Sunday, February 28, 2021

Literary BIts: March 1


March 1 is the first day of Spring, meteorologically speaking, and it can’t get here soon enough! Here are a few of my favorite quotes about Spring:


What a strange thing!

to be alive

beneath cherry blossoms.—Kobayashi Issa

 

Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.—Rainer Maria Rilke

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment.—Ellis Peters

That is one good thing about this world...there are always sure to be more springs.—L.M. Montgomery

With the coming of spring, I am calm again.—Gustav Mahler

I enjoy the spring more than the autumn now. One does, I think, as one gets older.—Virginia Woolf

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

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"...

"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”—Frances Hodgson Burnett

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!—Mark Twain

In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.—Mark Twain

Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.—John Muir

It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what.—John Galsworthy

Spring adds new life and new beauty to all that is.—Jessica Harrelson

 

sweet spring is your

time is my time is our

time for springtime is lovetime

and viva sweet love—e. e. cummings

 

The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing.—S. Brown

I love the smell of rain and growing things.—Serina Hernandez

Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.—Gustav Mahler

 

A little madness in the Spring

Is wholesome even for the King...—Emily Dickinson

 

Dead my old fine hopes

And dry my dreaming but still...

Iris, blue each spring.—Ome Shushiki

 

When the groundhog casts his shadow

And the small birds sing

And the pussywillows happen

And the sun shines warm

And when the peepers peep

Then it is Spring.—Margaret Wise Brown

Monday, February 15, 2021

LITERARY BITS: February 15

 

Happy Birthday to writers born on this date!

1810 American poet, writer, and editor Mary S. B. Shindler (The Southern Harp, The Northern Harp, The Voice of Truth) (d. 1883)

1829 American physician and novelist Silas Weir Mitchell (The Treatment of Certain Forms of Neurasthenia and Hysteria, Hugh Wynne, The Adventures of François) (d. 1914)

1834 Moldavian author V. A. Urechia (Albumul macedo-român, Istoria românilor, Voci latine, Istoria şcoalelor, Beţia de cuvinte) (d. 1901)

1880 American novelist Joseph Hergesheimer (Three Black Pennys, Java Head, Linda Condon, Balisand) (d. 1954)

1883 English-American novelist Sax Rohmer (Fu Manchu series) (d. 1959)

1906 Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter Musa Cälil (Moabit Däftäre, Xat taşuçı) (d. 1944)

1912 Hungarian-born British journalist, humorist, and writer George Mikes (How to be an Alien) (d. 1987)

1928 Estonian children's writer Eno Raud (Tuli pimendatud linnas, Lugu lendavate taldrikutega, Naksitrallid) (d. 1996) and American author-illustrator Norman Bridwell (Clifford the Big Red Dog series) (d. 2014)

1935 American journalist and author Susan Brownmiller (Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape)

1937 American novelist Gregory McDonald (Fletch series, Flynn series) (d. 2008)

1941 British journalist and author Jonathan Steele (The Guardian, Socialism with a German Face, Ghosts of Afghanistan)

1945 American science fiction writer and editor Jack Dann (The Man Who Melted, The Memory Cathedral)

1954 American animator Matt Groening (Life in Hell, The Simpsons, Futurama)

1958 Canadian novelist Chrystine Brouillet (Les aventures de la courte échelle, Chère Voisine, Le collectionneur)

1980 British best-selling food and lifestyle expert Jasmine Hemsley (The Art of Eating Well: Hemsley and Hemsley)

1985 Brazilian blogger Mariah Bernardes (Blog da Maria)

1988 American best-selling novelist Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X, With the Fire on High, Clap When You Land)

1989 Austrian blogger Vicky Heiler (Bikinis and Passports)

Sunday, February 7, 2021

LITERARY BITS: February 8

Here are some words of wisdom from German-Israeli Jewish existentialist philosopher Martin Buber (Ich und Du), born on this day in 1878:

Every person born in this world represents something new, something that never existed before, something original and unique.

Everything depends on inner change; when this has taken place, then, and only then does the world change.

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

The true meaning of love one's neighbor is not that it is a command from God which we are to fulfill, but that through it and in it we meet God.

God made so many different kinds of people; why would God allow only one way to worship?

All real living is meeting.

Play is the exultation of the possible.

To be old can be glorious if one has not unlearned how to begin.

The law is not thrust upon man; it rests deep within him, to waken when the call comes.

Through the Thou a person becomes I.

February 8 Holidays


February 8 is Propose Day in India, when lovers give roses to their significant others and ask, "Would you like to spend the rest of our lives together?"

In the U.S. it’s Boy Scout Anniversary Day, commemorating the day in 1910 William Boyce founded Boy Scouts of America in Washington, D.C.

It is Prešeren Day in Slovenia, a public holiday marking the anniversary of the death of Slovene national poet France Prešeren, a nineteenth century Romantic poet. His works include A Wreath of Sonnets, "The Baptism on the Savica," and the collection The Poetry of Dr. France Prešeren.

As the second Monday in February, it's Oatmeal Monday and Clean Out Your Computer Day.

February 8 is also International Epilepsy Day, Laugh and Get Rich Day, Molasses Bar Day, Opera Day, and National Kite Flying Day.

This week is also Love Makes the World Go Round But Laughter Keeps Us from Getting Dizzy Week, National Marriage Week, Random Acts of Kindness Week—and Valentine's Week!

Sounds like a time to keep warm with your baby! 😊