Poems From A Spiritual Heart: When The Angels Cry For Us

Poems From A Spiritual Heart: When The Angels Cry For Us: How do we look to outside observers as we live our lives, especially those of us who do not grow, re-think our approach and change from our experiences?

What About Angels?

From Denny:  Humanity spends a lot of time agonizing over "what other people think" about them. What if we are observed by what we cannot physically see - yet sense on a deeper level?
What if angelic beings are real and just exist in a veiled close dimension of time but are not present in our exact time and space? How do you think they might perceive our daily lives and choices as they are witness to our time here on Earth?

Love Light Square Compact Mirror @ Cafe Press

Let your love light shine!

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Obama Speaks To Hate Merchants, Rush Limbaugh Insults To Women

Image via Wikipedia

From Denny:  Rush Limbaugh refuses to apologize for "slut, prostitute and whore" comments against American women in general and against Sandra Fluke in particular.  President Obama jumped into the fray, denying Limbaugh any satisfaction, phoning law student Fluke for an encouraging conversation.

Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke, was prohibited from testifying to a House committee about support of government mandated contraceptive health care coverage.

The Republicans refused to allow any woman to testify unless they chose said woman for the all male religious panel that amounted to a predetermined outcome kangaroo court.  The female politicians in the House were outraged so they held their own hearing for Fluke to testify publicly and honestly without editing from the Republicans preventing her liberty and free speech.

GOP Hate Merchants hurl accusations against women and minorities 

Dennys Funny Quotes: Funny Relationship Issues Cartoons, Remember Your Special People Memorial Day

Dennys Funny Quotes: Funny Relationship Issues Cartoons, Remember Your Special People Memorial Day: "From Denny: These cartoons will really get you thinking about your current - or, uh, er, past relationships. It sure takes all kinds to make the world go 'round, doesn't it? A little light humor based off reality is just the ticket for a way to ease into a long holiday weekend...



Have a great Memorial Day holiday, chill out to shed yourself of some stress, enjoying some time with family and friends. Be sure to lift your glass to toast those who came before us, sacrificing their lives for our freedom during war time or those who sacrificed as good friends to help keep us balanced in the mundane places of life. Take time to remember the best people in your life and celebrate them this special holiday."

Awesome Story of Giving That Healed a Town: A Circle of Hands

From Denny: Pull out the tissues because you are going to need them! If you are not crying your eyes out, wondering if you emptied out the tears reservoir, then you need to watch the hour long special of this story. Yes, it's that good. If you are in need of having your faith restored in the goodness of strangers, then this story is for you. These ordinary people will astound, amaze and delight your heart.

The entire town of Grafton, Wisconsin came to the aid of a single mother battling breast cancer who has 13 year old triplets. Two of those triplets are seriously ill with a life long degenerative disease and are already now in wheelchairs. They needed so much. A whole town of neighbors, many who lost their homes and their jobs, came together to help the Longoria family remodel their home so the kids could get around in wider halls and larger spaces.

It's quite an amazing story of what spiritual development is really all about: helping someone else when you have lost so much. There is a man in the process of losing his home because he's been out of work for two months. Yet he came and volunteered every day to renovate the house. There is a hotel owner who gave the family free rooms for the entire time it took to renovate the house.

There is an AIDS charity CEO, living on 40% less income now and facing an uncertain personal financial future, who showed up to organize and raise funding - cheerfully. Another story is of a mother who lost her son 19 years ago and today came to be the interior designer for this family's renovated home. She said this is the first time she has not felt emotional pain since the death of her child.

This first video is a clip that was featured on the news. The other video clips tell the story. The full story and more links are at Dateline and it's an hour show worth watching. It reminds me of a real life story to match the famous Christmas movie, "It's a Wonderful Life." What's so much fun about this story of giving is how the giving rolled into something bigger than the project itself. People got into the spirit of giving and the joy was contagious, drawing thousands of people to volunteer during construction or to help fund the project.

A Circle of Hands is a poem written by one of the volunteers to remember the "Hometown Heroes" project that healed the town.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Good News: Child Abuse Drops Dramatically

From Denny: This is good news! A 38% drop in sexually abused children occurred from a high of 217,700 in 1993 - dropping down to 135,300 in 2006. What about physical abuse during this period? Dropped by 15%. What about emotional abuse during this period? Dropped by 27%.

Experts in the area of child abuse are heralding this finding as proof that public awareness campaigns have made great headway along with judicial crackdowns.

When you combine all the areas of abuse - physical, emotional and sexual - it averages out to being down by 26% since 1993. In this study there were 553,000 children studied as opposed to 743,200 children studied in 1993.

This is a 455-page government mandated study called the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect is conducted periodically by the Department of Health and Human Services.

What is so encouraging is that this is the first time there has been such a dramatic decrease over a long period of study since we began collecting data. "It does suggest that the mobilization around this issue is helping and it's a problem that is amenable to solutions," said professor David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, a leading researcher in the field of child abuse. "It does suggest that the mobilization around this issue is helping and it's a problem that is amenable to solutions."

Where did they collect this much information? The detailed data was produced by 10,700 "sentinels" - child welfare workers, police officers, teachers, health care professionals and day care workers - that helped create national estimates.

"There's much more public awareness and public intolerance around child abuse now," said Linda Spears who is the Child Welfare League of America's Vice President for public policy. "It was a hidden concern before — people were afraid to talk about it if it was in their family." Spears also commented there is now an abundance of programs to help abusers overcome their destructive behavior.

Professor Finkelhor, who has also conducted similar research and found a drop in abuse rates, believes the study depicts "real, substantial declines." Nor can this decrease be attributed to changing the definition of abuse.

Finkelhor speculated there may be several reasons such as in the 1990s more people were deployed in child protection services and the criminal justice system strongly focused its efforts on more arrests and prison sentences for abusers. Since then more child abusers had available to them medications to help them cope, therefore preventing molesting or mistreating a child.

"There's also been a general change in perceptions and norms about what one can get away with, so much more publicity about these things," he said.




Socio-economic factors were considered. As expected from previous studies, poverty played a starring role as three times more likely for children to be abused than other children. The rates in African-American households were also much higher than in Hispanic and Caucasian homes.

They even took a look at the family structure. It's a bit chilling about what was found here: a single parent, with a live-in partner, might abuse children at 10 times the rate of a two parent household.

The main author of the study is Andrea Sedlak, Westat, Inc. in Maryland. She was concerned over their finding that more than half of the child maltreatment incidents are not actually investigated by a child-protection agency. "Is the system still so strapped?" she asked. "There's still a lot of material here saying the system has a long way to go."

Of course, this study is now almost four years old upon its release this week. Since 2006, this country has sunk down into a deep recession or a depression with over 20% of America out of work like in the 1930s. With all the job loss and family financial pressures and home foreclosures there have been reports of domestic violence on the rise.

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Gifts From The Heart, A Christmas Poem - Libations Friday! 11 Dec 2009

From Denny: Somehow this year's holiday season has taken on an intensified gravity since the economic downturn. Finally, after decades of excess consumerism, the whole world has turned their thoughts to serious and deeper thinking beyond how much they can spend at the local mall for Christmas. While I enjoy the giving of gifts as much as the next person, at some point it's wise to balance it with reflection upon the season. It's good to be generous with others on more levels than a present under the tree.

While I was researching for some wonderful Christmas quotes there are a number that stood out and really helped the thinking process for this poem story. Three are incorporated into the poem and here are a few more:

Quotes

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. - Janice Maeditere

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. - Harlan Miller

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. - Anonymous

And a tiny Christmas poem:

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing'
It makes no noise at all,
But softly gives itself away. - Eva Logue


Gifts From The Heart






Isn’t it odd how the Christmas season is already upon us?
The TV news declares skinny wallets for the holidays.
The TV blares at us to go shopping on Black Friday.
The very name is creepy, more so when you realize one thing:
That’s the time of year when businesses finally turn a profit.
They are hoping against Hope for this season of gift giving
As the escalating volume follows me out of the room, escaping their plea.




Get validated twice...



Every year someone speaks up, refocusing us away from consumerism.
Every year most of it falls on deaf ears, “The Reason for the Season.”
Every year I choose to think my own thoughts of Life’s mysteries.





For millennia sage thinkers gifted us inspiring thoughts of Wisdom.
Hope offered up for humanity while they pondered the human condition.





Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, says the Chinese Proverb.
How true it is to light our inner candle than to complain there is no light in the world.





Buddha advised, Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, man cannot live without a spiritual Life.
How true it is that a person is but a sleep-walking body if not enjoying their spirit.





There it is, the Truth: For the spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind, says Loring A. Schuler.
There is something deep inside every person that can feel empty.
There is that intangible something that craves more from the world than we can touch.
There is something we can’t seem to well define yet desire anyway with a ranging search.





We keep looking outside ourselves for something more, something greater.
Yet what we want, what we look for unceasingly, lives quietly waiting inside us.
What is greater can be found by turning our eyes inward to find the mystery.





The spirit of Christmas is about Love, a Love without limits, filling up that void.
The spirit of Christmas is about Hope, a Hope to recognize all that we are now.
The spirit of Christmas gathers up the whole world into a conspiracy to Love.
And that’s why Jesus came, to remind us to reconnect and choose to Love.





When we choose to really Love, the problems suddenly and easily evaporate.
Loving involves us in caring and listening - then the inner wars swiftly halt.
Loving feeds us with so much energy all wars cease, transforming into Peace.

Love + Peace = Joy in the New World!



Denny Lyon
Copyright 10 Dec 2009
All Rights Reserved

*** THANKS for visiting and have a great weekend!




Photo Credits

Christmas tree photo by SashaW @ flickr

Jesus is Lord parking sign photo by PetroleumJelliffe @ flickr

Hanukkah menorah photo by skpy @ flickr

Candles in the wind photo by Photos8.com @ flickr

Christmas is coming red star photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr - When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. - Rumi

Old church door photo by Photos8.com

Candle in the window of Jesus’ Tomb, Jereusalem photo by Photos8.com @ flickr - "Jesus Tomb Window - Window on the Rotunda in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. The Rotunda of the Anastasis beneath the larger of the church's two domes, in the center of which is The Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre itself. The Edicule has two rooms. The first one holds The Angel's Stone, a fragment of the stone believed to have sealed the tomb after Jesus' burial. The second one is the tomb itself."

Holy Dip in sea at dawn at Dhanuskodi photo by sunciti_sundaram, TO VIEW VARIETY @ flickr

Loving You - Libations Friday! 20 Nov 2009

From Denny: Sometimes, it’s a good idea to think back on a relationship to see how it began and what makes it work well. There are a lot of opinions about what it takes to have a great marriage as there are different styles of marriage. Somehow, as lately I've been hearing about various friends and work acquaintances divorcing because of life's stresses, it caused me to reflect upon my own relationship.



Loving You

When we first married you nurtured me back to trusting
You held me, comforted me and restored my confidence in others.
You helped me heal deep soul wounds so I could truly live again.

You were patient loving me when you were not a patient man.
You were obvious about loving when you were a shy introspective man.
You supported and encouraged though you had never known abuse.

Over the years we saw changes around us in the world and inside us.
We continued to laugh a lot and often; we kissed daily our morning hello.
When we parted for work, we blew kisses at each other and “I love you too.”



As I strengthened I became your anchor in the storms of Life, returning your Love.
Job loss was greeted as “So, who cares? We will carve out another."
Financial dips of income from one year to the next was met with “We will rebuild.”

When severe illness visited our doorstep we pulled together and survived.
When disappointments harangued us we swept them away with the wind.
No matter what came at us, we pulled together and solved the problem.



Best friends and lovers, wife and husband, we have built a life time.
We have more than memories after decades of partnership and marriage.
We fell in Love at first sight as two old souls who suddenly recognized each other.

We fell in Love, stayed in Love - even through disagreements and misunderstandings.
We live in Love with a deepening relationship worth more than anything we could want.
What we want, we have: loving you…


Denny Lyon
Copyright 19 November 2009
All Rights Reserved


*** Thanks for visiting and come back often! Have a great weekend! :)



Photo Credits

Heart Photo by suchitra prints @ flickr

Wedding Ring Photo by Hammer51012 @ flickr

Bride descending the staircase photo by tostadophoto.com @ flickr

Bridal couple in the ocean photo by millzero @ flickr

Life Advice Poem by Rudyard Kipling

From Denny: It's Sunday and the weather is cooling for the coming winter. This time of year our thoughts often turn inward, introspective. Who better than Rudyard Kipling to help us ask the questions and give us some benchmarks to exceed our grasp? :) He was always a thorough thinker to help you to consider your way in Life.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

by Rudyard Kipling


*** Thanks for visiting and come back often! :)

Libations Friday! 11 September 2009

From Denny: Lately, I've been running across a lot of news stories talking about loss, in particular the loss of a child, and suddenly a rash of news stories about miscarriage, not exactly something you see talked about in the news. It also happens to be the anniversary of the dreaded 911 when terrorists cruelly killed thousands of loving people from all over the world in the New York City Twin Towers bombing, impacting families for generations to come.

So, it hit me that too many people are dealing with loss right now, the kind of loss that is severe disappointment to put it mildly. Miscarriage is often a lonely burden of which it seems other women in particular choose to be insensitive and do not seem to sympathize - unless it has happened to them. You can read as far back as the Old Testament Bible where women with children jeered and taunted women unable to bear children.

People think the accounts in the Bible are just story-telling. Well, there is a reason for those stories left for us down through the ages: do we recognize ourselves as one of the characters in those stories? If we do, what are we going to do about it?

A lot of people have asked me over the years how to deal with deep emotional and spiritual pain as it just seems too unbearable. My answer has always been the same: grieve, grieve some more, force yourself to keep moving forward, but most of all, keep looking to the future for the revelation of why your Life Plan took this turn. If you ask the question, you recieve the answer: eventually, which can take years before you are ready to see and accept the answer. You will be pleasantly surprised that what you thought was such a terrible thing turned out to be a small sacrifice for how you ended up benefiting humanity.

Can I tell you that this poem was a tough write? Too personal, I suppose... Many families are dealing with loss right now by the loss of a loved one be it a child, a parent, a spouse. Divorce is a similiar lonely burden like miscarriage, something others do not seem to fully understand any better than one or both of the divorced people.

This poem was written on this sorrowful anniversary of 911 to echo the pain and sadness of those suffering personal loss. This poem is also a personal recounting of my own struggle with loss after loss, way too many miscarriages that wrecked my physical health for a number of years until I figured out how to heal myself.

This is also the true story of an adult special child who instantly was drawn to my rocking chair I had purchased, stained and varnished, then prayed lots of love into for rocking my own children who never came (or so I thought at the time).

This special child wanted to take the rocker back to their facility for all the other kids to share with her. She said a lot of the parents had quit coming to visit their children and the kids were lonely.

What had happened is the parents were dead and closest relatives lived several states away from the state facility. My heart went out to her and instantly I agreed to give her the rocker. Plus, in my heart I knew there was something unusual and wonderful transpiring here as God was at work through this special child.

I went to visit that facility months later after the gift of the rocker and witnessed first hand the supreme satisfaction of the residents. The caretakers were quick to tell me all the stories associated with the rocker and that it seemed to have special magical powers, instantly calming and soothing whoever sat in it and rocked. Many of the adult special children suffered from severe epilepsy and other issues so this rocker was a healer too. I could not ask for anything better to learn.

Fifteen years later the revelation came of my niche in Life and it was quite a surprise, a pleasant surprise! You may find your purpose in Life is far larger than you ever intended or expected too.

***



Rock, My Children

When disappointment creeps near
After dreams are shattered
Our hearts mourn slowly
Yearning for what never lived



When others seem so happy
After we experience loss
Our hearts grieve longer
Yearning for what they enjoy



When we cannot understand
After chasing dream to dream
Our hearts flutter in hope
Yearning to finally succeed



When sitting in the lonely rocker
After the child has died
Our hearts sink deeper down
Yearning to feel their tiny presence



When rocking ourselves to sleep
After crying away our dream
Our hearts seek to mend us
Yearning to heal seared wounds



When our thoughts turn to children
After grieving months, even years
Our hearts feel hopelessly stuck
Yearning to know the why of Life’s Plan



When we feel like pieces of ourselves
After striving to move forward in Time
Our hearts still cry for what was not
Yearning to find meaning in the loss



When other women judge us harshly
After deciding we must not want children
Our hearts grieve, hurting worse
Yearning to know sisterly compassion



When one day fifteen years later our answer came
After drowning far too long in sadness
Our hearts look out to find a seeking child
Yearning, pointing to our rocker with delight



When the rocker is claimed wonderfully as their own
After touching, feeling the embedded loving prayers
Our hearts leap up to gather this new child close
Yearning to know where to send the unused Love



The rocker finally found a new home much needed
For years the lonely rocker filled with smiling special children
Adult special children cuddled gladly in its reassuring embrace
Renewed by a mother’s love so strong thy sighed with safe content



When the Never Mothers’ own children were lost
After Life dealt one seemingly cruel hand
Our hearts soon mended in Love and purpose
Yearning to see revealed the truth of what was meant to be



Mothers’ Love was not meant to be confined to a few
Mothers’ Love is eternally sent out to all those in need
Life’s Plan was to embrace the children of the world



Rock, my children
Rock in the knowing
You are well loved



Rock, My Children…


Denny Lyon
Copyright 11 September 2009
All Rights Reserved


Thanks for visiting, everyone, have a great weekend! XXXOO


***

Photo Credits

Angel child photo from StumbleUpon, no attribution available

Spring time pregnant photo by Carnaval King 08 @ flickr

Baby feet photo by Sabrina Campagna @ flickr

Black heart photo from StumbleUpon, no attribution available

Single shadowed rocking chair photo by blmurch @ flickr

Eye spy photo by lepiaf.geo @ flickr

Collage woman photo by DerrickT @ flickr

Hands on black background photo by batega @ flickr

Child reading in rocker photo by Lori Greig @ flickr

Special Olympics T-shirt slogan photo by Dru Bloomfield - At Home in Scottsdale @ flickr

Row of rockering chairs photo by Felixe @ flickr

Umbrellas in the rain photo by 1Happysnapper (is catching up slowly) @ flickr

Marine Lioness in Iraq photo by Yankee November @ flickr - ASH SHAFIYAH, IRAQ (12 November 2004) - LCpl. Brandy L. Guerrero, a radio operator assigned to the Communications Detachment, Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Service Support Group 11, 11th MEU (Special Operations Capable), gives a kiss to an Iraqi baby waiting to be examined during a Humanitarian Assistance Operation (HAO) in the village of Ash Shafiyah, Iraq. The HAO provided medical and dental treatment to more than 115 Iraqis. (Since I come from a 100 year tradition of Marines on one side of the family, all proud Democrats, I just had to include this awesome photo of nurturing from a warrior, so much like many of my tough, crusty but nurturing male warrior mentors when I was growing up.)

Adult and child hands photo by marcuzzo @ flickr

JOY photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr


911, 911 anniversary, God, love, Special Olympics, sorrow, sad, death, grief, counseling, depression, divorce, family, relationships, men and women, mothers, children, Kids and Teens, religion and spirituality

Funny Video: Bride Laughing Loud at the Altar During Vows

From Denny: Just found this hilarious true video of a bride laughing so hard at the altar she almost fell over when they were trying to say their vows. The laughter is contagious! Laughter IS the best medicine!

Cheeky Quote Day! 9 September 2009

Profiling actress Mae West who specialized in cheeky quotes!

From Denny: After profiling Will Rogers last week from America's early Hollywood entertainment history I started thinking: who else might be of interest? Then I remembered "the risque one" herself that today's saucy singer and comedian Bette Midler surely might be a sure fire reincarnation of that oh, so original and tiny powerhouse of a woman: Mae West.

Mae West grew up in comedy, notable the Vaudeville and entertained America during the dreary Depression years of the 1930's. Her image was that of an independent woman, a bit risque - which was considered downright pornographic for the prudish time period. In her movies she was draped in jewels and looked to be enjoying the high life, something ordinary Americans could only dream about at that time.

The woman's movies were constantly censored; she kept them busy anyway, knowing the risk. By today's standards she is actually quite tame. She is still risque, full of either the obvious or the innuendo, but definitely ranks high in the Cheeky Quotes category to land a starring place on this blog today! :)

There are pages and pages of quotes attributed to actress Mae West. She often wrote her own material for the movies since she had studied comedic techniques from the time she was a child in the Vaudeville arena. YouTube has plenty of her movies; here are a couple of well known examples.

Mae West, American actress, Vaudeville entertainer, total ham of the exaggerated, 1893 - 1980.

I'm No Angel 1933 comedy classic:



Mae West with Duke Ellington Orchestra in the 1934 Belle of the Nineties:



Quotes

* “It's not the men in my life that counts--it's the life in my men.”

* “I see you're a man with ideals. I better be going before you've still got them.”

* “Opportunity knocks for every man, but you have to give a woman a ring.”

* “When women go wrong, men go right after them.”

* “When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before.”

* “It's not what I do, but the way I do it. It's not what I say, but the way I say it.”

* “I speak two languages, Body and English.”



* “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.”

* “I've been in more laps than a napkin.”

* “I'm a woman of very few words, but lots of action.”

* “I didn't discover curves; I only uncovered them.”

* “When I'm good I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better.”

* “It is better to be looked over than overlooked.”

* “A hard man is good to find.”

* “Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand.”

* “Look your best--who said love is blind?”

* “Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.”

* “The best way to hold a man is in your arms.”

* “All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.”

* “The score never interested me, only the game.”

* “A man's kiss is his signature.”

* “I like a man who's good, but not too good--for the good die young, and I hate a dead one.”

* “Any time you got nothing to do--and lots of time to do it--come on up.”

* “Don't keep a man guessing too long--he's sure to find the answer somewhere else.”

* “Anything worth doing is worth doing slowly.”

* “I only have 'yes' men around me. Who needs 'no' men?”

* “Personally, I like two types of men--domestic and foreign.”

* “Love thy neighbor--and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier.”

***

*** For a much more detailed recounting of her funny life, loves and movies, the day after this post I wrote an article for HubPages:Funny Quotes Wordsmith: Mae West, go here.

Funny News Video: Middle Aged Guy Puts Elderly Parents for Sale on Craigslist

From Denny: There's nothing like putting your parents up for sale to get the conversation started like this guy did! This news story sounds like a tutorial on how to do it. What started as a fun idea snowballed into a sensation. I can only imagine what his parents told their son off camera ... :)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Cheeky Quote Day! 26 August 2009

From Denny: How about a lovin' spoonful of funny marriage quotes today? I had no idea when I started researching this category that I would find an abundance of opinion and quotes!

In fact, it seems men and women have been commenting upon their relationships for thousands of years as Chinese philosopher, and founder of Taoism, Lao Tze from 500 BC, even weighed in on marriage. The Greek philosophers Aristotle and Socrates mouthed off as well, though most eloquently. :)

Quotes

* A dress that zips up the back will bring a husband and wife together. - James H. Boren

* Marriage is like the army. Everybody complains, but you'd be surprised at how many re-enlist. – Anonymous

* In marriage, as in war, it is permitted to take every advantage of the enemy. – Anonymous

* Keep your eyes wide open before marriage - and half-shut afterwards. – Benjamin Franklin

* Long engagements give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage - which is never advisable. – Oscar Wilde

* A husband is what is left of a lover - after the nerve has been extracted. - Helen Rowland

* Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sins. – Lao Tze, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism, wrote Tao Te Ching, 600 BC – 531 BC

* A wedding is just like a funeral except that you get to smell your own flowers. - Grace Hansen

* If you want to sacrifice the admiration of many men for the criticism of one, go ahead, get married. - actres Katharine Hepburn

* Marriage is like a bank account. You put it in, you take it out, you lose interest. - Irwin Corey

* A psychiatrist asks a lot of expensive questions your wife asks for nothing. - Joey Adams

* Marriage is a wonderful invention: then again, so is a bicycle repair kit. - Billy Connolly

* All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble. - Raymond Hull

* Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't they'd be married too. - H. L. Mencken

* I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all. - Lord Byron

* He's the kind of man a woman would have to marry - to get rid of. - Mae West, actress and vaudeville comic

* If you made a list of reasons why any couple got married, and another list of the reasons for their divorce, you'd have a hell of a lot of overlapping. - Mignon McLaughlin

* I've been married to one Marxist and one Fascist, and neither one would take out the garbage. – actress Lee Grant

* In olden times sacrifices were made at the altar - a practice which is still continued. - Helen Rowland

* A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. - Paul Sweeney

* Marriage is an alliance entered into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut, and a woman who can't sleep with the window open. - George Bernard Shaw

* Marriage is a bribe to make the housekeeper think she's a householder. - Thornton Wilder

* Marriage - a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters in prose. - Beverley Nichols

* If you want to read about love and marriage, you've got to buy two separate books. - Alan King

* Marriage is an adventure, like going to war. - writer Gilbert K. Chesterton

* Marriage is nature's way of keeping us from fighting with strangers. - Alan King


Photo by TimWilson @ flickr

Thanks for visiting, everyone! Have a great work week and keep chuckling!



relationships, men and women, Society and Culture, Cheeky Quotes Day, cheeky quotes, Funny Quotes, Dennys Funny Quotes, marriage, marriage quotes, Thorton Wilder, Lao Tze, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Alan King, Lord Byron, H. L. Mencken, Benjamin Franklin, and most importantly: Anonymous, without whom so many quotes would have never been published...! :)

Just Some Poetry.

Just Some Poetry.

by akeejaho @ HubPages

From Denny: From Denny: I found this as a wonderful poem expressing a husband's love for his wife. The husband suffers from bipolar depression so he deeply understands how profoundly his wife's love affects him positively and appreciates her. (What every woman wants to hear!)

This is a delightful take on how to write love poetry from a completely different angle without the usual greeting card mushiness. Here's the comment I left for the author: "I'm always up for an unconventional take on love poetry and this little gem of a poem takes the prize. Awesome how you contrast inner and outer light, talking on two levels simultaneously, delivered with utter directness and simplicity, well done!"

Photo by AmahRa58 @ flickr


men and women, relationships, poetry, husband and wife, writing exercise, bipolar depression, love poetry

Falling in love again: A poem about opening yourself up to love

Falling in love again: A poem about opening yourself up to love

by alekhouse @ HubPages

From Denny:

Since yesterday was my birthday I thought I'd mellow out on the early AM posting today... :)

Here's the comment I left on her page - What a beautiful piece, loved it! And such good encouragement to others to dare, one more time, in spite of feeling burned out emotionally, to love once again, discovering they can now rest in the loving. Thank you for the word treat! Blogging this on over to my poetry blog for everyone else to enjoy too! Thank you for writing it.

Writing, Arts, culture, Literature, Love, Relationships, Society and Culture

Cheeky Quote Day! 29 July 2009

From Denny: I've started developing a second quotes blog, Dennys Funny Quotes. The blog is set up with lists of quotes as opposed to how I do commentary on Beautiful Illustrated Quotations that are quotes used more as meditations.

Dennys Funny Quotes has a good start; rest assured I will be adding much more and creating new lists. This new blog is my own place to get a grin when life gets too serious - so I thought I'd share with you too. Of course, I couldn't resist the visual pun on my last name: Lyon = roaring with laughter lion logo. In my sometimes cracked mind that's just one more thing to find funny. Life is hard enough; laugh your way through it!

Here are some of the grins I'm finding these days for you to enjoy. Hey! It's Wednesday and it's Hump Day of the Work Week and we all need some giggle fuel to keep us going to TGIF. That's short for Thank God It's Friday to my readers outside America - can you tell I lived internationally and am accustomed to explaining word choices and customs to those who are not familiar? :) Whenever I travel people are kind enough to explain their culture to me and how they do things in their country so I always try to "pay it forward" and do the same for others.

Quotes

"Twitter was invented by men. A woman would have chosen a higher character limit." - Anonymous

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." - Bill Cosby

“If you must have motivation, think of your paycheck on Friday.” Noel Coward

“True love is like a pair of socks: you gotta have two and they've gotta match.” - Groucho Marx

“I don't have a photograph, but you can have my footprints. They're upstairs in my socks.” - Groucho Marx

Image via Wikipedia

Groucho Marx's title card for his show

“When you're up to your nose in sh*t, keep your mouth shut.” - Anonymous (Trying to keep the GP rating here, folks...)

"If it weren't for women, men would still be wearing last week's socks.” - Cynthia Nelms

(Amazing how many "socks" quotes there are out there. Do people really wear socks anymore?)

"Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy." - Steven Wright

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.” Woody Allen

"Love lasteth as long as the money endureth." - William Caxton



"The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post." - George Bernard Shaw

"Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it." - Jerome K. Jerome

"True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked." - Erich Segal

"Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'"

"'I am' is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that 'I do' is the longest sentence?" - (understandable) Anonymous

"I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back." - Henny Youngman

Woody Allen in The Moose

"Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet." - Mae West

"In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out." - Joey Adams

"Cosmetics is a boon to every woman, but a girl's best friend is still a nearsighted man." - Yoko Ono


"Have a great Wednesday and keep laughing; Friday is so close by you can smell the weekend perfume!" - Denny Lyon


Groucho Marx, George Bernard Shaw, the social poets, English language, Humor, Quotation, Recreation, Yoko Ono, Woody Allen, Arts, Quotations, Noël Coward, Erich Segal, Cheeky Quote Day, Dennys Funny Quotes, Denny Lyon, Quotations, Humor, Relationships, Society and Culture