There's Something On Your Face

"...it is not necessary to the child to awaken to the sense of the strange and humorous by giving a man a luminous nose...to the child it is sufficiently strange and humorous to have a nose at all."

G.K. Chesterton*

*Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, journalism and more.

Life's Endless Celebration

Aria's photo of Venice, Italy

"Love life

everything--

pale lights

markets medley

of green lettuce,

red cherries,

golden grapes, and

purple eggplants--

all so extraordinary!

Incredible!

you get excited, you talk to people

and people talk to you,

you touch

and they touch you.

All this is magical,

like some endless celebration."

-Eugene Ionesco

I Remember

"I remember you as you were in the last autumn.

You were the grey beret and the still heart.

In your eyes the flames of the twilight fought on.

And the leaves fell in the water of your soul.

Clasping my arms like a climbing plant

the leaves garnered your voice,

that was slow and at peace.

Bonfire of awe in which my thirst was burning.

Sweet blue hyacinth twisted over my soul.

I feel your eyes travelling, and the autumn is far off:

grey beret, voice of a bird, heart like a house towards which

my deep longings migrated and my kisses fell,

happy as embers.

Sky from a ship.

Field from the hills:

Your memory is made of light, of smoke, of a still pond!

Beyond your eyes, farther on, the evenings were blazing.

Dry autumn leaves revolved in your soul."

-Pablo Neruda

"I Remember You as You Were"

Carry This With You

"Wherever you go,

no matter what the weather,

always bring your own sunshine." ~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

Hot Buns

“I really don’t think I need buns of steel.
I’d be happy with buns of cinnamon.”
―Ellen DeGeneres

Friendships

Ice fishing-Madison Wisconsin

Friendship is born at that moment when one person

says to another,

"What! You too?

I thought I was the only one!"-C.S. Lewis

Lighter Than Air

"Be like the bird

that pausing in her flight

awhile on boughs too slight

feels them give way beneath her,

yet sings

knowing

that

she has wings."

Imagine Your Personal Vision

"Without leaps of imagination,
or dreaming,
we lose the excitement of possibilities.
Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
-Gloria Steinem

A Cup of Kindness

image by Charnel

"Believe me, every man has his secret sorrows,

which the world knows not;

and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad."

-Longfellow

Italian Coffee Anyone

Sugar Creme and Caffe Brasiliano

In Naples, a reigning favorite coffee beverage is the Caffe Brasiliano. A small glass cup is filled first with an espresso shot. A half a teaspoon of cacao is sprinkled on the shot as well as zucchero-crema. Next milk foam, made with whole milk and foamed only until silky, is poured to the rim of the cup. At last, some cacao is sprinkled on the foam.

The Espresso Break:

In many cafe-bars throughout Naples, baristas ask if you'd like to have a spot of zucchero-crema (sugar-cream) in your cup. If you say yes, they daub a teaspoon of the fluffy concoction in a demitasse (tazzino), then put the cup under the espresso maker.

At the famous Moccia Caffe this is their recipe:

1 1/2 kilograms of granulated sugar

20 shots of espresso

Blend together in a mixer until you have a frothy tan cream.

Sugar-cream adds a sweet-syrupy taste to the espresso.

It also means that you have to stir a long time before taking that ever-satisfying coffee gulp.

Moccia is located along a narrow street several blocks from the Bay of Naples and one block away from the modern art museum, PAN. The name of the cafe itself hearkens back to coffee's international history. Coffee was first used for its medicinal value in Ethiopia and soon spread to Yemen where Sufi mystics used the brew. For many centuries the port of Mocha in Yemen exported coffee throughout the Middle East until merchants brought it to Venice in the early 1600's.

Today, coffee beans are cultivated worldwide, including Southeast Asia, Hawaii, Africa, and South America -- most notably Brazil.

Moccia Filli Romanodal

1920Via San Pasquale a Chiaia,

21/2280121 Napoli


Please note that the above post was borrowed from a wonderful blogger who lives in Naples Italy. Please visit her blog at : http://theespressobreak.blogspot.com/

for interesting things to do and experience in and around the Naples area.

Wishing You Light and Love

Namaste

"I greet the light in you."

Top Thrill Dragster Cedar Point Ohio

Anyone want to try this?
My husband Mike and our 10 year old niece Amanda did.

Get ready for the ride of your life.

This amazing speed machine is one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters on Earth.

You're launched to speeds of 120 mph in less than 4 seconds.

The ride's just getting started as you climb 420 feet into the air, crest a massive hill and spiral 270 degrees as you speed towards the finish line.

The entire experience is over in 17 seconds.

Top Thrill Dragster is a steel, hydraulically-launched roller coaster located at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio.

Woman's Best Friend

"Men may come

and men may go,

but believe me,

this moment with this doggie

will linger forever..... "-Kalyani Davidar

Though our family had many dogs while I was growing up in the family home, the one dog that I called mine was, "Spotty". He was just a mutt, with black and white spots, short wiry hair that was not particularly soft and a funny little stubby tail. I loved that dog and he knew it. I'd pet him and give him a hug each morning before I left for school. In the afternoon his inner time clock must have known it was 3:30 as he'd be sitting by the front yard waiting for my return. Once I got close he'd get so excited he would start to run circles around the house. It was hilarious. He'd run so fast around and around the house and then finally he'd stop and run to me and jump up and down. What a greeting! What a display of sheer joy that I had returned to him. I loved to sit on our big front porch where I would play jacks or hop-scotch. Spotty was always by my side. As a child it was comforting to have this best friend that I could talk to, play with, chase and be chased or simply just be with. He was such a huge love of my life. Spotty's downfall was that he loved to chase passing cars. Often he'd nearly get hit and we tried to stop this bad habit but to no avail. One day he was hit by a car he was chasing. When I got home from school my grandma told me Spotty had been hit by a car. She said he had crawled under the house and would not come out. She told me not to call him as dogs can bite even people they love when they are hurt. I didn't listen to her. I searched for him, calling out his name. I bent down and looked under one of the crawl spaces beneath the house. I could see him laying there and I said softly, "Spotty come here." He was badly injured more than I could have known but with all that he could he made his way, dragging himself to me. There I could only just reach in and stroke his head and talk to him. I didn't want to eat dinner that night. I was so worried about Spotty. I lay in bed and I could hear my mom talking to the family. She said Spotty had died. I remember sobbing into my pillow and feeling the first lost love of my life. What a huge big emptiness I felt. I cried myself to sleep. I loved that little doggie so. To this day I remember the feeling of loving him and feeling that same kind of affectionate love in return.

--revised reflections from my diary c.1950's Barb Cabot

Something Happened to Me

"It was the sweetest thing that ever could be;

It was a fantasy a dream come true;

It was the day I met you! "
-- Mandy Forkner

Happy Valentine's Day To All

"Ah, what is your love

if it is not also

Responsibility for

Everything

that is effected by its' might."

-Martin Buber

The Sum of the Parts

"Love is the whole and more than all."
-- E.E. Cummings

Knowing Love

"To know love for what it actually is-
a perpetual discovery
an immersion in the waters
of reality, an
unending recreation."
-Octavio Paz

Make Some Marmalade

I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.
--D.H. Lawrence

Recipe for Kumquat Marmalade (I assume it would work well for Oranges too.)

this recipe found at http://www.kumquatgrowers.com/recipe005.html

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups chopped kumquats

1 cup water

6 1/2 cups sugar

1 pkg Sure Jell or Certo

DIRECTIONS:
1. Prepare kumquats, half fruit and remove seeds, chop coarsely or slice thinly (Can be put through food chopper).
2. Combine chopped kumquats, water, and Sure Jell.
3. Add sugar and bring to a boil that cannot be stirred down.
4. Continue to boil for one minute. Pour into sterile jars and seal.
Note: Certo can be substituted for Sure Jell but you will need to follow the directions on the Certo package.

With Me Always

"and this is the wonder

that's keeping the stars apart,

i carry your heart

(i carry it in my heart)

-e.e. cummings

Happy Birthday ARIA

I'd bake you a "Crown Jewel" cake

And give you some flowers too

and then I would share this poem by John Ciardi :

"I want to tell you a gentlest thing,

like light to you- like old faces being fed a good memory from inside themselves-

like eyes that do not watch but slowly meet across a room

in which everyone is and

no one need hurry to what he is sure of.

I want to say before we run out of rooms

and everyone

that I am slowest, surest, gentlest too

across whatever room

I look at you."

Happy, Happy Birthday Aria.

May all good things surround you and fill your life with joy.

I love you!

Mom

The Look

"Your slightest look easily will unclose me, though I have closed myself as fingers, you open petal by petal myself as Spring opens her first rose. "
-- E.E. Cummings

Some Television Nostagia

I had to cancel pretty much all my weekend plans due to having some kind of flu. The weather has been rainy, gray and cold for several days. What's a person to do under these circumstances?

Well, this is what I did...

found a cozy spot, bundled myself in a soft, fuzzy robe and pulled out the complete series of one of my favorite t.v. dramas called "Felicity" . I remember when this series first started how I could hardly wait to see the next episode. My daughter and I watched this program together. We had so much fun each week, laughing or cringing or being happy for what was going on in the main character, Felicity's life. Everyone must have at least one t.v. series that does that for them. One that pulls you in and gets you so involved with the characters. This show was that for us.


Here's a summary of why this show was so captivating for alot of people:

"I think the reason that so many people love the show is because it mirrors our own lives at times. Although our circumstances may not be the same, we can appreciate the emotions and situations of the characters. Life's lessons are hard, but it helps to know that you're not alone in it all. " (from http://www.felcitypage.com/)

"Felicity" was an American prime time television show produced for the WB network. The series revolves around the fictional college experiences of the title character, Felicity Porter(played by Keri Russell), as she attends the "University of New York", based on NYU across the country from her home in Palo Alto, California. The show ran for four seasons from 1998 to 2002, with each season corresponding to the traditional freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years .The series was created by J. J. Abrams and Matt Reeves.

"Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can pretty much change your life forever. "- Felicity

It's Raining It's Pouring I Don't Care

Photo Alex Mackle

"It's possible to forget how alive we really are. We can become dry and tired, just existing, instead of really living. We need to remind ourselves of the juice of life, and make that a habit.

Find those places inside that jump for joy, and do things."

How To Live

"How to get the most life.

As if you were

to teach the

young hunter

how to entrap

his game.

How to extract

its honey from

the flower

of the world.

That is my

every-day

business."

-Thoreau's Journals

Open A Window

"Gaining a wider perspective is like opening a window into a stuffy room-

the whole atmosphere changes

and the fresh breeze carries alternatives to our habitual ways of reacting."

-Tarthang Tulku

*At the Nyingma Institute, Tarthang Tulku worked with his student Steven Tainer to form what began as a series of presentations, and eventually became the book, Time, Space, and Knowledge which many consider a modern classic of Buddhist literature.

The Artist In YOU

"The artist is not a special kind of man,
but every man is a special kind of artist."
-Meister Eckhart

Always and Forever

"There was never a time when I did not exist,
nor you, nor any of these kings.
Nor is there any future in which we shall cease to be."
-Bhagavad Gita

February

"May you have warm words on a cold evening,

a full moon on a dark night and

a smooth road all the way to your door."

-Irish Blessing