The Laboratory

This acrylic on canvas painting captures the artist's grandson in a domestic setting. The work focuses on the vivid primary colors of the toddler's clothing and the sharp, graphic nature of the patches, which contrast with the soft, neutral tones of the kitchen cabinetry. The lighting is high-key...

Understanding Friendship A quest to understand understanding: What is friendship?
Or, more precisely, what does it take to be a friend?
I've never considered myself a good friend to anyone.
I'd offer help, not necessarily when it was convenient, but when it didn't cost too much, if that makes sense.
I suppose I'd evaluate the investment.
I might help for days or weeks if I deemed it worthy and if it didn't take away from my family.
If I believed it would in any way negatively impact my child ...

So that's Cleopathera's Needle, bedad, An' a quare lookin' needle it is, I'll be bound; What a powerful muscle the queen must have had That could grasp such a weapon an' wind it around! Imagine her sittin' there stitchin' like mad Wid a needle like that in her hand! I declare It's as big as the Round Tower of Slane, an', bedad, It would pass for a round tower, only it's square! The taste of her, ordherin' a needle of granite! Begorra, the sight of it sthrikes me quite dumb! An' look at the qu...