What's Next?

Every once in a while, if you are like me, you poke your head up and notice things are changing. Take a peak at this... provacative if not premonatory...

Poems

Ode: Intimations of Immortality

Happy New Years!

Best Gift for the Holiday

It's green, it's free, and may be more memorable than socks!

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk For 30 years Indian spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi, to give her her real name, has been hugging people, leading some to give her a saintly nickname. The time it takes and money it costs to fly over from Australia is worth it for a hug with Amma Suraj Vagjiani This really is as simple as it sounds. Australian Suraj Vagjiani is testament to the sort of devotion that Amma commands. When he heard she was appearing in London he scraped together £650 for a one-way ticket just to see her Hugging all over the world: Amma in New York, Santiago, Zurich, Rio But there's more than just a cuddle being dished out here. Her charity, the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, has UN consultative status and claims to have built more than 36,000 homes and several hospitals for India's poor. While continuing to hug, she explains through a translator that "everything in this world has a vibration". "Every emotion that you can think of has a vibration," she says. "Love is a very special, very uplifting vibration.

An Essay by Einstein -- The World As I See It

An Essay by Einstein -- The World As I See It

Happy Autumn!

 

Belgravia Saturday

Some of my very best days in London are spent in idleness. Maybe this is something to cultivate. A ride in the car, coffee on the street, a bath at leisure (thinking of a different day). This was Saturday with perfect weather, a couple of incredibly friendly Lebanesse men that worked in the oil business and had offices across the street from the coffee shop and then the darling lady from Parvin's that drove the old Panther. She said of her car-- "We are two of a kind- we look better than we are." She had great flair, joive de vie... And the guys were just back from Kiev-- what a hotspot.... like the Frenchman on the plane-- were thrilled to share that investment in the area was making them very wealthy.
Also charmed by the waitress, Julianne i think? She was studying English and a stately resident of the area, fluent in Italian, English and with some Polish, brought her books and checked on her progress. She asked me to check her spelling on the quick thank you she had scribbled out. It was a loely little vingnette of kindness between two people.

Thames

 

Henly on Thames and a lovely day with the talented Jo G! The web album gives you a peek at the architecture, river, sunlight..

Kiev

It is 10 hours later here in Kiev. There is a concert in the square across from the Hyatt. Stirring music, flags, bells, tympani drum and golden spires above St. Sohie's Church. They just finished Ave Marie which was a particular favorite of my Dad's. Ricardo asked on the way in, is this your first visit to an emerging country? And pointed out the duality of development and deprivation that is a hallmark of a country in change. This new team-- smart bunch. If I can survive the travel... it will be great. I am mindful... nearly everyone else with this travel schedule is male, multi-lingual, experienced in channels,with a spouse tending the home fires, and several pay levels above me. Time to step it up!
I spent the after dark portion of the concert with a singapore sling ensconced in the "Bar on 8". Well done up American couple, just a bit older than me. He talked on the cell phone for twenty minutes that I was aware of while she sat there in a state much worse than alone. Sometimes I want to shake people and remind them life is short. Be with each other while you can.

People here strike me as a bit grim. Granted, I am not as friendly as I am in England where I understand most of the language. ("That's pants" still short circuits in my mind. I completely get the sentiment but can't concieve of the origin.) Still, I am smile pleasantly at an adult and get a stare back.
In the photos you see a shop window that perfectly reflects the fashion sensibilities. You also see my new team at dinner in a traditional restaurant. (I sampled beef tongue. Guess what it tasted like? Beef.:>)
Enjoy the pictures.... these are from my phone.. since I didn't get my digital camera back. :>(

Prince at the O2 in London

company was great-- kate, lori, steve and i -- evening started out so fun ( Lebanese restaraunt in St. John's wood) that we were late getting there-- (up side-- no merchandising pushed!)

Here am i post concert.. thanks again to kate, steve and lori for a really fine time. If anyone has a recording of Shelby doing Misty Blue... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share the link or file!

Prince concert review - O2 arena London Friday 3rd August 2007 | Affiliate Marketing Blog from UK Offer Media

Prince concert review - O2 arena London Friday 3rd August 2007 | Affiliate Marketing Blog from UK Offer Media


I am so far behind i may never catch up. Life is a friggin' speedball! So -- this -- Prince- was after Dublin, the BogMen, the Yeats Exhibit, Henley on Thames and London-- but before Kiev. Details to follow-- as soon as i collect all the subatomic particles that were dispursed into the atmosphere while i have benn beaming around. List to Little Red Corvette and think of me.... back soon.

Glasgow

Wonderful visit with Claire and Chris
First haggis, first pigeon, first oxtail,
necropolis, beer, rain. Ah adventure!

2007_06_23

The Portland Spirit

Mike's website is amazing! Check it out!

clipped from www.ghosttownsoftware.com

Business and personal continue to collide- watch and you'll get my point!

Courtesy of customerworld.typepad.com

clipped from customerworld.typepad.com

Getting a little perspective

If you feel a bit tense-- consider this...

clipped from www.youtube.com

April in London

This is the same view as the London Eye with red lights for Red Nose Day. Dawn on Saturday.
Brighton Beach


I feel like I am on borrowed time. Enjoying London very much and saying goodbye at the same time. Sort of like stepping down, tapering off, cutting your speed, all those phrases we use when an experience has been so intense - that like a diver coming up from the depths, to do so all at once would be dangerous.


Last night Kate took me to dinner at Cliftons, in St John's Wood, and darling Shavon, our hostess, told stories of how Edward the4th (?) had used the very same building for assignations with his mistress. It was a lowly inn at the time - but since frequented by the King they had to "kick it up a notch" and call it a hotel. Dinner was cider, bread and soup. The soup was broccoli and stilton. Dessert (always my favorite) was sticky toffee pudding. (We shared.) Later we walked St.John's Wood and she showed me Abbey Road. Yes I crossed on the zebra cross walk. Pictures to follow. Slept wonderfully well- same room as last time. 1007. (007!) Here's a link to the pictures from today- took the train from London Victoria to Brighton. Beautiful day-- and then a blast at the Nationl Gallery.

2007_04_21 Brighton and London

Next Watch Out for JOIN UP! as Comic Relief tackles universal education!

the Brutal Trip

This is me the day BEFORE Berlin next to a particularly poignant piece of the Berlin wall. Had been humming the Beck song as I left the pub and walked to the museum.
This is one of the Moore drawing- collapses entirely the veneer of societal mores and daily industry that separates us from our common humanity - and our common destiny.
And coming back to the present-- war protestors at Westminister- much like the one Janet and I participated in - goodness- that is more than a year and a half ago. It is strange to be now in another cycle of life in London. This has been such an amazing time-- wistful because it will not hold-- I am continually mindful I am watching a memory being made. Then again-- aren't we all- every day?
And here- behind the brick and lace lived Cap't Bligh of Bounty fame!

Imperial War Museum- packed- the Children's War was quite interesting as one considered the angst of sending your children to strangers. TheHenry Moore exhibit was the thing though. His drawing were quite small-- intimate-- figures still carried the mass and dignity of his sculpture but there was such presence to each limb it seemed to forshadow disembodiement and the grave, and Death seemed a sweet companion, breathing in one's very mouth.

Off in the distance you see what appears to be a red ferris wheel. It is the London eye, rimmed in red by Comic Relief, people who take the sufferings of others quite seriously. The participation is amazing. I can't think of an analog in the US. Breast Cancer Awareness? Comic Relief raises money and dispenses to the homeless, the hungry and the uneducated- in UK and around the world.
This is dawn breaking looking south toward the Thames from Hotel in Belgravia- 20 Chesham Place. Making note with the knowledge that things don't last- and if I wanted to go back and find it 30 years from now, perhaps the address would persist if not the hotel itself. Had a bit of a balconey and the moist air of early spring was lovely. Down in the square there was some Daphne blooming.

Scrolling down you'll see a 14 foot wooden boat. This was the smallest of the known craft that evacuated British soldiers fron Dunkirk. Can you imagine what the crossing would have been like. The grit-- the courage these people had.

The children are shown in gas masks, standard issue. Now there is a communications challenge- make free hearted children fearful enough that they never go to play with out there gas mask in reach.

Vauxhall Afteroon

This is a communal cafe, vegan of course, and members of the co-op, as I understand it take turns in the kitchen and serving. When I backtracked to find my lost my glasses, I stopped in and we chatted a little. Clearly this is not just about food but about creating an egalitarian center for the area. Something that is not about profit or tax dollars.

I have every intention of going back to eat there some day but as Frost says, " ...oh, i kept the first for another day- but knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back."





This billboard is an advert for a wonderful singer-song writer. How I wish I was too old for emo-angst but it has me in its clutches still! I took a couple shots of this sign--- one was almost premonitory.

The surprise of the afternoon was finding a farm right there in the middle of the city. Two white goats butting heads. Hen following after rooster. Pigs rutting contentedly. Beer with lunch, a great walk-- and a few moments in a secret garden. Unforgettable.




This is a view from the north bank of the Thames looking to the south. There are far more dramatic shots to be seen but this has the look if everyday normalcy which is in and of itself, extraordinary.

Second Home

Some holiday pictures to share-- shopping with Aimee and Marsha on Bond Street, Christmas Lights on Carnaby, party in St. John's Wood off Abbey Road, lights of the carnival in Leiscter Square-- Odion Theatre to see Casino Royale. This holiday definately easier than last year!

07-NOVEMBER VOTE

AMERICAN CITIZENS- PLEASE BE SURE YOU VOTE
THIS PRIVLEDGE HAS TWICE BEEN COMPROMISED.
VOTING IS WHAT YOU DO TO PROTECT THE REPUBLIC.

The Little Prince

"Absence diminishes small loves and increases great
ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire."
Francois de La Rouchefoucauld

And so the Little Prince returned to his rose...

Long Walk

I figured something out. There are lots of beautiful places in the world. Some green, some gold, some stone, some glass. What is compelling about Britian is more than that. It offers that fourth dimension, time. Approaching Windsor Castle from the back lane, with the world famous long walk in front, with a profusion of deer peaceably meandering, warm sun and blessed quiet - one of the moments that makes life worthwhile.