Last night we began 2011 on the right foot, we had a dinner party at a friend’s house and were surrounded by interesting conversation, delicious wines, and fabulous food. Suddenly I feel as if I can face this year boldly – Happy 12th Night, New Year! And Happy Epiphany and beginning of Mardi Gras, New Orleans! Driving home from our little soiree I realized the important things in life are that life has a way…
Mommy: May I help you? Tin: Music. Mommy: What do you want to hear? Tin: Louis Armstrong. Mommy: St. Louis Blues? Tin: Yesh.
“Anthem” The birds they sang at the break of day Start again I heard them say Don’t dwell on what has passed away or what is yet to be. Ah the wars they will be fought again The holy dove She will be caught again bought and sold and bought again the dove is never free. Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how…
It’s raining in New Orleans and has been since the middle of the night. The bayou looks like the Muddy Mississippi. The dogs are panting by the door. Tin is off to the Monkey Room with his nanny. There is no rain like rain in New Orleans. Randy Newman’s Louisiana 1927 What has happened down here is the wind have changed Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain Rained real hard…
I remember a guy I worked with who described a friend as being “too emotional” – can one be too emotional? When I was married to Steve, a coworker described us as being “too generous” – a criticism that still makes me chuckle. My father was a generous person – what he had, we had, what we had, our friends had, and on and on. I’ve never known another way. You’re making food, you always…
I was speaking with a friend yesterday who said that the loss of a good friend had a numbing affect on the heart. I told her I keep reading how loss, pain, suffering helps us grow, but I’m on the fence whether to subscribe to cyncism or faith on this subject. I have often quoted Jane Hirshfield’s Proud Flesh – the horse’s scar that can’t be wounded again. We are all marching forward building up…
My Yogi teabag had a message for me the other night, it said, “True wealth is the ability to let go of your possessions.” I concur. But I’m afraid. I want a life prescribed by me instead of just the dull sheep march – have a job, make money, own property, grow concerned you will lose job, money, property, live life of stress, one day it doesn’t matter, then you die. This matters more now…
I woke early to get to meditation because I knew that I couldn’t go tomorrow night – I was three minutes late and the door was locked. Agitation instead of Meditation. But I let it go. I wanted to go to yoga during lunch but instead had a phone call I had to do so I missed moving my body. I let it go. Early evening I realized that I had an appointment across town…
A friend called to tell me she is reading a book on how to be happy – she said this guy has written about the Blue Zones – places where people live long lives – the places are, drumroll please, Singapore (are you kidding me?), Denmark (good design, but again, are you kidding me?) and Costa Rica – I’ll take Costa Rica for five. Meanwhile, Stanford has a site where they have listed the ten…
Today I heard that a friend’s mother’s life long friend died, but this was only after hearing that a much beloved relative of mine is getting divorced after over four decades of marriage – what goes on? Meanwhile, another friend who had out of towners visiting over the holiday weekend said they went to the French Quarter for New Year’s Eve and had a bad experience because everyone was fighting – every single couple they…