Tag: Smiles

Some of this applies to readers, too

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

More advice and observations from novelists and other writers.

  1. “You just have to go on when it is worst and most helpless ― there is only one thing to do with a novel and that is go straight on through to the end of the damn thing.” ―  Ernest Hemingway
  2. “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” ― Kurt Vonnegut
  3. “The best advice on writing was given to me by my first editor, Michael Korda, of Simon and Schuster, while writing my first book. ‘Finish your first draft and then we’ll talk,’ he said. It took me a long time to realize how good the advice was. Even if you write it wrong, write and finish your first draft. Only then, when you have a flawed whole, do you know what you have to fix.” ― Dominick Dunne
  4. “Editing might be a bloody trade, but knives aren’t the exclusive property of butchers. Surgeons use them too.” ― Blake Morrison
  5. “Half my life is an act of revision.” ― John Irving
  6. “I’m all for the scissors. I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.” ― Truman Capote
  7. “It is perfectly okay to write garbage ― as long as you edit brilliantly.” ― C. J. Cherryh
  8. “I’ve found the best way to revise your own work is to pretend that somebody else wrote it and then to rip the living shit out of it.” ― Don Roff
  9. “Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial ‘we’.” ― Mark Twain
  10. “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” ― Dr. Seuss

Among the wonders of nature

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

When it comes to flowers, wild or cultivated, just consider …

  1. “Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life.” — Rachel Carson
  2. “Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” — May Sarton
  3. “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” — Margaret Atwood
  4. “Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” — Hans Christian Andersen
  5. “Colors are the smiles of nature.” — Leigh Hunt
  6. “The earth laughs in flowers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
  7. “The fairest thing in nature, a flower, still has its roots in earth and manure.” — D. H. Lawrence
  8. “Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.” — Theodore Roethke
  9. “The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.” — Galileo Galilei
  10. “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” — Henry David Thoreau

 

Newfoundland is really out there

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

It’s a remote land of icebergs, northern lights, puffins, and moose, the easternmost part of Canada. Now, for a few details.

  1. Although the province also includes Labrador, making it larger than California, the usual focus is on the island itself, the world’s 16th largest, ahead of Cuba, Iceland, or Ireland. The island aka “The Rock” sits at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, creating the world’s largest estuary.
  2. It has the only verified Viking settlement in North America, around the year 1001, possibly with Leif Erikson. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is on the northern tip of the island and includes restored sod buildings; for a sense of the size of the island, it’s an 11-hour, 20-minute drive from St. John’s. Legend has Irish Monk St. Brendan arriving in the 6th century, and Englishman John Cabot may have landed in 1497. Portuguese fishermen were also prominent explorers.
  3. Newfoundland was an independent country before joining the Canadian confederation in 1949. It’s one reason it’s not considered a Maritime Province like Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
  4. It has its own time zone, a half-hour ahead of Atlantic, although, strangely, it appears a half-hour later, as in “9 a.m. Atlantic, 9:30 Newfoundland.”
  5. Getting there can be convoluted. Flying from the U.S., for instance, generally takes nine hours; driving, 36. There are two ferry routes from Nova Scotia – the shorter one runs six- to seven-hours; the longer one, 16 hours.
  6. Just 12 miles away, off the southwestern coast of Newfoundland, are the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, technically part of France and a vestige of what was once New France.
  7. The Newfoundland dog and Newfoundland pony are symbols of the province.
  8. As for those striking North American puffins, 95 percent of them live in Newfoundland and Labrador, a good reason it’s the official bird of the province.
  9. Between 400 and 800 icebergs a year typically get as far south as St. John’s. Hamlets further north, such as Twilingate, get even more.
  10. It’s pronounced NEW-fundlund. Its people, informally, are Newfies – and Canadians second.

While we’re at it, do note that the Rock has some eye-raising town names. Here’s a sampling, without explanation or commentary:

  1. Dildo.
  2. Goobies.
  3. Tickle Cove.
  4. Blow Me Down.
  5. Come by Chance.
  6. Witless Bay.
  7. Cow Head.
  8. Gander.
  9. Placentia.
  10. Botwood.

St. John’s, the provincial capital and largest city, is not to be confused with St. John, New Brunswick. Both are significant seaports.

 

How about another serving of spuds?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

This is what happens when I dig up too much for a single Tendrils. To wit:

  1. “You can’t really be good at cooking unless you can cook a potato.” ― Julia Child
  2. “Potatoes are the one food that makes everybody happy.” ― Rachael Ray
  3. “All food starting with p is comfort food: pasta, potato chips, pretzels, peanut butter, pastrami, pizza, pastry.” — Sara Paretsky
  4. “Potatoes are the ultimate comfort food, especially when they come with gravy.” ― Trisha Yearwood
  5. “Few people sufficiently appreciate the colossal task of feeding a world of billions of omnivores who demand meat with their potatoes.” — Jonathan Safran Foer
  6. ”Preparing food is one of life’s great joys, but a lot of times, parents ask their kids if they want to cook with them and then tell them to go peel a bag of potatoes. That’s not cooking — that’s working!” — Guy Fieri
  7. “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. But if you want to make mashed potatoes, you need just a potato and a little salt.” ― Carl Sagan
  8. “People have been cooking and eating for thousands of years, so if you are the very first to have thought of adding fresh lime juice to scalloped potatoes try to understand that there must be a reason for this.” — Fran Lebowitz
  9. “World hunger will not be solved by finishing the garlic mashed potatoes on your plate.” — Geneen Roth
  10. “Potatoes are proof that God loves us.” ― Benjamin Franklin