I just wanted to thank all my friends that have helped me through these very difficult days, especially Wednesday and Friday nights. So, thanks to Briton & Renee, Ruth, Tiffany, and last but not least Kristin - your humor is like a piLL. Thanks for making me laugh. If you are not mentioned or pictured to the right...I do thank you as weLL & Love you aLL.

Good Day, Everybody...Muah!!!!

Il ne me laisse...

Windows to...?

Why have architects, designers, builders, and homeowners or renters always wanted windows in attics and crawlspaces? I think that some builders and architects simply want to give the illusion of more space, more floors, levels. And, I believe that the inhabitants of those homes or apartments or tenements or condos may simply want to see the outside.


Whether its an unihabitable skyline, or some barren piece of earth, inhabited by roots, and pipes, and underground creatures; it still represents freedom. Something bigger than ourselves, our spirits. The ability to soar like any fowl on the earth, or to burrow deep into the unknown among all the underearth creatures.


Whatever the motivations, these windows truly represent the human spirit, I believe. It is wide & open and encompassing & shriveled and triumphant & unconquered and dark & light and new & ancient and proud & unsure and solid & shaky and nurturing & draining and loving & hateful. And, it can succeed just as it fails, and it lifts us and pulls us down.


And it is our essence....just as those windows in attics and crawlspaces create the essence of that house or apartment or tenement or condo.

*This was originally posted to my myspace page on 06/12/08. The thoughts and sentiments remain valid :-)

Rain, rain...I can't stop you anyway.

A few weeks ago...it rained very hard for a couple days...I was working at a store that had a parking deck, but chose to park outside....It should also be said that before I arrived at the store, it was not raining!

So, I worked and worked, and did I mention worked. When I left the store, I went to put some things in my trunk, and it was soaked with rainwater... Books, brochures, clothes...so many things wet! It was slightly humorous because the trunk was closed, all the rubber crap around it was intact. Logically, there was no reason for water to be in the trunk, but it was. So, I was standing at the proverbial fork in the road. Left, be pissed and mad...Right, react and clean up the mess....

I went right! When I was kind of time-still and in awe, I had some thoughts...that this was a great illustration for life. Everyday when we leave the sanctuary of our homes and family and friends, we are in a rainstorm called the world. We have very little armor for this, save our logic, rationale and hopefully a calm spirit.

Junk will always find a way into the trunk of our lives and make everything wet and soggy. We can either deal with it, or stew on it while it festers and mildews. Its a simlple choice, really.

And, we own it!!

Il ne me laisse

It never leaves me...the emotion of the song "Ne me quitte pas" composed, originally by Jacques Brel. It is hands down my favorite song, ever. I speak virtually no French! I first heard this song on the pictured album, a 1969 best of Nina Simone collection from PolyGram Records.

What has always drawn me to the song is the haunting way that Nina Simone sings it...It bubbles over with a deep and dark passion that is at once distant and close to all of us. There is no hope in this chanteuse's voice, only a plea, a cry... Ne me quitte pas, which translates to Do not leave me. Do not leave me! Do not leave me!

We can all relate to this plea...we cry it out when there is a breakup, a death, a pet runs away, we leave our jobs, or they leave us. A friend moves away, an elderly relative goes into a nursing home, a baby is sick, our favorite designer sweater is ripped and can't be fixed. We realize there i no more hope for our Tod's driving loafers...oh my!

These things will always happen... Our cries of ne me quitte pas, won't stop them...But, it's human nature to try...one last breath of life, one last scream or plea, to whatever God will hear

us...

Another point of this little ramble is that emotion and feeling and passions cross language barriers...So, we should all maybe start shutting off our logic and rationale and lunguistic precepts and listen with the ears, but hear with the heart.

et, à la fois, je l'aimais plus que tout, je n'avais jamais connue, mais elle a dû s'enfuir. Il voulait laisser le bien, mais je criais s'il vous plaît ne laissez pas de moi.