"Question reality, especially if it contradicts the evidence of your hopes and dreams."
"I was the architect of my dreams but forgot to contract a builder."
"Seize every opportunity along the way, for how sad it would be if the road you chose became the road not taken."
"Love thy neighbor, even though you have wronged him and, yea, even though he has forgiven you."
"I have learned over the years that my eyes can construct a figment as easily as my imagination."
"In the realist you have the sorry sight of the five senses deprived of their imagination."
"I regret less the road not taken than my all-fired hurry along the road I took."
"Yes, it would be fun to go back and travel the road not taken, especially with the grandkids."
"Meanwhile, the traffic control helicopter reports a three mile backup on the road less traveled by."
"It's comforting to know that the person I might have been would today also be retired and playing golf."
"Sometimes my dog seems deep in thought, pondering, I suppose, such mysteries as why dogs were expelled from the Garden of Eden."
"It is hard to exchange thoughts with someone who just wants to show you their brain tattoo."
Thought on a sandy beach: "A mother never stops chasing her child down to the water's edge."
~~ Robert Brault
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Ah, Those Vacation Photos!
Given the time of year, I thought I'd resurrect this piece from the archives. It was written some years ago (before the age of digital photography.)
My wife and I have just returned from a family vacation, and we have some wonderful photos. Actually, the ones of me are awful, but the ones of everyone else are great. My wife says that the ones of her are awful, but the ones of me are great. Her mother, who vacationed with us, called up to say that she has some great photos – except for the ones of her, which are awful. Our daughter called to say that she has scissored herself out of all her photos. They’re awful, she says -- but she has some great ones of the rest of us.
It’s funny how everyone thinks the photos of themselves are awful, and the photos of everyone else are great. It’s probably because we think we look so goofy in the photos, when to everyone else, that’s the way we always look. That’s the thing about vacation photos – everyone looks just the way they always do, except you. You look like someone who got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and wandered into the photograph.
How many times have you looked at a photo of yourself, thinking you might slip it under the couch cushion, when someone looks over your shoulder and says, “That’s great of you.” That’s what people do – they look at a photo of you that might have been taken by the coroner’s office, and say, “You look good in that.” Makes you want to find a really rotten photo of them and say, "That is sooooo good of you." But you can't find a rotten photo of them. They all look great.
Personally, I have this thing in group photos where I’m the only one saying cheese. Everyone else has a broad happy smile on their face, or else they’re poking each other and giggling, or mugging for the camera. And I’m standing there saying cheese.
Our neighbors just vacationed with their kids, and they have some great photos. There’s one of their 5-year old standing on the beach, next to a giant sand castle, looking proud as can be. I said to him, “That’s a great photo of you.” He looked at the photo and screwed up his face like you wouldn’t believe. “That's awful,” he said.
-- Robert Brault
My wife and I have just returned from a family vacation, and we have some wonderful photos. Actually, the ones of me are awful, but the ones of everyone else are great. My wife says that the ones of her are awful, but the ones of me are great. Her mother, who vacationed with us, called up to say that she has some great photos – except for the ones of her, which are awful. Our daughter called to say that she has scissored herself out of all her photos. They’re awful, she says -- but she has some great ones of the rest of us.
It’s funny how everyone thinks the photos of themselves are awful, and the photos of everyone else are great. It’s probably because we think we look so goofy in the photos, when to everyone else, that’s the way we always look. That’s the thing about vacation photos – everyone looks just the way they always do, except you. You look like someone who got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and wandered into the photograph.
How many times have you looked at a photo of yourself, thinking you might slip it under the couch cushion, when someone looks over your shoulder and says, “That’s great of you.” That’s what people do – they look at a photo of you that might have been taken by the coroner’s office, and say, “You look good in that.” Makes you want to find a really rotten photo of them and say, "That is sooooo good of you." But you can't find a rotten photo of them. They all look great.
Personally, I have this thing in group photos where I’m the only one saying cheese. Everyone else has a broad happy smile on their face, or else they’re poking each other and giggling, or mugging for the camera. And I’m standing there saying cheese.
Our neighbors just vacationed with their kids, and they have some great photos. There’s one of their 5-year old standing on the beach, next to a giant sand castle, looking proud as can be. I said to him, “That’s a great photo of you.” He looked at the photo and screwed up his face like you wouldn’t believe. “That's awful,” he said.
-- Robert Brault
Monday, August 23, 2010
Mostly For Laughs
"Ah, my wife. If life hands her a lemon, she makes lemonade. And if life hands her a rotten potato, don't drink the lemonade."
"It never fails -- every time I'm asked to name the Seven Wharfs, I forget Dock."
"The advantage of growing up with siblings is that you become very good at fractions."
"Sometimes I think I'm slowly losing my mind, but, then, I'm an optimist."
"Thanks to DNA, it is now possible to identify that thing you just found in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator."
It is said that "Genius is the infinite capacity to take pains," nowadays treated as an obsessive compulsive disorder.
"Having dealt with both life and death, I can tell you this about life -- it takes longer to make the arrangements."
"More people believe in God than believe in the devil -- an acknowledgment that mankind cannot make its own heaven."
Today I ran across a quote of mine that was attributed to "Robert Brault, 1938-2009". Come to think of it, I do recall a large family gathering last year.
"The happiest memories are of moments that ended when they should have."
"A friend is someone who, when you're lost and adrift, shows up to tell you you've been found alive and well."
"I never remember a dream, which is a good thing, because otherwise I'd be wondering which of my memories are memories of dreams."
~~ Robert Brault
"It never fails -- every time I'm asked to name the Seven Wharfs, I forget Dock."
"The advantage of growing up with siblings is that you become very good at fractions."
"Sometimes I think I'm slowly losing my mind, but, then, I'm an optimist."
"Thanks to DNA, it is now possible to identify that thing you just found in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator."
It is said that "Genius is the infinite capacity to take pains," nowadays treated as an obsessive compulsive disorder.
"Having dealt with both life and death, I can tell you this about life -- it takes longer to make the arrangements."
"More people believe in God than believe in the devil -- an acknowledgment that mankind cannot make its own heaven."
Today I ran across a quote of mine that was attributed to "Robert Brault, 1938-2009". Come to think of it, I do recall a large family gathering last year.
"The happiest memories are of moments that ended when they should have."
"A friend is someone who, when you're lost and adrift, shows up to tell you you've been found alive and well."
"I never remember a dream, which is a good thing, because otherwise I'd be wondering which of my memories are memories of dreams."
~~ Robert Brault
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Make Your Own Thought
Here's a chance to make your own thought. Just supply the missing word or words. My own answers are in Comment #1, below.
2. Let us learn humility from the sun, which, in all its glory, will yet give anyone the ---- of ---.
3. I remember this from childhood: that when I had done something to earn my parents' respect, I didn't want their un----------- ----.
4. I think all good people go to heaven. Churchgoers get preferred -------.
5. Try to do something each day that you would do if you didn't think it was too ----.
6. A senseless tragedy remains forever tragic, but it's up to us whether it remains forever ---------.
7. Of the Seven Deadly Sins, Sloth is the only one I still have ------ for.
8. Why do they call them home fries when you never have them at ----?
9. How do you know you died? Well, I guess you start meeting people you thought were ----.
10. Having completed most of the book of life, I can tell you that the answers are not in the ----.
11. How often we overlook the happiness in our lives that it is not yet a ------.
12. No one is believed wise who is not believed to know more than he or she is ------.
13. Who would not be a little dishonest if there were such a thing as a little ----------.
14. Timely partings make ---- reunions.
15. I have made choices in life that would have been wise indeed had they been -------.
16. Perhaps dying is like dozing off in a chair, or perhaps it's like awakening in a chair to realize you ----- ---.
17. You spend 90% of your adult life hoping for a long rest and the last 10% trying to convince the Lord that you're actually not that -----.
18. Nothing unspoils a child like dumping him in a schoolyard of ------- children.
19. As important as penciling in each day a new page of your life story is to go over some previous page in ---.
20. (Pun) Shakespeare wrote Much Ado About Nothing and also the sonnet, "Full Many a Glorious Morning Have I Seen", which some call Much ------- About - ---.
-- Robert Brault
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Summer Thought Sale: Pre-August 15th Clearance
"There are truths of which I have an inkling, but of most I have only a penciling."
"You live only one life, so you probably want to make it your signature life."
"To feel undeserving of love is to have met love's only requirement."
At 72, I am grateful for all memories, so much of my life having escaped my attention altogether.
"Who does not wish to be beautiful, and clever, and rich, and to have back, in old age, the time spent trying to be any of them."
"What might a woman wish to be, who, opening her door to a child with a little suitcase, does not wish to be grandmother?"
"I sought happiness the world over, only to settle down over the river and through the woods, where it sought me."
"If you keep rephrasing the question, it gradually becomes the answer."
"There are days when I'm alone with my thoughts, which is to say, not alone enough."
"There are people you can read like a book -- and certain public figures you can read like a book jacket."
"It is environmentally motivating to think of Earth not as a planet but as a tiny air pocket."
"A child who never throws a tantrum reaches adulthood with a backlog of unthrown tantrums."
"Life is not fair, nor has it ever been, but the morning seems determined to dawn until it is."
"There was never a poor memory for things best forgotten."
"Some believe that God created the universe for the expansion of the human race, requiring only that the human race bring its own air."
"There are tons of man-made debris orbiting the earth, in case you thought that man's ability to pollute the atmosphere required an atmosphere."
~~ Robert Brault
"You live only one life, so you probably want to make it your signature life."
"To feel undeserving of love is to have met love's only requirement."
At 72, I am grateful for all memories, so much of my life having escaped my attention altogether.
"Who does not wish to be beautiful, and clever, and rich, and to have back, in old age, the time spent trying to be any of them."
"What might a woman wish to be, who, opening her door to a child with a little suitcase, does not wish to be grandmother?"
"I sought happiness the world over, only to settle down over the river and through the woods, where it sought me."
"If you keep rephrasing the question, it gradually becomes the answer."
"There are days when I'm alone with my thoughts, which is to say, not alone enough."
"There are people you can read like a book -- and certain public figures you can read like a book jacket."
"It is environmentally motivating to think of Earth not as a planet but as a tiny air pocket."
"A child who never throws a tantrum reaches adulthood with a backlog of unthrown tantrums."
"Life is not fair, nor has it ever been, but the morning seems determined to dawn until it is."
"There was never a poor memory for things best forgotten."
"Some believe that God created the universe for the expansion of the human race, requiring only that the human race bring its own air."
"There are tons of man-made debris orbiting the earth, in case you thought that man's ability to pollute the atmosphere required an atmosphere."
~~ Robert Brault
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