“If you want a better future, trust markets, not bureaucrats.”
The Brittlebush are blooming in central Arizona. It is an annual two or three week phenomenon and it turns much of the desert yellow. Wonderful.
Prosperity
Creamation
“Cremation is my last hope for a smoking hot body”
A popular meme with many creators.
The photo was taken by my Great, Great Uncle J.C.Burrow at a church yard in Cornwall about 1900. I used it to demonstrate how the treatment of human remains has changed over time.
Serendipity
You can’t plan for serendipity
But you can leave space for it.
This is another of a continuing series of posts about serendipity.
Simon and Serendipity are alliterative and I should be able to make a nice motto out of them but the only one I’ve come up with so far is “Simon Seeks Serendipity.” Which doesn’t work because serendipity has to find you. The very seeking of a serendipitous moment makes it less serendipitous. It requires more work.
Meanwhile you can admire me holding the moon in my hand, Photo credit Mike C.
Lost in Melville
“It is not down in any map; true places never are.”
Herman Melville
Melville who wrote Moby Dick among other classics also made this cryptic comment. I was impressed that he ended the sentence with a verb.
The map is from the cover of The Mapping of California as an Island. it was part of the Border Map collection that I donated to the ASU School of Transborder Studies about ten years ago.
Thin Ice
“If we’re treading on thin ice then we might as well dance.”
Jesse Winchester
A recycling bin reflected in a puddle in Phoenix. Why ask why?
The Greatest Glory
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
Nelson Mandela
Photo credit to Tom Burrow. Phoenix from a tall building is the sunset capital of the world during the winter.
Wit
“Brevity is the soul of wit.“
William Shakespeare (from Hamlet)
The photo is of an Inukshuk I erected in the parking lot at Spur Cross Trailhead.
Capitalism vs Socialism
“The trouble with socialism is socialism the trouble with capitalism is capitalists”
Capitalism harnesses greed to grow a nations wealth but while everyone has more, the wealth remains unevenly distributed. Many capitalists are too greedy. Men are made of crooked timber.
FYI I have used about fifty Winston Churchill quotes on my blog over the last 20 years.
Deferred Gratification
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit.’ Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”
Muhammad Ali
A rainbow in Phoenix during our week of winter rain.
Bookstores
In a bookstores your mind can go window shopping.
Adapted from Jonah Goldberg co founder of The Dispatch and a brilliant wordsmith.
Photo is from a Powell’s Bookstore Postcard.