don't give up, give in, give way!

a friend sent this DML-J quote to me this week and it's so encouraging and inspiring, I thought you'd want to read it, too...

"Frequently there comes a point at which development and advance seem to have come to an end and we are in some kind of doldrums when it is difficult to know whether the work is moving at all, either backwards or forwards. All seems to be at a standstill and nothing seems to be taking place...we are considering people who are not so much tired of the work as tired in it... What shall we say about it and what shall we do about it? Let me say at the outset that there is no aspect of this great problem of depression in which negatives are more important than they are on this particular occasion. Whoever we are found in this position of weariness, before we begin to do anything positive, there are certain negatives that are absolutely all-important.

"The first is this: Whatever you may feel about it do not consider the suggestion that comes to you from all directions - not so much from people, but from within yourself, the voices that seem to be speaking around and about you - do not listen to them when they suggest that you should give up, or give way, or give in. That is a great temptation that comes at this point. You say, 'I am weary and tired, the thing is too much for me.' And there is nothing to say at that point but this negative - do not listen. You always have to start with these 'don'ts' on the very lowest level; and that is the lowest level. You must say to yourself, 'whatever happens I am going on.'

"You do not give in or give way."

— Dr David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981)

more fun with accents

Peter Sellers' English accents

i thought for such a day as this when we're all going back to school or work or both, we could do with some silliness from this master...

first teeth

here we are again with poor Griffin who is once more undergoing even further noxious torture at the hands of his cruel and unusual parents. Only this time he's facing first teeth, not first peas.

some people say first teeth are not really your parents' fault
(it's just part of life, they say)
but what has that got to do with anything?
it's still horrible and awful
and why isn't anyone stopping it?
why are they just standing there?
and staring at me?
and taking photos?

what kind of stony-hearted parents would do such a thing?


whoever is to blame for this can't they see how unbearable it is?
make it stop please right this instant. whatever did I do to deserve this? I ate my peas and everything.



(if you need further proof of how hard it is being a baby, you should check out the authorative manual on the subject: HOW TO BE A BABY: by ME, the Big Sister. There are some rather helpful lists and useful facts)

bestselling children's book...

check out the number 2 bestselling children's book for September (based on July sales). How cool is that.

The Cornish Pasty

I'm off on holiday to Cornwall so there'll be silence for a while...


No Cornwall Holiday is complete without sampling a delicious proper Cornish pasty.

Don't have any idea what a Cornish Pasty is? For more info click here.

The Cornish Pasty started life as the working lunch for the tin miners in Cornwall to take underground with them. The pasty was easy to carry, was full of good stuff and could be eaten with dirty fingers--the miners with the dirty fingers, who couldn't come above ground just to wash their hands before lunch, could throw away the pastry casing and just eat the filling. Some mines even built huge ovens on the surface to keep the miner's pasties hot until it was time to eat.

The "traditional" pasty was made from beef, potatoes, onions and turnips wrapped uncooked in a short crust pastry. And then baked and served piping hot. (It stayed hot until lunch because of the dense, folded pastry.) The original pasties had savory in one end and jam or fruit in the other end, so you could have 'two courses'. Cornish housewives also marked their husband's initials on the left-hand side of the pastry casing, in order to avoid confusion at lunchtime.

I keep trying to like them every year. Even once I threw caution to the wind and tried a rhubarb and custard one thinking that might do it (it didn't). But the tradition (at least in our family) is--go to the beach (no matter the weather, which is usually grey and blustery), all sit there shivering and try your first cornish pasty of the season.

One day, you never know, you might find you love them. Maybe this year...

being original

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

— C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

a classic classic

"A classic is classic not because it conforms to certain structural rules, or fits certain definitions (of which its author had quite probably never heard). It is classic because of a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness."

— Edith Wharton (1862 - 1937)