A Tribute to abra a collection of her comments

[LLapp]

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." — Anna Quindlen

momof7
December 27, 2014, 5:03 pm
That's my idea of a perfect room! But you also need a comfy chair or beanbag and a quilt.

abra
August 8, 2015, 3:31 pm
The room I sit in to do these puzzles, is devoted to books and guitars. Fortunately, the books do outnumber the guitars. I'm not sure for how long, that will remain true.

Vienna
August 19, 2015, 12:21 pm
sigh!! Won't ever have room for enough book shelves

abra
April 12, 2017, 6:10 pm
I've started reading more and more on the Kindle. We read at lunch time, and I like that I don't have to weight the page to make it stay open, as I sometimes do with a book. I like that I can have the book I'm reading on my phone, so if things get boring, I always have my "book" with me.

[Synonymous]

Another good one from abra:

"In all thy undertakings, let a reasonable assurance animate thy endeavors; if thou despairest of success, thou shalt not succeed."
— Akhenaton

spellbinder
November 29, 2011, 12:09 pm
Please note folks.... they translated this quote from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Those hieroglyphs must have been really difficult cryptograms !
maggiemouse
July 4, 2012, 3:34 am
How odd that Akhenaton speaks King James' English.
wobray
January 31, 2014, 11:51 am
spellbinder: the spelling bees were worse!
Allen
July 17, 2014, 7:02 am
Maybe he wrote with a lisp?
hisashiburi
February 8, 2015, 12:27 pm
If Ancient Egyptians distinguished between a familiar and a formal you--or singular and plural, for that matter--then the use of thou is a propos.
kb83
March 19, 2015, 4:13 am
Good point, hisashiburi. Do we know the answer to that?
abra
November 8, 2015, 3:28 pm
Someone get right on that familiar/formal thing, and get back to us. LOL. Very funny, wobray.
LLapp
June 26, 2017, 6:53 am
This could also be translated as "Fake it until thou makest it."
tdemers
November 20, 2017, 8:33 am
I did learn ancient egyptian in my university; it was the hard language I've ever had to learn. You can read it forwards, backwards, upwards and downwards, all depending on context. Anyway, from what I remember, there is no formal/familiar "you". You know if it's a person (god) of high importance if there are offerings.
mmfs83
January 31, 2018, 2:17 am
the/thy ........ was I the only one?
marnita
March 1, 2019, 10:14 pm
I don't mind the archaic forms, but I wish they would use them correctly. Before a vowel, "thy" should become "thine" - "thine endeavors," "thine undertakings."
mmfs83
August 23, 2019, 10:30 am
the/thy
LLapp
November 11, 2019, 8:18 pm
Marnita, thanks!
NoiseLTD
November 15, 2020, 7:25 am
I always that thy/thine was like my/mine. Wikipedia supports my view. It has nothing to do with vowels. The Rosetta Stone was the greatest cryptogram, ever and Jean-François Champollion the greatest master of the art! Champollion, the decoder of the Rosetta Stone, attended Coptic church services in Paris, to become fluent in Coptic, which some linguists correctly believed was a descendant of the Coptic language of ancient Egypt. From this he made the link between the ancient Coptic inscriptions Hieroglyphic ideograms.
pickleball
August 17, 2022, 9:19 pm
WOW!!! where's Will?

[LLapp]

"A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun." — Anais Nin

chriscrojam
January 30, 2011, 3:17 am
That's wonderful.

mikehallbackhoe
August 3, 2015, 6:06 pm
that's what screens are for

abra
May 20, 2017, 3:14 pm
Spiders, flies and mosquitoes can come in that same way. Like Mike said that's what screens are for.

Persephone59
July 16, 2017, 7:00 am
Before I read the comments, I was thinking of all the French fiction I've read, and whenever a window or French door is opened, you're outside. That made me immediately think of mosquitoes. Do they not have those in France? ;-)

abra
September 18, 2017, 6:22 pm
Years ago, I watched daytime TV (soaps) I hated that the patio doors always stood wide open. No flies or mosquitoes I guess. I suppose no squirrels, raccoons or stray cats and dogs either. Screens, they're very important to me.

[Synonymous]

Wisdom of abra:

"A husband only worries about a particular Other Man; a wife distrusts her whole species."
— Mignon McLaughlin
abra
November 12, 2015, 3:32 pm
If you look for the words "husband" and or "marriage" in her quotes, you will often find them.

[Eureka]

"Is there anything in the world more annoyingly creepy than an unspoken dress code?" — Douglas Coupland

abra
August 7, 2021, 1:37 am
When I went to public school there was a dress code. Girl's dresses were supposed to cover the knees or maybe halfway cover the knees. Girls couldn't wear shorts, slacks, or culottes. Guys were allowed to wear white Levis (this was new) but they had to wear a belt. No T-shirts. Guys had to shave. There was probably more. Most of that disappeared by the time my youngest sister was in high school.

abra
August 7, 2021, 1:38 am
Forgot to say, that I'm always very nervous about unspoken dress codes. I'm always worried that I'll be over dressed or under dressed.

[Eureka]

(Abra talked about her fear of bridges a number of times. It's nice to see that she saw my comment and responded. Admin, however, has not. )

"I hate bridges. I'm always very insecure on bridges." — Alber Elbaz (1961-2021)

abra
November 15, 2018, 1:47 pm
This may actually be my quote. I've said it many, many times. I've certainly said it before Alber was born.

Eureka
April 11, 2019, 2:21 pm
Admin. please change name on quote to abra.

abra
April 20, 2019, 1:41 am
Thank you, Eureka.

[LLapp]

I wonder if this was the same son who's been in touch with us here?

Yes, it was. Abra and her husband had one child. All of her parenting stories are about him.

[hrossa]

I wonder if this was the same son who's been in touch with us here?

[LLapp]

Another snippet of autobiography...

"Life should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents." — Charles Goodyear

abra
July 26, 2021, 1:52 am
Long, long ago, when we lived in Ca, we woke up one morning to a strange sound. The Goodyear blimp was tethered across the hills from us. It was there for about 3 days. It went out each night with lights flashing messages. We never knew that it did that. It made a huge enthusiast of my then four or five year old son. Good memories.

[hrossa]

"False modesty can be worse than arrogance." — David Mitchell

abra
November 21, 2019, 10:11 pm
You'd think that, (OK, it's me that'd think that, but then you spend a few minutes with one of THOSE people who can't stop telling you virtuous they are, and you (I"m) begging for a tad of modesty. Fake it if you have to.

[Synonymous]

Eureka, that's a gem! Thank you for keeping abra alive and well on this site.

[Eureka]

"Men seek but one thing in life - their pleasure." — Somerset Maugham

LittleReg1
January 15, 2021, 1:09 pm
What do women seek?

DrCryptell
May 6, 2021, 8:32 am
Women seek a recipe for apple strudel.

hrossa
May 9, 2021, 12:59 pm
DrCryptell, your sample set apparently is too small. Talk to more women.

abra
June 14, 2022, 11:02 pm
We've discussed it before. Women (SOME) want a footrub and chocolate, a bottle of nice wine, a stack of good books, nice music candlelight, a screen porch with a lovely view. Pick and choose, but put some thought into it.

[LLapp]

"It's all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date." — George Bernard Shaw

abra
November 1, 2021, 1:46 am
I was texting with my older grandson this afternoon and evening. It was nothing special just about Halloween etc. It all left me with warm huggy feelings about what a really nice person he is. Happy Halloween, although now it's November 1st.

hrossa
August 18, 2022, 1:25 am
Nice, Abra

[Eureka]

(Another example of abra's encouraging words. Kgun5 continues to hold the record at 14 seconds.)


"Greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth." — French Proverb

abra
July 7, 2015, 9:59 am
Wow, Kgun5, good job. I've done this one before, but I didn't recognize it. It always takes me a long time.

Kgun5
January 28, 2016, 4:14 am
Thanks, abra. You'll be happy to know that it took me 386 seconds this time around.

abra
July 1, 2020, 8:28 pm
It does,make me happy, kgun, it does. )

abra
October 26, 2022, 9:45 pm
And after 9 years, Kgun still has that record.

[Eureka]

(Another obscure comment from WRQ9 followed by abra's funny response.)

"If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it." — Brendan Francis

WRQ9
December 9, 2013, 5:43 am
This is typical "power side" logic, cynically translated into ersatz disciplinary language.

abra
August 23, 2015, 11:09 am
WRQ9, that's just what I was going to say :0).