Viva Cinco de Mayo!

ADAMS MORGAN style...

When the kids are older, I shall one day return to me old stomping grounds to celebrate as I once did...

Madam's Organ in Adam's Morgan

Heaven & HELL

On the roof at Perry's...

Ah, El Tamarindo... yum... !

Celebrate Safely!

¡ARRIBA!

Game of Tag...

Wow, I've never been tagged on blogger before... Spring has sprung me something new! Thanks, my lovely Ciara!



What is your current obsession? What day is it? Probably taking pictures for blogs... Blogging... my new found Blog Friends!


What are you wearing now? Levis, black tooled leather belt, 1" wide striped black and red Norma Kamali hip-length fitted tee, (under or around $20 at Evil World Domination-Mart... I do shop there once in a great while and couldn't resist!) with long fitted sleeves that bell out below the wrists, and go to the fingers, wide, 2" diameter silver hoop earrings (slightly tarnished), my Wedding rings, little black Beatle-esque boots. (with rubber heels for chasing-children comfort...)


Who was the last person you hugged? My teen guy, after his break, right before the throes of homework ensued.


If you were a tree, what tree would you be? A Catalpa; more specifically the Catalpa in front of the the turn of the (20th) century Sears house my Dad had near the Sea for 17 years... *sigh*



This is a fine example of a Catalpa; just click to enlarge...


What's for dinner? Gluten Free (Pepperoni ,Vidalia Onion and Red Bell Pepper) Pizza-- Homemade!


What was the last thing you bought? What, you mean besides groceries? I bought mascara; I figure it's time to try wearing it again... and a little real fur skunk made in the 70's by Real Fur of West Germany, for my sweet little thing who loves sweet little things.


What are you listening to right now? Eva Cassidy, Live at Blues Alley. Also, the wind, and the sounds of the house that seem sweeter now that spring is seeping in...

What is your favorite weather? Real Summer: hot and dry and fine, where an afternoon Thunderstorm is not out of the question, lightning and lightning bug weather, where the trees are dark against the blue sky, the shadows are dark, shade is actually cooling, where you heat up all day, and the coolness comes at night, where you are rejuvenated by the feel of your bare feet being swallowed up by cold grass...

What is on your bedside table? How to open a Financially Successful Bakery, Siddhartha, Frommers Paris 2006, Shadow of the Wind, Special Places to Stay in Ireland, Beautiful Boy, Proust was a Neuroscientist... (the stack got to be too big, and continues beside the bed... do you want those, too?) Also, a little brushed stainless retro gooseneck lamp, and a clear plastic princess phone, where you can see all the parts, and it lights up when it rings (so you know when the phone is ringing when the ringer is off, which it always is).

What is your most challenging goal right now? To move forward with my old GREAT BIG goals, while gathering to me all these oh-so-inspiring, energizing and propelling new goals, and wondering if /how-long I will stay in this way; having more energy, and with it seemingly more time, while time available is really the same or less... and trying to keep up with the everyday, too.

Say something to the person who tagged you: I think you are amazing and I am truly blessed to have found you and to be spending time here with you!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, where do you want it to be? Where wouldn't I want it to be? Malibu, Miami, Marblehead- Greystone Beach!, Oregon, Napa, New Mexico- Corrales Village would be nice, Key West, Ireland, Intercoastal Waterway- a charming historic town somewhere, England- London or the Cotswolds, Coastal Maine, France, Italy... any of those ought to do it...

Favorite Vacation Spot? Any of the above. Especially, my family's beach house, circa 1983-1993...

Name the things you cannot live without: my loved ones, music, beauty, nature, aromatics whether in good food, fragrance, nature. Water.

What would you like to have in your hands right now? My favorite perfumes; one discontinued, one seemingly on the way to be... (so here is my question:)

What is your favorite fragrance? Blue Carnation by Roget et Gallet, Dolce Vita by Dior.

What is your favorite/favourite tea flavor/flavour? Once again, I cannot pick! This is me and tea; at 6 am every morning, I drink Red Rose, probably because it's what my mother drank, and it has always come with a free figurine (by Wade) in every box, and growing up, I always collected the tea-bag tags as tiny pretend playing cards for my tiny bears and Liddle Kiddles, and my daughter now collects the cut white board dividers from inside to make bookmarks for everyone!

But also, as "recreational" and comfort tea drinking I very much love: Bigelow Constant Comment, Earl Gray (Twinings is ok), Black Currant, & Cranberry Autumn both from Harney Teas, and Genmai Cha (Brown Rice Green Tea) by Maeda En; the brown rice is toasted and roasted and some of the kernels pop and look like wee popcorn.

Here is a second question I've added; when it's time to brew tea, what do you use? Pot/pan, Kettle, Microwave, Electric Kettle, other...? Kettle, microwave sometimes...

What would you like to get rid of? Clutter, in my house... Prejudice and Selfishness, in the world.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? To Ireland, but I would take my Dad with me! I'd just steal him away, and I know he'd go with such glee!

If you could have your portrait painted/made by any famous artist from any era, who would you choose? Tough choice! I must say Maxfield Parrish, but would also love Waterhouse or John Singer Sargent.

The Rules:

1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more questions of your own. (I cheated; I left all the questions and added 2, so you may omit 2 if you like, and still add one or more of your own.)

2 . Tag eight other untagged people. (And I say, "Or more. Or less!")

These are the people I'd like to have play, if they'd like to! Amanda, Miss Pine, Puanani, Ms. Kathleen, Lisa, & Tutta Rolf. Also, even though they are less familiar with me, and even though their blogs are not really inclined towards such things, I'd like to tag Noreen, Bea Fleur, and Adriana. It's still a fun way to be introspective... even if you don't publicly play. Still, it'd be grand if you did.

And, as a longshot I'll tag: Barycoise, and two other gents seemingly COMPLETELY out of the blue who's profiles/blogs I find intriguing: Chris and Peter.

You may, but needn't be, as wordy as I have been! ;) Illustrations not required... but I know all of you at least well enough to say, each of you seem quite creative...

Stop the world, please...? And rewind?

The public house (Pub) operated since 1927 in Ireland by my father's cousin's family, seems to be gone. I can find no trace of the family I lost touch with... I sent email, but it came back returned. As of 1 year ago, the darts match results were still being posted there according to the newspaper... They are still listed in an online tourism guide, but that was last copyrighted in 2003! How can I have let so much time slip by without contacting them? I am just one of many American cousins who have likely visited them over the years with my now ailing Father and otherwise... But they are rare and special to me. So kind and warm and generous... I thought there would be time, that they would remain, be there...

The "Land Owner's House" where we stayed is no longer operating either-- has become a private residence...

I am so completely crushed, flattened, bereft...

Never a more magical time to me than that trip, and nothing so miraculous than the time spent there, on the seaside, stepping briefly, welcomed, into the life of that family, that town...

I am so ashamed of all the times I planned to write, to send a tin of Christmas treats, to return, to visit... and did not.

Too many things to grieve right now, things lost, and things soon to be lost...

How can one heart be so full and yet so empty, sinking and yet floating... soaring above the things I grasp for, to say goodbye, and yet pull them back to me once more.

You've Got Mail; from Me

"The time at our disposal each day is elastic; the passions we feel dilate it, those that inspire us shrink it, and habit fills it."
Marcel Proust



When I found I would be the only adult in our home for four days last week, I thought: "I'll write and write and write!" But actually, instead, I read and read and read. And caught a cold. (Isn't it always the way?) I found myself reading some moving poetry by Amanda, "I'm Here" which can be read here: http://paperstarlings.blogspot.com/2009/01/im-here.html and I found myself grieving. The number of decades that pass do not dull or nullify the memories or poignant sense of loss that may appear at any time. Their subscription never expires. So, since I have not (I tell myself) watched the film, You've Got Mail for several years now (disputable) and there would be no-one to argue this or add this view to the tally, I indulged myself. I don't know this, but I would not be surprised to learn that I am one of very few who cries without fail when they watch this movie. Nearly an example of reflexivity, I am the film and the film is me. (Was this always the case or did it become so?) A mirror within a mirror. The main character states, "So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?" And, "Confession: I have read Pride and Prejudice about 200 times. I get lost in the language; words like thither... mischance... I'm always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are really going to get together! Read it, I know you'll love it!" I get lost in the rhythm journey emotion of this film. I have watched it untold times! I have played it in the background as if a record album to keep me company while I do the dreaded dishes. The language and pacing are musical to me. The light and setting a warm and evocative rendering of quotidian life. I can go to it in Filofax fashion and call up whichever identification suits.

This time, it was to grieve my Mother. When Kathleen Kelly confesses, after acknowledging defeat in the losing of her store, her Mother's store, "Soon we'll just be a memory. In fact, someone, some foolish person will probably think it's a tribute to this city, the way it keeps changing on you, the way you can never count on it, or something. I know, because that's the sort of thing I'm always saying. But the truth is, I'm heartbroken. I feel as if part of me has died, and my mother has died all over again, and no one can ever make it right. " She sees before her, a vision, ghostly and luminescent, of herself and her Mother from another time, happy, unsuspecting, secure. This has always brought me to tears, cut right to the quick of me. The funny thing is, the trigger's effect has scarcely changed, and those who know me best can not comprehend in the least why this should be so. I never questioned it, merely accepted it. But now, in looking at the way I perceive memory, and experience nostalgia on the whole, I can see that my perceptions and experiences are likely to be different than those others with whom I share my life, whether or not I understand or comprehend or apprehend them myself.

Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind.
Marcel Proust