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Paradise Lost
[Sculpture from the MET. Photo is mine. Sadly, I failed to record the sculptor.] No matter where you’re going it’s the wrong place. ~ ~Tobe Hooper [BEFORE YOU CONTINUE: This blog post is not, in any way, an attempt to denigrate any staff, employees or anyone else who made every effort to make our short…
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We Dream In Colors Borrowed From The Sea
[The beach at Taino Beach Resort. Photo is mine.] Like painted kites Those days and nights, they went flyin’ by The world was new Beneath a bright blue umbrella sky… ~ ~The Summer Wind. Lyrics by Henry Mayer & Hans Bradtke Slide your beach lounger closer, Mariposa, the white plastic is making my eyes water.…
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Balmy Latitudes
I’m sailing the summer wind I’ve got whiskers on my chin And I like the mood I’m in As I while away the time of day… ~~Gordon Lightfoot “Christian Island” You’ll have to move your stool closer, Gloria. I need to multitask right now. I’m making notes on a new blog and, while talking to…
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Don’t Be Fooled By Trompe-l’oeil
[Illustration source: Google search. Artist Erik Johansson.] Why did Van Gogh become a painter? –Because he didn’t have ear for music. ~~ Whenever my artistic girlfriend is sad, I let her draw on my body… –I gave her a shoulder to crayon. ~~ I used to do fine arts, until I decided I didn’t like…
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To Elias on His 10th Birthday
May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung And may you stay Forever Young ~~Bob Dylan Forever Young Dear Elias, You have been the very best grandson anyone could ask for. I remember when your mother called me with the news that she was expecting a child. It seems like…
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To Chris: A Long Overdue Eulogy
[Taku Towers. Juneau Icefield, Alaska. Unknown Photographer.] My older brother, Chris, would make slight cuts in an apple from our backyard in Owego, NY. This would allow the apple to shatter into bits of apple-shrapnel. No Surface-to-Surface missile would hit with such velocity, because he would mount the apple on the sharpened end of a…
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My 75th New Year
[Source: Google search] Some of you will be reading this post late on Sunday afternoon…after several Alka-Seltzer tablets. Some will be reading this tonight, before the Ball Drops in Times Square. Some of you will see who the blog is from and move on without a glance. “Oh, him again.” Some will see my name…
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Coal For Christmas
[Another year. Another Christmas. I republish this every holiday season with a tweak here and there. This story is true and I am passing it down to new readers and my two children and my grandson. Every story from our own lives or the lives of those we once loved…every story is worth telling. There…
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Friction Rubs Me The Wrong Way
fric-tion (frik’shen) n. 1.The rubbing of one surface or object against another. 2. Conflict, as between persons having dissimilar ideas or interests, clash. 3. Phys. A force that resists the relative motion or tendency to such motion of two bodies in contact. [Source: Google Search] Friction is really good for only one thing…okay, two…no three.…
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A Brief History of Kimonos
To be fully alive is to have an aesthetic perception of life because a major part of the world’s goodness lies in its often unspeakable beauty. ~~Yukitaka Yamamoto [An old triptych of three women wearing kimonos. Source: Google Search.] Recently, my wife and I spent an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). She…