They Don't Write 'Um Like That Anymore

"Love is a thing, well, its a kind of quicksand: The more you are in it, the deeper you sink. And when it hits you, you've just got to fall."

-UB40

It's been a long time since I posted a historic love letter entry, but with Valentine's Day less than a week away, I thought it would be a good time. These letters never stop amazing me, such passion and emotion by their authors. Sigh. :) As I read through them earlier this evening, I found I couldn't choose just one, so here are three rather brief, yet sensual letters to lose yourself in... Enjoy!

From Edith Wharton to W. Morton Fullterton
June 8th, 1908

There would have been the making of an accomplished flirt in me, because my lucidity shows me each move of the game - but that, in the same instant, a reaction of contempt makes me sweep all the counters off the board and cry out - "Take them all - I don't want to win - I want to lose everything in you!"


From Charlotte Bronte to Professor Constantin Heger
January 8th, 1845
Note: There is no evidence that her love for the professor was returned.

Monsieur...

The poor have not need of much to sustain them - they ask only for the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table. But if they refused the crumbs they die of hunger. Nor do I, either, need much affection from those I love. I should not know what to do with a friendship entire and complete - I am not used to it. But you showed me of yours a little interest, when I was your pupil in Brussels, and I hold on to the maintenance of that little interest - I hold on to it as I would hold on to life.

From Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) To Olivia Langdon, his future wife.
May 12th, 1869

Out of the depths of my happy heart, wells a great tide of love and prayer for the priceless treasure that is confided to my life-long keeping.

You cannot see it's tangible waves as they flow towards you, darling, but in these lines you will hear, as it were, the distant beating of the surf.


Like I said... Sigh! :)

"To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say, and to finish without knowing what you have written."

-Jean Jacques Rousseau

-OndineMonet
"Love"
San Mateo, California
Spring, 2006
Afternoon

John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #151: Valentine's Day - Fun Or Forced?

"I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last think on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon."

-Unknown

Weekend Assignment #151: Is Valentine's Day a genuinely romantic day? Or just a big commercial money pit into which romantic people fall? Go on, share how you really feel about the day - whether you enjoy it or feel like it's forced on you by greeting card companies, or fall somewhere in between those two poles.

Extra Credit: Suggest a nice romantic movie.

-John Scalzi (By The Way)

Valentine's Day you say! Well, for a holiday, it can certainly have it's moments. Fun? Yes. Romantic? Yes. Complicated? Oh my...YES! There are more rules to that one holiday, then all the rest put together. At least during the holidays in December, you can give either individual or group cards. If you are unsure what to wish someone, you can always wish them "Happy Holidays." When it comes to Valentine's Day, if you wish the wrong person a Happy Valentine's Day, you never know if their psycho other half might hunt you down in a mad fit of jealousy! LOL.

All kidding aside, I think it's a fun holiday. You don't have to allow commercialism to lead you around, no matter what holiday you are facing on a calendar. Life...and love...are what you make of them. Some of my favorite Valentine's Days were spent with Alan, doing very little, but enjoying each other. Then there was the one where he made dinner for me, after I had worked a very long day at the flower shop, making flower arrangements for other ladies. By the time I was done working that day, I didn't want to ever see another rose! I came home so tired, all I wanted to do was drown in a bubble bath. Alan had anticipated what I needed and a bath was ready for me when I came through the door. Not to drown in mind you, but one to soak away the long day I had just had. While I was soaking my poor, tired muscles, he was preparing one of his famous gourmet dinners. There is nothing like having your needs anticipated and then met... any day of the year!

Days on a calendar are what we decide to make of them. Go have fun. Life is too short to worry about the negativity that can be found in anything and everything. If you happen to be alone on Valentine's Day... use it as a day to take care of yourself. Indulge. Eat something sinful. Be bad. Smile at a stranger. Flirt with a friend. Buy yourself something expensive, you don't need. When I was alone, I did all of the above, and you know what? It was fun!

Extra Credit: I really enjoyed the movie, "Simply Irresistible," which stars, Sarah Michelle Geller, and Sean Patrick Flanery. Visually stunning, and absolutely BEWITCHING! Great soundtrack as well.

-OndineMonet
"True Love" By Kim Anderson

Space Madness

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

-Maria Robinson

Have you been following the case of the NASA astronaut, gone wacky, over a fellow astronaut? It seems to be in every news cast I watch, as if no one has ever gone wacky over a guy before. Granted, you don't often think of an actual rocket scientist engaging in such behavior, but it just goes to show you...we are all human, but some folks are saying, "This will jeopardize the whole space program." Now I ask you, do you believe this incident will bring down the space program? I have to be honest, as much as I am curious about what happened to make this lady snap, I don't think the space program needs to be scrapped over it, however, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked.

"They all think I am crazy, but I know better. It is not I who are crazy, it is I who am MAD." -Ren Hoek

I suppose we will find out a lot about the whole mess, as the days go by, but in the mean time, I think a lot of insight about ourselves can be found by taking the quizzes at Blogthings, and heck, just by doing so, we might fend off our own case of "Space Madness" that Ren Hoek warned us about, on the Ren And Stimpy show. Yes, the key to mental stability, and holding off, "Space Madness," is to take quizzes and watch old episodes of Ren And Stimpy. And eat lots and lots of chocolate...often. And oh yeah...wearing adult diapers on long car rides.

Here are two very timely quizzes...take two of these...and call me in the morning!

What Flavor Jelly Bean Are You?

Are You A Sociopath?

Be sure to share your results with us in the comment thread for this entry! :)

Arrested Astronaut 'Suffered Mental Anguish.'

-OndineMonet

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Cold!

"Winter must be cold for those who have no warm memories."

-Unknown

Is there anything better than a very cold beverage on an impossibly hot day? This is my favorite drink, Coca-Cola Classic, with lots of ice. Actually, I should say that it is my favorite of the cola flavored drinks, I grew up drinking Coke, but I also love making my own Italian sodas, of which melon is my favorite flavor. But woman does not live by cold soda alone...lol...as you will see below, I have a number of favorite things associated with our current challenge subject, "Cold." Our challenge topic for this round came to us by way of our friend, and fellow Robin, Janet, author of the blog, "Fond Of Photography." Thank you Janet, this was fun! :)

A Cold Winter Day In San Francisco

A Banana Burrito (Don Jose's Mexican Restaurant)

Black Forest Cake

Root Beer Float (Johnny Rocket's)

Sierra, Nevada Winter

Ice Skating At Justin Herman Plaza... San Francisco, Ca

Please be sure to visit each of the Round Robin participants, by clicking the links below. If you would like to play along also, theres still time, just visit the official Round Robin Photo Challenges blog for all the details!

Linking List

Janet... Fond Of Photography
POSTED!

Karen... Outpost Mavarin
POSTED!

Linda... Blah Blah Blog
POSTED!

Schelle... Fractal Myth
POSTED!

Celeste... My Day And Thoughts
POSTED!

Carly... Ellipsis... Suddenly Carly
POSTED!

Suzanne... New Suzanne R's Photos
POSTED!

Kerrin... Kerrin's Daily Photo
POSTED!

Gattina... Keyhole Pictures
POSTED!

Steff... Memory's Child***Welcome New Member***
POSTED!

John... Personal Effects
POSTED!

Nancy... Nancy Luvs Pix
POSTED!

Julie... Julie's Web Journal
POSTED!

Teena... It's all about me!
POSTED!

Dorn... Through the Eyes of the Beholder
POSTED!

Chuck... Dribble by Chuck Ferris***WELCOME***
POSTED!




-OndineMonet
"Cold Drink"
Pacifica, California
February 4, 2007
Afternoon

Your Monday Photo Shoot: The Eyes Have It!

"The eyes see a thing more clearly in dreams, than the imagination awake."

-Leonardo da Vinci

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Get a really, really, really, close shot of someone's eyes. Try not to use the flash. Or, you know, poke them with the camera. Some judicious cropping will do the job too.

-John Scalzi

It's kinda cool that Blogfather John Scalzi decided to devote the Monday Photo Shoot to the eyes, because I had my annual eye examine yesterday, so I happen to have a few photos available for the shoot. As you can see, I have green eyes, out of curiosity, what color are your eyes?

My Left Eye... See, I Have Green Eyes

A Digital Retinal Scan Of My Left Eye

Spooky Unnamed Eye Doctor's Machine-A-Ma-Gig

-OndineMonet
"Real Me"
Berkeley, California
Late Spring, 2006
Afternoon

The Other Sunday Show

"Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear. Your head like the golden-rod, and we will go sailing from here to the beautiful land of Nod."

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

If you live in the Bay Area, and weren't a big fan of the Super Bowl, then there was a different show you might have been catching. The arrival of the Queen Mary 2, as it sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. While she was due to arrive at 3:00 PM, she was more than an hour late, but she was well worth the wait. The ship is as tall as a 21-story building, and longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall. To date, she is the second largest passenger ship in the world, having been surpassed by the "Freedom of the Seas," which is 1, 725 feet long. First-class tickets aboard the Queen Mary 2, for it's current, "Around The World In 181 Days" cruise cost, $185,905 per person, while the least expensive cabin goes for about $21,000.


When the ship visited Long Beach last year, it was estimated that more than 100,000 people were on hand to see the ship arrive. There probably wasn't that many people today, but traffic was still a nightmare, and parking was extremely difficult. We were lucky to find a spot at Baker Beach. The weather at the beach was glorious, so it was a great place to watch the ship slowly sailing under the gate. From far off, she looked almost like a giant gray ghost. It was somewhat eerie. Also from our vantage point, we had a nice view of the Liberty ship, Jeremiah O' Brian, which was one of the Queen Mary 2's official escort ships. That was fun for me, because my father, in his retirement, worked on board the Jeremiah O' Brian as part of it's restoration crew. I missed my father a bit today, he would have loved seeing the Queen Mary 2 arrive. :)

Queen Mary 2

Gross Tonnage 150,000 tons
Length 1132 feet
Beam 135 feet
Beam at Bridge 147 feet 6 inches
Draft 32 feet 2 inches
Height 236 feet 2 inches
Passengers 2,620 (3, 90 max)
Decks 19

Queen Mary 2 Website Cunard
Queen Mary 2 Bridge Cam

Note: The ship will be leaving San Francisco, bound for Australia and Hong Kong, on Monday, February 5th, at 5:00 PM Pacific time.

-OndineMonet
Queen Mary 2
San Francisco, California
Sunday, February 4, 2007
4:00 PM

The Color This Winter

"Flowers... are a proud assertion, that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities of the world."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 1844

One of my favorite places to visit in Golden Gate Park, is the Queen Wilhelmina Dutch Windmill and Garden. Last Thursday, it was especially pretty, as it was just alive with some gorgeous yellow California poppies. The day was dark and overcast, yet what light there was gave the flowers an unusual glow. I was hoping to maybe see some caterpillars, but there wasn't one in sight. Oh well, it's still a bit early I suppose. I will go back again in a couple weeks and see how the garden is progressing. Soon the gardener will be placing the tulip bulbs for spring. It would be nice to see some pink ones this year, or maybe my favorite color combination of pink and yellow. I have been inspired by the Round Robin's recent "Macro" challenge to practice my macro photography, so no matter what color the tulips are this year, I will be happy, I am just really looking forward to seeing some color. :)

-OndineMonet
Queen Wilhelmina Garden
Dutch Windmill
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco
February 1, 2007
Afternoon