Eight is Great

"Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift." — Aretha Franklin

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl #pipermarie #eightisgreat #bisous

2023 in a Word

« Mettre tout en équilibre, c'est bien; mettre tout en harmonie, c'est mieux. » — Victor Hugo

2022 Year in Review - Instapuzzle

“Celebrate endings for they precede new beginnings.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

🥂 Cheers to the colors of 2022: January blues • February’s lovely, rosy hues • The wearing o’ the green in March • Sunny yellow to offset April showers • May’s lilacs and violets • Pure whites befitting a June bride • Every heart beats true for the red, white, and blue in patriotic July • The spectrum of August • Down to earth in September • Orange you glad it’s October? • November in black and white • The festive colors of the holidays in December.

🥂 Cheers to a new challenge in 2023: Creating an Instapuzzle — a series of image that when viewed together create one seamless visual. I practiced with this post and hope to accomplish this goal next year.

December 2022 in Pictures

“I heard a bird sing in the dark of December, a magical thing and sweet to remember: ‘We are nearer to spring than we were in September.’” — Oliver Herford, "Hope"

Punctuation

“We have a language that is full of ambiguities; we have a way of expressing ourselves that is often complex and elusive, poetic and modulated; all our thoughts can be rendered with absolute clarity if we bother to put the right dots and squiggles between the words in the right places. Proper punctuation is both the sign and the cause of clear thinking.” — Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

Words are powerful, but let’s not forget to attend to punctuation — on the meaning that is conveyed through the smallest lines and dots in written communication and through cadence, tone, and expression in spoken language.

• Convey clear, concise meaning with full stops — period.

• Listen for pauses in thought — for the subtlety of a comma, the spontaneity of parentheses, and the urgency of an em dash. And always insist upon an Oxford comma.

• Cite sources to honor and promote the ideas of others.

• Ask questions, wonder, and seek clarification.

• Express joy, but refrain from using gratuitous exclamation points.

Links I Love • December 2022

Ad majorem Dei gloriam

• The 2022 Marquette Advent Calendar — I look forward to opening each day’s door. The contents are lovely.

• Love Actually Cast to Reunite for 20th Anniversary Holiday Special — I love this movie and watch it every Christmas season, even if some of the plot lines are controversial.

• UNESCO Bestows World Heritage Status on French Baguettes — They are a national treasure.

• How to Spend the Perfect Christmas in Paris

• Photos: The Most Beautiful Churches in Paris

• Eight Works of Art Hiding in Paris

• The 15 Best Museums in Paris