Showing posts with label quote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quote. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

31 December - ABC Wednesday - X

Not much to choose from for X, but as I am a life-long "incomer", it's Xenophobia that strikes a chord.

Here is a poem about it -

We and They

Father, Mother, and Me,
Sister and Auntie say
All the people like us are We,
And everyone else is They.
And They live over the sea,
While we live over the way,
But - would you believe it? - They look upon We
As only a sort of They!

We eat pork and beef
With cow-horn handled knives.
They who gobble Their rice off a leaf,
Are horrified out of Their lives;
While They who live up a tree,
And feast on grubs and clay,
(Isn't it scandalous?) look upon We
As a simply disgusting They!

We shoot birds with a gun
They stick lions with spears.
Their full-dress is un-,
We dress up to Our ears.
They like Their friends for tea.
We like Our friends to stay;
And, after all that, They look upon We
As an utterly ignorant They!

We eat kitcheny food.
We have doors that latch.
They drink milk or blood,
Under an open thatch.
We have Doctors to fee.
They have Wizards to pay.
And (impudent heathen!) They look upon We
As a quite impossible They!

All good people agree,
And all good people say,
All nice people, like Us, are We
And everyone else is They:
But if you cross over the sea,
Instead of over the way,
You may end by (think of it!) looking on We
As only a sort of They!

Rudyard Kipling.

Looking forward to another year of war, conflict and hate? Or peace and happiness? We all have choices and the ability to learn.

And on that serious note, I'm off to do a bit of freeform crochet.


Saturday, March 29, 2008

29 March: Happy Birthday!

Will they still need you, will they still feed you....?

Well, there's a cake waiting in the kitchen.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

4 March: Spending money wisely?

The radio news this morning mentioned that the Government is going to issue advice to everyone on how to manage their finances.

But a Mr. C. Dickens gave all the financial advice anyone needs in 1850, via the character of Mr Micawber in his book David Copperfield -

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

18 September: Season of .. inkle?

Well, while all those hundreds of bbc3 people have been tramping through the blog, arriving, peering round, sniffing, and leaving swiftly, life has been going on as normal Chez Stitchwort.

Knitting has continued - you can see a sock for DH in the basket on the table, behind the inkle (no idea why it's called an inkle, it just is) I have been weaving -

Here is a closer photo -

The trouble with this sort of weaving is that it's predictable (you have to choose warps before you start), and rather boring (no surprises as you go along), so I find the appeal limited. Perhaps tablet weaving might be more interesting.

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We are getting to that time of year when one poem's opening line is done to death.

It would be interesting to think of some alternatives. My suggestion might be -

Season of boots
And laundry hung indoors.

Any more suggestions?