Monday 30 March 2009

Opportunities

Opportunities are often things
you haven’t noticed the first time around.
– Catherine Deneuve

Friday 27 March 2009

Core Nature

People do not change their core natures,
even with training.
Don’t try to teach a pig to sing.
It frustrates you and annoys the pig.
– Odette Pollar

Wednesday 25 March 2009

Calling

A calling may be postponed,
avoided, intermittently missed…
but eventually it will out.
– James Hillman

Monday 23 March 2009

Friend

Don’t waste time
trying to be your own best friend;
you can’t pat yourself on the back,
and it’s unsatisfying
to cry on your own shoulder.
Find a real friend instead.
– Charlotte Johnston

Friday 20 March 2009

March 20, 2009 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

I’m sure you have all noticed the mixed bag of weather we’ve been having in the past couple of weeks. We’ve experienced almost record lows to summer-like highs - in the same week! March is well known for its wild weather patterns...
"March is a month of considerable frustration - it is so near spring and yet across a great deal of the country the weather is still so violent and changeable that outdoor activity in our yards seems light years away." - Thalassa Cruso

And we’ve all experienced days such as these...
"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." - Charles Dickens

Of course, we can’t overlook the wind days we’ve been experiencing either...
"Winds of March, we welcome you, There is work for you to do. Work and play and blow all day, Blow the Winter wind away." - unknown

March is a funny time of year really. We eagerly look forward to shedding our heavy winter garb and getting outside...
"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." - Doug Larson

But no matter what the weather does - cold, snow, sun or slush, just remember...
"No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." - Hal Borland


Beth


Click here to read the complete issue of The Chautauqua.

To contact The Chautauqua, email:
thechautauqua@gmail.com.

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Time

Time is a dressmaker
specializing in alterations.
– Faith Baldwin

Monday 16 March 2009

Better

Better one good thing that is,
rather than two good things that were,
or three good things
that might never come to pass.
- Irish proverb

Friday 13 March 2009

Elegance

The only real elegance is in the mind;
if you’ve got that,
the rest really comes from it.
– Diana Vreeland

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Be Someone

How many cares one loses
when one decides not to be something
but to be someone.
– Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel

Monday 9 March 2009

Live

To live is so startling,
it leaves little time
for anything else.
– Emily Dickinson

Friday 6 March 2009

March 6, 2009 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

Lest you think that it was reality TV which introduced the concept of voting people out or off, I’m here to let you know that is not the case.

In Ancient Athens the citizens would have an annual vote to determine whether or not to hold an ostracism. If the majority was in favour, each member of the Assembly would write on an ostrakon (potsherd) the name of a person he thought the city could do without, thereby eliminating a nuisance from the area. The person whose name appeared on the most ostraka would then be banished for 10 years, after which time he could return to find his property all intact.*

Now before you start gleefully imagining whom you would vote to be banished for 10 years (rest assured, I too have one or two on my list), let’s look at this from the other side. What if you were the one they voted to get rid of? How would that make you feel? Not quite so much fun to imagine the outcome is it?

More importantly though, what would you do with those 10 years away from your daily grind? Would you plot and scheme how you’d get even with the jerks who banished you? Or, would you use the time away to broaden your horizons, learn new things, take part in experiences and adventures you never would have had opportunity to before?

You don’t need to be ostracized to find the time to experience something new.

* “Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: why the Greeks matter” by Thomas Cahill

Beth


Click here to read the complete issue of The Chautauqua.

To contact The Chautauqua, email:
thechautauqua@gmail.com.

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Work

In order that people may be happy in their work,
these three things are needed:
They must be fit for it.
They must not do too much of it.
And they must have a sense of success in it.
– John Ruskin

Monday 2 March 2009

Talents

We can’t take any credit for our talents.
It’s how we use them that counts.
– Madeleine L’Engle