The trouble with gardening is that is does not remain an avocation. It becomes an obsession.
Phyllis McGinleyThe thing to remember about fathers is, they're men. A girl has to keep it in mind: They are dragon seekers, bent on improbable rescues. Scratch any father, you find someone chock - full of qualms and romantic terrors, believing change is a threat - like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle I took such months to get.
Phyllis McGinleyShunning the upstart shower, / The cold and cursory scrub, / I celebrate the power / That lies within the Tub.
Phyllis McGinleyGod knows that a mother needs fortitude and courage and tolerance and flexibility and patience and firmness and nearly every other brave aspect of the human soul. But because I happen to be a parent of almost fiercely maternal nature, I praise casualness. It seems to me the rarest of virtues. It is useful enough when children are small. It is useful to the point of necessity when they are adolescents.
Phyllis McGinley