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The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:51 pm
by enterprikayak
We've got Happy News, and Bad News, and Whining....here's a thread for cheerful bits of day-warming stuff.
Reading some old articles today by
Laura Ingalls Wilder (the woman who wrote the
Little House on the Prairie books). This one struck me as particularly wise, and especially applicable to us now in the 21st century, though written in the 1920's. Give it a read!
(her byline is "Mrs. A.J.Wilder" when she writes for the paper.)

Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:02 pm
by Aikiweezie
Thank you for that! I have always been a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder. And her words are just as relevant today.
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:09 pm
by Alelou
Ah, that was nice. I got the whole set of Little House books for my son when he was young, since I'd somehow managed to skip them in my own childhood, but we never got past reading the first two together. (Alejandro wasn't a fan.) But the adventures from Almanzo's childhood especially remain vivid in my mind -- especially one very cold night desperately digging up potatoes before they froze.
I also still want to know how a farm kid in upstate New York got a name like Almanzo.
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 4:22 am
by enterprikayak
She explains it in book 6 or 7 or 8....can't remember. He says that a Spaniard named "El Manzoor" saved someone in his family's life in the "old days" and since then they used the name every generation.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was one of the first things I ever looked up online, waaaaay back in 1996. There were even *photos*...ooooh!
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:21 am
by WarpGirl
THAT WAS AWESOME! OMG So much better than the show. Yes I admit I always thought the TV show incredibly annoying even at 5!!!! I hated Laura, and Nelly equally, LOVED Mary, and couldn't figure out what Almanzo saw in Laura at all. And really Mary's husband could be a jerk at times. Ma and Pa well... I didn't see the need for them much. Albert was cute but really the morphine, heroin thing was stretching it. And what happened to the littlest girl she vanished???????
The books were fine though, but I have to say that is one of the best things I've read in a while. I wanna show mama. More please! Or post a link...
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:33 pm
by Alelou
LOL. For someone who thought the show was annoying, you sure watched a lot of it.
We watched it for a while when I was a kid but then lost interest, so I never saw any of the romances. I liked the crazy things Laura got into as a kid, but oh man that show was saccharine.
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:20 pm
by WarpGirl
3 reasons for that, Mama, Sister, Babysiter... And little old me having little say in the matter, because throwing a tantrum in my family got you exactly nowhere.
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 3:38 pm
by Elessar
Hey LooK!
EK posted! My day is brightened! It works!

Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:12 pm
by WarpGirl
Mama just read it at my vigerous insistance! Her day was brightened, and I was proven right SHE LOVED IT! And therfore my day was brightened by this twice! Thanks EK.
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:31 pm
by Distracted
"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” (Mark Twain)
“If you want to be happy, be.” (Leo Tolstoy)
“Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by - product.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)
“Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.” (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
“Don't rely on someone else for your happiness and self worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can't love and respect yourself - no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are - completely; the good and the bad - and make changes as YOU see fit - not because you think someone else wants you to be different.” (Stacey Charter)
“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” (Dalai Lama)
“Happiness is a Swedish sunset; it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it.” (Mark Twain)
“The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment.” (Doug Larson)
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:35 pm
by WarpGirl
I think that is brilliant!
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:24 pm
by Kevin Thomas Riley
“Happiness is a Swedish sunset; it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it.” (Mark Twain)
Huh? What's a Swedish sunset, apart from the obvious I mean. I'm a Swede and I don't know.

Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:40 pm
by Distracted
Not sure. Maybe he's referring to the way the sun never really sets in the arctic circle during certain times of year. But that's north of you guys, isn't it?
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:42 pm
by Kevin Thomas Riley
^ The arctic circle does cross Sweden, but it's further up north from where I live.
Re: The Thread for Brightening Up Your Day
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:43 pm
by enterprikayak
I like those a lot!