Watercolors

"I remember photographs -- watercolors of the past..." Janis Ian

Song of the day: Watercolors by Janis Ian

Photo: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico -- Corel Painter/Adobe Photoshop

Bright Horizons

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." Albert Schweitzer

Song of the day: Better With You by Abigail Zsiga

Photo: Almost Home

Identity Crisis

"For my part, I know nothing with any certainty... but the sight of stars makes me dream." Vincent van Gogh

Song of the day: Starry, Starry Night by Don McLean

Photograph: Self portrait, Photoshop

It's All In The Attitude

"Live on the edge of the miraculous!" Henry Miller

Song of the day: Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf

Photo: San Miguel and Cancun - Photoshop

A Dork For All Seasons

"Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you've found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for." Lawrence Block

I confess! I confess! There are periods of time when I become addicted to Home and Garden TV. Many years ago, during such a phase, I became enamored with gazing balls. Here was my problem: I could not justify spending good money on delicate glass yard art which, with my tendency towards benign neglect, would likely shatter after a few seasons. As luck would have it, during the summer of my gazing ball obsession, I happened upon a yard sale where I found a wonderful yellow and orange swirled bowling ball. It was the right shape and the right size; it possessed the right degree of durability; and, best of all, it was the right price: 50 cents! Over the years I have found (or have been gifted) a dozen brightly colored bowling balls which have all found a place in my little garden. On snowy days like today, when all the rest of my world seems dreary and colorless, I look at my garden and my spirits brighten. Still, I cannot help but wonder: were the bowling balls a stroke of genius or an episode of delusional madness?

Song of the day: Looking Out My Back Door by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Photos: My back yard

Le'chayim

"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." Mark Twain

Song of the day: Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright

Photo: Corel Painter and Photoshop

Voices of the Mountains

"I was warmed by the sun, rocked by the winds and sheltered by the trees. I can go everywhere with a good feeling." Geronimo

Song of the Day: Colors of the Wind by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz

Photo: Mayan Woman, Mercado 28, Cancun

Sunrise Sunset

"Every day is a new beginning, and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends." Ronald Reagan


"The most beautiful days come completely by chance." Javan



"How beautful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward." Spanish Proverb



"Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

"One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever. One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one's head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one's heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun -- which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. One knows it then... for a moment or so..." Frances Burnett

Song of the day: Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens

Photographs: Cancun

Easily Amused

"We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character." Henry David Thoreau

Is it the sign of a small, easily amused mind, that I get a kick out of my car turning over 200,000 miles? My poor little car is falling apart: the paint is wearing through; the trunk latch is broken and is secured by bungee cords; the noise it makes when turning is absolutely painful to hear. My kids call it my "ghetto car." But is was once my mom's car and, crazy as it sounds, I feel her presence every day as I am driving around. For better or worse, I inherited her spirit of wanderlust and adventure. I am the Doña Quixote of ordinary adventures.

Love you, Lif!

Song of the day: Riding In My Car by Donovan

Photo: Riding In My Car

Best Places to Snorkel

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonders forever." Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Perhaps because I live landlocked, I always dream of the sea. About fifteen years ago I had my first experience of snorkeling. Like so many "first experiences", it was certainly memorable, though not exactly stellar. A few years later I found myself on the Polynesian island of Moorea. It was there that I fell in love with snorkeling.

Sadly, due to deforestation and the effects of tourism, things have changed dramatically over the years but, back then, the lagoons were filled with seemingly endless coral gardens teeming with millions of fish in every color and hue imaginable.

I will confess, my snorkeling experience is, by no means, extensive, but it has been at least varied enough to know that there are interesting places to snorkel (anywhere in French Polynesia, but especially Taha'a) and not-so-interesting places to snorkel (avoid Ixtapa Island unless you like cold murky water and about five non-descript fish). Dear Reader, as always, I am seeking your counsel: what are your recommendations for best and worst places to snorkel?

Song of the day: Under the Sea by Alan Menken

Photo: Clownfish - Taha'a, French Polynesia

Your Favorite Travel Destinations

"The first journey creates the traveller." John O'Donohue

Travel and photography are two of my greatest passions and pleasures. When I am not traveling (which is most of the time), I am wistfully dreaming about places to which I would most like to journey. High on this list are the Seychelle Islands, Thailand, Egypt, China, the Maldives, India, the Ukraine, Tanzania, St. Lucia, Morocco, Italy, France… The list goes on and on.

A quick bit of research on the web yielded dozens of lists of places I should see before I die. One such list from the folks at Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com includes:

Petra, Jordan (Jordan)
Taj Mahal, Agra (India)
Lhasa, Tibet (Tibet)
Haghia Sofia, Istanbul (Istanbul)
Colosseum, Rome (Rome)
Sun Boat, Giza, Egypt (Cairo)
Isfahan, Iran (Iran)
Acropolis, Athens (Athens)
Angkor Wat, Cambodia (Cambodia)
London, England (London)

Now I am curious. If you have been to any of these places, what has made them memorable for you? Would there be other destinations you would recommend as "must see" places? Are there destinations that you would suggest I should avoid? Since I am stuck here for the moment, a bit of vicarious travel would be oh-so-welcome!

Song of the day: Wild World by Cat Stevens

Photograph: Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Perfect Moments

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." Carl Sagan


As I grow incrementally older, my attention span grows exponentially shorter, so it is no great surprise that I have become fascinated with books which are little more than lists: Alain de Botton's "On Love", Amy Kaouse Rosenthal's "Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life", AJ Jacobs' "The Know-It-All"…

In that vein, I thought it might be interesting to compose my own compendium of lists. What better place to begin than with "Perfect Moments". I imagined that I would quickly be able to come up with several dozen monumental memories. Eagerly I got out my very favorite journal and began to write. The first few were easy and came with almost no thought. The next few, I confess, I struggled with. And then my mind went absolutely blank. Surely I have had more than six perfect moments in my life, don't you think?

My friend Mary suggested (and I agree), that the word "perfect" is probably a bit of an overstatement. While "Perfect Moments" sounds wonderful, "Memorable Moments" is probably a more appropriate place to set the bar. And with the change of that one word, my list is now back on track.

As I work on my own list I find myself wondering what makes moments memorable for others. I would be most grateful if you would take a minute to share your thoughts.



Song of the day: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

Photo: Bora Bora, Polynesia

Things I Love About Japan

• Walking in the fog at Lake Chuzenji
• The neon of Tokyo
• Real Ramen
• Crab cakes at Yokohama Station
• Seeing Mt Fuji in the distance at sunset
• The Diabutsu at Nihonji
• Riding the Shinkansen
• The deer in Nara
• Naohiro
• Gyoza
• Sunning with the cats at Enoshima
• Kegon Waterfall
• Ryokans
• The Roozer
• Umebashi
• Sakuragichu
• Japan Rail Pass
• Kamakura in the rain
• The Rail Stations
• The iconic Diabutsu at Kamakura
• The Taj Mahal restaurant

Dear Erving Goffman

Song of the day: You're the Hangnail In My Life by Hoyt Axton


Photo: Kamakura In The Rain, Japan

Shadows

Song of the day: Unusual Way by Linda Eder

Photo: Anthurium, Botanic Gardens

Alan

"Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." Percy Bysshe Shelley

Twenty nine years.

I will never stop missing you, little brother.

Song of the day: Classical Gas by Mason Williams

Photo: Sheree and Alan, June 9, 1985

Time

"The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances." Martha Washington

Time’s fool I am—
I have always been
Seduced by its imprecision.
Adept at denial
I can’t reconcile
Its power over my vision.

Days I squander
In childish wonder
Pursuing some irreconcilable truth.
Faithlessly wanton
Hope misbegotten--
Vestiges from a soul-shattered youth

Trust misguided,
Innocence spited,
Wounds too deep for time to heal.
Enigmatically alive,
The imperative to survive,
Transcends a dubious will.

Song of the day: Time Is by It's A Beautiful Day

Photo: Cancun, Mexico

Ofuna

"Mercy stood in the cloud

with eye that wept

essential love."

Robert Pollock

Persistently
Incrementally
You poisoned me
With your
Strychnine lies
Cleverly disguised
In words of
Love

Song of the day: Babe by Styx

Photo: Ofuna Kannon, Kamakura, Japan


Ōfuna Kannon (From Wikipedia)

The Ōfuna Kannon or Muga sozan Ōfuna Kannonji is a Buddhist temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan. The outstanding feature of the temple is a 25 meter tall 1,900 ton reinforced concrete statue of Kan'non which is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kan'non or Kuan Yin.

Construction of the Temple began in 1929 by the Soto(Zen) Buddhist sect. The outline of the statue was complete by 1934 but work was suspended at the outbreak of the Pacific War. The Ofuna Kannon Society continued construction work in 1954 and the Temple was finally completed in 1960.

The Kannon incorporates stones from ground zero of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to commemorate those who died in the explosions of the atomic bombs. A fire originating from the atomic fires of Hiroshima burns in a mushroom-formed statue.

Still Apropos

"The world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't mind happiness

not always being

so very much fun

if you don't mind a touch of hell

now and then

just when everything is fine

because even in heaven

they don't sing all the time

The world is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't mind

some people dying

all the time

or maybe only starving

some of the time

which isn't half bad

if it isn't you

Oh the world

is a beautiful place

to be born into

if you don't much mind

a few dead minds

in the higher places

or a bomb or two

now and then

in your upturned faces

or such other improprieties

as our Name Brand society

is prey to

with its men of distinction

and its men of extinction

and its priests

and other patrolmen

and its various segregations

and congressional investigations

and other constipations

that our fool flesh is heir to..."

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

How quickly time seems to pass. Days are filled with deadlines and demands which loom large because someone else has deemed them important and I, like a mouse in a spinning wheel, haplessly pursue their perpetually elusive completion. How easily my mind is fooled into believing that this is a purposeful life. Did my rebellious spirit abandon me, or did I abandon it? There was a time when I would immerse myself in those deliciously vital urges to study, ponder, wonder, read, write, connect...Now I "accomplish." It's strange how these "accomplishments" are infinitely less satisfying than the non-utilitarian pursuit of the philosophical. I attend classes and workshops; I write reports and treatment plans; I read work-related books and publications. My days are so full they seem to burst at the seams. But I hunger for more depth, more meaning.


Song of the day: The Riddle from Scarlet Pimpernel

Photo: Tanah Lot: Bali, Indonesia

Disguise

"I've seen and met angels

Wearing the disguise

Of ordinary people

Living ordinary lives."

Tracy Chapman

Your letters--
A garden
Of words
Each
Delicate seed
Sent adrift
Upon currents
Of pulsing energy
Floating
Free-falling
Finding
The fertile
Affection
Of my heart
Therein
Taking root
And blossoming

Song of the day: Constant Craving by K.D. Lang

Photo: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Cats and Caveats

". . . with a cat, you stand on much the same footing as you stand with a fine and dignified friend; if you forfeit his respect, the relationship suffers. The cat, it is well to remember, remains the friend of Man because it pleases him to do so, not because he must." —Carl van Vechten

Song of the day: Turn, Turn, Turn by the Byrds

Photo: Joey

Moorea Dreaming

"It is the marriage of the soul with Nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination." Henry David Thoreau

Song of the Day: Bali Hai from South Pacific

Photo: Moorea, Polynesia

Nature

"The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood at this moment." Rabindranath Tagore

Nature asks not that we admire Her, pray to Her, or pledge fealty to Her. She does not ask that shrines be built to Her or hierarchies be assembled to lead the masses to Her. She exists on Her own terms, asking nothing and promising nothing. Because of this, She is dangerous: she cannot be bribed or bullied. She does not concern Herself with fulfilling wishes or easing pain and suffering. She does not endorse one belief system over another nor elevate one man over another. She is not all goodness and light and does not pretend to be. But She is real and accessible to every one of the senses. When I mindfully stand in Her presence, I am always transformed.

Song of the day: Canção do Mar performed by Dulce Pontes

Photo: Bali, Indonesia

Black and White

"It is the stretched soul that makes music, and souls are stretched by the pull of opposites... opposite bents, tastes, yearnings, loyalties. Where there is not polarity... where energies flow smoothly in one direction... there will be much doing, but no music." Eric Hoffer

Friend, I do not want to dance with you, I want to spar with you. I want us to enter the ring from opposite corners, ready to mix things up, to jab and punch at each other's bravado until we break through, at last, to our quivering hidden truths.

Song of the day: Honest Questions by Daniel Bedingfield

Photo: Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Shana Tova

"Writing is the only thing that, when I am doing it, I don't feel I should be doing something else." Gloria Steinem

Erev Rosh Hashanah. Good time to assess life.

Getting old. Can't hear; can't see. I have metamorphosed into Magoo. Honestly though, it isn't all bad. When you can't see what others see, you begin to invent, to create. Like Magoo, I will stumble my way through my strange new world. Because I do not know what is in front of me, I will take more chances, have more adventures. As I go, I will mark my path with words and images as a record of my journey.

Song of the day: Just Breathe by Anna Nalick

Photo: Original Art