a ridiculously colorful post

Sugar bowl and lemons by Renoir

Still life with Lemons on a plate by Vincent van Gogh

Still life with Fruit Dish and Cup by Georges Daniel de Monfried

Still life with Lemon by Ashton Hinrichs

(picture from here)

On this dreary day, bright yellow can be very cheery, as opposed to on a sunny day, when it seems loud and cheery as opposed to the blue of the sky.

lemons by psammead featuring a button front dress

Tulle Clothing button front dress
$75 - modcloth.com

Mary jane heels
$39 - shopruche.com

^Colors of a day like this:


The sky was dark and gloomy, the air was damp and raw, the streets were wet and sloppy...and the rain came slowly and doggedly down, as if it had not even the spirit to pour.  ~ Charles Dickens

But I'm not sure I'd wear that outfit. Or those heels--think orthopedic torture....
As this is probably the most colorful post I will ever let pass the gates of "Publish"--enjoy. 


By the way, returning to the more psychological realms, I am reading a very enjoyable book: Five Children and It, by E. Nesbit. (1902) It is a children's book, but most ages should like it, unless you are the sort who prefers reading textbooks.
I personally think this is some of her funniest and best writing, and some of the inside jokes in it are amusing--"Lending ears was common in Roman times, as we learn in Shakespeare; but I fear I am getting too instructive." 

The plot is simple: five children discover an extremely grouchy fairy (the psammead, pronounced sammyead) who will grant them one wish a day. But you have to be careful what you wish for--you might get it. My favorite chapter so far is when their two-year-old brother is turned into an adult!



Anyway, reader, I am getting distracted, and the hoary voice of schoolwork beckons--and must be answered, lest the honored female parental authority withhold privileges from yours truly, who is still a minor unfortunately!


And may I note that I dislike Blogger's new interface? Very confusing to moi.

been writing up a storm!

And didn't realize it got so late. 11:15 pm!!!

Between perusing these marvelous sheep photographs on Flickr, and writing feverishly and enthusiastically on a children's book and a introductory classical music course (for teens!), I've been busy. I'll write a longer post tomorrow!

Let sleeping dogs lie!

boredom

Except for the very hard-working and industrious, most of us have felt boredom at one time or another. I would define boredom as an absence of purpose; or else as unfocused energy.  Much of it, now that I stop to think, probably stems from thinking about ourselves too much. Everyone does it: it is a natural by-product of sin in our hearts, the capital of which is ugly, ubiquitous pride. By that sin fell the angels. Yet it is the root and center of all other sins. How can we stop it?!?! Maybe we should make more of an effort to help, actually listen to, and really try to know other people. This would cure the BOREDOM effectually, replacing it with mental stretching. 

(This is one of my problems.  I tend to ignore other people.Truthfully, many of them bore me. I shall have to make more of an effort to help others and think less about myself.)

Another function of this might be to try to cheer people up and entertain them on a completely boring day. This mat not sound like as much mental work as listening to people, but it certainly CAN be.

We can't accomplish this. Heck, we can hardly do anything. But God can. Everything we can ever accomplish is through Him. [Notice I capitalized the Him. *snarky voice* So there!]

[Hmm. I am trying to cure my own boredom by writing a short piece about boredom. Interesting redundancy there.]

Anyway, if you are still bored after reading this somewhat boring post, you may want to watch Drip along Daffy, a nice violent and classic Looney Tunes spoofing cowboys.

~~~~~

"I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness - to save oneself trouble."
- Agatha Christie

~~~~~

Expect a nice long and comprehensive post about the American school system and how it is failing us within the next couple weeks or so....right now I am looking forward to my birthday, which will fall on next Thursday. At this moment I am suffering from a small amount of depression combined with exhaustion, so I will get back to ya. Being a human being can be difficult at times....we straddle two worlds, the unseen and the physical. 

Auf weidersehn.

~ Diana

the ignored sin

Sometimes I really hate the computer.
It can be such a distraction, evil in its very insidiousness. Suddenly you realize you just spent an hour on it when you "just went on" to check your email.
It can steal your time, and take your time away from the REAL physical world, and its people and needs. I just feel like I'm wasting my life, sometimes, when I go on the computer without an aim to accomplish.


The birds sing. Evil men plot. The chicken coop needs to be cleaned. A whole host of heathen nations need to hear the Word of God. There are real mountains to climb. Whole worlds to discover! And yet...
Here you are. Sitting on your computer aimlessly browsing your favorite sites/forums/games waiting for the screen to refresh. Playing a game. Cyber-giggling with your friends on Facebook. While time passes.....on and on....


This, my friends, is a serious sin. Wasting time. I'm not going to blatantly say we should NEVER play games, never go on the computer, or chat on Facebook, but I would like to point out that much of the things we do in our lives might simply be "filler": taking up our time while we never get anything back from it.


I'm not going into the content of what you might be doing on the computer; I'm going to focus on the time-wasting aspect. 


The computer, like much of technology, is completely neutral. Its content can be evil or good, and anything in between. The decision lies with us--and how we use it. The internet and the computer were developed to be tools, and extremely helpful ones at that. 


(Also, I'm not decrying people who play games or chat on Facebook or a forum to relax from their stressful, hardworking lives, or it helps them to get away from difficult times.)


It is about us. Are we living our lives in focused way? Are we skillfully sailing our ships through the rough ocean of life or are we aimlessing skidding along on every wave with our sails down? 


After all, America may have many problems that need to be dealt with if our country is to survive, but if our own lives and hearts aren't right, how can we set a good example? And being focused, and having a purpose in life, will certainly help. 
It is something I certainly struggle with! But sail on: their HAS to be a purpose in all of this. A bunch of small good decisions, the decision I can make today to not waste time, or to not commit a sin, will add up to something BIG tomorrow.


Finis.


Two Summery sailboat paintings:

Colorful Regatta by Lisa Lorenz.

The Greatest Race by Montague Dawson.


Auf Weidersehn.


~ Diana