Thomas Kinkade spirit of xmas painting

Thomas Kinkade spirit of xmas paintingThomas Kinkade Serenity Cove painting
And time's . . . up!" called Slughorn. "Stop stirring, please!"
Slughorn moved slowly among the tables, peering into cauldrons. He made no comment, but occasionally gave the potions a stir or a sniff. At last he reached the table where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ernie were sitting. He smiled ruefully at the tarlike substance in Ron's cauldron. He passed over Ernie's navy concoction. Hermione's potion he gave an approving nod. Then he saw Harry's, and a look of incredulous delight spread over his face.
"The clear winner!" he cried to the dungeon. "Excellent, excellent, Harry! Good lord, it's clear you've inherited your mother's talent. She was a dab hand at Potions, Lily was! Here you are, then, here you are - one bottle of Felix Felicis, as promised, and use it well!"

Lord Frederick Leighton The Garden of the Hesperides painting

Lord Frederick Leighton The Garden of the Hesperides painting
Lord Frederick Leighton The Fisherman and the Syren painting
Lord Frederick Leighton Solitude painting
Harry remained within the confines of the Burrow's gardenover the next few weeks. He spent most of his days playing two-a-side Quidditch in the Weasleys' orchard (he and Hermione against Ron and Ginny; Hermione was dreadful and Ginny good, so they were reasonably well matched) and his evenings eating triple helpings of everything Mrs. Weasley put in front of him.
It would have been a happy, peaceful holiday had it not been for the stones of disappearances, odd accidents, even of deaths now appearing almost daily in the Prophet. Sometimes Bill and Mr. Weasley brought Homenews before it even reached the paper. To Mrs. Weasley’s displeasure, Harry's sixteenth birthday celebrations were marred by grisly tidings brought to the party by Remus Lupin, who was looking gaunt and grim, his brown hair streaked liberally with gray, his clothes more ragged and patched than ever.

Pino pino color painting

Pino pino color painting
Pino Angelica painting
Harry was bleeding. Clutching his right hand in his left and swearing under his breath, he shouldered open his bedroom door. There was a crunch of breaking china. He had trodden on a cup of cold tea that had been sitting on the floor outside his bedroom door.

"What the --?"

　　　He looked around, the landing of number four, Privet Drive, was deserted. Possibly the cup of tea was Dudley's idea of a clever booby trap. Keeping his bleeding hand elevated, Harry scraped the fragments of cup together with the other hand and threw them into the already crammed bin just visible inside his bedroom door. Then he tramped across to the bathroom to run his finger under the tap

Francois Boucher The Rape of Europa painting

Francois Boucher The Rape of Europa painting
Michelangelo Buonarroti The Creation of Adam painting
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative efforts, the joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us, if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered on to, but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of a false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profits, and there must be an end to our conduct in banking and in business, which too of ten has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrong-doing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty on honon on the sacredness of our obligation, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live

John Collier Lady Godiva painting

John Collier Lady Godiva painting
Caravaggio Supper at Emmaus painting

Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery spent Saturday stowing equipment, testing flight systems and getting ready for Sunday's scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery spent Saturday stowing equipment, testing flight systems and getting ready for Sunday's scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew of seven spent a week upgrading the International Space Station in advance of the first resident crew's arrival in less than two weeks. In an interview with reporters on the ground, commander Brian Duffy described the sight awaiting the Expedition One crew of two Russians and their American commander.

Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring painting

Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring painting
Johannes Vermeer girl with the pearl earring painting
Allen became ill last February after a televised talk show appearance and her leg muscles atrophied while she was bedridden. She survives on disability payments and needs physical therapy if she is to walk again, Kleiman said. Allen's extraordinary growth was due to a tumor in her pituitary gland, which was removed when she was 21, according to biographical information on her Web site.
Pizza Hut officials were indignant when Papa John's advertised in 1998 that it used better stuff in its pies.
DALLAS, Dec. 23 — A feud between two big pizza chains over television commercials could be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. Pizza Hut this week asked the high court to overturn a lower court's ruling and stop competitor Papa John's International Inc. from using the slogan, "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza," which Pizza Hut says isn't true.

Steve Hanks Ocean Breeze painting

Steve Hanks Ocean Breeze painting
Pino Angelica painting
Alpine is about 30 miles from San Diego. All 300 people who live on the nearby Viejas Indian Reservation, which includes a 24-hour casino and outlet mall, also were evacuated, and voluntary evacuations were underway in town of Jamul.However, the blaze was moving past the Alpine and its population of 10,550 and into the sparsely populated forestland nearby. The ominous glow of the flames could be seen from the town, a reminder of the power of nature.About 200 prison inmates were among the fire crews. Firefighters were using 90 fire engines, four bulldozers, five helicopters and five air tankers. Additional crews and aircraft were called in from throughout the state.Helicopters scooped huge buckets of water from a lake in Palo Verdes Ranch, a residential development of about 200 middle-class and luxury homes.

Camille Pissarro paintings

Camille Pissarro paintings
Carl Fredrik Aagard paintings
means to be children," he told 500 people who packed a hall.Jackson arrived almost three hours late for his speech to the prestigious Oxford Union debating society--delayed, organizers said, by trouble with a broken bone in his foot.In his half-hour address to the Union--which has in the past played host to Richard Nixon, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa and O.J. Simpson--a frail-looking Jackson recalled his childhood as the lead singer of the chart-topping Jackson Five. Breaking into tears as he spoke of his hard-driving father, Jackson said that despite his fame he had envied ordinary children.He said he longed for "a father who showed me love. And my father never did that."The speech served as a launch for Heal the Kids--a charity founded by Jackson, the flamboyant Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller.

Hunting paintings

Hunting paintings
impressionist painting
Five dates have been announced so far, two stops in New Jersey and Wisconsin in April and three California dates in May. Though the shows will continue throughout the summer, Jett is reluctant to call the engagements a tour, as she's doing no more than two or three gigs at a time."When I think of touring, I think of going out for eight months in a row and not coming back until you're done," Jett said. "I'm not really into doing that too much anymore. I've been doing that my whole life, since I was 15, and I want some semblance of a home life now. I want to hang out with my cats. I want to discover New York. I want to hang out with my friends."Jett will draw on material from her entire career in the concerts, including such early classics as "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," all the way up to a new tune or two

Edward Hopper paintings

Edward Hopper paintings
Edgar Degas paintings
Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, Washington is pledged to provide Taiwan with "such defense articles and defense services ... as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability." But a U.S. president has never articulated that the United States would actually undertake military action, as opposed to arming Taiwan to defend itself. Joseph Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said, "I don't think any American president has ever committed carte blanche like that before."The change in tone has drawn some fire. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., took the president to task for not adhering to "strategic ambiguity" in his comments on Taiwan."We have been deliberately vague about the circumstances under which we would come to Taiwan's defense, not only to discourage Taiwan from drawing us in by declaring independence but also to deter a Chinese attack by keeping

Diego Rivera Portrait of Natasha Zakolkowa Gelman painting

Diego Rivera Portrait of Natasha Zakolkowa Gelman painting
Vincent van Gogh The Starry Night painting
Die, sucker, die!” as they play violent video games. Fifteen-year-old Matthew Cwieka of Chicopee, Mass., has hosted numerous LAN parties in his basement. His parents are puzzled, but figure, why not? “You know — I didn’t — really didn’t know what he was talking about! And he finally had to explain it to me, and — and I was kind of like hesitant, but — I went along with it,” said Adam Cwieka, his father. He and his wife limit the parties to once a week.. Caffeine Fuels the Games Their son, Matthew, said the crucial elements of the LAN parties include junk food — lots of pizza and enough soda to keep them buzzing.“We want to keep ourselves running through the night,” he said. One partygoer, Chris Burchard, said the LAN parties frequently go all night

Patrick Devonas paintings

Patrick Devonas paintings
Peder Mork Monsted paintings
The flight path had been changed to avoid the town of Gonesse, where the supersonic jet crashed just after takeoff more than 15 months ago.'Double Tribute’Among the Concorde regulars lining up for the flight was perfume company founder Jean-Paul Guerlain, who said he'd flown the Concorde more than 200 times."I swore after the crash that I would fly again on the first flight," he said. "It's the most wonderful plane. I never lost confidence, and I have no fear."Another passenger, Yvonne Rollim, 67, called the flight "a double tribute" — to the Concorde and to New York, following the World Trade Center attack."We're paying homage to those who died on Sept. 11," she said.Engineering Changes

Tropical paintings

Tropical paintings
Venice paintings
Audrey Hepburn is the personification of natural beauty," said Rosie Green, Elle's beauty director. "She has a rare charm and inner beauty that radiates when she smiles. "Her skin looks fresh in all her films and her personality really shines through as someone warm and lively." More than 76% of the beauty experts who voted in the survey mentioned Hepburn in their top 10.
20-year-old Australian involved in modeling and dancing won the Miss Universe title in a two-hour pageant watched by television viewers around the world. She was chosen from among 80 beauty queens...
A 20-year-old Australian involved in modeling and dancing won the Miss Universe title in a two-hour pageant watched by television viewers around the world.

Andrew Atroshenko Ballerina painting

Andrew Atroshenko Ballerina painting
Albert Bierstadt On the Saco painting

As much as you may hate to think about it, Christmas is coming closer, and once again the mad rush for finding that perfect gift begins. What do you get mom? Your grandmother? Sister? Wife? ...
As much as you may hate to think about it, Christmas is coming closer, and once again the mad rush for finding that perfect gift begins. What do you get mom? Your grandmother? Sister? Wife? Girlfriend? Daughter?Christmas shopping doesn't have to be a nightmare. All you have to do is plan ahead and get it done. Don't wait for the last minute. Read the following shopping steps and save yourself a holiday headache. If you don't want to be stuck at the mall on Christmas Eve, start shopping as early as possible. 1- Make a listMake a list of the gifts you need to buy and include a backup gift in case you can't find what you're looking for

Eric Wallis paintings

Eric Wallis paintings
Edmund Blair Leighton paintings
RHETT: No, not yet, that's what's left by our army blowing up the ammunition, so the Yankees won't get it.SCARLETT: We've got to get out of here.RHETT: At your service, Madame. Just where were you figuring on going?SCARLETT: Home, to Tara.RHETT: Tara? Don't you know that they've been fighting all day around Tara? Do you think you can parade right through the Yankee army with a sick woman, a baby and simply minded darkie? Or do you intend leaving them behind.SCARLETT: They're going with me and I'm going home and you can't stop me!RHETT: Don't you know it's dangerous jouncing Mrs.Wilkes over miles of open country?SCARLETT: I want my mother! I want to go home to Tara!RHETT: Tara's probably been burned to the ground. The woods are full of ^stragglers from both armies, the least thing they'll do is take the horse away from you. And even

Douglas Hofmann paintings

Douglas Hofmann paintings
Diane Romanello paintings
That was a wonderful day in the little house of dreams.
"The best dream of all has come true," said Anne, pale and rapturous. "Oh, Marilla, I hardly dare believe it, after that horrible day last summer. I have had a heartache ever since then--but it is gone now."
"This baby will take Joy's place," said Marilla.
"Oh, no, no, no, Marilla. He can't--nothing can ever do that. He has his own place, my dear, wee man-child. But little Joy has hers, and always will have it. If she had lived she would have been over a year old. She would have been toddling around on her tiny feet and lisping a few words. I can see her so plainly, Marilla. Oh, I know now that Captain Jim was right when he said God would manage better than that my baby would seem a stranger to me when I found her Beyond. I've learned that this past year. I've followed her development day by day and week by week--I always shall. I shall know just how she grows from year to year--and when I meet her again I'll know her--she won't be a stranger. Oh, Marilla, look at his dear, darling toes! Isn't it strange they should be so perfect?"

Douglas Hofmann paintings

Douglas Hofmann paintings
Diane Romanello paintings
"I cannot. When I went into the house over there an hour ago, I felt that it must be a dream--that Dick must be there, with his childish smile, as he had been for so long. Anne, I seem stunned yet. I'm not glad or sorry--or anything. I feel as if something had been torn suddenly out of my life and left a terrible hole. I feel as if I couldn't be I--as if I must have changed into somebody else and couldn't get used to it. It gives me a horrible lonely, dazed, helpless feeling. It's good to see you again--it seems as if you were a sort of anchor for my drifting soul. Oh, Anne, I dread it all--the gossip and wonderment and questioning. When I think of that, I wish that I need not have come home at all. Dr. Dave was at the station when I came off the train--he brought me home. Poor old man, he feels very badly because he told me years ago that nothing could be done for Dick. `I honestly thought so, Leslie,' he said to me today. `But I should

Steve Hanks Interior View I painting

Steve Hanks Interior View I painting
Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring painting
so selfish as to sacrifice her own flesh and blood because of it, would you? Well, she was.
And Leslie gave in--she loved her mother so much she would have done anything to save her pain. She married Dick Moore. None of us knew why at the time. It wasn't till long afterward that I found out how her mother had worried her into it. I was sure there was something wrong, though, because I knew how she had snubbed him time and again, and it wasn't like Leslie to turn face--about like that. Besides, I knew that Dick Moore wasn't the kind of man Leslie could ever fancy, in spite of his good looks and dashing ways. Of course, there was no wedding, but Rose asked me to go and see them married. I went, but I was sorry I did. I'd seen Leslie's face at her brother's funeral and at her father's funeral--and now it seemed to me I was seeing it at her own funeral. But Rose was smiling as a basket of chips, believe me!
"Leslie and Dick settled down on the West place--Rose couldn't bear to part with her dear daughter!--and lived there for the winter. In the spring Rose took pneumonia and died--a year

William Bouguereau The Rapture of Psyche painting

William Bouguereau The Rapture of Psyche painting
Guillaume Seignac The Wave painting
point, believe me. They had two children--Leslie and Kenneth. Leslie had her mother's looks and her father's brains, and something she didn't get from either of them. She took after her Grandmother West--a splendid old lady. She was the brightest, friendliest, merriest thing when she was a child, Anne. Everybody liked her. She was her father's favorite and she was awful fond of him. They were `chums,' as she used to say. She couldn't see any of his faults--and he was a taking sort of man in some ways.
"Well, when Leslie was twelve years old, the first dreadful thing happened. She worshipped little Kenneth--he was four years younger than her, and he was a dear little chap. And he was killed one day--fell off a big load of hay just as it was going into the barn, and the wheel went right over his little body and crushed the life out of it. And mind you, Anne, Leslie saw it. She was looking down from the loft. She gave one screech--the hired man said he never heard such a sound in all his life--he said it would ring in his ears till Gabriel's trump drove it out. But she never screeched or cried again about it. She jumped from the loft onto the load and from the load to the

Andrea Mantegna paintings

Andrea Mantegna paintings
Arthur Hughes paintings
without having to pray about it."
"I can't picture you as being unforgiving for long," said Stella.
"Oh, I used to be. But holding spite doesn't seem worth while when you get along in years."
"That reminds me," said Anne, and told the tale of John and Janet.
"And now tell us about that romantic scene you hinted so darkly at in one of your letters," demanded Phil.
Anne acted out Samuel's proposal with great spirit. The girls shrieked with laughter and Aunt Jamesina smiled.
"It isn't in good taste to make fun of your beaux," she said severely; "but," she added calmly, "I always did it myself."
"Tell us about your beaux, Aunty, "en treated Phil. "You must have had any number of them."
"They're not in the past tense," retorted Aunt Jamesina. "I've got them yet. There are

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings
Allan R.Banks paintings
Don't speak of this to me again. Whatever put such an idea into your head?" said Anne, her sense of humor getting the better of her wrath. It was such an absurd situation.
"Yeh're a likely-looking girl and hev a right-smart way o' stepping," said Sam. "I don't want no lazy woman. Think it over. I won't change my mind yit awhile. Wall, I must be gitting. Gotter milk the cows."
Anne's illusions concerning proposals had suffered so much of late years that there were few of them left. So she could laugh wholeheartedly over this one, not feeling any secret sting. She mimicked poor Sam to Janet that night, and both of them laughed immoderately over his plunge into sentiment.
One afternoon, when Anne's sojourn in Valley Road was drawing to a close, Alec

Rembrandt The Return of the Prodigal Son painting

Rembrandt The Return of the Prodigal Son painting
John Collier Lady Godiva painting
looked at the girls without speaking; and just behind each sat a large white china dog, with round green spots all over it, a green nose and green ears. Those dogs captured Anne's fancy on the spot; they seemed like the twin guardian deities of Patty's Place.
For a few minutes nobody spoke. The girls were too nervous to find words, and neither the ancient ladies nor the china dogs seemed conversationally inclined. Anne glanced about the room. What a dear place it was! Another door opened out of it directly into the pine grove and the robins came boldly up on the very step. The floor was spotted with round, braided mats, such as Marilla made at Green Gables, but which were considered out of date everywhere else, even in Avonlea. And yet here they were on Spofford Avenue! A big, polished grandfather's clock ticked loudly and solemnly in a corner. There were delightful little cupboards over the mantelpiece, behind whose glass doors gleamed quaint bits of china. The walls were hung with old prints and silhouettes. In one corner the stairs went up, and at the first low turn was a long window with an inviting seat. It

Andrew Atroshenko The Passion of Music painting

Andrew Atroshenko The Passion of Music painting
Vincent van Gogh Starry Night over the Rhone painting
Accordingly they went house-hunting, but to find just what they wanted proved even harder than Priscilla had feared. Houses there were galore, furnished and unfurnished; but one was too big, another too small; this one too expensive, that one too far from Redmond. Exams were on and over; the last week of the term came and still their "house o'dreams," as Anne called it, remained a castle in the air.
"We shall have to give up and wait till the fall, I suppose," said Priscilla wearily, as they rambled through the park on one of April's darling days of breeze and blue, when the harbor was creaming and shimmering beneath the pearl-hued mists floating over it. "We may find some shack to shelter us then; and if not, boardinghouses we shall have always with us."
"I'm not going to worry about it just now, anyway, and spoil this lovely afternoon," said Anne, gazing around her with delight. The fresh chill air was faintly charged with the aroma of pine balsam, and the sky above was crystal clear and blue -- a great inverted cup of blessing. "Spring is singing in my blood today, and the lure of April is abroad on the air. I'm seeing visions

Jacques-Louis David Napoleon at the St. Bernard Pass painting

Jacques-Louis David Napoleon at the St. Bernard Pass painting
Gustav Klimt The Kiss painting
indigestible things whenever we happen to think of it, by day or night; and we flourish like green bay trees. We are always intending to reform. When we read any article in a paper warning us against something we like we cut it out and pin it up on the kitchen wall so that we'll remember it. But we never can somehow . . .until after we've gone and eaten that very thing. Nothing has ever killed us yet; but Charlotta the Fourth has been known to have bad dreams after we had eaten doughnuts and mince pie and fruit cake before we went to bed."
"Grandma lets me have a glass of milk and a slice of bread and butter before I go to bed; and on Sunday nights she puts jam on the bread," said Paul. "So I'm always glad when it's Sunday night. . . for more reasons than one. Sunday is a very long day on the shore road. Grandma says it's all too short for her and that father never found Sundays tiresome when he was a little

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings

Anne-Francois-Louis Janmot paintings
Allan R.Banks paintings
didn't suppose you would. Of course, I was only stringing Jerry. . .he thinks he's so all-fired cute and smart. I've no intention of voting for Amesbury. I'm going to vote for Grant as I've always done. . .you'll see that when the election comes off. I just led Jerry on to see if he would commit himself. And it's all right about the fence . . .you can tell the Improvers that."
"It takes all sorts of people to make a world, as I've often heard, but I think there are some who could be spared," Anne told her reflection in the east gable mirror that night. "I wouldn't have mentioned the disgraceful thing to a soul anyhow, so my conscience is clear on that score. I really don't know who or what is to be thanked for this. I did nothing to bring it about, and it's hard to believe that Providence ever works by means of the kind of politics men like Judson Parker and Jerry Corcoran have."

Andrew Atroshenko The Passion of Music painting

Andrew Atroshenko The Passion of Music painting
Vincent van Gogh Starry Night over the Rhone painting
asked Anne, who liked appropriate names and thought Ginger accorded not at all with such gorgeous plumage.
"My brother the sailor named him. Maybe it had some reference to his temper. I think a lot of that bird though. . .you'd be surprised if you knew how much. He has his faults of course. That bird has cost me a good deal one way and another. Some people object to his swearing habits but he can't be broken of them. I've tried. . .other people have tried. Some folks have prejudices against parrots. Silly, ain't it? I like them myself. Ginger's a lot of company to me. Nothing would induce me to give that bird up. . .nothing in the world, miss."
Mr. Harrison flung the last sentence at Anne as explosively as if he suspected her of some latent design of persuading him to give Ginger up. Anne, however, was beginning to like the queer, fussy, fidgety little man, and before the meal was over they were quite good friends. Mr. Harrison found out about the Improvement Society and was disposed to approve of it.