Good morning, digital neighbors! Happy Wednesday, friends & refugees, early birds & late dayers, conversants, lurkers, and lost! Hello again, PHAM, all you misfits, politically homeless, and dawn-patrolling souls (I still miss Al and hope he is well)—and finally, all of you coffee talkers, ADD irregulars, WSN curators, and curmudgeons. Rain, rain, rain: It has been gray, damp, and slightly chilly the last few days here. We need the rain, but it has come so late that autumn foliage is somewhat muted this year. It's just a lot of brown, and down with the leaves. Off to a few quotes, some pithy comments and some photography generously provided by the internet. Happy Wednesday, dear neighbors!

There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself - an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly. – Antisthenes

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. - George Washington, letter to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, 15 January 1783

We shall never have friends, if we expect to find them without fault. - Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia

As is oft repeated, we don’t need many friends, but to have none is to be among the most impoverished of souls. Having someone to know and love us, warts and all—who can encourage or call us out at the right time—is a rare gift. I think the latter part of friendship suffers more these days; fewer and fewer people have someone who loves them enough to help them round off the rough edges of their personality or unhealthy emotional fixations. Calling out friends these days usually risks losing them. It takes time to form a friendship, but often just one conversation to end it these days. We think people are just as easily replaced as other items, but we are fools to think that of our friendships. No friend is perfect, but to have no friends is disastrous.

Loneliness is one of our modern plagues—ironic when you think of all the means of connecting with people, and yet more and more feel lonely, disconnected, and adrift in life. When greater meaning is gone from life, depravity or inanity rushes in to fill the void. Online friendships have their own special rules, none of which I have really figured out other than “don’t be a dick,” which is a pretty good place to begin. Some relationships take off fast, but most are slow builders. However it happens, and when it does, it is a blessing. I think of Judy Thomas @Septuagenarian to this day and our early morning conversations on The Rubin Report in the days before Zoom or Teams. I am thankful that similar experiences happened at Phetasy and Triggernometry that ushered other good souls into my life.

Dolomites in Autumn Italy - Laura Meinhardt - Pexels