Thomas Kinkade Clearing Storms painting

Thomas Kinkade Clearing Storms paintingThomas Kinkade Chicago Water Tower paintingThomas Kinkade Autumn Lane painting
Have you ever taken it, sir?" asked Michael Corner with great interest.
"Twice in my life," said Slughorn. "Once when I was twenty-four, once when I was fifty-seven. Two tablespoonfuls taken with breakfast. Two perfect days."
He gazed dreamily into the distance. Whether he was playacting or not, thought Harry, the effect was good.
"And that," said Slughorn, apparently coming back to earth, "is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson."
There was silence in which every bubble and gurgle of the surrounding potions seemed magnified tenfold.
"One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis," said Slughorn, taking a minuscule glass bottle with a cork in it out of his pocket and showing it to them all. "Enough for twelve hours' luck. From dawn till dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt."

William Blake Jacob's Ladder painting

William Blake Jacob's Ladder paintingVincent van Gogh Wheat Field with Crows paintingVincent van Gogh Vase with Twelve Sunflowers painting
the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle’s magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that you teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them — in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others' safety."
Dumbledore's blue eyes swept over the students before he smiled once more.
"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"
With the usual deafening scraping noise, the benches moved back and the hundreds of students

childe hassam Wayside Inn Sudbury Massachusetts painting

childe hassam Wayside Inn Sudbury Massachusetts painting
Edgar Degas Four Dancers painting
In desperation Harry pointed his wand at the sidecar and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

　　　The sidecar rose like a cork, unsteerable but at least still airborne. He had but a split second's relief, however, as more curses streaked past him: The three Death Eaters were closing in.

　　　"I'm comin', Harry!" Hagrid yelled from out of the darkness, but Harry could feel the sidecar beginning to sink again: Crouching as low as he could, he pointed at the middle of the oncoming figures and yelled, "Impedimenta!"

　　　The jinx hit the middle Death Eater in the chest; For a moment the man was absurdly spread-eagled in midair as though he had hit an invisible barrier: One of his fellows almost collided with him –

Thomas Kinkade HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS painting

Thomas Kinkade HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS painting
Winslow Homer The Houses of Parliament painting
Mundungus did not look particularly reassured, but Moody was already pulling half a dozen eggcup-sized glasses from inside his cloak, which he handed out, before pouring a little Polyjuice Potion into each one.

"Altogether, then … "

　　　Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus drank. All of them gasped and grimaced as the potion hit their throats; At once, their features began to bubble and distort like hot wax. Hermione and Mundungus were shooting upward; Ron, Fred, and George were shrinking; their hair was darkening, Hermione's and Fleur's appearing to shoot backward into their skulls

Fabian Perez Flamenco Dancer painting

Fabian Perez Flamenco Dancer painting
Fabian Perez christine painting
That's great," said Harry, not altogether truthfully.

　　　"We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom," said Moody, who seemed to guess how Harry was feeling. "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he's never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who looks at Homeon a broomstick. All right then," he went on, tying up the sack with the fake Potters' clothes in it and leading

the way back to the door, "I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. Come on …"

　　　Harry hurried to gather his rucksack, Firebolt, and Hedwig's cage and followed the group to the dark back garden

Fabian Perez Flamenco Dancer painting

Fabian Perez Flamenco Dancer painting
Fabian Perez christine painting
That's great," said Harry, not altogether truthfully.

　　　"We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom," said Moody, who seemed to guess how Harry was feeling. "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he's never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who looks at Homeon a broomstick. All right then," he went on, tying up the sack with the fake Potters' clothes in it and leading

the way back to the door, "I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. Come on …"

　　　Harry hurried to gather his rucksack, Firebolt, and Hedwig's cage and followed the group to the dark back garden

John William Waterhouse The Lady of Shalott painting

John William Waterhouse The Lady of Shalott painting
Leonardo da Vinci The Last Supper painting
Background The induction of immune tolerance and suppression of allograft rejection has become the focus in the study of liver transplantation. The effect of immune therapy with anti-CD40L mAb alone or in combination with cyclosporine A (CsA) on the recipient survival and Th1/Th2 cytokine profile was studied to elucidate its immunological mechanism and role in rat orthotopic liver transplantation. Methods The model of rat orthotopic liver transplantation was established by modified Kamada’s technique. Recipients were divided into group A (control group): SD→SD; group B (group of rejection): SD→Wistar without any treatment; group C: SD→Wistar with CsA monotherapy from day 1 to day 5; and group D: SD→Wistar with CsA from day 1 to day 5 and anti-CD40L mAb on day 0 and day 2. The survival of the recipients in all groups was observed and ELISA technique was used to detect the level of cytokines in peripheral blood on post-transplant day

Johannes Vermeer girl with the pearl earring painting

Johannes Vermeer girl with the pearl earring painting
Gustav Klimt The Three Ages of Woman painting

Governors and business leaders to drive high academic standards for public schools in the United States. At IBM he has established Reinventing Education as the company's program in support of systemic school reform. Through Reinventing Education, IBM has initiated strategic partnerships with 21 states and school districts, which are utilizing IBM technology and technical assistance to eliminate key barriers to school reform and improve student performance.He has received numerous awards for his work in education, among them the Cleveland E. Dodge Medal for Distinguished Service to Education - Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Distinguished Service to Science and Education award from the American Museum of Natural History. Mr. Gerstner is also the first recipient of Washington University's combined Excellence in Business, Engineering & Technology Award, and the first to receive the Visionary Award from New Visions for Public Schools.

Rembrandt Christ In The Storm painting

Rembrandt Christ In The Storm painting
Pino pino color painting
It reminds me of the reigning theory in cosmology. The so-called inflationary universe hypothesis holds — very, very roughly — that an infinitesimal fraction of a second after the Big Bang, tiny parts of the primordial universe inflated so fast that all of our visible universe derives from one of these parts; we simply can't see the rest of the universe. When a celebrity's private life and death become public, news gets disseminated so rapidly and so thoroughly that we’re blinded to everyone else's lives. President Kennedy's assassination, for example, was not simply a murder but, given his position, persona and power, a seismic social phenomenon beyond any drama that might befall an ordinary family.

Thomas Kinkade Mountain Memories painting

Thomas Kinkade Mountain Memories painting
Thomas Kinkade Footprints in the sand painting
there's going to be strong demand for it," Iribarren said. No figures on PS2 preorders were available, but such retailers as Circuit City and Best Buy have made it clear that they expect to sell out of the consoles within minutes of opening their doors Thursday. A key test will be whether Sony can meet its production goal of 1 million-2 million units a month. High-tech sales research firm PC Data reported this month that rival console maker Sega has doubled weekly sales of its Dreamcast console during the weeks preceding PS2's launch. Sega said it has been stockpiling its 128-bit console in expectation of a scaling back by Sony. "PS2 will be huge, but if initial results are any indication, Sega has positioned itself perfectly if speculation of PS2 shortages are realized," PC Data analyst Matt Gravett said.

Edward Hopper Morning Sun painting

Edward Hopper Morning Sun painting
Amedeo Modigliani Reclining Nude painting

Former Lucent Technologies board chairman Henry Schacht is shown in this undated file photo. Lucent's board has forced out Richard McGinn as chairman and chief executive after a series of financial disappointments Monday, Oct. 23, 2000, in Murray Hill, N.J. The maker of telecomms equipment said that Schacht, 66, would replace McGinn in both posts and will lead the search for his successor.
NEW YORK - Lucent Technologies Inc. on Monday fired Chairman and Chief Executive Rich McGinn, posted a 22-percent drop in fourth-quarter profits, and slashed its sales and profit outlook for the first quarter of 2001. McGinn's ouster follows several quarters of disappointing profits at the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, as well as manufacturing constraints and late introductions of new optical-networking products. Lucent said its fourth-quarter profits from continuing operations fell to

Francois Boucher The Rape of Europa painting

Francois Boucher The Rape of Europa painting
Michelangelo Buonarroti The Creation of Adam painting

Rock 'n' roll veteran Tina Turner ended her touring career on a lucrative note by selling $80.2 million worth of concert tickets in North America this year, more than any other act on the road, according to data released on December 28, 2000 by trade publication Pollstar. Turner, shown during the closing night of her 'Twenty Four Seven' tour December 6, outpaced pop heartthrobs 'N Sync, who grossed $76.4 million and rock combo the Dave Matthews Band with $68.2 million.
LOS ANGELES - Rock 'n' roll veteran Tina Turner ended her touring career on a lucrative note by selling $80.2 million worth of concert tickets in North America this year, more than any other act on the road. According to data released on Thursday

Thomas Cole The Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch) painting

Thomas Cole The Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch) painting
Jacques-Louis David Male Nude known as Patroclus painting
Chan said that while in the past certain rare reptiles have been the target of animal traffickers, there was no known market for koalas, leaving officials mystified as to the motive for the apparent theft. "The only way to describe them is really they are the cutest things you have ever seen," Chan said. "It could be that they want to sell them, or they might want to have them as pets. But why they would want to have them as pets is beyond us because they are so difficult to take care of."Other, more grisly scenarios, including the possibility that someone might have taken the koalas intending to eat them, were not out of the question, Chan said. "We don't even want to think about that, (but) that has come up in our conversations," Chan said. "Would someone want to eat a koala? Why would anyone want to do that? We don't know."

Alexandre Cabanel paintings

Alexandre Cabanel paintings
Anders Zorn paintings
decrease in two diastolic points cuts the risk of high blood pressure by 17 percent, the risk of heart disease by 6 percent and the chance of a stroke or angina by 15 percent.The researchers stressed that the health benefits of the diet would not be proved conclusively unless it was followed for a long period.Low-salt products were also hard to find, they said. pressure reading — by nearly seven points if they were on a regular blood pressure can benefit from a low-salt diet, according to the researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. Experts cautioned, however, that most U.S. consumers would have difficulty taking advantage of the results unless the makers of processed foods changed their practices.

Village painting

Village painting
wine painting
from the United States, Britain, France and Japan, as well as from several Arab countries, are expected to participate. Scholars trace the origins of writing to the Sumerian civilization, which was based in and around what is now modern Iraq in the third millennium B.C.The oldest known writing comes from tablets found in the to the ancient city of Uruk, 155 miles southwest of Baghdad.The tablets — ranging in size from small ones that could be held in the palm of the hand to large ones that could only be held with both hands — were originally made of damp clay and inscribed with a stylus. Objects were represented by pictures, numbers were represented by repeated strokes or circles, and names were indicated by combinations of pictures.Specialists were charged with the duty, which makes the job of historians easier today.

Claude Lorrain paintings

Claude Lorrain paintings
Claude Monet paintings
we'll always be friends," he said. "I mean we're regular people and I know a lot of people are like Jennifer Lopez and Puffy Daddy but that's Jennifer and I'm Sean and we're regular people and sometimes relationships don't work out." When the time is right "we'll meet again," he said. After a 14-month ordeal, then a six-week trial, Combs said he just feels thankful to God. God and Good Lawyers "Man, I just feel blessed," he said. "You know the first word that comes to mind, I was in a situation where the only way I could come out of it was God," he said. "By putting my faith in God no matter how good my lawyers were, no matter how much celebrity I had. There was nothing, you know, everything was just stacked up against me."

Gustav Klimt Beethoven Frieze painting

Gustav Klimt Beethoven Frieze painting
Eduard Manet Flowers In A Crystal Vase painting
With no real threat of military involvement, Weber and the others were at the mercy of their employers' willingness to pay — a fact known all too well by Colombian criminals. "What they recognize, is that if I grab someone who works for a private corporation who has insurance, I can get paid," ," says Johnson, "If I kidnapped a U.S. diplomat, someone with DEA, or kill someone from the U.S. military, I might get a cruise missile."
Nuclear power could be making a comeback — but not before the end of the decade.
That's one of the implications of the Bush administration's energy plan — to be released today under the direction of Vice President Dick Cheney — which seeks to make it easier for companies to construct new nuclear power plants.

Tamara de Lempicka Adam and Eve painting

Tamara de Lempicka Adam and Eve painting
Claude Monet The Road To Chailly painting
had prepared myself [for], 'Your husband's dead — there was an airplane crash,' you know, accidents," she says. "I never expected to hear, 'Jason's been kidnapped.'" Days of captivity turned into weeks. A month passed. Weber and his fellow hostages struggled to maintain hope. They knew negotiations were ongoing and figured a deal would be struck soon. Lisa Weber knew little about negotiations with the kidnappers until she read in a newspaper that her husband's captors had demanded a ransom of $80 million. Watching their captors, Weber and the other hostages guessed that things had taken a turn for the worse, however. More and more rebels were joining the caravan and the stress was palpable. At one point, a gunfight broke out among the guerrillas.

Claude Monet Sunset painting

Claude Monet Sunset painting
Claude Monet Poppy Field In A Hollow Near Giverny painting
degrade myself — but I'm now open to everything, and that feels good," Berry said. "Once I decided to do it, then it was all a cakewalk." At the shoot, her male co-star seemed less composed, however. "The day we shot it, I think Hugh Jackman was more nervous than I was," Berry said. "He was tripping over his feet." But it was hard for her to make the decision to do the scene. "And I remember saying to my husband, 'I don't know, should I?'" Berry said. No Thanks — She’s Taken That's right, she consulted her husband. Berry, the subject of fantasies for many American males, has slipped off the eligibility list. She married musician Eric Bonet in an ultra-secret wedding ceremony earlier this year. He helped her resolve the nudity dilemma.

Arthur Hughes paintings

Arthur Hughes paintings
Albert Bierstadt paintings
All these years later, scientists still puzzle over forces buried in the Earth that shaped those diamonds, because those same forces also built a continent. As a result, teams of scientists are now wrapping up an ambitious, interdisciplinary study of the same region where Swartboy found that nifty rock. Reading Earth's SurfaceThe research isn't focused on diamonds, but diamonds play a role, and it's possible that the high tech equipment used to probe the region more than 150 miles below the Earth's surface may also help modern fortune hunters find new sources of diamonds. But that's not what the scientists set out to do. "The scientific goal was to try and understand how continents form on Earth," says Richard W. Carlson of the Carnegie Institution of Washington's

Anders Zorn paintings

Anders Zorn paintings
Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings
Britons regard their monarchy very much like the way Americans regard their flag, said Celia Sandys, a granddaughter of Winston Churchill and author of Churchill: Wanted Dead Or Alive."It's not individuals we're talking about, it's an institution," she said.As an example of the affinity most Britons retain for their royal family, Linker cited the crowds who gathered at memorials for Princess Margaret, who died last month at 71. Sandys noted that Australians held an acrimonious debate in 1999 on whether or not to dump the queen, but eventually voted to keep the monarchy.Linker dismissed the scandals surrounding the Windsors as a "media invention.""This is absurd," he said. "This is trying to put these people at the same level as Madonna."Drifting Toward RepublicanismOthers, however, are less sanguine.

Garden painting

Garden painting
Hunting paintings
Whoopi Goldberg, hosting her fourth Oscar show, made a grand entrance from the ceiling. Decked out in a peacock-like feathered outfit with a gold top hat, she was lowered on a trapeze to the theater floor in a spoof of Moulin Rouge."I am the original sexy beast," she said.Goldberg had been criticized for past Oscar shows for some of her risque jokes and had sworn she would never do another show. But after Sept. 11, she changed her mind.While the show did strike a serious tone at times, Goldberg kept things moving along, and still found the opportunity to get a bit racy. "Oscar is the only 74-year-old man in Hollywood who doesn't need Viagra to last three hours," she joked.Still, there were several tributes to those who suffered in the Sept. 11 attacks. Tom Cruise introduced the first of several taped segments commemorating America's love affair with the silver screen, asking if movies have lost their relevance in a time of war.

Seascapes paintings

Seascapes paintings
Still Life paintings
study reported by the Journal of the American Medical Association (news - web sites) showed 80 percent of SARS cases in Toronto were spread in hospitals and clinics. The study of 144 SARS patients also showed that 93 percent had a 21-day survival rate. The economic fall-out of the outbreak continued in the Asia-Pacific region, with Australian flag-carrier Qantas announcing that it had been forced into another downgrade of its profit forecast for the year to June 2003. "The outbreak of SARS, which was entirely unexpected, has compounded the difficulties facing our industry, particularly in this region," chief executive Geoff Dixon said in a statement. The WHO announced that there was no immediate change in its advice not to travel to Hong Kong, which has registered 1,646 SARS cases and 193 deaths. Other countries to have recorded SARS fatalities are Malaysia (2), the Philippines (2), Thailand (2) and Vietnam (5).

Fabian Perez Tango painting

Fabian Perez Tango painting
Guillaume Seignac Nymphe A La Piece D'Eau painting
感觉实在是太爽了。”拉比诺维茨跑完一百米后开心地说。他用了30.86秒跑完100米，刷新了奥地利人欧文·贾斯库尔斯基创下的36.19秒的原世界纪录。"I don't know how long it is going to be like this. Every time I go, I break my own record. I get younger and younger," Rabinowitz said as his coach checked his pulse. “我不知道这种感觉有多长时间了，每次我打破自己创下的记录都感觉年青了很多。”拉比诺维茨说。教练正在为他检查脉搏。Rabinowitz broke the record a week ago, but a faulty electronic timer kept the mark out of the books. 拉比诺维茨一星期前已经打破了世界记录，但是官方计时仪器当天出现电源故障，没有记下拉比诺维茨的成绩。The South African, who works as a bookkeeper for his daughter and tries to walk at least six km a day, is already listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest competitive walker. 拉比诺维茨至今仍坚持在自己女儿经营的店铺当账房先生。直到现在，拉比诺维茨老人每天都坚持步行6公里，已列入吉尼斯世界纪录，成为世界上年纪最大的竞走者。

Thomas Stiltz BV Beauty painting

Thomas Stiltz BV Beauty painting
Theodore Robinson From the Hill Giverny painting
Big-footed Athens Olympics mascots in voluminous plush suits of orange and blue are lifesize renditions of unearthed terracotta dolls dating back 5,000 years.他们长着大脚丫，一个穿着深黄色长毛绒衣服，一个穿着深蓝色长毛绒衣服。吉祥物正是古希腊出土的5000年前的陶土雕塑玩偶“达伊达拉”的翻版。The names of two Olympian gods: Phevos, name of the Olympian God of light and music, known as Apollo. Athena, goddess of wisdom and the patron of the city of Athens. This colorful pin will be a hit during the games.根据希腊神话故事记载，雅典娜和费沃斯是兄妹俩。雅典娜是智慧女神，希腊首都雅典的名字由此而来。费沃斯则是光明与音乐之神。这色彩鲜艳的小东西很快就在奥运会上受到欢迎。Thousands of doll-sized copies of the Phevos and Athena mascots are now on sale at all Olympic venues for 9.99 euros. They are all labeled "Made in China." 数千个洋娃娃样的雅典娜和费沃斯在奥运会场以9.99 欧元的价格出售。这些洋娃娃都是中国制造的。

Filippino Lippi paintings

Filippino Lippi paintings
Francisco de Zurbaran paintings
ere are many theories for generating - or driving - eccentricities, but the two main ideas are that the planet interacts early on with gaps in the planet-formation disk or later on with another planet. Both theories have drawbacks. Observations of young stars with disks might help settle the issue.
At the outset of his second term, President Bush placed improving America's image abroad and relations with allies at the top of his agenda.
At the outset of his second term, President Bush placed improving America's image abroad and relations with allies at the top of his agenda. But several months on, two of the Bush II administration's key diplomatic and outreach posts sit vacant - one held up by a high-profile Senate confirmation battle, the other unfilled by its designated occupant until the

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings
Allan R.Banks paintings
Exercise, laughter and other connections can soothe and restore you. Jenna says the best strategy is to get busy, and remind yourself you have a life without him. Go to a spa, visit old friends, even go to the zoo. "Resist the urge to sit around the house with a box of Hohos listening to sappy love music that reminds you of him while wearing the same old pajamas for three days," she advises. Look to future romanceToday's disappointment just makes it all the sweeter when you do find a win-win connection. Diana had been devastated when Mr. Right said he no longer loved her. "It took months to finally end things because I kept humiliating myself by calling him at all hours," she said. Years later, he tracked her down and wrote that he couldn't stop thinking about her. But she had gotten back into circulation, and made a new life rich with love. So she knew just how to reply: "I emailed him my wedding picture with a one-word response: Thanks!"

contemporary abstract painting

contemporary abstract painting

At some point, most homeowners find that their home no longer suits their lifestyle needs. You may have purchased your home when there were just two in your family and now there are four. Or perhaps you're working at home more and need space for a home office.
A question that often comes to mind is whether it's better to remodel your existing home to fit your new lifestyle, or sell the home and buy another one.Use the following list of questions to guide you through the decision-making process:Is your current home in the right location? What don't you like about your current home? it feasible to remodel your home to create the kind of living space you need? How much will the remodel cost? Can you afford it? Will you be over-improving for the neighborhood? Can you realistically live through a remodel project? Is it possible to buy a home that will suit your needs? Can you afford it? Is it more cost effective to buy another home or remodel the existing one? Is there an urgency factor? Remodeling takes time-usually more time than you anticipate it will take

Claude Monet The Road To Chailly painting

Claude Monet The Road To Chailly painting
Fabian Perez Flamenco DancerII painting
Dear Judy:I think that the sensence can be more concise, which means that we only highlightthe things that help explain the points and omit the ones that doesn‘t.
"When I was four or five years old, my mother was still a housewife, and she raised some ducks and chickens. One of the roosters was my favorite. He didn‘t have a name. I saw him as my friend. He had bright black feathers and a cockscomb. He was about two feet tall. Usually, we played hide and seek with each other in my house. When he was a juvenile, he always crowed at dawn."
Here‘s how I would rephrase the sentence:
My mom used to raise ducks and chickens when I was young. There is one roosterin particular that I liked so much I treated him like a friend of mine. The roosterwas about two feet tall and he had bright black feathers and cockscomb. He alwayscrowed near dawn everyday as if he could tell time. We used to play hide and seekin the house.
Just want to point out that "chicken soup for soul " is purely Chinese English, nobody will understand what it means outside of China or the Chinese community ^_^. Keep it for fun but don‘t use it seriously when writing to foreigners, they are not going to get it. I encourage proper English and avoid improper translations.
CKCAT ^_^

Allan R.Banks paintings

Allan R.Banks paintings
Andrea Mantegna paintings
other; ‘get him hanged! Why not? Anything - anything can be done in this country. That’s what I say; nobody here, you understand, here, can endanger your position. And why? You stand the climate - you outlast them all. The danger is in Europe; but there before I left I took care to -’ They moved off and whispered, then their voices rose again. ‘The extraordinary series of delays is not my fault. I did my best.’ The fat man sighed. ‘Very sad.’ ‘And the pestiferous absurdity of his talk,’ continued the other; ‘he bothered me enough when he was here. “Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing.” Conceive you - that ass! And he wants to be manager! No, it’s -’ Here he got choked by excessive indignation, and I lifted my head the least bit. I was surprised to see how near they were - right under me. I could have spat upon their hats. They were looking on the ground, absorbed in thought. The manager was switching his leg with a slender twig: his sagacious relative lifted his head. ‘You have been well since you came out this time?’ he asked. The other gave a start. ‘Who? I? Oh! Like a charm - like a charm. But the rest - oh, my goodness! All sick. They die so quick, too, that I

John William Waterhouse Waterhouse Narcissus painting

John William Waterhouse Waterhouse Narcissus painting
John Singer Sargent Two Women Asleep in a Punt under the Willows painting
Some instinct made Anne keep away from Leslie for the next three days. On the third evening Leslie came down to the little house and told Gilbert that she had made up her mind; she would take Dick to Montreal and have the operation.
She was very pale and seemed to have wrapped herself in her old mantle of aloofness. But her eyes had lost the look which had haunted Gilbert; they were cold and bright; and she proceeded to discuss details with him in a crisp, business-like way. There were plans to be made and many things to be thought over. When Leslie had got the information she wanted she went home. Anne wanted to walk part of the way with her.
"Better not," said Leslie curtly. "Today's rain has made the ground damp. Good-night."
"Have I lost my friend?" said Anne with a sigh. "If the operation is successful and Dick Moore finds himself again Leslie will retreat into some remote fastness of her soul where none of us can ever find her."

Claude Monet The Road To Chailly painting

Claude Monet The Road To Chailly painting
Fabian Perez Flamenco DancerII painting
then, all at once, he got up and crept over to me; he put his head on my lap and gave me one loving look out of his big, soft, dog eyes--and then he just shivered and died. I shall miss him so."
"Let me give you another dog, Leslie," said Anne . "I'm getting a lovely Gordon setter for a Christmas present for Gilbert. Let me give you one too."
Leslie shook her head.
"Not just now, thank you, Anne. I don't feel like having another dog yet. I don't seem to have any affection left for another. Perhaps--in time--I'll let you give me one. I really need one as a kind of protection. But there was something almost human about Carlo-- it wouldn't be decent to fill his place too hurriedly, dear old fellow ."
Anne went to Avonlea a week before Christmas and stayed until after the holidays. Gilbert came up for her, and there was a glad New Year celebration at Green Gables, when Barrys and Blythes and Wrights assembled to devour a dinner which had cost Mrs. Rachel and Marilla

Gustav Klimt Beethoven Frieze painting

Gustav Klimt Beethoven Frieze painting
Eduard Manet Flowers In A Crystal Vase painting
and forgetfulness. Only, she never mentioned her darling hope to Leslie again; nor did Leslie ever refer to it. But one evening, when late winter was listening for the word of spring, she came over to the little house for a twilight chat; and when she went away she left a small, white box on the table. Anne found it after she was gone and opened it wonderingly. In it was a tiny white dress of exquisite workmanship-- delicate embroidery, wonderful tucking, sheer loveliness. Every stitch in it was handwork; and the little frills of lace at neck and sleeves were of real Valenciennes. Lying on it was a card--"with Leslie's love."
"What hours of work she must have put on it," said Anne. "And the material must have cost more than she could really afford. It is very sweet of her."
But Leslie was brusque and curt when Anne thanked her, and again the latter felt thrown back upon herself.
Leslie's gift was not alone in the little house. Miss Cornelia had, for the time being, given up sewing for unwanted, unwelcome eighth babies, and fallen to sewing for a very much wanted first one, whose welcome would leave nothing to be desired. Philippa Blake and Diana Wright

Julien Dupre paintings

Julien Dupre paintings
Julius LeBlanc Stewart paintings
and seemed as new and brilliant and mirth-provoking as if they had never been uttered before. Laughter and joy had their way; and when Anne and Gilbert left to catch the Carmody train, with Paul as driver, the twins were ready with rice and old shoes, in the throwing of which Charlotta the Fourth and Mr. Harrison bore a valiant part. Marilla stood at the gate and watched the carriage out of sight down the long lane with its banks of goldenrod. Anne turned at its end to wave her last good-bye. She was gone--Green Gables was her home no more; Marilla's face looked very gray and old as she turned to the house which Anne had filled for fourteen years, and even in her absence, with light and life.
But Diana and her small fry, the Echo Lodge people and the Allans, had stayed to help the two old ladies over the loneliness of the first evening; and they contrived to have a quietly pleasant little supper time, sitting long around the table and chatting over all the details of the day. While they were sitting there Anne and Gilbert were alighting from the train at Glen St. Mary.
Next chapter: The Home Coming

Francisco de Zurbaran paintings

Francisco de Zurbaran paintings
Guan zeju paintings
thin since the babies came. I'm not half so good-looking; but I think Jo likes it. There's not such a contrast between us, you see. And oh, it's perfectly magnificent that you're going to marry Gilbert. Roy Gardner wouldn't have done at all, at all. I can see that now, though I was horribly disappointed at the time. You know, Anne, you did treat Roy very badly."
"He has recovered, I understand," smiled Anne.
"Oh, yes. He is married and his wife is a sweet little thing and they're perfectly happy. Everything works together for good. Jo and the Bible say that, and they are pretty good authorities."
"Are Alec and Alonzo married yet?"
"Alec is, but Alonzo isn't. How those dear old days at Patty's Place come back when I'm talking to you, Anne! What fun we had!"
"Have you been to Patty's Place lately?"

Benjamin Williams Leader paintings

Benjamin Williams Leader paintings
Bartolome Esteban Murillo paintings
Hester Gray's, and now it will be dearer than ever."
"But I'll have to ask you to wait a long time, Anne," said Gilbert sadly. "It will be three years before I'll finish my medical course. And even then there will be no diamond sunbursts and marble halls."
Anne laughed.
"I don't want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want YOU. You see I'm quite as shameless as Phil about it. Sunbursts and marble halls may be all very well, but there is more `scope for imagination' without them. And as for the waiting, that doesn't matter. We'll just be happy, waiting and working for each other -- and dreaming. Oh, dreams will be very sweet now."
Gilbert drew her close to him and kissed her. Then they walked home together in the dusk, crowned king and queen in the bridal realm of love, along winding paths fringed with the sweetest flowers that ever bloomed, and over haunted meadows where winds of hope and memory blew.

childe hassam Poppies Isles of Shoals painting

childe hassam Poppies Isles of Shoals painting
Frederic Edwin Church Landscape in the Adirondacks painting
After all, the only real roses are the pink ones," said Anne, as she tied white ribbon around Diana's bouquet in the westwardlooking gable at Orchard Slope. "They are the flowers of love and faith."
Diana was standing nervously in the middle of the room, arrayed in her bridal white, her black curls frosted over with the film of her wedding veil. Anne had draped that veil, in accordance with the sentimental compact of years before.
"It's all pretty much as I used to imagine it long ago, when I wept over your inevitable marriage and our consequent parting," she laughed. "You are the bride of my dreams, Diana, with the `lovely misty veil'; and I am YOUR bridesmaid. But, alas! I haven't the puffed sleeves -- though these short lace ones are even prettier. Neither is my heart wholly breaking nor do I exactly hate Fred."
"We are not really parting, Anne," protested Diana. "I'm not going far away. We'll love each other just as much as ever. We've always kept that `oath' of friendship we swore long ago, haven't we?"
"Yes. We've kept it faithfully. We've had a beautiful friendship, Diana. We've never

Pino Tuscan Stroll painting

Pino Tuscan Stroll painting
Yvonne Jeanette Karlsen By the sea painting
Anne was trying to fasten a little gold chain about her throat. She suddenly found the clasp difficult to manage. WHAT was the matter with it -- or with her fingers?
"No," she said carelessly." Who is Christine Stuart?"
"Ronald Stuart's sister. She's in Kingsport this winter studying music. I haven't seen her, but they say she's very pretty and that Gilbert is quite crazy over her. How angry I was when you refused Gilbert, Anne. But Roy Gardner was foreordained for you. I can see that now. You were right, after all."
Anne did not blush, as she usually did when the girls assumed that her eventual marriage to Roy Gardner was a settled thing. All at once she felt rather dull. Phil's chatter seemed trivial and the reception a bore. She boxed poor Rusty's ears.
"Get off that cushion instantly, you cat, you! Why don't you stay down where you belong?"
Anne picked up her orchids and went downstairs, where Aunt Jamesina was presiding over a row of coats hung before the fire to warm. Roy Gardner was waiting for Anne and teasing the

Andrew Atroshenko Intimate Thoughts painting

Andrew Atroshenko Intimate Thoughts painting
Pablo Picasso Two Women Running on the Beach The Race painting
What a nice play-time this has been," said Anne. "I feel like a giant refreshed. And it's only a fortnight more till I go back to Kingsport, and Redmond and Patty's Place. Patty's Place is the dearest spot, Miss Lavendar. I feel as if I had two homes -- one at Green Gables and one at Patty's Place. But where has the summer gone? It doesn't seem a day since I came home that spring evening with the Mayflowers. When I was little I couldn't see from one end of the summer to the other. It stretched before me like an unending season. Now, `'tis a handbreadth, 'tis a tale.'"
"Anne, are you and Gilbert Blythe as good friends as you used to be?" asked Miss Lavendar quietly.
"I am just as much Gilbert's friend as ever I was, Miss Lavendar."
Miss Lavendar shook her head.
"I see something's gone wrong, Anne. I'm going to be impertinent and ask what. Have you quarrelled?"
"No; it's only that Gilbert wants more than friendship and I can't give him

Douglas Hofmann Model painting

Douglas Hofmann Model painting
Claude Monet La Japonaise painting
built by a millionaire. It's the first place after you leave the park, and must have grown while Spofford Avenue was still a country road. It DID grow -- it wasn't built! I don't care for the houses on the Avenue. They're too brand new and plateglassy. But this little spot is a dream -- and its name -- but wait till you see it."
They saw it as they walked up the pine-fringed hill from the park. Just on the crest, where Spofford Avenue petered out into a plain road, was a little white frame house with groups of pines on either side of it, stretching their arms protectingly over its low roof. It was covered with red and gold vines, through which its green-shuttered windows peeped. Before it was a tiny garden, surrounded by a low stone wall. October though it was, the garden was still very sweet with dear, old-fashioned, unworldly flowers and shrubs -- sweet may, southern-wood, lemon verbena, alyssum, petunias, marigolds and chrysanthemums. A tiny brick wall, in herring-bone pattern, led from the gate to the front porch. The whole place might have been transplanted from some remote country

Guillaume Seignac Nymphe A La Piece D'Eau painting

Guillaume Seignac Nymphe A La Piece D'Eau painting
William Bouguereau Evening Mood painting
wasted, that's what! Last Sunday night he announced that next Sunday he'd preach on the axe-head that swam. I think he'd better confine himself to the Bible and leave sensational subjects alone. Things have come to a pretty pass if a minister can't find enough in Holy Writ to preach about, that's what. What church do you attend, Anne? I hope you go regularly. People are apt to get so careless about church-going away from home, and I understand college students are great sinners in this respect. I'm told many of them actually study their lessons on Sunday. I hope you'll never sink that low, Anne. Remember how you were brought up. And be very careful what friends you make. You never know what sort of creatures are in them colleges. Outwardly they may be as whited sepulchers and inwardly as ravening wolves, that's what. You'd better not have anything to say to any young man who isn't from the Island.
"I forgot to tell you what happened the day the minister called here. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. I said to Marilla, `If Anne had been here wouldn't she have had a laugh?' Even Marilla laughed. You know he's a very short, fat little man with bow legs. Well, that old pig of

Il'ya Repin paintings

Il'ya Repin paintings
Igor V.Babailov paintings
parlor. And Mr. Harrison said to tell Anne to go over and see him `cause he wants to have a talk with her. And say, the floor is scrubbed, and Mr. Harrison is shaved, though there wasn't any preaching yesterday."
The Harrison kitchen wore a very unfamiliar look to Anne. The floor was indeed scrubbed to a wonderful pitch of purity and so was every article of furniture in the room; the stove was polished until she could see her face in it; the walls were whitewashed and the window panes sparkled in the sunlight. By the table sat Mr. Harrison in his working clothes, which on Friday had been noted for sundry rents and tatters but which were now neatly patched and brushed. He was sprucely shaved and what little hair he had was carefully trimmed.
"Sit down, Anne, sit down," said Mr. Harrison in a tone but two degrees removed from that which Avonlea people used at funerals. "Emily's gone over to Carmody with a lifelong friendship already with Rachel Lynde. Beats all how contrary women are. Well, Anne, my easy times are over. . .all over. It's neatness and tidiness for me for the rest of my natural life, I suppose."

Filippino Lippi paintings

Filippino Lippi paintings
Francisco de Zurbaran paintings
never in all her life beheld before, was rapidly rolling up. It was dead black, save where its curled and fringed edges showed a ghastly, livid white. There was something about it indescribably menacing as it gloomed up in the clear blue sky; now and again a bolt of lightning shot across it, followed by a savage growl. It hung so low that it almost seemed to be touching the tops of the wooded hills.
Mr. Harmon Andrews came clattering up the hill in his truck wagon, urging his team of grays to their utmost speed. He pulled them to a halt opposite the school.
"Guess Uncle Abe's hit it for once in his life, Anne," he shouted. "His storm's coming a leetle ahead of time. Did ye ever see the like of that cloud? Here, all you young ones, that are going my way, pile in, and those that ain't scoot for the post office if ye've more'n a quarter of a mile to go, and stay there till the shower's over."
Anne caught Davy and Dora by the hands and flew down the hill, along the Birch Path, and past Violet Vale and Willowmere, as fast as the twins' fat legs could go. They reached Green Gables

Andrea Mantegna paintings

Andrea Mantegna paintings
Arthur Hughes paintings
you see. I was vain and coquettish and liked to tease him a little. He was a very high-strung, sensitive fellow. Well, we parted in a temper on both sides. But I thought it would all come right; and it would have if Stephen hadn't come back too soon. Anne, my dear, I'm sorry to say". . .Miss Lavendar dropped her voice as if she were about to confess a predilection for murdering people, "that I am a dreadfully sulky person. Oh, you needn't smile,. . . it's only too true. I do sulk; and Stephen came back before I had finished sulking. I wouldn't listen to him and I wouldn't forgive him; and so he went away for good. He was too proud to come again. And then I sulked because he didn't come. I might have sent for him perhaps, but I couldn't humble myself to do that. I was just as proud as he was. . .pride and sulkiness make a very bad combination, Anne. But I could never care for anybody else and I didn't want to. I knew I would rather be an old maid for a thousand years than marry anybody who wasn't Stephen Irving. Well, it all seems like a dream

famous painting

famous painting
honor in his own country. He was, in fact, considered in the light of a standing joke, for few of his weather predictions were ever fulfilled. Mr. Elisha Wright, who labored under the impression that he was a local wit, used to say that nobody in Avonlea ever thought of looking in the Charlottetown dailies for weather probabilities. No; they just asked Uncle Abe what it was going to be tomorrow and expected the opposite. Nothing daunted, Uncle Abe kept on prophesying.
"We want to have the fair over before the election comes off," continued Mrs. Lynde, "for the candidates will be sure to come and spend lots of money. The Tories are bribing right and left, so they might as well be given a chance to spend their money honestly for once."
Anne was a red-hot Conservative, out of loyalty to Matthew's memory, but she said nothing. She knew better than to get Mrs. Lynde started on politics. She had a letter for Marilla, postmarked

John Collier In the Venusberg Tannhauser painting

John Collier In the Venusberg Tannhauser painting
Pablo Picasso Card Player painting
slipped off the gate and ran, as fast as his fat legs could carry him, to the barn.
Anne hastened across the fields to the Harrison establishment in no very hopeful frame of mind. The house was locked, the window shades were down, and there was no sign of anything living about the place. She stood on the veranda and called Dora loudly.
Ginger, in the kitchen behind her, shrieked and swore with sudden fierceness; but between his outbursts Anne heard a plaintive cry from the little building in the yard which served Mr. Harrison as a toolhouse. Anne flew to the door, unhasped it, and caught up a small mortal with a tearstained face who was sitting forlornly on an upturned nail keg.
"Oh, Dora, Dora, what a fright you have given us! How came you to be here?"
"Davy and I came over to see Ginger," sobbed Dora, "but we couldn't see him after all

Tamara de Lempicka Self Portrait in Green Bugatti painting

Tamara de Lempicka Self Portrait in Green Bugatti painting
Daniel Ridgway Knight The Honeymoon Breakfast painting
quenched even Davy. Anne wept and would not be comforted.
"I must cry, even if I am almost seventeen, Marilla," she sobbed. "It is so mortifying. And it sounds the death knell of our society. We'll simply be laughed out of existence."
In life, as in dreams, however, things often go by contraries. The Avonlea people did not laugh; they were too angry. Their money had gone to paint the hall and consequently they felt themselves bitterly aggrieved by the mistake. Public indignation centered on the Pyes. Roger Pye and John Andrew had bungled the matter between them; and as for Joshua Pye, he must be a born fool not to suspect there was something wrong when he opened the cans and saw the color of the paint. Joshua Pye, when thus animadverted upon, retorted that the Avonlea taste in colors was no business of his, whatever his private opinion might be; he had been hired to paint the hall, not to talk about it; and he meant to have his money for it.
The Improvers paid him his money in bitterness of spirit, after consulting

Eric Wallis paintings

Eric Wallis paintings
Edmund Blair Leighton paintings
that little stone house she calls Echo Lodge. Stephen went off to the States and went into business with his uncle and married a Yankee. He's never been home since, though his mother has been up to see him once or twice. His wife died two years ago and he's sending the boy home to his mother for a spell. He's ten years old and I don't know if he'll be a very desirable pupil. You can never tell about those Yankees."
Mrs Lynde looked upon all people who had the misfortune to be born or brought up elsewhere than in Prince Edward Island with a decided can-any-good-thing-come-out-of-Nazareth air. They might be good people, of course; but you were on the safe side in doubting it. She had a special prejudice against "Yankees." Her husband had been cheated out of ten dollars by an employer for whom he had once worked in Boston and neither angels nor principalities nor powers could have convinced Mrs. Rachel that the whole United States was not responsible for it.