Category: beauty

  • A punishing standard of beauty

    Lisa See writes about footbinding in her book Lady Tan’s Circle of Women. In comments at the end of the book, she writes: ”While the custom of footbinding is behind us that doesn’t mean women aren’t held to what can be a punishing standard of beauty today. Take a walk down Rodeo Drive, and you’ll…

  • Traveling in West Texas

    I recently attended the Hart Family Reunion in Big Spring, Texas. Some people prefer trees and lots of green. I like trees and green, too, but I also love the vastness of the land and sky in West Texas. As Aristotle once said, “In all things of nature, there is something marvelous.” –Joy

  • The joy of walking

    The writer Virginia Woolf walked as a cure to depression—and often she came up with scenes and plots for her books during her walks, says Kerri Andrews in her book Wanderers. “Oh, the joy of walking,” Woolf once wrote. “I’ve never felt it so strong in me…the trance like swimming, flying through the air, the…

  • The power of harmony

    I am still going through “stuff”—getting ready for a major house renovation. I’ve been sorting through boxes of my mother’s papers, and I found a quote my mother, an English teacher, liked. William Wordsworth said, “While with an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into…

  • The beauty of nature

    “Nature is always less gaudy than I remember it,” Hernan Diaz writes in his book Trust. “It has much better taste than I.”

  • Friends–normal and abnormal

    I have friends who are normal. Friends who are abnormal. Friends who are interesting. Friends who are weird. Friends who are complex. Friends are like flowers—and like weeds, too. “And, weeds are flowers, too,” Winnie-the Pooh once said. “Once you get to know them.” –Joy

  • Fresh air and sunshine

    I went to the Dallas Arboretum yesterday on a sunny day and saw many of the 500,00 spring blossoms on display. “Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat,” Laura Ingalis Wilder once said. I like fresh air and sunshine and agree that they’re hard to beat—but, for sure, colorful tulips…

  • Grand moments

    It was warm today. Finally! And, I talked to a neighbor who was a standing in her yard. It was a pleasant moment. Maybe not a grand moment, but a good one. I was reminded of another quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. “We ask for a long life, but it is deep life or grand…

  • Autumn bliss

    “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree,” Emily Bronte once said.

  • My colorful tree

    Today when I turned the corner onto my street after my morning walk, I noticed a tall, beautiful tree with leaves that are turning red. Then, I realized that the tree is our tree—in our front yard! I was delighted. “At some point in life, the world’s beauty becomes enough,” Toni Morrison once said. “You…