A Tribute to abra a collection of her comments

[LLapp]

"The only person you should ever compete with is yourself. You can't hope for a fairer match." — Todd Ruthman

nanrich
June 30, 2013, 11:32 pm
Do you think he's talking about solve times on this site? Really, I'm no match for myself....

bazinga
September 26, 2013, 1:29 pm
You are kicking all our butts that is for sure.

abra
March 7, 2015, 8:48 am
It only took me 6 seconds longer than the great nanrich. I don't know about competing with myself. It seems that I often take longer the second or third time I've done a quote.

irisheyes
November 5, 2015, 2:43 pm
But how will you get better? It seems like it would end in a stalemate, if I can predict my every move.

MamaB
January 17, 2017, 5:25 am
Yea, nanrich, I am no match for yourself either!

pickleball
April 11, 2019, 9:38 pm
i m undefeated!!

Deanna48
March 30, 2020, 9:15 am
I wish nanrich still left comments...

Eureka
May 25, 2020, 11:48 pm
It's always a treat to see a Nanrich comment. I try to beat my previous month's average time, so I guess I am competing with myself.

abra
October 4, 2020, 5:28 pm
She's never left many. It feels like a visit from Santa when she leaves one.

[hrossa]

(I reckon everyone'll enjoy this. I had to google "oaters". This also has a political reference from Wordigo, sorry. Decided to leave the whole sequence as-is. )

"Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things." — Aeschylus

pickleball
June 21, 2019, 11:09 pm
i reckon so

Eureka
July 30, 2019, 12:05 pm
You reminded me of my time in Australia, pickleball, where people often say "Ya reckon?" (meaning "Do you think so?).

mmfs83
December 4, 2019, 11:31 am
I couldn't imagine an old Greek using the word reckon but I got here.

YorkiesRule
June 30, 2020, 6:58 am
Obviously he used an ancient Greek word, but the translator was apparently Australian.

abra
July 19, 2020, 10:15 pm
I reckon that people out west in the U.S. reckon as well. Eureka, you live a most interesting life.

Wordigo
September 3, 2020, 12:32 pm
He means stubbornness without understanding and wisdom is a bad fault. This reminds me of someone at the top of the US government.

Eureka
May 28, 2021, 8:50 pm
Ya reakon, abra? Haha, I rarely hear anyone say it in Canada.

LLapp
November 2, 2021, 7:18 am
Eureka, you need to watch more cowboy movies.

Elephino
June 9, 2022, 1:57 am
Aeschylus was known to be a fan of early 20th century oaters!

[Eureka]

(I hesitated to add this political discussion, but I liked what abra wrote and it w0uldn't have made much sense if I had just included the quote and not the other comments.)

"I want to thank some very special people without whom I would not be here today. George Bush, Sarah Palin and the Pope." — Bill Maher

dovid1946
February 15, 2015, 4:17 am
Democrats are not nearly as funny as Republicans

killdozer
December 14, 2015, 11:37 am
Because they don't offer up the kind of comedy material that those others do, especially Palin, that imbecile.

BriddlesBob
April 30, 2016, 10:06 am
I wonder how your accomplishments and success measure up to Sarah's, killdozer?

LLapp
June 11, 2016, 8:58 pm
^ "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think anything else you do matters very much." - Jackie Kennedy

abra
September 14, 2016, 7:04 pm
I had one really great son. He turned out to be a wonderful man. I don't think I can judge anyone else's child rearing. Everyone has different kids and different circumstances. I do see where Jackie's words are coming from though.

[Synonymous]

Abra, on this quote, always encouraging, conservative and kind to others, notice her comments to LLapp and Deanna48:

"People do not lack strength; they lack will. "
— Victor Hugo
Comments on this Puzzle:

cherylab1963
October 2, 2014, 1:29 am
I agree...for the most part. People aren't willing to do the hard work anymore. Both physically and mentally.
Beagle
December 11, 2014, 6:17 am
Dang... I got hung of entirely too long with "People don't like..."
abra
April 6, 2015, 2:51 pm
I got hung up on "LOSE strength".
LLapp
May 12, 2016, 7:55 am
I got hung up on doing cryptograms instead of getting outside and pulling weeds.
abra
December 31, 2018, 6:18 pm
Stay inside and crypto. There are bugs out there, and maybe snakes.
LLapp
June 2, 2019, 12:42 am
Phew, that was a close call.
Fudi
July 24, 2020, 8:04 pm
Well, *we* don't lack will. He's right here, in first place, as usual.
Deanna48
March 27, 2021, 10:24 am
^LOL
Wordigo
March 30, 2021, 11:50 am
Will doesn’t lack speed.
abra
October 2, 2022, 9:24 pm
Ah, but now Deanna, has cut a second off of his score. Deanna has the bright quick thinking mind of a teenager.

[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.