Daffodils Are Up...

No, those are just paper flowers!

About half of them were made by some sisters in my ward, the other half by Abby and me, for our Relief Society Birthday Social / Dinner tonight. Another lady in our ward invented them and actually published a book about making all kinds of paper flowers out of ordinary copy paper, which is inexpensive, readily available, and curls well for petals and leaves.


There are about 70 daffodils in these pictures, but imagine happening upon ten thousand of them on a lakeside walk, as William Wordsworth did. He tells the story in this poem from 1804, which has emerged as my favorite poem of all time, I think (I published it in this blog last spring, too):

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

A Few Thoughts and Quotes on Health and Walking

I've talked to several people recently who have seriously injured themselves exercising. I am talking broken hips, broken backs...serious stuff! In thinking about this, I realized I am probably meeting so many of them at this point in my life because I am reaching a certain age and the bodies of my contemporaries are falling apart. (I know, I know...mine is, too, but I don't want to think about that.)

So here are some health related quotes:

Health nuts are going to feel stupid some day, lying in hospitals, dying of nothing. - Redd Foxx

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. - George Bernard Shaw

A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time - pills or stairs. - Joan Welsh

Walk: The body advances, while the mind flutters around it like a bird. - Jules Renard

Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other. - M. C. Richards

It is good to collect things; it is better to take walks. - Anatole France

An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. - Henry David Thoreau

A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. - Paul Dudley White

The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy. The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose. - Charles Dickens

Take a two-mile walk every morning before breakfast. - Harry Truman (Advice on how to live to be 80.)

You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven today and we don't know where the hell she is.
- Ellen Degeneres

A Hint of Spring

There is a hint of spring in the air again...just a hint. It was beautiful yesterday, too, but windy and, therefore, cold.

Just thought I would give that weather report. About as important as writing that I am making spaghetti for dinner.

I guess the big news is that we have a 'free' evening -- all four of us. We've had to push things off til tomorrow to get it, but we have it and we're going to enjoy an evening at home. Of course we will be doing some homework and that kind of thing.

I am still immersed in the world of Mra Remotswe of "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency," a series I am listening to on CD whenever I am in my van. I did not realize how much time I spend driving around, but I am now on book five, "The Full Cupboard of Life," and I've only been listening for a few weeks. The books take place in Botswana and the characters are wonderful. There's also an HBO series on DVD that's pretty entertaining. We watched a few episodes of that while Abby was home with strep.

I realized sometime after listening to Book 3 that this fictional character, Mra Remotswe, makes me want to be a better person. If a fictional character can do that, there is real value in writing fiction.

To salvage this otherwise unenlightening post, let's have a Word of the Day:

Pluvial = rainy

We will probably be able to use this word soon, since spring is on its way.