .... 
U mean too much to me now.

jpr: we are equal opportunity blog

Memorable Quotes:

"Dear Lord, if he cannot share a life with me, is it wrong to ask that he not share it with anyone? That we go on as we are, him stopping by at all hours, always the brightest part of our lives. I would be content if he would just stay single, Lord... that's it! If he could just stay single, it would be enough to make me perfectly satisfied... Almost. Amen."

Jane Austen in "Emma"

Harlech Castle

Harlech Castle, located in Harlech, Gwynedd, Wales, is a concentric castle, constructed atop a cliff close to the Irish Sea. Built by Edward I of England.

jpr: just for  the sake of  history

Men of Harlech vs. by Ivor Emmanuel

Men of Harlech, stop your dreaming.
Can't you see their spear points gleaming?
See their warrior's pendants streaming
To this battlefield.

Men of Harlech, stand ye steady.
It cannot be ever said ye
For the battle were not ready.
Stand and never yield.

Through the hills surrounding
Let this war cry sounding
Summon all to Cambria's call,
The mighty force surrounding.

Men of Harlech, on to glory!
This shall ever be your story.
Keep these fighting words before ye:
Cambria (Welshmen never) will not yield.

Written for the film "Zulu," 1964.

June by John Payne

THE empress of the year, the meadows' queen,
Back from the East, with all her goodly train,
Is come, to glorify the world again
With length of light and middle Summer-Sheen.
In every plot, upon her throne of green,
Bright blooms the rose; with birds and blossom-rain
And perfume ecstacied are wood and plain
And Winter is as if it ne'er had been.
Oh June, liege-lady of the flowering prime,
Now that thrush, finch, lark, linnet, ousel, wren
Thy praises pipe, to the Iranian bard
How shall we harken, who, the highwaymen
Autumn and Winter, warns us, follow hard
On thy fair feet and bide their baleful time?

more important unknown fact

The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change.

Battle Cry of Freedom

Yes we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

(Chorus)

The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!

Down with the traitor, up with the star;

While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,

Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We are springing to the call of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we'll fill our vacant ranks with a million freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Chorus

We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And although they may be poor, not a man shall be a slave

Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

A song written in 1862 by American composer George F. Root (1825–1895) during the American Civil War. When the Union soldiers raised the song across the battle field at night the confederate forces reportedly became dispirited forcing an adaptation by the Confederacy

new cell phone technology

There is no viewing screen...it's a hologram only.

cell phone call

An in-car call averages 4 minutes and 21 seconds, while cellphone calls over all last an average of 3 minutes and 15 seconds.

A middle-aged man has broke the world record for the longest phone call. According to reports, the man talked on an IP phone for 40 hours.

moving day

where's the baby?

the summit

The old guy is trying to hold Atlanta from the top of Stone Mt.

Silly man!

Stone Mountain, Ga

The largest high relief sculpture in the world, the Confederate Memorial Carving, depicts three Confederate heroes of the Civil War, President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The entire carved surface measures three-acres, larger than a football field. The carving of the three men towers 400 feet above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet, and is recessed 42 feet into the mountain. The deepest point of the carving is at Lee's elbow, which is 12 feet to the mountain's surface.

low tech transport

An idea whose time is come?

Port of Savannah

The Port of Savannah is the fastest growing port in the nation, the second largest on the East and Gulf Coasts.

The Port serves as a major distribution hub for a 26-state region - fully 75% of the U.S. population. Savannah is the western most point on the East Coast, actually 647 miles due south of Cleveland, Ohio!

The port has gained worldwide recognition as a major regional cargo hub, and it provides deepwater access to one of the East Coast’s largest available mega sites.

tunnels

H.G. Dyar  built a tunnel under his Washington home as a hobby. It was nearly 1/4 mile in length as as much as 32 feet deep and lined with concrete.