Anniversary Month

May also marks the month of our wedding anniversary, which usually brings us back to Boston for a celebration for two. That’s happening again this year, and in order to stoke the excitement, here’s a poem about that beloved city by E.B. White:

BOSTON IS LIKE NO OTHER PLACE
IN THE WORLD ONLY MORE SO
When I am out of funds and sorts
and life is all in snarls,
In Boston, life is smoother far,
Where every boy’s a Harvard man
And every man’s a skier.
There’s something in the Boston scene
So innocent, so tranquil,
It takes and holds my interest
The same as any bank will.
Rather I think that Boston is
A sort of state of grace.
The people’s lives in Boston
On Commonwealth, on Beacon,
They bow and speak and pass.
No lady ever dies;
No youth is ever wicked,
No infant ever cries.
No orthodox Bostonian
Is lonely or dejected,
For everyone in Boston
With everyone’s connected.
So intricate the pattern,
Becomes a jigsaw puzzle
Each Boston girl is swept along
Down the predestined channel
Alert in Brooksian flannel,
Magnificent in fallen socks,
His hair like stubble weeds,
His elbow patch an earnest of
The fellowship of tweeds.
It wakes celestial stings,
And I can sit in Boston
For Boston’s not a capital,
And Boston’s not a place;
Rather I feel that Boston is
The perfect state of grace.
~ E.B. White
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My Favorite Month Arrives

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

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Another Hint

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…

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A Hint Through the Haze

Amid the hazy unfocused visage of a weeping cherry tree dangling its pretty pink blooms like ballerinas floating in the sky, I offer this visual hint of our upcoming summer theme. Think pink, think ribbons and bows, and think of an aestheticism that doesn’t go very deep. We need a break from all that is serious and somber, and though I’m aiming for a quiet summer, I’m open to a calm and tranquil bit of joy. This theme accomplishes that, and comes courtesy of my niece Emi, with some active encouragement and planning by Missy’s son Cameron. More – much more – on that in the coming weeks. 

I’ve always believed that the children are our future – the twist is that they are teaching me well and leading the way to show me all the beauty of the world that still exists. 

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Teenagedom

The twins finally joined me for our office’s annual ‘Take Our Children to Work Day’ and we all survived. Getting up at the crack-ass of dawn to make baked French toast is but one of the challenges that faced us, but it was all worth it. They seemed to enjoy their day away from Amsterdam, and it was fun having them join me for the office shenanigans. They also got praise from their group leader (thank you Betsy!) so they did us proud. I cannot say where they are headed in their future careers, as they don’t seem to have any idea on that front, but at least they’re aware of more options. (They may also want to get a job where they can safely retire at age 55 and not work into their 70’s to make ends meet, and if they follow a career with the state of New York and plot it out well, they could have that option too.) 

Fun fact: by the time they will be entering the workforce, I’ll be just about ready to retire. The circle of professional life. 

We finished the day, then Uncle Andy joined us for dinner. Firmly entrenched in the age of 14, they are just about to find us tragically uncool. As long as they know we will always be there for them, it will be ok. And I’ve embraced being uncool since I was their age, so this is a land I have come to adore. 

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Happy Face

When the world spits rain and the night bleeds into the day, one look at my nephew Jaxon makes it all ok again. This post is just to remind you, and myself, of the joy that’s still here in the world, even if it’s sometimes hard to find or feel. 

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Dazzler of the Day: Vanessa Wiliams

Entertainment legend Vanessa Williams has conquered just about every conceivable performing arts avenue, and she continues to astound and enthrall with new music (the upcoming ‘Legs (Keep Dancing)’ album) and a new musical (the London premiere of ‘The Devil Wears Prada‘ musical). Both sound extremely promising, and as someone who’s loved Williams since her tender ballad ‘Saved the Best For Last‘ through her stiletto-clicking turn on ‘Ugly Betty’ and a glorious spell as the Witch in the Broadway revival of ‘Into the Woods’, I cannot wait to see what comes next. She earns her first Dazzler of the Day for a magnificent career of spellbinding performances. 

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A Broken Vase is Better than a Broken Heart

While Mercury in retrograde wreaked its customary havoc, mostly it was about dealing with bothersome people not knowing how to drive or dropping things like the pictured vase here. During all of this, Taylor Swift released her latest – ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ – a surprise double-album that I’m still digesting. Overall, I dig it, as it feels like a combo of the ‘folklore‘, ‘evermore‘ and ‘Midnights‘ albums, which are the ones that brought me into the Swifties club. This song stood out from the rest, and is delightfully indicative of the mess that Mercury and full moons can bring into existence.  

I can read your mind
She’s having the time of her life
There in her glittering prime
The lights refract sequined stars off her silhouette every night
I can show you lies (one, two, three)
‘Cause I’m a real tough kid, I can handle my shit
They said, baby, gotta fake it ’til you make it and I did
Lights, camera, bitch smile, even when you wanna die

I was grinning like I’m winning, I was hitting my marks
‘Cause I can do it with a broken heart (one, two, three)
I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day
I’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me like the plague
I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art
You know you’re good when you can even do it
With a broken heart
This one goes to anyone who’s ever gone into the world and put on a brave face when everything else is crumbling to the ground. It’s never good to keep things like that inside for long, but sometimes you have to do it – for work, for school, for family, for survival. Some people can’t do it – they can’t soldier on, they have to pause and break down – and my heart breaks for them a little. It breaks more for those of us who carry the weight and move forward with a brave, unbothered face
He said he’d love me for all time
But that time was quite short
Breaking down, I hit the floor
All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting, “More”
I was grinning like I’m winning, I was hitting my marks
‘Cause I can do it with a broken heart (one, two, three)
I’m so depressed, I act like it’s my birthday every day
I’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me like the plague (he avoids me)
I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art
You know you’re good when you can even do it
With a broken heart
You know you’re good when you can even do it
With a broken heart
You know you’re good, I’m good
‘Cause I’m miserable
And no one even knows
Try to come for my job

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Madonna & Boudoir

A Madonna photo-shoot built around the magnificence of the bed is always a good thing. It rekindles those heady ‘Like A Virgin’ days, and more directly quotes the ‘Bedtime Stories’ era – both thrilling eras for her die-hard fans. As she prepares to wrap her phenomenal ‘Celebration Tour’, she’s earned a little rest, and for Madonna that still means a scintillating show. Even when she’s in repose, she sparkles. The girl can’t help it. 

Whenever Madonna goes glam, I”m here for it, and these days it’s like a comforting hug from a dear old friend. The meteoric rise in the 80’s, the iconic sex goddess of the 90’s, to all of the incarnations of 2000’s – she’s still our brightest star, guiding our paths for inspiration. 

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Somewhere Among Magenta, Fuchsia and Pink

We want so badly to name and label everything around us, like the color of these azaleas. As an annoying Virgo, I understand the desire to organize the world into the known and the explainable. As someone who also understands how annoying that trait can be, I strive to embrace the frayed edges, the not-so-neat areas of haze and imprecision. And so I present these azaleas, without name or specific color designation, as seen on a lunch-time walk. That’s all, and that’s enough.

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Purple Echoes

Saddled with an unfortunate clunker of a name, these Ranunculus deserve a better title, or maybe we just need to embrace the beauty of all names. These flowers have slowly been wilting away since our Purple Reign weekend – at the time of this writing there is only one left intact. Circle of life. Quick pretty hit and run. Back to life, back to reality… End of blog post.

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Get Busy Living… Or…

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. 

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