Thursday, July 31, 2008

Alphonse Maria Mucha Dance painting

Alphonse Maria Mucha Dance paintingMichelangelo Buonarroti Crucifix paintingMichelangelo Buonarroti Creation of Adam detail painting
Twice in my life," said Slughorn. "Once when I was twenty-four, once when I was fifty-seven. Two tablespoonfuls taken with breakfast. Two perfect days."
He gazed dreamily into the distance. Whether he was playacting or not, thought Harry, the effect was good.
"And that," said Slughorn, apparently coming back to earth, "is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson."
There was silence in which every bubble and gurgle of the surrounding potions seemed magnified tenfold.
"One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis," said Slughorn, taking a minuscule glass bottle with a cork in it out of his pocket and showing it to them all. "Enough for twelve hours' luck. From dawn till dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt."

Amedeo Modigliani Red Nude painting

Amedeo Modigliani Red Nude paintingAmedeo Modigliani Landscape paintingAmedeo Modigliani Caryatid 1 painting Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course. It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love. No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room - oh yes," he said, nodding gravely at Malfoy and Nott, both of whom were smirking skeptically. "When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.”
"And now," said Slughorn, "it is time for us to start work."
"Sir, you haven't told us what's in this one," said Ernie Macmillan, pointing at a small black cauldron standing on Slughorn's desk. The potion within was splashing about merrily; it was the color of molten gold, and large drops were leaping like goldfish above the surface, though not a particle had spilled

Thomas Kinkade CHRISTMAS MEMORIES painting

Thomas Kinkade CHRISTMAS MEMORIES paintingThomas Kinkade Boston paintingPeter Paul Rubens Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus painting He indicated the cauldron nearest the Slytherin table. Harry raised himself slighty in his seat and saw what looked like plain water boiling away inside it.
Hermione's well-practiced hand hit the air before anybody else's; Slughorn pointed at her.
"It's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion thar forces the drinker to tell the truth," said Hermione.
"Very good, very good!" said Slughorn happily. "Now," he continued, pointing at the cauldron nearest the Ravenclaw table, "this one here is pretty well known… Featured in a few Ministry leaflets lately too… Who can - ?"
Hermione's hand was fastest once more.
"lt's Polyjuice Potion, sir," she said.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Vincent van Gogh Harvest Landscape painting

Vincent van Gogh Harvest Landscape paintingVincent van Gogh Fishing in Spring paintingVincent van Gogh Cornfield with Cypresses painting
The three of them gazed at one another in silence for a moment. Then there was a loud bang and Hermione vanished behind a puff of black smoke.
"Hermione!" shouted Harry and Ron; the breakfast tray slid to the floor with a crash.
Hermione emerged, coughing, out of the smoke, clutching the telescope and sporting a brilliantly purple black eye.
"I squeezed it and it... it punched me!" she gasped.
And sure enough, they now saw a tiny fist on a long spring protruding from the end of the telescope.
"Don't worry," said Ron, who was plainly trying not to laugh, "Mum'll fix that, she's good at healing minor injuries..."
"Oh well, never mind that now!" said Hermione hastily. "Harry, oh, Harry..."

Vincent van Gogh The Olive Trees painting

Vincent van Gogh The Olive Trees paintingVincent van Gogh Still Life with Open Bible paintingVincent van Gogh Still Life with Iris painting
Neither Ron nor Hermione spoke. Harry had the impression that both had frozen. He continued, still speaking to his fork, "You know, the one they were trying to steal at the Ministry."
"Nobody knows what it said, though," said Hermione quickly. "It got smashed."
"Although the Prophet says..." began Ron, but Hermione said, "Shh!"
"The Prophet's got it right," said Harry, looking up at them both with a great effort: Hermione seemed frightened and Ron amazed. "That glass ball that smashed wasn't the only record of the prophecy. I heard the whole thing in Dumbledore's office, he was the one the prophecy was made to, so he could tell me. From what it said," Harry took a deep breath, "it looks like I'm the one who's got to finish off Voldemort... At least, it said neither of us could live while the other survives."

William Blake Jacob's Ladder painting

William Blake Jacob's Ladder paintingVincent van Gogh Wheat Field with Crows paintingVincent van Gogh Vase with Twelve Sunflowers painting
Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right," said Hermione. "I heard him telling your mum, Ron."
"Sounds like the sort of mental thing Dumbledore would say," said Ron.
"He's going to be giving me private lessons this year," said Harry conversationally.
Ron choked on his bit of toast, and Hermione gasped.
"You kept that quiet!" said Ron.
"I only just remembered," said Harry honestly. "He told me last night in your broom shed."
"Blimey... private lessons with Dumbledore!" said Ron, looking impressed. "I wonder why he's... ?"
His voice tailed away. Harry saw him and Hermione exchange looks. Harry laid down his knife and fork, his heart beating rather fast considering that all he was doing was sitting in bed. Dumbledore had said to do it... Why not now? He fixed his eyes on his fork, which was gleaming in the sunlight streaming into his lap, and said, "I don't know exactly why he's going to be giving me lessons, but I think it must be because of the prophecy."

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Thomas Kinkade HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS painting

Thomas Kinkade HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS painting
Winslow Homer The Houses of Parliament painting
My source told me that there are plans to lay a false trail; this must be it. No doubt a Confundus Charm has been placed upon Dawlish. It would not be the first time; he is known to be susceptible."

"I assure you, my Lord, Dawlish seemed quite certain," said Yaxley.

   "If he has been Confunded, naturally he is certain," said Snape. "I assure you, Yaxley, the Auror Office will play no further part in the protection of Harry Potter. The Order believes that we have infiltrated the Ministry."

   "The Order's got one thing right, then, eh?" said a squat man sitting a short distance from Yaxley; he gave a wheezy giggle that was echoed here and there along the table.

Francois Boucher Madame de Pompadour painting

Francois Boucher Madame de Pompadour painting
Francois Boucher Adoration of the Shepherds painting
singular sight were looking at it except for a pale young man sitting almost directly below it. He seemed unable to prevent himself from glancing upward every minute or so.

   "Yaxley. Snape," said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. "You are very nearly late."

   The speaker was seated directly in front of the fireplace, so that it was difficult, at first, for the new arrivals to make out more than his silhouette. As they drew nearer, however, his face shone through the gloom, hairless, snakelike, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical. He was so pale that he seemed to emit a pearly glow.

   "Severus, here," said Voldemort, indicating the seat on his immediate right. "Yaxley – beside Dolohov."

Rembrandt Susanna and the Elders painting

Rembrandt Susanna and the Elders painting
Rembrandt History Painting]
Thought I might be late," said Yaxley, his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight. "It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?"

 Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved into them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of imposing wrought-iron gates barring the men's way. Neither of them broke step: In silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through, as though the dark metal was smoke.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Titian The Fall of Man painting

Titian The Fall of Man painting
John William Godward Nu Sur La Plage painting
offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense come, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s tow hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”With malice toward one, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Vincent van Gogh Self Portrait painting

Vincent van Gogh Self Portrait painting
Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers painting
To Bind Up The Nations WoundsAbraham LincolnMarch 4, 1865Fellow-Countrymen:At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else to myself, and it is , I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

Claude Monet Sunflowers painting

Claude Monet Sunflowers painting
Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring painting
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.But always, let our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victoryI believe that I interpret the will of Congress and of the people, when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.Hostilities exist, there is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interest are in grave dangerWith confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Amedeo Modigliani Reclining Nude painting

Amedeo Modigliani Reclining Nude painting
Claude Monet Venice Twilight painting
This shows that when the brain is filing away the memories it needs to keep, it has to go through a series of steps, and dreaming is a manifestation of one crucial step, Dr. Robert Stickgold, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, said.Dreams are just the body’s way of clearing out the mental “in-box,” Stickgold said.“The trick is to move it to the file cabinet and to file it in the right place,” Stickgold said in a telephone interview.“A lot of REM [rapid eye-movement] dreams, those really quirky, strange, bizarre dreams that we have late at night, is the brain looking for ways to cross-index. It is looking for cross references — does this fit with this? Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t,” he said.

Winslow Homer The Gulf Stream painting

Winslow Homer The Gulf Stream painting
Winslow Homer Children on the Beach painting
the world between 1997-1998, is a warming of tropical waters in the Pacific. And a La Nina, like the one which just faded this summer, is the opposite — a cooling of waters in the Pacific.Baker explains the past three winters have been unusually warm since El Nino leads to warmer temperatures in the south, while La Nina generates warmer temperatures in the north.
President Clinton may visit North Korea as part of an intensified effort to improve ties with that country.
WASHINGTON — President Clinton may visit North Korea as part of an intensified effort to improve ties with that country, a joint U.S.-North Korean communiqué said today.The communiqué, issued after two days of talks with a North Korean special envoy, was released after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced plans to visit Pyongyang in the near future.

Johannes Vermeer The Concert painting

Johannes Vermeer The Concert painting
Gustave Courbet The Origin of the World painting

Commuters walk down the middle of a street through blowing snow in Brooklyn, New York, in January of 1996. The nation's top climate and weather experts are predicting that the string of relatively mild winters in recent years may be coming to an end.
Brace yourself for a real winter.The nation’s top climate and weather experts are predicting that the string of relatively mild winters in recent years may be coming to an end now that the quirky weather influences of La Nina and El Nino have faded.“We’ve probably forgotten over the last three years what a normal winter is like,” says D. James Baker, administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “With La Nina and El Nino out of the way, normal winter weather has a chance to return to the United States this year

Turner The Grand Canal Venice painting

Turner The Grand Canal Venice painting
John Singer Sargent El Jaleo painting

Those wild and crazy Men in Black who made the universe safe for earthlings again are returning, with all the original players coming back.
All together now: “Here come the Men in Black. (clap clap)” Just a year ago, the sequel to the 1997 sci-fi smash looked murky at best. Stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were thought too pricey to bring back, and rumors that co-star Linda Fiorentino would anchor Men in Black 2 made things muddier. A new interview with Smith, however, indicates that the original crew is indeed returning to kick some alien butt. “The whole gang is back!” Smith crowed to TV Guide. “Oh, and how they bring Tommy’s character [Agent K] back … I can’t let it out, but it’s so brilliant.”

Ingres Perseus and Andromeda painting

Ingres Perseus and Andromeda painting
Guido Reni Baptism of Christ painting
O’Neal received 1,207 points in the voting in becoming the Lakers’ first MVP since Magic Johnson won the award in 1990. Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett was second with 408 points.O’Neal’s percentage of 99.2 was the highest for any player since the league introduced the award in 1955-56. Michael Jordan received 96.5 percent of the vote following the 1995-96 season.“That was kind of hard to believe,” O’Neal said when the results were announced. “I’ve always thought that Michael Jordan, Magic and Kareem and Wilt were the greatest players in the NBA.”O’Neal won his second scoring title this season, averaging a career-high 29.7 points on 57.4 percent shooting. He was second in rebounding with a 13.6 average, and averaged 3.03 blocks and a career-high 3.8 assists.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Claude Monet Sunflowers painting

Claude Monet Sunflowers painting
Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring painting
Financial markets surged within seconds of the Fed news, and U.S. President-elect George W. Bush -- who has expressed mounting concern over the economy's prospects as he prepares to take over the presidency Jan. 20 -- welcomed the move as a much-needed dose of economic Viagra. However, the move did not dent Bush's eagerness to see his $1.3 trillion tax cut package pushed through Congress. It was the first rate cut between regular FOMC meetings since the autumn of 1998, when a global economic crisis threatened to seize up world financial markets. The Fed's announcement sent the Dow Jones industrial average up almost 3 percent by the close, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index surged more than 14 percent, its biggest daily gain ever. Skyrocketing stocks took the shine off government bonds, whose prices tumbled. The U.S. dollar rose against major currencies.

Pablo Picasso The Old Guitarist painting

Pablo Picasso The Old Guitarist painting
Pablo Picasso Girl Before a Mirror painting
People stop to view stock prices at the Nasdaq Market Site as news of the sharp rise in stock prices is displayed on a news ticker above them in Times Square in New York, January 3, 2001. The Nasdaq closed up 324.83 to 2616.69.
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve slashed key interest rates in a shock move on Wednesday and said it would do more if needed to keep the U.S. economy from stalling, electrifying financial markets worried about a looming slump. The move, which came four weeks ahead of the year's first scheduled meeting of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), takes the crucial fed funds overnight bank lending rate to 6 percent. The cut, which was the first half-percentage point reduction in that rate since mid-1992, was decided in a hastily arranged conference call among FOMC members.

Caravaggio Amor Vincit Omnia painting

Caravaggio Amor Vincit Omnia painting
Raphael Saint George and the Dragon painting
Democrats and Republicans have already drawn battle lines over matters from tax cuts to education to some sort of power sharing in the Senate, where the two parties are split, 50-50. "It is quite often not easy to find consensus ... but we must try," Senate Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi declared. To underscore the central bank's iron determination to keep the economy from sliding into recession, the Fed's Board of Governors also cut the more symbolic discount rate on Fed loans to banks by a quarter percentage point to 5.75 percent. It said it was prepared to cut that rate further to 5.5 percent if regional Fed banks requested it

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

John William Godward Nu Sur La Plage painting

John William Godward Nu Sur La Plage painting
Gustav Klimt The Kiss (Le Baiser _ Il Baccio) painting
With outgoing President Clinton looking on from the Senate gallery, Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in as the new Democratic senator from New York, becoming the first first lady to hold elected public office. Vice President Al Gore, who lost his White House bid to Republican President-elect George W. Bush, administered the oath of office to Mrs. Clinton and other senators elected in November, and wished each one well. Yet shortly before Congress convened Wednesday, Gore delivered a pointed message to the Congressional Black Caucus . "We all must respect and, wherever possible, help President-elect Bush," Gore said. "You ... have to do your best to reach across party lines, but you also have to know when to draw the line."

Monday, July 21, 2008

Alfred Gockel paintings

Alfred Gockel paintings
Alexei Alexeivich Harlamoff paintings
The disease recently broke out in Britain and is rapidly spreading throughout Europe. Authorities fear it may be brought to Japan via passenger clothing or footwear, according to the officials. The new requirement is currently limited to passengers from Britain.Passengers from France who have visited livestock farms or related facilities are being asked to voluntarily walk over the mats and have their shoes sterilized upon arrival.Japan earlier banned the import of both British and French pork and pork products.Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious viral disease that causes blisters and fever in cloven-hoofed animals. It is believed to pose no threat to humans, but can be economically devastating for farmers

Sunday, July 20, 2008

animal paintings

animal paintings
ballet paintings
Following Dylan's acceptance speech, host Steve Martin poked fun at the peculiar singer: "There's an 18-hour time difference with Australia, but for Bob that's normal," he said.Pop singer, actress, and former Sean "Puffy" Combs girlfriend Jennifer Lopez - who wore a nearly see-through dress and told reporters in preshow interviews that she was happily dating a new man - introduced the "Things Have Changed" performance and described the song as "mirroring the ongoing career of Bob Dylan."The award-winning song, which features the chorus, "People are crazy and times are strange/ I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range/ I used to care, but things have changed," was the first original song Dylan wrote for a movie since "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," from the 1973 western in which he starred, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.Wonder Boys, which starred Michael Douglas as a struggling novelist

Friday, July 18, 2008

Don Li-Leger paintings

Don Li-Leger paintings
David Hardy paintings
Clearly sensing there would be some fallout in China after what is believed to be the strongest and most direct statement of support for Taiwan by a U.S. president ever, top White House officials insisted Wednesday that the president's remarks were not a departure in policy.National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said the Taiwan Relations Act makes clear that the United States has an obligation to maintain the island's peaceful way of life. Rice said Bush's comments show how seriously and resolutely he takes this obligation. Rice added that a secure Taiwan would be in a better position to engage in a dialogue with Beijing.A senior administration official traveling with the president in Arkansas said the Chinese military buildup made it even more important for the president to make a clear statement about his intention to defend Taiwan.

Dirck Bouts paintings

Dirck Bouts paintings
Dante Gabriel Rossetti paintings

China today issued a harsh rebuttal to President Bush's promise of military support for Taiwan, accusing him of violating his commitment to Beijing.
In an interview taped Tuesday but aired Wednesday on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America, Bush said the United States would do "whatever it took" to defend the island if it were ever attacked by China. While aides scrambled to explain that his remarks were not a departure from current policy, the Chinese government was infuriated."This shows (the United States) has drifted further on a dangerous road," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said today. She reiterated Beijing's stance that Taiwan is part of China and "not a protectorate of any foreign country." Serious and Resolute

Benjamin Williams Leader paintings

Benjamin Williams Leader paintings
Bartolome Esteban Murillo paintings

California businessman Dennis Tito has finally been given the go-ahead to become the world's first space tourist, but NASA officials have made it clear they're not happy about it.
Despite reservations over his lack of training, the nations that run the International Space Station agreed to grant an exemption to Tito and allow him to visit the orbiting laboratory. Tito paid the Russian space agency $20 million to fly in space, but Russia's partners in the space station — especially NASA — objected, saying his lack of training would require additional safety measures.Tito has been training in Russia for a year, learning the details of a Soyuz spacecraft and practicing how to survive a landing in Siberia.

Berthe Morisot paintings

Berthe Morisot paintings
childe hassam paintings
jeans ban" to be dropped, says the Financial Times. Several branded goods — such as Levi's — are currently blocked from being discounted for sale. A comparison has found that these branded goods cost more in the United Kingdom and Sweden than they do in the United States and in other European Union countries. The Daily Mail offers hope for all those shopping for clothes who may be a size 6 in one brand, a 12 in another, and a 10 in a third. Scientists at University College London have created a three-dimensional body scanner that can take the measurements of a man or woman to then create a virtual, computer-generated image of them. More than 100 measurements can be taken to create the most exact replica of the hopeful shopper. Several clothing chains in Britain are planning to launch what soon may be every shopper's new best friend.

Cheri Blum paintings

Cheri Blum paintings
Camille Pissarro paintings
soldier trying to become the first female Green Beret has quit the elite army squad, The Sun announces. The quest of Capt. Claire Phillips, 28, to become the first female commando has ended because the training was "very physically demanding." Eight men also quit.A horrific profile of a dinosaur's head grabs at the readers of the front page of The Independent. Scientists in China have discovered the fully intact — that includes skin, fluff, and feathers — fossil of a dromaeosuar, a bird-like dinosaur related to the velociraptor. The 130-million-year-old fossil was discovered by a team of Chinese and American scientists. Making Shopping EasierThe United Kingdom and several other nations today will be pushing for the "jeans ban" to be dropped, says the Financial Times.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Steve Hanks Ocean Breeze painting

Steve Hanks Ocean Breeze painting
Pino Angelica painting
920 calories and 57 grams of fat. If you crave a hamburger or cheeseburger, she suggests getting a small one and avoiding the urge for the larger portions. A plain Burger King cheeseburger, for instance, contains 370 calories and 18 grams of fat. Finger Lickin’ Healthy?If you've got a craving for fried chicken, there are some healthier picks at KFC. The key is to avoid anything with a lot of skin or a lot of sauce, Listfield said. For example, the Triple Crunch Zinger chicken sandwich (550 calories and 32 grams fat) and anything else "triple crunch" is so called because it was fried longer. The chunky chicken pot pie (770 calories, 42 grams of fat) is heavier on calories because it is loaded with cream and soaked with sauce, she said. But the Tender Roast chicken sandwich is only 270 calories and five grams of fat when you get it without sauce.

William Bouguereau The Wave painting

William Bouguereau The Wave painting
Pablo Picasso Girl Before a Mirror painting

You want to eat right, but it's tough to do when driving in the car on a summer vacation or when on a tight work schedule. But if you choose wisely, even fast food joints have some healthy options.
Even those who are on the road for summer vacation, or too frantic to stop for a meal during the workday, can find some healthier eating selections on fast food menus. In 2000, there were more than 215,000 fast food restaurants in the United States, generating sales of more than $119 billion, according to the National Restaurant Association. And in the heavy travel summer months, the temptation to stop off for a quick bite is especially high. Emily Listfield, the editor-in-chief of Fitness magazine, appeared on Good Morning America to explain how to eat healthily on the road — or on the run — when choices are limited to such fast food restaurants as McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

William Bouguereau The Rapture of Psyche painting

Steve Hanks Blending Into Shadows Sheets painting
William Bouguereau The Rapture of Psyche painting
public that he says needs to know cloned milk is no different from the "normal" stuff.But Mendelson isn't so sure. He thinks Infigen might just want to keep pouring its milk down the drain for a while longer. "I think as more research is done, we find out there are likely subtle variations and that the technology is not perfect."
Images of thinness, glamour and independence have been recurring themes in U.S. tobacco companies' advertising and marketing efforts to attract women since the 1920s.
One of the first advertisements geared toward the women's market was an advertisement for Lucky Strike, which held out the promise of weight loss for those who smoked. One early ad showed a thin woman shadowed by the silhouette of a heavy woman, telling women to reach for a Lucky when they're tempted to overindulge

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Winslow Homer paintings

Winslow Homer paintings
William Bouguereau paintings
antitrust case against Microsoft.Computer Makers Seek BoostThe release of Windows XP is a high-stakes event for the personal computer industry as well, with manufacturers hoping the new system will induce customers to buy more machines.When PC sales dipped in the first two quarters of 2001, it was the first time the industry had seen such a downturn since 1986 — before widespread use of e-mail, before the World Wide Web, or for that matter before the user-friendly point-and-click interface became nearly universal in home computing.According to Gartner Dataquest's statistics, computer sales have been falling by 2 percent per quarter in 2001. Gateway, for instance, the nation's fourth-biggest PC maker, announced a $520 million third-quarter loss this year after making $132 million during the same time in 2000. But industry observers

Vittore Carpaccio paintings

Vittore Carpaccio paintings
Warren Kimble paintings
XP and Sting will give a free concert in midtown Manhattan. Television ads featuring Madonna's "Ray of Light" will be airing on the heels of spots already on television touting the online Microsoft network.All told, the promotional campaign may cost Microsoft $250 million, far more than virtually any other high-tech company could even contemplate spending on promoting a product.Why Buy?Still, Windows XP, which contains a variety of new multimedia features and retails for around $100, faces a struggle to attain smash-hit status, despite its generally favorable product reviews. With the new system, users have built-in applications for instant messaging and a host of multimedia features, including viewing video clips, playing and recording CDs and editing digital

Theodore Robinson paintings

Theodore Robinson paintings
Titian paintings
Getting Hooked EarlyAlthough the statistics show the number of teens using tobacco has started to decline from record highs in 1997, experts say the numbers are still disturbing given that nearly 90 percent of adult smokers began using tobacco at or before the age of 18."We want to emphasize, while cigarettes are the most lethal form of tobacco, adolescents are using many forms of tobacco, and potentially becoming addicted to nicotine from many sources, and will transition into cigarettes," said Terry Pechacek, head of the survey team and associate director for science with the CDC Office on Smoking and Health.According to the survey, most middle and high school smokers get their tobacco at gas stations and convenience stores.While the legal age to buy tobacco is 18 throughout

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

animal paintings

animal paintings
ballet paintings
China has poured considerable resources into protecting the giant panda, its unofficial mascot. While China's panda population has risen, the animal remains endangered by heavy logging of its habitats. Also, groups of pandas live far from each other, making breeding difficult.The government said last week that the number of pandas in the wild in China has jumped by more than 40 percent to 1,590. The World Wildlife Fund cautioned that the spike may be attributable to more reliable surveying methods and not necessarily to a real increase in pandas.
A little too much passion, perhaps. A woman, who became frightened when her boyfriend squeezed her too tightly while they kissed, bit off part of his tongue. The woman was arrested for assault and ...
A little too much passion, perhaps. A St. Paul woman, who became frightened when her boyfriend squeezed her too tightly while they kissed, bit off part of his tongue, police said.

Abstract paintings

Abstract paintings
Angel painting

American-born panda Hua Mei is pregnant, just months after she settled into her new home in southwestern China.Chinese veterinarians, concerned that she had little knowledge of sex...
American-born panda Hua Mei is pregnant, just months after she settled into her new home in southwestern China.The 4-year-old panda, whose name means "China-America," was the first foreign-born panda to return to its ancestral homeland. She arrived in China from the San Diego Zoo, where she was born to two pandas on loan from China.Chinese veterinarians, concerned that she had little knowledge of sex after living only in captivity, showed her videos of mating pandas to prepare her for a series of "blind dates."That education appears to have paid off . Hua Mei became pregnant by natural means and is due in September,according to researchers at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Center in southwestern China.

beach painting

beach painting
Boat painting
little too much passion, perhaps. A St. Paul woman, who became frightened when her boyfriend squeezed her too tightly while they kissed, bit off part of his tongue, police said. "I guess I bit down too hard," the woman told officers, explaining that she has been victimized by men. The woman, who is 43, was arrested for assault and could be charged, investigators said. Officers went to the woman's home to look for the tongue, but they couldn't find it. The woman, who had been drinking with her boyfriend, told them she doesn't remember what happened to the end of his tongue. Police estimate that it measured about 1.5 inches. She might have swallowed it, the woman said.
A Thai model dressed in a fancy football outfit poses for photographers to promote the football campaign at a supermarket in Bangkok. With the launch of the 12th European Championships...
A Thai model dressed in a fancy football outfit poses for photographers to promote the football campaign at a supermarket in Bangkok. With the launch of the 12th European Championships, businessmen all over the world are racking their brains to promote their business among millions of soccer fans.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Pino Desire painting

Pino Desire painting
Claude Monet The Picnic painting

A horror movie called "The Grudge," delivered an additional shock around North America. 40 million dollars worth of tickets were sold out in its first three days, which doubled the expectations of its distributors...
"The Grudge," a horror movie delivered an additional shock by selling $40 million worth of tickets in its first three days at the North American box office, which doubled the expectations of its distributor.In the movie, Gelslar star as an American nurse living and working in Tokyo, where she is exposed to a mysterious supernatural curse.One of the things that makes The Grudge unique is it is a remake of popular Japanese film, called Ju-On. The Grudge is directed by Takashi Shimizu, the same Japanese director of the original.

Pino Sweet Repose painting

Pino Sweet Repose painting
Johannes Vermeer The Kitchen Maid painting

American President Bush claimed a re-election mandate after a record 59 million Americans chose him over Democrat John Kerry. Bush's vote totals were the biggest ever...
American President Bush claimed a re-election mandate after a record 59 million Americans chose him over Democrat John Kerry.Bush's vote totals were the biggest ever and his slice of the vote, 51 percent, made him the first president to claim a majority since 1988 when his father won 53 percent against Democrat Michael Dukakis.
Hello Kitty is such a cute cat that attracts so many girls and women of all ages around the world. Now she is gladly celebrating her 30th birthday in Hong Kong...
Hello Kitty is such a cute cat that attracts so many girls and women of all ages around the world. Now she is gladly celebrating her 30th birthday in Hong Kong.She toasts with guests, including former Hong Kong actress Gigi Fu, after cutting her beautiful birthday cake. The twinkling-eyed cartoonish character can be read in any way: dolls, key chains, clothes, credit cards, laptops, vacuum cleaners and even karaoke boxes.Hello Kitty, the moon-faced, mouthless white cat, was invented and promoted by a Japanese company called Sanrio in 1974.

Johannes Vermeer girl with the pearl earring painting

Johannes Vermeer girl with the pearl earring painting
Claude Monet Girls In A Boat painting

The World Health Organization was sorry for the worldwide shortage of midwives, particularly in poorer countries. Only 61 percent of the world's births are attended by a qualified medical assistant...
As shown in the picture, a young Kosovar midwife gives milk to a baby with a syringe in 1999. The World Health Organization was sorry for the worldwide shortage of midwives, particularly in poorer countries. 61 percent of the world's births are attended by a qualified medical assistant. While more than 90 percent of birthing mothers have medical assistance in developed nations, only 37.5 percent of mothers in Asia and 33.6 percent in east Africa benefit from medical assistance during childbirth. The lack of qualified medical personnel in developing countries is due to a brain drain, according to Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the International Migration Organization

Sunday, July 13, 2008

George Inness paintings

George Inness paintings
George Frederick Watts paintings
mustn't cry. Please, my brave dear, you mustn't...SCARLETT: You do love me, you do love me... ASHLEY: No don't, don't!SCARLETT: You love me!ASHLEY: We won't do this, I tell you, we won't do it. It won't happen again, I'm going to take Melanie and the baby and go.SCARLETT: Just say that you love me.ASHLEY: All right, I'll say it. I love your courage and your stubbornness. I love them so much that a moment ago I could have forgotten the best wife a man ever had. But Scarlett, I'm not going to forget her.SCARLETT: Then there's nothing left for me. Nothing to fight for. Nothing to live for. ASHLEY: Yes, there is something. Something you love better than me, though you may not know it, Tara. (Ashley puts into Scarlett's hands some soil.) SCARLETT: Yes, I...I still have this. You needn't go. I won't have you all starve simply because I threw myself at your head. It won't happen agai

Gustave Courbet paintings

Gustave Courbet paintings
Guido Reni paintings
ASHLEY: Can't we ever forget that day at Twelve Oaks? SCARLETT: Just think I could ever forget it, have you forgotten it? Can you honestly say you don't love me? ASHLEY: No, I ...I don't love you.SCARLETT: It's a lie.ASHLEY: Even if it is a lie, do you think that I could go off and leave Melanie and the baby? Break Melanie's heart? Scarlett,are you mad? You couldn't leave your father and the girls.SCARLETT: I could leave them, I'm sick of them, I'm tired of them...ASHLEY: Yes, you sick and tired, that's why you're talking this way. You've carried the load for all of us. But from now on, I'm going to be more help to you, I promise. SCARLETT: There's only one way you can help me. Take me away. There's nothing to keep us here. ASHLEY: Nothing...nothing except honor. Please Scarlett, please dear, you mustn't cry. Please, my brave dear, you mustn't...SCARLETT: You do love me, you do love me... ASHLEY: No don't, don't!SCARLETT: You love me!

Guillaume Seignac paintings

Guillaume Seignac paintings
George Owen Wynne Apperley paintings
SCARLETT: You, Ashley, a coward? What are you afraidof?ASHLEY: Oh, mostly of life becoming too real for me, Isuppose. Not that I mind splitting rails. But I do mind very much losing the beauty of that, that life I loved. If the war hadn't come, I'd have spent my life happily buried at Twelve Oaks. But the war did come. I saw my boyhood friends blown to bits. I saw men crumple3 up in agony when I shot them. And now I find myself in a world which for me is worse than death. A world in which there is no place for me. Oh, I can never make you understand, because you don't know the meaning of fear. You never mind facing realities. And you never want to escape from them as I do.SCARLETT: Escape? Oh, Ashley you're wrong. I do want to escape, too. I'm so very tired of it all. I've struggled for food and for money and I've weeded and hoed and picked cotton until I can't stand it another minute. I tell you, Ashley, the South is dead, it's dead. The Yankees and the carpetbaggers have got it and there's nothing left for us. Oh, Ashley, let's run away. We'd go to Mexico. They want officers in the Mexican army, we could be so happy there. Ashley I'd work for you, I'd do anything for you. You know you don't love Melanie, you told me you loved me that day at Twelve Oaks, and anyway, Melanie can't...Dr. Meade told me she couldn't ever have any more children. And I could give you...

Francois Boucher paintings

Francois Boucher paintings
Frank Dicksee paintings
Mr. O'HARA: Yes. Mrs. O'Hara will know what's to bedone. Now don't be bothering me. Go out for a ride. I'm busy.SCARLETT: Oh, Paw. Don't worry about anything. It is God's hope. You needn't worry.(Scarlett leaves the room, closing the door behind her.)MAMMIE: Miss Scarlettt? What are we going to do withnothing to feed them sick folks and that child?SCARLETT: I don't know Mammy. I don't know.MAMMIE: We ain't got nothing but radishes in the garden.PRISSY: Miss Scarlett, Miss Sue Ellen and Miss Corrine,They's fussin to be sponged offSCARLETT: Where are the other servants Mammie?MAMMIE: Miss Scarlett, there's only just me and Paulleft. The others moved off during the war and ran away.PRISSY: I can't take care of that baby and sick folks too.I've only got two hands.

Frederic Remington paintings

Frederic Remington paintings
Francisco de Goya paintings
Tara had survived, to face the hell and famine of defeat.)SCARLETT: Mother! Mother, I'm home! Mother, I'm home! Mother let me in, it's me, Scarlett. Oh, Paw, I'm home, I'm home... I'm home.Mr. O'HARA: Careful, carefulScarlett...SCARLETT: Mammie, mammy, I'm home.MAMMIE: Oh, honey child...SCARLETT: Mammy, I'm so, so....where's mother?MAMMIE: Why...Miss Sue Ellen, Miss Carreen, theywere sick with the typhoid. They had it bad, but they'sdoing all right now. Just weak like little ^kittens.SCARLETT: But, where's mother?MAMMIE: Well, Miss Ellen, she went down to nurse that Emmy Sladdly, that white trash. And she took down with it, too. Then last night, she... SCARLETT: Mother? Mother? Mother! (Scarlett walks into her mother's room faintly. There, in dark and quietness, lies Mrs. O'Hara. She's dead.) Mammyie: Miss Scarlett honey... SERVANT: If there's anything I can do, Miss Scarlett... SCARLETT: What did you do with Miss Melanie?

Friday, July 11, 2008

William Bouguereau The Wave painting

William Bouguereau The Wave painting
Pablo Picasso Girl Before a Mirror painting
nearly thirty years ago. It was when I was on my first elephant hunt in the Matabele country. His name was Evans, and he was killed next year, poor fellow, by a wounded buffalo, and lies buried near the Zambesi Falls. I was telling Evans one night, I remember, of some wonderful workings I had found while hunting koodoo and eland in what is now the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal. I see they have come across these workings again lately in prospecting for gold, but I knew of them years ago. There is a great wide wagon-road cut out of the solid rock, and leading to the mouth of the working or gallery. Inside the mouth of this gallery are stacks of gold quartz piled up ready for crushing, which shows that the workers, whoever they were, must have left in a hurry, and about twenty paces in the gallery is built across, and a beautiful bit of masonry it is.
"'Ay,' said Evans, `but I will tell you a queerer thing than that;' and he went on to tell me how he had found in the far interior a ruined city, which he believed to be the Ophir of the Bible - and, by the way, other more learned men have said the same long since poor Evans's time. I was, I remember, listening open- eared to all these wonders, for I was young at the time, and this story of an ancient civilization, and of the treasure which those old Jewish or Phoenician adventurers used to extract from a country long since lapsed into the darkest barbarism, took a great hold upon my imagination, when suddenly he said to me, `Lad, did you ever hear of the Suliman Mountains up to the northwest of the Mashukulumbwe country?' I told him I never had. `Ah, well,' he said, `that was where Solomon really had his mines - his diamond mines, I mean.'

Steve Hanks Blending Into Shadows Sheets painting

Steve Hanks Blending Into Shadows Sheets painting
William Bouguereau The Rapture of Psyche painting
Well, all the time we were running up to Natal I was thinking over Sir Henry Curtis's offer. We did not speak any more on the subject for a day or two, though I told them many hunting yarns, all true ones. There is no need to tell lies about hunting, for so many curious things happen within the knowledge of a man whose business it is to hunt; but this is by the way.
At last, one beautiful evening in January, which is our hottest month, we steamed along the coast of Natal, expecting to make Durban Point by sunset. It is a lovely coast all along from East London, with its red sandhills and wide sweeps of vivid green, dotted here and there with Kaffir kraals, and bordered by a ribbon of white surf which spouts up in pillars of foam where it hits the rocks. But just before you get to Durban there is a peculiar richness about it. There are the deep kloofs cut in the hills by the rushing rains of centuries, down which the rivers sparkle; there is the deepest green of the bush, growing as God planted it, and the other greens of the mealie-gardens and the sugar-patches, while here and there a white house, smiling out at the placid sea, puts a finish and gives an air of homeliness to the scene. For to my mind, however beautiful a view may be, it requires the presence of man to make it complete, but perhaps that is because I have lived so much in the wilderness, and therefore know the value of civilization, though, to be sure, it drives away the game. The Garden of Eden, no doubt, was fair before man

John William Godward Nu Sur La Plage painting

John William Godward Nu Sur La Plage painting
Gustav Klimt The Kiss (Le Baiser _ Il Baccio) painting
down the tulip-leaves. If administered in time this is a very effective antidote. The wagon and oxen we left in the immediate charge of Goza and Tom, the driver and leader, both of them trustworthy boys, requesting a worthy Scotch missionary who lived in this wild place to keep an eye to it. Then, accompanied by Umbopa, Khiva, Ventvögel, and half a dozen bearers whom we hired on the spot, we started off on foot upon our wild quest. I remember we were all a little silent on the occasion of that departure, and I think that each of us was wondering if we should ever see that wagon again; for my part I never expected to. For a while we tramped on in silence, till Umbopa, who was marching in front, broke into a Zulu chant about how some brave men, tired of life and the tameness of things, started off into a great wilderness to find new things or die, and how, lo, and behold! when they had got far into the wilderness, they found it was not a wilderness at all, but a beautiful place full of young wives and fat cattle, of game to hunt and enemies to kill.
Then we all laughed and took it for a good omen. He was a cheerful savage, was Umbopa, in a dignified sort of way, when he had not got one of his fits of brooding, and had a wonderful trick of keeping one's spirits up. We all got very fond of him.
And now for the one adventure I am going to treat myself to, for I do heartily love a hunting yam.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings
Allan R.Banks paintings
the back of my mind, and I have no doubt the Lord knew it."
"Well, He has answered the spirit of your prayer. You really wished that things shouldn't be made any harder for Leslie. I'm afraid that in my secret heart I've been hoping the operation wouldn't succeed, and I am wholesomely ashamed of it."
"How does Leslie seem to take it?"
"She writes like one dazed. I think that, like ourselves, she hardly realises it yet. She says, `It all seems like a strange dream to me, Anne.' That is the only reference she makes to herself."
"Poor child! I suppose when the chains are struck off a prisoner he'd feel queer and lost without them for a while. Anne, dearie, here's a thought keeps coming into my mind. What about Owen Ford? We both know Leslie was fond of him. Did it ever occur to you that he was fond of her?"
"It--did--once," admitted Anne, feeling that she might say so much.

Andrea Mantegna paintings

Andrea Mantegna paintings
Arthur Hughes paintings
fat. But we put that down to what had happened to him, and no doubt that was the reason, for, as I've said, George wasn't fat to begin with either. And there was no other way we could have guessed, for the man's senses were clean gone. I can't see that it is any wonder we were all deceived. But it's a staggering thing. And Leslie has sacrificed the best years of her life to nursing a man who hadn't any claim on her! Oh, drat the men! No matter what they do, it's the wrong thing. And no matter who they are, it's somebody they shouldn't be. They do exasperate me."
"Gilbert and Captain Jim are men, and it is through them that the truth has been discovered at last," said Anne.
"Well, I admit that," conceded Miss Cornelia reluctantly. "I'm sorry I raked the doctor off so. It's the first time in my life I've ever felt ashamed of anything I said to a man. I don't know as I shall tell him so, though. He'll just have to take it for granted. Well, Anne, dearie, it's a mercy the Lord doesn't answer all our prayers. I've been praying hard right along that the operation wouldn't cure Dick. Of course I didn't put it just quite so plain. But

Albert Bierstadt paintings

Albert Bierstadt paintings
Andreas Achenbach paintings
Moore was a little taller and a good deal fatter than Dick--though neither of them was what you would call fat--they were both of the lean kind. Dick had higher color than George, and his hair was a shade lighter. But their features were just alike, and they both had that queer freak of eyes--one blue and one hazel. They weren't much alike in any other way, though. George was a real nice fellow, though he was a scalawag for mischief, and some said he had a liking for a glass even then. But everybody liked him better than Dick. He spent about a month here. Leslie never saw him; she was only about eight or nine then and I remember now that she spent that whole winter over harbor with her grandmother West. Captain Jim was away, too--that was the winter he was wrecked on the Magdalens. I don't suppose either he or Leslie had ever heard about the Nova Scotia cousin looking so much like Dick. Nobody ever thought of him when Captain Jim brought Dick--George, I should say--home. Of course, we all thought Dick had changed considerable--he'd got so lumpish

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

George Frederick Watts Watts Hope painting

George Frederick Watts Watts Hope painting
Albert Bierstadt Westphalian Landscape painting
Anne drew back in dismay. She felt that she could not intermeddle with this bitterness. Her heart ached with a sympathy she might not utter. To go in now would be to shut the door forever on any possible help or friendship. Some instinct warned Anne that the proud, bitter girl would never forgive the one who thus surprised her in her abandonment of despair.
Anne slipped noiselessly from the veranda and found her way across the yard. Beyond, she heard voices in the gloom and saw the dim glow of a light. At the gate she met two men--Captain Jim with a lantern, and another who she knew must be Dick Moore--a big man, badly gone to fat, with a broad, round, red face, and vacant eyes. Even in the dull light Anne got the impression that there was something unusual about his eyes.
"Is this you, Mistress Blythe?" said Captain Jim. "Now, now, you hadn't oughter be roaming about alone on a night like this. You could get lost in this fog easier than not. Jest you wait till I see Dick safe inside the door and I'll come back and light you over the fields. I ain't

Pino Mystic Dreams painting

Pino Mystic Dreams painting
Fabian Perez the face of tango ii painting
doughnuts. Dick was hanging round to get one, as usual, and all at once he picked up a scalding hot one I'd just fished out and dropped it on the back of my neck when I was bending over. Then he laughed and laughed. Believe me, Anne, it took all the grace of God in my heart to keep me from just whisking up that stew-pan of boiling fat and pouring it over his head."
Anne laughed over Miss Cornelia's wrath as she sped through the darkness. But laughter accorded ill with that night. She was sober enough when she reached the house among the willows. Everything was very silent. The front part of the house seemed dark and deserted, so Anne slipped round to the side door, which opened from the veranda into a little sitting room. There she halted noiselessly.
The door was open. Beyond, in the dimly lighted room, sat Leslie Moore, with her arms flung out on the table and her head bent upon them. She was weeping horribly--with low, fierce, choking sobs, as if some agony in her soul were trying to tear itself out. An old black dog was sitting by her, his nose resting on his lap, his big doggish eyes full of mute, imploring sympathy and devotion

Yvonne Jeanette Karlsen sisters painting

Yvonne Jeanette Karlsen sisters painting
Pino Soft Light painting
magazines under her arm for Leslie.
"Leslie's wild for books and magazines," Miss Cornelia had told her, "and she hardly ever sees one. She can't afford to buy them or subscribe for them. She's really pitifully poor, Anne. I don't see how she makes out to live at all on the little rent the farm brings in. She never even hints a complaint on the score of poverty, but I know what it must be. She's been handicapped by it all her life. She didn't mind it when she was free and ambitious, but it must gall now, believe me. I'm glad she seemed so bright and merry the evening she spent with you. Captain Jim told me he had fairly to put her cap and coat on and push her out of the door. Don't be too long going to see her either. If you are she'll think it's because you don't like the sight of Dick, and she'll crawl into her shell again. Dick's a great, big, harmless baby, but that silly grin and chuckle of his do get on some people's nerves. Thank goodness, I've no nerves myself. I like Dick Moore better now than I ever did when he was in his right senses--though the Lord knows that isn't saying much. I was down there one day in housecleaning time helping Leslie a bit, and I was frying

Monday, July 7, 2008

Leon Bazile Perrault paintings

Leon Bazile Perrault paintings
Leon-Augustin L'hermitte paintings
what. Mrs. Harmon says he's an Englishman who has made money in mines but _I_ believe he'll turn out to be a Yankee. He certainly must have money, for he has just showered Jane with jewelry. Her engagement ring is a diamond cluster so big that it looks like a plaster on Jane's fat paw."
Mrs. Lynde could not keep some bitterness out of her tone. Here was Jane Andrews, that plain little plodder, engaged to a millionaire, while Anne, it seemed, was not yet bespoken by any one, rich or poor. And Mrs. Harmon Andrews did brag insufferably.
"What has Gilbert Blythe been doing to at college?" asked Marilla. "I saw him when he came home last week, and he is so pale and thin I hardly knew him."
"He studied very hard last winter," said Anne. "You know he took High Honors in Classics and the Cooper Prize. It hasn't been taken for five years! So I think he's rather run down. We're all a little tired."
"Anyhow, you're a B.A. and Jane Andrews isn't and never will be,"

Jules Joseph Lefebvre paintings

Jules Joseph Lefebvre paintings
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres paintings
that Simon Fletcher broke his leg last week. It's a great thing for his family. They're getting a hundred things done that they've always wanted to do but couldn't as long as he was about, the old crank."
"He came of an aggravating family," remarked Marilla.
"Aggravating? Well, rather! His mother used to get up in prayer-meeting and tell all her children's shortcomings and ask prayers for them. `Course it made them mad, and worse than ever."
"You haven't told Anne the news about Jane," suggested Marilla.
"Oh, Jane," sniffed Mrs. Lynde. "Well," she conceded grudgingly, "Jane Andrews is home from the West -- came last week -- and she's going to be married to a Winnipeg millionaire. You may be sure Mrs. Harmon lost no time in telling it far and wide."
"Dear old Jane -- I'm so glad," said Anne heartily. "She deserves the good things of life."
"Oh, I ain't saying anything against Jane. She's a nice enough girl. But she isn't in the millionaire class, and you'll find there's not much to recommend that man but his money

John Everett Millais paintings

John Everett Millais paintings
James Jacques Joseph Tissot paintings
She came down from the porch gable on the evening of her return with a sorrowful face.
"What has happened to the old Snow Queen, Marilla?"
"Oh, I knew you'd feel bad over that," said Marilla. "I felt bad myself. That tree was there ever since I was a young girl. It blew down in the big gale we had in March. It was rotten at the core."
"I'll miss it so," grieved Anne. "The porch gable doesn't seem the same room without it. I'll never look from its window again without a sense of loss. And oh, I never came home to Green Gables before that Diana wasn't here to welcome me."
"Diana has something else to think of just now," said Mrs. Lynde significantly.
"Well, tell me all the Avonlea news," said Anne, sitting down on the porch steps, where the evening sunshine fell over her hair in a fine golden rain.
"There isn't much news except what we've wrote you," said Mrs. Lynde. "I suppose you haven't

Johannes Vermeer paintings

Johannes Vermeer paintings
Jacques-Louis David paintings
"No, indeed. You're too good to lose. If I can't have you for a sister I mean to keep you as a chum anyway. And don't fret over Roy. He is feeling terribly just now -- I have to listen to his outpourings every day -- but he'll get over it. He always does."
"Oh -- ALWAYS?" said Anne with a slight change of voice. "So he has `got over it' before?"
"Dear me, yes," said Dorothy frankly. "Twice before. And he raved to me just the same both times. Not that the others actually refused him -- they simply announced their engagements to some one else. Of course, when he met you he vowed to me that he had never really loved before -- that the previous affairs had been merely boyish fancies. But I don't think you need worry."
Anne decided not to worry. Her feelings were a mixture of relief and resentment. Roy had certainly told her she was the only one he had ever loved. No doubt he believed it. But it was a comfort to feel that she had not, in all likelihood, ruined his life. There were other goddesses, and Roy, according to Dorothy, must needs be worshipping at some shrine. Nevertheless, life was stripped of several more illusions, and Anne began to think drearily that it seemed rather

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Fabian Perez the face of tango ii painting

Fabian Perez the face of tango ii painting
George Frederick Watts Watts Hope painting
"Oh, Phil's a dear to rattle round with and be chums. And, of course, the more there are of us the easier it will be on our slim purses. But how will she be to live with? You have to summer and winter with any one before you know if she's LIVABLE or not."
"Oh, well, we'll all be put to the test, as far as that goes. And we must quit us like sensible folk, living and let live. Phil isn't selfish, though she's a little thoughtless, and I believe we will all get on beautifully in Patty's Place." Anne was back in Avonlea with the luster of the Thorburn Scholarship on her brow. People told her she hadn't changed much, in a tone which hinted they were surprised and a little disappointed she hadn't. Avonlea had not changed, either. At least, so it seemed at first. But as Anne sat in the Green Gables pew, on the first Sunday after her return, and looked over the congregation, she saw several little changes which, all coming home to her at once, made her realize that time did not quite stand still, even in Avonlea. A new minister was in the pulpit. In the pews more than

Pino Soft Light painting

Pino Soft Light painting
Pino Mystic Dreams painting
doorstep of Patty's Place and you won't be able to go out or come in without falling over my spook."
Again Anne and Priscilla exchanged eloquent looks.
"Well," said Anne, "of course we can't promise to take you until we've consulted with Stella; but I don't think she'll object, and, as far as we are concerned, you may come and glad welcome."
"If you get tired of our simple life you can leave us, and no questions asked," added Priscilla.
Phil sprang up, hugged them both jubilantly, and went on her way rejoicing.
"I hope things will go right," said Priscilla soberly.
"We must MAKE them go right," avowed Anne. "I think Phil will fit into our 'appy little 'ome very well."

William Bouguereau The Nymphaeum painting

William Bouguereau The Nymphaeum painting
Yvonne Jeanette Karlsen sisters painting
show me once. I CAN make my own bed to begin with. And remember that, though I can't cook, I CAN keep my temper. That's something. And I NEVER growl about the weather. That's more. Oh, please, please! I never wanted anything so much in my life -- and this floor is awfully hard."
"There's just one more thing," said Priscilla resolutely. "You, Phil, as all Redmond knows, entertain callers almost every evening. Now, at Patty's Place we can't do that. We have decided that we shall be at home to our friends on Friday evenings only. If you come with us you'll have to abide by that rule."
"Well, you don't think I'll mind that, do you? Why, I'm glad of it. I knew I should have had some such rule myself, but I hadn't enough decision to make it or stick to it. When I can shuffle off the responsibility on you it will be a real relief. If you won't let me cast in my lot with you I'll die of the disappointment and then I'll come back and haunt you. I'll camp on the very

Thursday, July 3, 2008

James Jacques Joseph Tissot Too Early painting

James Jacques Joseph Tissot Too Early painting
John William Waterhouse My Sweet Rose painting
I suppose Gilbert Blythe is going to college in the fall," said Marilla jerkily. "How would you like to go too, Anne?"
Anne looked up in astonishment.
"I would like it, of course, Marilla. But it isn't possible."
"I guess it can be made possible. I've always felt that you should go. I've never felt easy to think you were giving it all up on my account."
"But Marilla, I've never been sorry for a moment that I stayed home. I've been so happy. . .Oh, these past two years have just been delightful."
"Oh, yes, I know you've been contented enough. But that isn't the question exactlygo on with your education. You've saved enough to put you through one year at Redmond and the money the stock brought in will do for another year. . .and there's scholarships and things you might win."
"Yes, but I can't go, Marilla. Your eyes are better, of course; but I can't leave you alone with the twins. They need so much looking after."

George Frederick Watts Love And Life painting

George Frederick Watts Love And Life painting
Frederic Edwin Church North Lake painting
On the day after Thomas Lynde's funeral Marilla went about Green Gables with a strangely preoccupied air. Occasionally she looked at Anne, seemed on the point of saying something, then shook her head and buttoned up her mouth. After tea she went down to see Mrs. Rachel; and when she returned she went to the east gable, where Anne was correcting school exercises.
"How is Mrs. Lynde tonight?" asked the latter.
"She's feeling calmer and more composed," answered Marilla, sitting down on Anne's bed. . .a proceeding which betokened some unusual mental excitement, for in Marilla's code of household ethics to sit on a bed after it was made up was an unpardonable offense. "But she's very lonely. Eliza had to go home today. . .her son isn't well and she felt she couldn't stay any longer."
"When I've finished these exercises I'll run down and chat awhile with Mrs. Lynde," said Anne. "I had intended to study some Latin composition tonight but it can wait."

Theodore Robinson Valley of the Seine Giverny painting

Theodore Robinson Valley of the Seine Giverny painting
Martin Johnson Heade Cattelya Orchid and Three Brazilian Hummingbirds painting
Thomas Lynde faded out of life as quietly and unobtrusively as he had lived it. His wife was a tender, patient, unwearied nurse. Sometimes Rachel had been a little hard on her Thomas in health, when his slowness or meekness had provoked her; but when he became ill no voice could be lower, no hand more gently skillful, no vigil more uncomplaining.
"You've been a good wife to me, Rachel," he once said simply, when she was sitting by him in the dusk, holding his thin, blanched old hand in her work-hardened one. "A good wife. I'm sorry I ain't leaving you better off; but the children will look after you. They're all smart, capable children, just like their mother. A good mother. . .a good woman. . . ."
He had fallen asleep then, and the next morning, just as the white dawn was creeping up over the pointed firs in the hollow, Marilla went softly into the east gable and wakened Anne.
"Anne, Thomas Lynde is gone. . .their hired boy just brought the word. I'm going right down to

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Guercino paintings

Guercino paintings
Henry Peeters paintings
Goodness, I'm not so fond of stewing over a hot fire in July that it would vex me very much to have someone else do it. You're quite welcome to the job."
"Oh, thank you," said Anne, as if Marilla had just conferred a tremendous favor, "I'll make out the menu this very night."
"You'd better not try to put on too much style," warned Marilla, a little alarmed by the high-flown sound of "menu." You'll likely come to grief if you do."
"Oh, I'm not going to put on any `style,' if you mean trying to do or have things we don't usually have on festal occasions," assured Anne. "That would be affectation, and, although I know I haven't as much sense and steadiness as a girl of seventeen and a schoolteacher ought to have, I'm not so silly as that. But I want to have everything as nice and dainty as possible. Davy-boy,

Franz Marc paintings

Franz Marc paintings
Fabian Perez paintings
but Gertie is always saying nasty things of Julia behind her back and everybody thinks she is jealous of her because she is always so pleased when anybody criticizes Julia. I think it is desecration to call that friendship. If we have friends we should look only for the best in them and give them the best that is in us, don't you think? Then friendship would be the most beautiful thing in the world."
"Friendship is very beautiful," smiled Mrs. Allan, "but some day. . ."
Then she paused abruptly. In the delicate, white-browed face beside her, with its candid eyes and mobile features, there was still far more of the child than of the woman. Anne's heart so far harbored only dreams of friendship and ambition, and Mrs. Allan did not wish to brush the bloom from her sweet unconsciousness. So she left her sentence for the future years to finish.

Francois Boucher paintings

Francois Boucher paintings
Frank Dicksee paintings
thankful for. . .oh, so much. . . my work, and Paul Irving, and the dear twins, and all my friends. Do you know, Mrs. Allan, I'm so thankful for friendship. It beautifies life so much."
"True friendship is a very helpfulul thing indeed," said Mrs. Allan, "and we should have a very high ideal of it, and never sully it by any failure in truth and sincerity. I fear the name of friendship is often degraded to a kind of intimacy that has nothing of real friendship in it."
"Yes. . .like Gertie Pye's and Julia Bell's. They are very intimate and go everywhere together; but Gertie is always saying nasty things of Julia behind her back and everybody thinks she is jealous of her because she is always so pleased when anybody criticizes Julia. I think it is desecration to call that friendship. If we have friends we should look only for the best in them and give them the best that is in us, don't you think? Then friendship would be the most beautiful thing in the world."

Ford Madox Brown paintings

Ford Madox Brown paintings
Federico Andreotti paintings
never be much better than they are now, although we are so thankful to think that they will not get worse. And then there are the twins. . .somehow I don't believe their uncle will ever really send for them. Perhaps college may be around the bend in the road, but I haven't got to the bend yet and I don't think much about it lest I might grow discontented."
"Well, I should like to see you go to college, Anne; but if you never do, don't be discontented about it. We make our own lives wherever we are, after all. . .college can only help us to do it more easily. They are broad or narrow according to what we put into them, not what we get out. Life is rich and full here. . . everywhere. . .if we can only learn how to open our whole hearts to its richness and fulness."
"I think I understand what you mean," said Anne thoughtfully, "and I know I have so much to feel

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Guillaume Seignac The Awakening of Psyche painting

Guillaume Seignac The Awakening of Psyche painting
Eric Wallis Roman Girl painting
snippet" was not quite so meek as she might otherwise have been.
"I've come to confess something to you, Mr. Harrison," she said resolutely. "It's. . .it's about. . .that Jersey cow"
"Bless my soul," exclaimed Mr. Harrison nervously, "has she gone and broken into my oats again? Well, never mind. . .never mind if she has. It's no difference. . .none at all. I. . .I was too hasty yesterday, that's a fact. Never mind if she has."
"Oh, if it were only that," sighed Anne. "But it's ten times worse. I don't..."
"Bless my soul, do you mean to say she's got into my wheat?"
"No. . .no. . .not the wheat. But. . ."
"Then it's the cabbages! She's broken into my cabbages that I was raising for Exhibition, hey?"

Steve Hanks Blending Into Shadows Sheets painting

Steve Hanks Blending Into Shadows Sheets painting
William Bouguereau The Rapture of Psyche painting
reception would have passed off pleasantly enough if it had not been for the telltale of a parrot who was peering through the bars of his cage with wicked golden eyes. No sooner had Anne seated herself than Ginger exclaimed,
"Bless my soul, what's that redheaded snippet coming here for?"
It would be hard to say whose face was the redder, Mr. Harrison's or Anne's.
"Don't you mind that parrot," said Mr. Harrison, casting a furious glance at Ginger. "He's. . .he's always talking nonsense. I got him from my brother who was a sailor. Sailors don't always use the choicest language, and parrots are very imitative birds."
"So I should think," said poor Anne, the remembrance of her errand quelling her resentment. She couldn't afford to snub Mr. Harrison under the circumstances, that was certain. When you had just sold a man's Jersey cow offhand, without his knowledge or consent you must not mind if his parrot repeated uncomplimentary things. Nevertheless, the "redheaded

Guillaume Seignac The Wave painting

Guillaume Seignac The Wave painting
Steve Hanks Interior View I painting
Mr. Harrison's house was an old-fashioned, low-eaved, whitewashed structure, set against a thick spruce grove.
Mr. Harrison himself was sitting on his vineshaded veranda, in his shirt sleeves, enjoying his evening pipe. When he realized who was coming up the path he sprang suddenly to his feet, bolted into the house, and shut the door. This was merely the uncomfortable result of his surprise, mingled with a good deal of shame over his outburst of temper the day before. But it nearly swept the remnant of her courage from Anne's heart.
"If he's so cross now what will he be when he hears what I've done," she reflected miserably, as she rapped at the door.
But Mr. Harrison opened it, smiling sheepishly, and invited her to enter in a tone quite mild and friendly, if somewhat nervous. He had laid aside his pipe and donned his coat; he offered Anne a very dusty chair very