I Want to be Alone

Greta Garbo, the elusive Hollywood actress of the 1930s, star of Grand Hotel and many other films, is best remembered for one quote: “I want to be alone.” Often pronounced, “I vant to be alone,” with a deep drawl and Swedish accent, the quote means different things to each of us.

To those of us at Traditions Home in Wichita and Overland Park, it simply means, I want my own seat.

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Not a Sofa or a Sectional, but a Chair

I want a chair, not a sofa or sectional, preferably a swivel chair because it is especially nice to go this way and that as your mood swings, happy in the knowledge that you control your own sense of direction and destiny.

Greta Garbo did, and never regretted it, not for a moment.

Mind you, Greta did not want to be Macaulay-Culkin-like, Home Alone, just alone in her own chair. In a Life magazine interview in 1955, Greta explained:

“I never said, ‘I want to be alone,’ I only said, ‘I want to be let alone! There is all the difference.”

Trivia — Greta Garbo’s penultimate Hollywood film was Sunset Boulevard, 1950, playing the aging actress Norma Desmond, alongside the ill-fated screenwriter, William Holden. Her last movie appearance was a cameo in Airport, 1975.

Speaking of Chairs

Speaking of chairs reminds me of Dionne Warwick singing Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s A House is Not a Home…

“A chair is still a chair,
Even though there’s no one sitting there.”

Not true, for not all chairs are equal. Sherrill chairs are simply made better. So, have a heart, shop Sherrill, made in Hickory, North Carolina, by craftsmen and women who care.

See it now…

Happy Tanksgiving

We are closed Thursday and Friday and open Saturday at 10:30.

The year is almost over, thank goodness. Vaccines and therapeutics promise a happier and healthier 2021. Until then be safe, enjoy your family this Thanksgiving day. As we celebrate with our family, we wish you the gift of faith and the blessing of hope this thanksgiving day!

And as we gather around the table we shall say a prayer to be thankful for what we have, for the family we love, the friends we cherish, and for the blessings to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What did the wrist watch say to the wall clock?

A: Hour you doing?

Laughter is the best medicine

Laughter is the best medicine “they say”. They include the dour Sigmund Freud, who said a good joke is a defense against the absurdities in life. Even the yogis in India use laughter yoga to achieve a happier and higher state of mind. Nero-surgeons know that the brain’s plasticity is expanded by a chuckle, chortle, and cackle. So let’s laugh a little more.

What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?

What makes a joke funny? Nobody really knows, but one thing is sure, if we knew the answer it wouldn’t be funny. Surprise is a good thing. It takes us off guard, releases tension, makes the smartest brainiac think he or she is not so smart after all.

And what do we learn? To laugh.

We all need to laugh. Right.

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Laughter can increase your oxygen intake, which can in turn stimulate your heart, lungs, and muscles. Laughing further releases endorphins, the feel-good chemicals our bodies produce to make us feel happy and even relieve pain or stress. The act of increasing and then decreasing our heart rate and blood pressure through laughter is also ultimately calming and tension-relieving. Laughter can even boost our immune system response through the release of stress-and illness-reducing neuropeptides.”

If you have the time here are a few jokes about time.

Why is it that every time my wife loses her keys, it is in the very last place she looks for it? …
Because it is Time to stop looking.

An old man is talking to God. “God, how long is a million years?”
God answers, “To me, it’s about a minute.”
“God, how much is a million dollars?”
“To me, it’s a penny.”
“God, may I have a penny?”
“Wait a minute.”

Did you hear about the two guys who stole a Fireman’s calendar? …
The judge gave each one six months.

Time is a most precious thing, but, as we all know, too much of a good thing can kill.

These clocks and more can be found at:

Traditions Home

Remember Halloween

It was not the worst Halloween, certainly not the best. The children stayed home, the doorbell unrung, the tricks and the treats kept for next year when Halloween returns.

“Remember spread love wherever you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” —Mother Teresa

“If you always give, you will always have.” – Chinese proverb

“All bad weather is passing.” – Norwegian proverb

“Where love reigns, the impossible is possible.” – Indian proverb

“Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” – Adlai Stevenson

Owl Be Seeing You

Our new store hours are Tuesday thru Saturday, 10:30 to 5pm, which gives us more time to come up with jokes. “Jest” for you, a few quips told by a wise old owl.

Knock, knock
“Who’s there?”
Owl
“Owl who?”
Owl be seeing you!

Someone called me an owl!
I said, “Whoooo??!

Why did the Owl invite his friends over?
Didn’t want to be owl by himself.

What do you call a magical owl?
Whooo-Dini!

These owl jokes and more are from the BarnOwlTrust. Give a hoot and check them out.

Check out the Traditions Home website

Fishing Around

“Early to bed…early to rise…fish all day…and make up lies.” Fisherman’s wife.

There are almost as many idioms about fish as there are fish in the sea. Here are a few of my favorites.

whole ‘nother kettle of fish: a sudden shift in what is being discussed

that’s a fine kettle of fish: a prickly predicament

big fish: like big kahuna, an important person

big fish, small pond: an important person in a small way

bigger fish to fry: more important matters to deal with, in other words, I can’t deal with this right now

cold fish: not so friendly, hard to read

fish or cut bait: do it or don’t, don’t just sit there

fish out of water: someone in unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory

fishy: unbelievable, suspicious, “you got to be kidding me”, as in any story told by a fisherman

neither fish nor fowl: an odd duck, hard to characterize or understand

like shooting fish in a barrel: easy to do, like catching fish at a fish farm

teach a man to fish: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

fishing around: as in fishing around for compliments, going at it indirectly

After the Rain

Whatever your cross, whatever your pain,
There will always be sunshine after the rain

Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall,
But God’s always ready to answer your call

He knows every heartache, sees every tear,
A word from His lips, can calm every fear…

Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish, in dawn’s early light…

The Savior is waiting, both here and above,
To give you His grace, and send you His love…

Whatever your cross, whatever your pain,
“God always sends rainbows… after the rain… “

Author Unknown

Kiddie Cone

Mares eat oats and Does eat oats and Lambs eat oats, but Little Kids eat ice cream cones, don’t you? Delightful textured print with black frame by Propac Images, a treat for any kid, young and old.

We call it Kiddie Cone.

Mary had a little lamb
you’ve heard this tale before
did you know she saw a shop
and had to stop
and have a cone.
It was strawberry,
I think I am sure
for it made her very merry,
and when she finished it,
she had a little more.

kiddie cone

 

The Magic Hour

 

Is is night or day?
Though the night has run its course,
There is still an hour or so,
Time to stay in bed,
And watch the day unfold.

What color is the sky?
A question to make an artist pause,
Blue, some would say,
Violet and purple
Lavender and mauve
Pretty says the poet
And that’s well-said
To those who stay in bed

What do you call the hour before first light?
Some would say,
It’s sad a night and day are gone
For me I’m ecstatic
It’s the magic hour
Full of promise
Of things I hope to do

 

And how does one describe the hour before daybreak?
Enigmatic and mysterious,
As God was meant to be,
And lovely as a sunrise on a quiet winter’s day.

Monument Valley

Where God put the Wild West – Monument Valley

Nobody knows want a man has to do for his forty dollars a month once he puts on one of these damned things [deputy’s badge]… Well, I’m getting too old to hire out for wages. I never could keep from drawing to an inside straight. So, that five hundred dollar reward is going to come in mighty handy. – Stagecoach, Shotgun rider

 

Monument Valley, part of the mighty Navaho Nation, an endless vista of towering sandstone buttes rising to the blue sky, and vast stretches of red sand, fading into a golden horizon, so beautiful that John Wayne made five movies here, “Stagecoach” (1939), “Fort Apache” (1948), “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949), “Rio Grande” (1950), and “The Searchers” (1956).

The movies revolve around the theme that only those with a strong moral code survive.

This vintage image on wood by Red Horse Signs will suit any southwest decor. Shop online for it:

Robyns Lake House