Why I Always Favor A Free Marketplace Of Ideas

The vegetable life does not content itself with casting from the flower or the tree a single seed, but it fills the air and earth with a prodigality of seeds, that, if thousands perish, thousands may plant themselves, that hundreds may come up, that tens may live to maturity;  that, at least one may replace the parent.
—     Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	Unnoticed Perfection
	You Just Don’t Realize
2020	Maybe After A Couple Of Hundred Years I Think About It
	Worth The Time I’ve Waited
2019	Courage Facing Temptation
2018	I Can’t Laugh At #45
2017	Release, Harmonize, Illuminate
2016	One Trouble With Television
2015	I Am Lucky And I Am Grateful
2014	Future Envy
2013	We Do Not Want To Learn That
2012	Social Inhibition
2011	Studying Chinese Food
	Are You Bored, Too?
2010	Rant, Pant, Deep Breath – Reality

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Don’t Miss Your Life

Love is life.  And if you miss love, you miss life.
—    Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia
[Just remember – the greatest love only starts when you love yourself.  A flower must BE a flower before it can bring beauty to a garden.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	A Message To All The Democrats In Congress
	Where Did You Go In Texas?
2020	Reminds Me Of #LyingDonald
	It’s All Been Rehearsed
2019	The Earth’s Breath
	Family Visit
2018	Forests, Shorelines And Mountain Paths
2017	Reach Down
2016	And Women When You Are 59
2015	Intersections, Explorations And Relationships
2014	[!(±*=)/≠], [!<]
	Orange October (XI) – Giants Win Game 5 (5 To 0)!!!
2013	Hard To Deserve
2012	Cloudy Between Games
	Admiration, n.
2011	One, Two, Three – Blink

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Bees And Flowers

If you put a computer in front of children and remove all other adult restrictions, they will self-organize around it like bees around a flower.
—    Sugata Mitra
As quoted by:  Joshua Davis
From his article:  “Free Thinkers“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  November 2013
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On This Day In:
2021	Revolutionary Protest
	‘Cause Dreaming Can Make You Mine
2020	Too High For #45
	Talkin’ ‘Bout Her
2019	Little Things…
2018	Have Thee Paid Yet?
	Day 9: Fingertips
2017	Hopefully, I’m Good Company
2016	Maybe Not Most
2015	Differences That Matter
2014	But Sometimes It Takes A Village
2013	Laughter > Grief
2012	Pioneers
2011	It Is Free

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On A Lighter Note

Here’s a photo of the front of our house today…  It’s our first day this year of 80°+ temperature.  (And, no, that’s not a rainbow ending at the tree in our front yard.  At least I didn’t find a pot of gold when I looked.)
And here is our first blooming California Poppy…
We didn’t get many daffodils this year.  We had a bit of a false spring back in February, so we got sprigs / shoots but almost no flowers.
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On This Day In:
2022	Make It Easy
	On A Lighter Note
2021	I Hope Not
	Diggin’ It
2020	Organized Skepticism
2019	An Interest In Life
2018	Two: A Current President With Both
2017	Watch This Space
2016	Beyond The Foundation
2015	Become An Affliction
2014	Just Setting Out
2013	Scott’s Inscription
2012	Good Knowledge
2011	Social Safety Nets

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More New Year’s Exercises

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.
—    Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia
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On This Day In:
2021	More New Year’s Exercises
	7 Done, 12 Down
2021	Another Public Service Message
	Greetin’ The Sun
2020	From The Mountains To The Shores
2019	Watering The Trees And Seeds
	1221
2018	Take Care Of Me…
2017	Make Some Difference
2016	Still 99%
2015	Adolescent Opinion
2014	In A Big World
2013	Vacancy For God
2012	Sweat Equity
	Try It… You’ll Like It
2011	Still Incomplete
2010	Happy New Year – 2010

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Or The Person You Love

Happiness is to hold flowers in both hands.
—    Japanese Proverb
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On This Day In:
2020	The Chain Must Be Broken
	Back To Me…
2019	Love Like This…
2018	Open Hearts Find Strength
	Day 32: Planning The Future
2017	Thinking Out Loud
2016	Fighting Change
2015	Get Change
2014	Trapped (Again)
2013	Someone Else Believes
2012	The Practical Value of Science
2011	Seize Gladly The Difficult Task
	A Constitutional Conversation
2010	The Fierce Urgency Of Now…

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Three Musts

Just living is not enough…  one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
—     Hans Christian Andersen
[This quote is widely available on the web, but I recently found it on a blog I follow:  https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com
The link for the specific post is:  https://ididnthavemyglasseson.com/2020/06/20/just-living-is-not-enough/
Like almost all of my “re-posts” from other blogs / websites, this excerpt is being posted without prior permission.  As such, I will remove / correct the post if requested by the the owner.  I am making no claim to ownership of the quote, the full post or to the original web site.  This is a blog I have been following for some time.
Please visit the original site if you have some time.    —     KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2020	One Ordinary Man
2019	Without A Doubt
2018	Mathematically Speaking
	119 Days And Counting
2017	Both Odd And Exceptional
2016	Private Entrance
	Camping Out In Camden
2015	Quality Government
	A Handful Of Flics
2014	Just Another Brick From The Wall
2013	Artistic Demands
2012	Foundations
2011	Are We Devouring Yet?

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Horticulture Anyone?

Much education today is monumentally ineffective.  All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
—    John W. Gardner
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On This Day In:
2022	Whatever One Can
2021	Horticulture Anyone?
	Take To The Sky
2020	Heroes Die Too
	Front Update
	Still More Hope Than Fact
2019	The Ones Worth Remembering, Anyway
	Boot Edge Edge (My New T)
2018	To Reach The Next Threshold
2017	Streaking Tales
2016	Singular Reality
2015	He Says It’s Hard To Get There From Here
2014	Question From A Founding Father
2013	Make Heroes
2012	See And Hold
2011	Am Not, Are So

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Yea, Spring!

With a few flowers in my garden . . . I live without envy.
—    Lope de Vega
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On This Day In:
2022	A Whole New Kind
2021	Yea, Spring!
	Smile On Your Brother
2020	Spoken And Shared
2019	Real Tools
	Three Cruelties
2018	United States
2017	Out Of Luck
2016	Wavelengths Of The Earth
2015	God Said What To You?
2014	Not Saying
2013	Ears And Tongue
2012	The Story Of Joe (Middle-Class Republican)
2011	Happy Birthday, Diana
	Depending On Kindness

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I Hope She Keeps Laughing

The earth laughs in flowers.
―    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	And Still Don’t Understand
	Unconditional
2020	I Hope She Keeps Laughing
	Christmas Is Near
2019	Ruff Clean
2018	Sounds Like A Blog To Me
2017	My Fear For America
2016	Proceeding Still
2015	Seeing Rainbows
	I Am A Runner
2014	The Law Of The Perversity Of Nature
2013	One Standard Deviation
2012	High Anxiety
2011	And I’m Taking Me There
2010	1,000

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One Person’s Roses…

Are another person’s weeds…
In Our Garden…
My wife (Hil) likes to add whimsy to our backyard by inserting (fairly) random articles here and there.  Most are “life” forms (ducks, rabbits, turtles, frogs, angels and saints, etc.), but some are just bits and bobs (wind chimes, bird feeders) to catch your eye.  And, some are just for philosophy…
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On This Day In:
2022	Where One Goes
2021	A Direct Relationship
	Another Night Train South
2020	One Person’s Roses…
2019	In The Long-Run
2018	#NeverAgain
	Doss II
	Doesn’t / Does
2017	Talent Hates To Move
2016	Looking To November
2015	It Isn’t The End
	Prospero’s Precepts
2014	Friends
2013	Learning Bitter
2012	Remembrance, Minstrels & Going Off To War
	May I Have More Happiness, Please?
2011	There Is No God, But God
2010	Another Running Book…

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And In The Back

My wife loves to putter in the front and back yards.  She claims it’s because she’s English, but I think she just likes to add little touches of her personal beauty to the world – or at least to our small part of it…
In addition to the “normal” daffodils we have in our front yard (as shown in prior posts), we have a couple of plantings of “minis” and, most recently, a little purple “something” (she’s forgotten the name of) which are located in our back yard.  We are expecting the neighbors’ cherry (and other fruit trees) blossoms any day now…
Mini-daffodils
Two daffodils with their respective turtle guards
Small purple flowers…
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On This Day In:
2022	A Little Perspective
2021	Put ‘Er There
	Are You Goin’ On Again?
2020	And In The Back
2019	Sunlight Stream
2018	Wars Without Taxes
2017	Multiplication And Division
2016	I Went To The Woods…
2015	I’ve Got To Run
2014	Which Is It?
2013	Making You Stronger
2012	Sick Of Being Sick
	Greater Than Power
2011	Clear, Specific And Measurable
2010	The Runner’s High
	Into The Dark…

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A Proud Assertion

Flowers and fruits are always fit presents;  flowers, because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	Let Yourself Soar In 2022
	Where You’re Concerned
2020	The Most Dynamic Link
	Looking Forward To 2021
2019	A Proud Assertion
2018	Ask #45 About Anything
2017	Playing Makes Sense
2016	And Fathers, Sons
2015	My Suspect Confidence
2014	Disguised Blessings
2013	Be
2012	The Only Way to Win
2011	Honest Writing

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And Autumnal Foliage

The earth laughs in flowers.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	Does Blogging Count?
	Another Notch
2020	Even Being President For Almost Four Years
	#45: Crying About The American Voters
	Dying Isn’t Much Of A Way To Make A Living Boy
2019	And Autumnal Foliage
2018	Up Hill, Both Ways
2017	Trump Carnivores – The Revolution So Far
2016	Election Results
2015	Speak Louder
2014	Why I Frequently Give In
2013	Am Remembering
2012	Sustained Fear
2011	Commitment

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Yellow Signs Of Spring

My wife’s favorite flower is the daffodil.  Before I met her, I never thought much about flowers.  I knew what a rose was (is) and I knew they came in different colors.  I didn’t know the variations had different names or much of anything else.  I used to buy my wife roses several times a year.  Not for any particular reason.  Just to make her smile.  This stopped after a few years because she said she didn’t really like flowers – except daffodils.  When we moved back to Liverpool in the early 1990’s, I found out why.  They (Liverpool city) have fields and fields of daffodils and they all bloom at roughly the same time each year – in February / March.  Here are some of the photos from my Hil’s trip home last year (2018).
2018 Liverpool Daffodils (1)
2018 Liverpool Daffodils (2)
2018 Liverpool Daffodils (3)
2018 Hil w/ Daffodils
2018 Liverpool Daffodils
2018 Hil’s sister Lynn w/ Daffodils
Several years ago, Hil began planting bulbs in front of our house.  They never seemed to take.  They would pop up (bud), but never bloom.  Then about 2016, the “miracle of Spring” began.  (Unfortunately, we had to remove the tree shown in the first picture.)  For whatever reason, we seem to get a few more each year…
2016 Feb Daffodils
2018 Feb Daffodils
2019 Feb Daffodils (Thur)
2019 Feb Daffodils (Sat)
On Monday of this week, they were just buds.  On Thursday, the first five blossomed.  The final photo is from this morning…
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On This Day In:
2022	A Clear View Of #45
2021	Not Here, Not Again
	Will The Senate Convict An Insurrectionist?
2020	Senate Perfidy
2019	Contributing To Congress
	Yellow Signs Of Spring
2018	But Take Heart
	Poetic Marker
2017	The Few, The Many, The Most
2016	To My Brother
2015	For Junior
	A Roman Rome
2014	Hmmm
2013	What’s A Motto With You?
2012	Worthy Companions
2011	Bourne Again
	Which Ten Are You In?

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