J is for jeweled, just the ticket and contributing joy

- This jewel incrusted van parked outside my building that looks so happy that I wonder if it plays music to passersby as it rides along.

- My grandmother had a favorite expression "just the ticket!"  As in something was very good.  So out of curiosity, I looked up the origin of the phrase and find that it most likely is a shortened version of 'that's the ticket for soup', a catchphrase from the second half of the 19th century referring to the tickets given to poor people to enable them to get something to eat at a soup kitchen.  The original sense was 'that's all you're going to eat'.   How about that?   I learned something new from looking for J items.  :)

- From an article about my favorite movie reviewer, Roger Ebert, who can no longer speak or eat as a result of cancer surgery to remove his thyroid, comes this quote from him that sums it all up for me, "I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out."
Jones, Chris, "Roger Ebert: The Essential Man." Esquire.com, 16 February 2010, http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310

Day 10 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge - featuring the letter "J" - thanks for coming by!