Cecilia

“Strawberries first shaped my view of a world full of gifts simply scattered at your feet. A gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning. It is not a reward; you cannot earn it, or call it to you, or even deserve it. And yet it appears. Your only role is to be open-eyed and present. Gifts exist in a realm of humility and mystery—as with random acts of kindness, we do not know their source.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

“Played Scrabble. God, so lovely to play Scrabble in the pub with Eva and Alf. I just stared at them, proud that they could spell the odd word, and happy that they wanted to. Not everybody does. Many people never want to play Scrabble or Monopoly or even Guess Who? or anything, but my kids will drop everything for a game of Risk or Boggle or an on-the-spot quiz that I make up, hide-and-seek, even 20 questions, even an arm wrestle. Anything, they are ludic.”
― Nina Stibbe, Went to London, Took the Dog: A Diary

“How old was Jem when he finally learned to tell jokes? You remember how he got the form of jokes but didn’t really understand the idea of content?’ ‘What’s the difference between a … a … a button and a sock?’ she mimicked, catching Jem’s breathless excitement to a T. ‘A … BUFFALO! HAHAHAHAHA!”
― Diana Gabaldon, An Echo in the Bone

“Kids should be fat, she says. Filled with sugar and kindness and love. If I have kids they’re going to be enormous. I’ll stuff them full of everything they want.”
― Donal Ryan, Strange Flowers