h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm puzzled by this one. We can't figure it out at all. I doubt anybody's trying to be difficult, but this one beats me.

I agree that it can be discouraging to our writers, which is why I'd like to figure it out. For me, this is no big deal. For somebody who put a lot of work into an entry, a very big deal.

What's wrong with Southern writers? Eudora Welty is great, Flannery O'Connor is great, Faulkner is wonderful, in spite of what my mother said...(my mother was from Bolivar County)...

I suppose she can be forgiven. Faulkner is absolutely amazing. You know who I love? Truman Capote. I'ved got everything he ever wrote at home. I've taken some ribbing over it from people with no literary taste whatsoever, but the man really speaks to me.

Oddly, I don't think I've read much by him. I've read quite a bit about him, and the film about him was interesting.

You know, of course, that he was the neighbour child in Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird'?

Cormac McCarthy is good. Have you ever read 'Suttree'? You will never look at a watermelon quite the same way, ever again.

Our best North Carolina writer is Clyde Edgerton. We recommend 'Walking Across Egypt'. I think that's the one with the Satanists and the Vienna sausages...

And then there's Sharyn McCrumb. If you haven't read 'St Dale', you have a treat in store.

I like all of the authors you mention. Clyde Edgerton is absolutely delicious. And I did know that Capote and Lee were good friends. It would be nice to have a genuine friend like either one of them.

Wednesday, November 17.

"So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs."

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Amen.

Christiane,

Lovely to hear you've visited my part of the world

I too, have enjoyed picnics in the park by the river. Such a lovely way to spend a day.

Cheers,

Thursday, November 18.

"There is nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos."

- Jim Hightower

Ooh, good one. Good Texas comment.

Or Florida. It was always fun watching a VW Beetle hit one ... and go up on two wheels at 70 mph

Hightower can be quite colorful.

Friday, November 19.

"There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it."

-George Bernard Shaw

There is, perhaps, a third. To have never had a "heart's desire", a goal or aim.

Here's one my sister posted on facebook. I don't know if she made it up, or read it somewhere.

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."

Good one, Taralome. That is a statement by Carl Jung and contains so much truth. Another one of Jung's that I like is my quote for today.

Saturday, November 20.

"We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppreses."

-Carl Jung

I adamantly REFUSE to accept that notion !!!

That was the perfect response, Nick.

Here's another one by Shaw.

Sunday, November 21.

"The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

- George Bernard Shaw

And why, you may well ask, have I chosen this quote? Well, it voices a philosophy that I am determined to adopt. I need a secondary source of income to supplement my retirement pension. Otherwise I may have to work until I'm 70. Not a happy thought. So instead of waiting for some magical windfall or opportunity to come to me, I have decided to create a part-time career for myself. It begins now so the groundwork can be set and the problems ironed out before I leave the library. This will allow a smooth transition.

Between now and the new year, I'll rearrange my house to create a small studio in a room with both south and west windows. I've already started buying the materials I'll need to get going. This will be something I enjoy doing, and since I only need a supplement to my pension, it should bring in enough. I'm chuffed!

Ah, the sketching and artistry you have known ... You know that I have hoped to encourage that, if I actually knew anything about such things ..

The actual plan is fairly simple. WC has a great farmer's market. It is always winning awards of one sort or another. It is open 2 days a week in spring, 3 days a week in summer and 1 day a week in autumn. I used to think I'd grow gourmet vegetables and sell them there when I retire. I think instead I'll raise fewer vegetables and more flowers. The sort of flowers you cut for bouquets. I'll sell the cut flowers instead along with blank, hand drawn or painted greeting/note cards. The ones that are blank for folks to write their own messages. In order to make it fit in with the market theme, all of the cards will be botanical subjects. Flowers, fruits and vegetables. Right now no one sells either. This way I won't have to compete with all the commercial truck farmers.

I'm not telling anyone in town my idea. I don't want it stolen before I retire.

Monday, November 22.

"Art is the only thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting."

- Elizabeth Bowen

Tuesday, November 23.

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day."

- Sally Koch

So simple, so true ...