Sketches from Leonardo Da Vinci

One Fish - Dr. Seuss

Because I've been thinking about things that have influenced me. :-)
I also have two nieces that are quit enthralled with Dr. Seuss. What is it about him?

One Fish

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

Black fish blue fish old fish new fish

Some are red and some are blue.

Some are old and some are new.

Some are sad and some are glad.

And some are very, very bad.

Why are they sad and glad and bad?
I dont know.
Go ask your dad.

Some are thin and some are fat.

The fat one has a yellow hat.

From there to here, from here to there, funny things everywhere.

Here are some who like to run.

They run for fun in the hot, hot sun

Oh me! Oh my!

Oh me! Oh my!

What alot of funny things go by.

Some have two feet and some have four.

Some have six feet and some have more.

Where do they come from?

I cant say.

But I bet they have come a long, long way.

We see them come.

We see them go.

Some are fast.

And some are slow.

Some are high.

And some are low

Not one of them is like another.

Don't ask us why.

Go ask your mother.

Thanks for reading. I know it was highly stimulating today. ;-)
Miss Pickwickian

Collision - Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson

This is something I've been wanting to see for a very long time and it finally happened!
I was not disappointed. I strongly recommend it.

It really makes one think and opens your eyes to what some people out there really try to tell themselves. It is almost hard to imagine such a wildly different viewpoint and world view. Everything is so drastically effected.

It certainly takes a lot of faith for Hitchens to be so sure that there is no God.

Anyways, I really appreciated how it made me think and how it showed the characters of both men.
It also made me wish I was a lot smarter...

Here is a short trailer. I hope this inspires you to go out and watch it yourself. If you've already seen it let me know what you think.




Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

With Child - Julian Smith

Because sometimes on a Monday, we need a reminder to laugh....

This is Julian Smith's latest video.
I know this isn't everybody's type of humor, but the last part gets me every time. ;-)

Hoped you laughed,
Miss Pickwickian

Bed of Roses - Chesapeake

I have been so excited finally find Chesapeake songs on Youtube!

This is a lovely duet with Moondi Klein and Trisha Yearwood.

This has been my #1 love song for several years. So amazing!

Beautiful.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

A Character - Inspector Javert

I've been talking about things that greatly influenced me and my writing, so I felt the urge to give Inspector Javert and Victor Hugo their due.
In fact, I think Les Miserables as a whole has greatly effected me. Let's focus on Javert. How long do you want this post to be, anyways. ;-)

Javert is an amazing three dimensional character, which I think, must have been especially difficult giving his particular traits. He is dutiful, stoic, uncommunicative, unmovable, legalistic-- all things that few authors seem to portray without getting flat stereotypes. And he changes realistically.

Unfortunately I think I have tried to imitate Victor Hugo too many times and have not achieved his success. I can see poor attempts at Javert in many of my characters scattered through several projects.

Going back and picking apart why I like Javert so much has been a recent study of mine. I think there is a lot to learn.

I'm not saying, of course, that we should try to copy him. I can just see his profound influence in a lot of my own characters of the years. I didn't even realize he was influencing them! Now I want to study why mine are so bad and Hugo's is so good.

As irritating as he can be, I think he'll remain one of my favorite characters forever.

Here is an excerpt from the end of Javert's life. Some is cut out, with no offense to the genius of the author, simply for spaces sake. ;-)

(Oh Beka! I feel like quoting it with you at this moment. Thanks for being my Les Mis quoting pal!;-)

Javert made his way with slow steps from the Rue de l'Homme Arme. He walked with his head down, for the first time in his life, and, for the first time in his life as well, with his hands behind his back...His whole person, slow and gloomy, bore the impress of anxiety...

He took the shortest route towards the Seine, reached the Quai des Ormes, went along the quai...This point of the Seine is dreaded by mariners. Nothing is more dangerous that this rapid...Men who fall in there, one never sees again; the best swimmers are drowned.

Javert leaned both elbows on the parape, with his chin in his hands, and while his fingers were clenched mechanically in the thickest of his whiskers, he reflected.

There had been a new thing, a revolution, a catastrophe in the depths of his being, and there was a matter for self-examination.

Javert was suffering rightfully...[He] felt that duty was growing weaker in his conscience, and he could not hide it from himself...He saw before him two roads, both equally straight; but he saw two; and that terrified him--him, who had never in his life known but one strait line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory. One of these two straight lines excluded the other. Which of the two was true?

His condition was inexpressible.

To owe life to a malefactor, to accept that debt and to pay it, to be, in spite of himself, on a level with a fugitive from justice, and to pay him for one service with another service; to allow him to say "go away," and to say to him in turn, "Be free"; to sacrifice duty, that general obligation, to personal motives, and to feel in these personal motives something general also, and perhaps superior; to betray society in order to be true to his own conscience; that all these absurdities should be realized and that they should be accumulated upon himself, this was by which he was prostrated...

Where was he? He sought himself and found himself to longer.

~Les Miserables


Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

High Sierra - Moondi Klein

I was so incredibly thrilled to find this video with Moondi Klein singing!
He probably has my favorite voice in the whole world. ;-) Okay, I like a lot of different voices for different reasons, but his is pretty awesome.

I like his later singing better (what he does with Jimmy Gaudreau and the Kruger brothers is amazing) but his time with the band Chesapeake has some wonderful songs too.
Anyways, I was just excited to actually find something of his that I could post! High Sierra has been a favorite.
The recording on the album called 2:10 Train is the best. The instrumentals are considerably cooler.

Moondi Klein sings numerous Eric Bogle songs for which I am inexpressibly grateful. I love Bogle's lyrics, but have a hard time coming to terms with his voice.

High Sierra has been performed by many talented musicians, but this one, obviously is the best. (This is not open to argument.:-)

Enjoy.

High Sierra

I've been higher than the high sierra
Lower than Death Valley must be
I've been right, mostly wrong
Wrong about you, right about me

The way I feel, can't explain
So much passion turned to pain
The sun still shines most of the time
Did you know the sun shines when it rains

I've been higher than the high sierra
Lower than Death Valley must be
I've been right, mostly wrong
Wrong about you, right about me

I've been cussed and I've been praised
And I've been nothing these days
But I'll come back, time will see
If I'm wrong about you, right about me

I've been higher than the high sierra
Lower than Death Valley must be
I've been right, mostly wrong
Wrong about you, right about me

written by Harley L. Allen

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian