Category Archives: General

Following my own foolish pontification is not something I usually do. It’s fine to fill this space with empty words when I’m looking for filler, and my friends who know my voice know when my heart’s not in it. Just kidding – my friends don’t even visit this place, and if they do they certainly don’t admit it. There would be too much guilt associated with such displeasure. I’m digressing… which happens more often the older I get. A concern upon many concerns. 

Back to the pool, which Andy had heated as an early treat, to capture one of those elusive sunny days that dared to climb into the 70’s and flirt with the 80’s. Every day counts when summer can be so fleeting. Andy had already been in once, and after a few days of him encouraging me to take the first dip of the season, I gave in – because when you have a chance to swim beneath a blooming cherry tree, you should always do it – especially if the day is beautiful. 

So in I went, after a day of work and worry, wading into the water for the first time this season, in quiet and unheralded fashion, the way the months have passed since last summer, the way they will pass through this summer. Some years are quiet like that.

PS – The featured GIF is not the product of any filter or special effects – it’s the magical reflection of the sun bouncing off the pool water and lending its traveling, mottled light to the cherry blossoms. 

The post title here may be slightly misleading, as it’s not so much about boffo-content than it is about it falling the day after Mother’s Day. So let the let-down ensue – it’s what we do best! On the bright side, there is this featured pic of fun at Proctor’s with Mom, Suzie and Andy – on the night we saw ‘Six’ (a must-see). And now, on with the weekly recap, as getting this past rollercoaster of a week over is probably the best for all involved.

Jim Verraros released a follow-up to his international smash ‘Take My Bow’, tantalizingly entitled ‘Pyramid’. 

The Met Gala had a very promising and inspirational theme, but the participants and their outfits fell slightly flat (and maybe I’m just bitter for never having been invited). 

We celebrated an unremarkably remarkable 14th wedding anniversary a little early in Boston. Fourteen years into married life, and almost twenty-four together, there is still joy and surprises to be found. 

Remember me when the lilacs bloom.

A cherry blooming evening.

When a non-weeping cherry tree weeps.

A pool of pink petals.

Evolving into the Carnal Flower. 

Happy Mother’s Day.

Ladies & Gentlemen & All Those Who Have Yet to Make Up Their Mind: Presenting Lilacs. 

Another hint of pink.

Dazzlers of the Day included Gleb Savchenko and Grace Jones.

“They evoke our interests and affections, and keep the life of the spirit dawdling around them. Then they withdraw. When physical passion is involved, there is a definite name for such behavior – flirting – and if carried far enough, it is punishable by law. But no law – not public opinion, even – punishes those who coquette with friendship, though the dull ache that they inflict, the sense of misdirected effort and exhaustion, may be as intolerable. Was she one of these?“
– E.M. Forster

The aftermath of a weeping spell was found the day after a spring rain that pulled many of our cherry blossom petals into the pool. One end of the water was completely covered in a layer of pink – a scene that was as enchanting as it was annoying, for someone had to scoop all those petals out before they clogged the filter (and the someone was decidedly not me). Still, what price beauty? What sacrifice charm? What would you give up to gain a bit of enchantment?

Andy turned the pool heater on and has already been in while the cherry was in bloom – at the precise time of this writing I have not yet gone in, but by the time this actually gets posted I may have taken the season’s virginal dip. When you have the opportunity to swim beneath a cherry tree in full bloom, you should always take it.  

The Met Gala is scheduled to take place today, and even in the dastardly disarray of this modern world, it’s still the one event that brings a smile and irresistible inspiration to my countenance. As such, I’m planning on taking the afternoon off from the blogging world (unless something truly awe-inspiring happens), so take your time perusing this weekly recap – it’s the very first one of May, almost always the most wonderful month of the year. 

A happy face gives hope to spring.

Teenage wasteland.

A hint through the haze.

A hint of pink.

My favorite month arrives.

A love of Boston.

Connecticut in the pink.

Spring fruition and summer plans.

GOP upstart Kristi Noem shot and killed a puppy on purpose.

A sunny new perspective.

Madonna’s biggest Celebration ever.

A visit to White Flower Farm – a journey I’ve wanted to make for almost forty years. 

World Naked Gardening Day.

Windflower music.

White and wet.

Bodacious bodies and one bare ass.

Dazzlers of the Day included Nancy Pelosi and Austin Armacost.

How does a story begin? 

Doesn’t every story come from another one?

Nothing can ever start anew, not now, not this late in the game. 

It feels like all the stories have been written, and all the stories have been told. 

Maybe there’s still one or two left in us… maybe there are more. 

Let us have an overture then, a signifier of some beginning, beginning again, redoubling with a reprise, or an entr’acte. Somewhere a finale dangles in the future, somewhere another overture begins. May so often marks a beginning… and the month of May is a magical one indeed. 

A spring-time trip to Connecticut to see Missy and her family provided the perfect weekend away to celebrate the arrival of the season – and nowhere was that more evident in this magnificent weeping cherry tree in front of their home. Fully decked out in its pale pink blooms, it glowed gorgeously as I drove into the driveway. Petals fluttered down in the breeze, and an idyllic weekend was pre-ordained by destiny. 

Andy texted me that our own cherry tree was finally breaking its buds and unfurling its pink blossoms – deeper of color and fuller of form thanks to its hybridized enhancement. That meant I could extend this cherry-popping season a bit longer when I returned home. For now, it was a weekend in Connecticut with an old friend. 

Does beauty augment and enhance a meeting of dear friends? Of course it does, and the weekend provided this gorgeousness to mirror the joy of a reunion. Along with Missy’s family, we set about to plan out the coming summer months…

May is my favorite month in the calendar year, which goes against all those ego-pointers, because my birth month is August. May is superior because it holds in it all the hope of a spring and summer about to unfurl in all their splendor. Even if summer turns out to be a somber dud, as some summers do, in May it still holds the possibility of being perfect. May is wonderful that way. Let’s take a moment to look back at a few May starters of the more recent past. 

Last year it seems May 1 was a day for recapping the previous week, which means hints of April made their way into this post after all.

May 1, 2022 found this haunting post going up, which was much too serious and somber for this month. 

May 1, 2021 found me kicking off Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage month in another rather serious post. 

Well, discovering this third-somber-entry-in-a-row from 2020 seems to indicate I don’t know what I’m even saying regarding this month… though that may be the after-effects of COVID hitting. 

The pre-COVID May 1st post from 2019 found me immersed in a bit of retail therapy, so happiness certainly was present then.

May was all about hope, and it still is. Enjoy this day, and this month. 

Lean in closer while I whisper another little hint of our upcoming summer theme.

{Psst… … !… ?… … ….mmm,hmm… oh yes very much… !… very certainly … and you cannot wait…}

It’s the aesthetic – it’s the atmosphere – it’s the setting for all possibility.

Dream a little dream of summer – it’s coming…

This April felt more like March, but perhaps the temperatures are rebounding. Let’s hold that thought as we recap the last week, the way we do it on most Mondays. 

Prelude to a spring weekend.

A princely purple weekend begins.

Friends old and new, tried and true.

It’s the ‘or’ that means more than it did before.

Purple echoes.

Somewhere in the realm of the pink.

A gratuitous David Beckham post.

Madonna & boudoir.

Current and perpetual mood.

A broken vase is better than a broken heart.

Dazzlers of the Day included Maulik Pancholy, Susan Brumley and Vanessa Williams.

You probably have’t noticed, but I’ve been stepping away from this blog and social media and even texting because, quite frankly, I’m sick of it all. More importantly, I’ve also been focusing on living, rather than writing about life, or sharing things on social media. It’s made for a much better head-space, a much happier countenance. If you are one of the few who have missed me, thank you. It’s nice to be missed. 

It’s nice to be out there living too.

It comes down to a simple choice.

‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is one of those movies that has haunted me since the first time I saw it in the theater. (Yes, I was old to see it in the theater when it was originally released.) It’s one of those magical Zen-like movies that manages to lull one into a sense of calm and serenity despite its brutal savagery. I return to it, and the spell of its words, every couple of years, finding new scenes of revelation and grace amid its stark backdrop. 

It reminds me to get out of my head, to get out of the prison of the mind, the prison of this online world. It instructs me to get out and get busy living – because the only way out is through. At those times, at those moments, I rejoin the living and reconnect to the world – our gorgeously imperfect and exquisitely flaw-filled world, with all its beauty and heartbreaking joy. 

And if you’ll excuse me, and allow me such grace, I will step back from time to time, and stretch those step-backs out a little longer as the days and years pass, because no matter how much we sparkle, no matter how much we shine, sooner or later we all fade away. 

Rounding the final turn into the end of April, spring’s first full month is soon to come to a close. The old adage attributed to April – all those showers – has come to almost daily fruition. Best to move ahead, right after the weekly blog recap…

Let us begin by looking into the heart of a jonquil.

The Aftermath.

Random shirtless dudes.

Clouds in a spring sky.

Erasure of magic.

A sneak peek of pool promise.

Like Dorothy entering Oz.

Finding some freaking fabulousness.

Shaking it.

A purple weekend.

The trickery of a tulip.

An impromptu magical moment. 

Deserving not of a post.

Not a ducking chance.

Always flowers.

Dazzlers of the Day included Cody Belew and John Arthur Hill.

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”
— Henri Matisse

#TinyThreads

No, no, NO.

Andy shouted as I looked up from my laptop.

“A duck just landed in the pool!” he exclaimed. “Two ducks!”

Flashes to Our First Year of COVID skidded through my mind. 

Other duck memories quickly followed.

This is their third visit to our pool in an apparent attempt to find a safe nesting ground.

This is not that space.

We will deal with them accordingly. Humanely, but accordingly. 

It will get done and we will not speak of it again.

Quack-quack.