Fandango’s February Expressions #22
I rather prefer Dorothy Parker’s version:
“You can lead a whore to culture but you cannot make her think.”
YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER BUT YOU CANNOT MAKE HIM DRINK – Marilyn Armstrong
Day: February 22, 2020
DECORATING ON THE CHEAP – Marilyn Armstrong
Garry used to be a major-league cover-stealer. Early in our marriage, I tried to gently detach him from his tightly-held cover cocoon. It was hopeless. His technique was simple: two 360-twirls while firmly clutching the covers. It left me with no covers while he was fully wrapped, neck to toes.
At some point, I realized the gentle approach was not working. One night, as I lay shivering in the bedroom, I just gave him a solid kick in the butt and pulled the covers off him to my side of the bed.
“OUCH,” he said.
“Release the covers,” I snarled.
I think he couldn’t believe I was willing to get violent in pursuit of blankets. Ultimately, he got tired of getting kicked and then, we both had enough covers. Not everything in a marriage is negotiable.
Over the years, we settled into a down comforter with a cover and too many pillows. I’ve always been seriously neutral about bedroom colors, but I realized that I was tired of grey, light blue, medium blue, and white. I wanted something bright and fun.
Not a coverlet, but a new covering for the comforter.
It’s a king-size comforter though the bed is queen-sized. To keep sleeping civilized, we need more breadth so we can wrap ourselves in our favorite way without ruining the sleep of our partner. But the size of the cover usually means a much bigger price tag, so I wasn’t sure I could afford it.
I saw some beautiful handmade pieces I would have been delighted to own, but they were more than I could manage. Then, I found a king-sized comforter on Amazon … for $30. For some strange reason, the queen-size was less expensive than the king-size. It was micro-fiber rather than cotton, but I was okay with that. They are doing some amazing stuff with microfiber.
It also came with two matching pillowcases — for king-size pillows. Of which I didn’t have any.
“figures” rather than dolls.
When I was through redecorating the bedroom, I had bought two inexpensive pillows to fit the cases, the cover, and cases — for $43. When I sold off about 50 of my dolls, I kept all my history and movie star dolls. Without all the other dolls, they show much better than they used to. There is also a pretty big set of carved and rubber ducks, and of course, paintings, prints, and photographs. Oh, and beanie babies for Hewy, Dewy, and Lewy, Pluto the Dog, and a baby rhinoceros.
Today I finally remembered to take pictures before it got dark. I should have used my wide-angle lens. next time, I will. These were taken using my 50 mm lens which didn’t give me quite enough width. Next time, I’ll swap lenses.
BUDS ON THE CACTUS AND FLOWERING ORCHIDS – Marilyn Armstrong
And the sun finally came out – February 22
The red cactus is covered with tiny buds and the orchid is blooming. Big fat buds, waiting to open. And indeed, the sun came out. It is supposed to stay sunny through the weekend, then get wet, rainy, and cold next week.
DISCRETION AND VALOR – Marilyn Armstrong
Fandango’s February Expressions #21
Where oh where have valor and discretion gone? What does this mean? Until you know what you are talking about, shut up.
Valor isn’t doing something stupid and dangerous. It means doing something that may cost you your life to save someone ELSE. It isn’t bungee jumping or tightrope walking between highrise buildings. Discretion isn’t being quiet when you know something important that others need to know — like our recent ‘senators’ who were supposedly judging Trump’s impeachment. That wasn’t discretion. That was spinelessness. Cowards minus one.
“Discretion is the better part of valor” suggests that unless you have the facts, you should keep your mouth shut. It does NOT suggest that refusing to talk when you have knowledge of important (maybe critical) information is a good thing.
Discretion has been nearly eliminated from the national dialogue. Facts are discarded along with civility. No one seems to know the difference between valor and doing dangerous things for fun. It is why when someone actually stands up and does the right thing, we go crazy. These days, we feel it’s remarkable when anyone shows real character and honesty.
That’s the world we have made. I hope we unmake it soon.
BLACK & WHITE ON THE ROAD – Marilyn Armstrong
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Roads
Proving you can see the same picture in a different way — and it becomes a new picture.
And this one is I never tried before. It’s white on black. What do you think?
