Ray’s Daily
August 26, 2020
“You must not know too much or be too precise or scientific about birds and trees and flowers and watercraft; a certain free-margin, and even vagueness – ignorance, credulity – helps your enjoyment of these things.”
Henry David Thoreau
I am a little under the weather today so here is another reprint.
Ray’s Daily first published on August 26, 2006
~~~
This morning I started off thinking about how we might enjoy this weekend. As I stumbled around the internet gathering my thoughts I came upon the above quote from Thoreau. In a way it is counter to so much that is ingrained in us, our inbred need to use our intellect to understand the science of all we see. I am glad that there are those like Thoreau who offer more. As I thought about it I realized that I, like many others, value feeling more than an intellectual understanding of what I see.
I recently attended an art seminar where there was much discussion about the art that was displayed. I felt very uncomfortable as others worked to understand through what they saw, what the artist felt, what techniques he used and the underlying meaning of it all. They we so into the science and the precise details that I felt they could not see the painting. And I was basking in the feelings triggered by what I saw others missed a great opportunity for enjoyment.
Maybe we should spend this weekend role-playing a five year old child. Let us leave behind all they have taught us and see the world with unfiltered eyes. Let us be overwhelmed with the color of the garden and the smell of a rose. Let us lie on the grass and watch the sky as it puts on its daily show. Lets walk hand in hand just seeing and feeling. Let us especially notice the faces of the people we see, the smiles, the tears, the rosy cheeks of the child, and the earned wrinkles of the elderly. I might even stop for a minute and imagine what the life behind the face has been. And you know what? We don’t have to be right and we don’t have to know chemical composition of what we see. It is not important if what we think is accurate or what it all means, for everything we let ourselves feel will be right, maybe for some of us more right than things have been in a long time.
So break out your coloring books, lie on the rug with me and color a few pages before we go out to visit the land of Peter Pan.
~~~
“The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.”
Plato
~~~
You Know Your Life Sucks When…
A black cat crosses your path and drops dead.
You take an assertiveness training course and you’re afraid to tell your wife.
The candles on your cake set off your smoke alarm.
You have to take out a loan just to get money to make the first payment.
Your children’s school calls to surrender.
The bride’s family throws rocks instead of rice.
Your wife wraps your lunch in a road map.
Your plants do better when you *don’t* talk to them.
~~~
“The trouble with weather forecasting is that it’s right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it.”
Patrick Young
~~~
Over breakfast recently, my sister said to her husband, “I bet you don’t know what day this is.”
“Of course I do,” he indignantly answered, as he went out the door, heading to the office.
At 10 AM, the doorbell rang, and when my Sis opened the door, she was handed a box containing a dozen long stemmed red roses.
At 1 PM, a foil wrapped, two pound box of her favorite chocolates arrived.
Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress.
My sister couldn’t wait for her husband to come home. “First the flowers, then the chocolates, and then the dress!” she exclaimed.
Then grinning like a Cheshire cat, said, “I’ve never had a more wonderful Groundhog Day in my life!”
~~~
“Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair.”
George Burns
~~~
YOU KNOW YOU’RE A MOM WHEN…
* Your feet stick to grape jelly on the kitchen floor–and you don’t care.
* When the kids are fighting, you threaten to lock them in a room together and not let them out until someone’s bleeding.
* You can’t find your cordless phone, so you ask a friend to call you, and you run around the house madly, following the sound until you locate the phone downstairs in the laundry basket.
* Your idea of a good day is making it through without a child leaking bodily fluids on you.
* Popsicle’s become a food staple.
* Your favorite television show is a cartoon.
* You’re willing to kiss your child’s boo-boo, regardless of what body part it happens to be on.
* You’re so desperate for adult conversation that you spill your guts to the telemarketer that calls and HE hangs up on YOU!
* Spit is your number one cleaning agent.
* You buy cereal with marshmallows in it.
* You count the sprinkles on each kid’s cupcake to make sure they’re equal.
* You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
* You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
* Your kid throws up and you catch it.
* You cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons; but your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun anyway.
* You get up at 5:30 AM and you have no time to eat, sleep, drink or go to the bathroom, and yet … you still managed to gain 10 pounds.
~~~
“On my income tax 1040 it says ‘Check this box if you are blind.’ I wanted to put a check mark about three inches away.”
Tom Lehrer
~~~
A woman went to a computer dating service and said she didn’t care about looks, income or background. All she wanted was a man of upright character.
Then a man came in and told them the only thing he was seeking in a woman was intelligence.
The service matched them together at once because they had one thing in common — they were both pathological liars.
~~~
Never put off until tomorrow what you can forget about forever.
~~~
One night recently, my phone rang several times throughout the evening. Each time, a woman’s voice asked for Ben. Each time I politely explained that I lived alone, my name wasn’t Ben, and she had a wrong number. The fifth time she called, I had had enough.
“Hello”? I said.
“Can I speak to Ben, please”?
I replied, “I’m sorry, he’s not in right now. Can I take a message”?
“Do you know what time he’ll be back”? she responded.
“I think he said he’d be home around 10:00.”
Silence on the other end…a confused silence.
“Is this Steve”?
“Yes, it is. Do you want to leave a message for Ben”?
“Well, he said he would be home tonight and asked me to call him,” she said in a slightly irritated voice.
I replied, “Well, he went out with Karen about an hour ago and said that he would be back at 10:00.”
A shocked voice now, “Who’s Karen”?
“The girl he went out with.”
“I know that! I mean…who is she”?
“I don’t know her last name. Look, do you want me to leave a message for Ben”?
“Yes. Please do. Tell him to call me when he gets home.”
She was sounding pretty irate at this point. “I sure will. Is this Jennifer”?
She exploded, “Who’s Jennifer”? Apparently she wasn’t.
“Well, he’s going out with Jennifer at 10:00. I thought you were her. Sorry, it was an honest mistake.”
“Ben’s the one that’s made the mistake! Tell him that Alice called him and that she’s very upset and that I would like him to call me as soon as he gets home.”
I smiled and said, “Okay, I will, but Becky isn’t going to like this…”
~~~
One night recently, my phone rang several times throughout the evening. Each time, a woman’s voice asked for Ben. Each time I politely explained that I lived alone, my name wasn’t Ben, and she had a wrong number. The fifth time she called, I had had enough.
“Hello”? I said.
“Can I speak to Ben, please”?
I replied, “I’m sorry, he’s not in right now. Can I take a message”?
“Do you know what time he’ll be back”? she responded.
“I think he said he’d be home around 10:00.”
Silence on the other end…a confused silence.
“Is this Steve”?
“Yes, it is. Do you want to leave a message for Ben”?
“Well, he said he would be home tonight and asked me to call him,” she said in a slightly irritated voice.
I replied, “Well, he went out with Karen about an hour ago and said that he would be back at 10:00.”
A shocked voice now, “Who’s Karen”?
“The girl he went out with.”
“I know that! I mean…who is she”?
“I don’t know her last name. Look, do you want me to leave a message for Ben”?
“Yes. Please do. Tell him to call me when he gets home.”
She was sounding pretty irate at this point. “I sure will. Is this Jennifer”?
She exploded, “Who’s Jennifer”? Apparently she wasn’t.
“Well, he’s going out with Jennifer at 10:00. I thought you were her. Sorry, it was an honest mistake.”
“Ben’s the one that’s made the mistake! Tell him that Alice called him and that she’s very upset and that I would like him to call me as soon as he gets home.”
I smiled and said, “Okay, I will, but Becky isn’t going to like this…”
~~~
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
Confucius
~~~
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than twenty years to people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@gmail.com. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are more than 2000 readers from around the world.
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