The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend. ~Henry David Thoreau

ah..... i have grand intentions .... 

...but intentions are different than deeds, actions, events, blog posts ..... 

i frequently, in my blog wandering, happen across some clever soul who has a stirring quote to go with each post ... something pithy about art or humanity ....or even the weather ..... 

not me .... i LOVE quotes .... i write them down whenever i have a good one .... i have a groovy journal that i made from scratch, quilt cover, sewn in papers (what is that called again? ) .... i have an ungroovy journal of quotes .... dollar store lined blank book sort ..... and, because i work on a mac that has a program called sticky notes, i have a computer screen FULL of quotes that i have dragged off of one site or another ... but ... i just have these quotes that spoke to me (and frequently i'll look at one and wonder how on earth did that ever speak to me?)randomly in my life ...no organization really....no way to find the one i need....

 ..... so .... when i wanted a friend quote, to tell you succinctly in someone else's passionate prose about my happy day spent with my pal, al ..... i came up short .... so i googled friend quote .... 

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.  ~Douglas Pagels .......ok....that's nice .... but who is douglas pagels and how do you pronounce his last name and i don't have time to google him ..... i'm busy googling friend quotes....

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.  ~Author Unknown  .... yes, i could use this one, but then i should name some of the million little things ...and that's not the way i was planning on going ..... although, this isn't the way i was planning on going either! 

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.  ~Sicilian Proverb ... ok....this might be the one ... cause when allison and i paint with each other we are always saying ...oh, your eyebrow is purple ....or ....wow that's a giant green smudge across your face ..... 

The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.  ~Elbert Hubbard, The Notebook, 1927 ..... ok ... this works ... but i'm talking about woman not man ... will elbert mind if i change his quote .... and how many elberts do you know? i once had a teddy bear named elbert ...oh wait, that was egbert ... never mind ....

A good friend is cheaper than therapy.  ~Author Unknown ...ok...now ain't that the truth! ...but it's not quite the sentiment i'm looking for here .....

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer.  ~Author Unknown ... allison is the best question asker , and listener, ever .... and today she even said, i was trying to think of all the things i needed to tell you and ask you while i was driving over in the car .... and i know she really was ... we hadn't seen each other in a while .....

Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship.  ~Dorothy Parker ..... this would have worked great a few years ago when al was in more of a mixed media thing and did lots of sewing and beads and fabric ..... 

There are big ships and small ships.  But the best ship of all is friendship.  ~Author Unknown

ok ... that's just corny crazy dumb funny ..... 

A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked.  ~Author Unknown .... this might be more appropriate than i want to admit ....

A real friend is someone who would feel loss if you jumped on a train, or in front of one.  ~Author Unknown .... how eeyore is that? too pessimistic and horrid ... but i had to include it just for contrast ..... there are some bad quotes floating around out there in cyberspace ....

Love is like the wild-rose briar;
Friendship is like the holly-tree.
The holly is dark when the rose briar blooms,
But which will bloom most constantly?
~Emily Brontë

..... i picked this hoping i would have something bright and intellectual to say about it ... but, i give up .....

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.  ~John Leonard

i'm going with this one .... allison has been a grand friend for ten years ..... when i send my kids down to the basement to get something off the table they say, your side or allison's side? ...... 

and today? what did i do? art with my pal, al .... i finished one small piece, started one humongous and very orange piece ..... and hung out with my cute artsy friend .... rah for that .... 

so, longtime blog readers know that i collect buttons and bottlecaps and maps and keys and nasty old paintbrushes .... and now everyone knows i also collect quotes ..... do you have a favorite quote? obsessive compulsively collect them? or, what do you collect obsessive compulsively?