This world is so wide that, even if you flitted around and around it, you would never reach the end of it. This blog is a collage of more or less literary and humorous, outlandish or sometimes even serious glimpses at this great wide world.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The economical future of the planet
A response to Sunday Scribblings #108 - the future of the planet.
Weekly horoscope
There is a powerfully creative energy at work in your life that is encouraging your natural genius to flow.Wow! Let it flow.
You are learning that you are capable of far more than you thought possible. Be practical, but dare to challenge yourself as well. Keep moving out of your comfort zone and all will be well.Good to know that all will be well. But I don't like to leave my comfy zone. Is there anyone who really does?
Monday is excellent for taking risks and showing off your natural talents. Tuesday is not so great, as there are confusing elements in the air that may cause you to make a wrong turn. Take care when signing any new deals or important documents.Ok, I'll be careful with those deals and documents. None planned anyway.
Venus moves into Taurus on Wednesday which adds a special note of sweetness to your social life. Going on a date should be a lot more romantic and tender at this time.Let Ms. Venus come!
Thursday in particular could be very passionate with a touch of obsession in the air. Someone may want to get to know you more than you can imagine.Can't imagine right now, but will be open to imagination.
Saturn turns direct on Friday, which will help you make better progress with all travel affairs, especially any major trips you may be contemplating.I am contemplating a few indeed. India, U.S., Calabria and a few others.
You will also find that legal issues begin to resolve themselves at last.There is one that has been weighing on me.
Saturday is not the best day for talking someone around to your point of view, wait a day or two before you do this.Ok, I'll wait. Even though I usually don't even want to talk people into my point of view.
What a fantastic weekly horoscope. Mr. computer did a good job. Now let's see what happens.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
April sunshine fib
some
sunlight
changes it
all! Tulips brighten,
spirits brighten, life starts playing
in the streets. New love
might wink. Quick,
try and
catch
it.
– Leonard “Spring Struck” Blumfeld (© 2008)
All of Leonard's fibs
Friday, March 14, 2008
Clean
A bunch of us were waiting for the youth hostel doors to open
An Italian youth (but I was a youth myself then) tried to explain to me in English why he loved the music of Jimi Hendrix so much
Sometimes he threw in French words when English failed him (because I’d told him I spoke some French)
With a mounting degree of desperation he kept telling dense me that Jimi’s guitar playing was the opposite of "sale" (he didn’t exactly pronounce it the French way)
That is "dirty" in French
So Jimi’s music was "clean"
It has stayed that way for me ever since ca. 1974 when that Italian youth told me in front of the Geneva youth hostel in summer
– Leonard Blumfeld
Written on inspiration from Blog Friday.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Morning & Three Wishes
and my wish is: lighten up!
It’s going to be another
high-pressure day at work,
and my wish is: lighten up!
There are some troubled
souls at work, and my
wish is again: lighten up!
– Leonard Blumfeld
Written in response to Sunday Scribblings #102: Smorgasbord. I helped myself to a serving of "Morning" and to another of "Three Wishes."
Friday, March 7, 2008
The I should not be writing fib
should
not be
writing this,
I should be working.
That is the message of this fib.
In fact, you should prob-
ably not
be read-
ing
this.
– Leonard “Reluctant Workhorse” Blumfeld
Nothing terribly new or revolutionary, I'm afraid. More along the lines of same old.
For those relatively few of you who've read this before and are surprised that it has changed shape: I added the lower half of the diamond just now, feeling that something was missing.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
A poem for Soni
For Soni
A lightning bolt of pure joy struck
as our eyes and then hands met
that evening at the puja.
It made me wonder for a split second
whether both of us had tied hands
with the wrong ones –
you with your scowling bumbling boyfriend,
I with my pretty preening wife.
Now my wife has left for good,
and your boyfriend did finally get a job
in far-away Cologne.
The image of your radiant dark face,
set off so beautifully by your thick white sweater,
the feel of your small, courageous hand in mine
have been alive in my mind for months.
And yet I do not call.
Could one intense moment I felt
mean something?
Were you struck like me?
Heated imagination, I tell myself, hogwash.
And might never know for sure.
– Leonard Blumfeld
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Dread, dread
I'm working for two teams. She heads one of them and doesn't like the fact that I also work for the other. The people in hers are more problematic.
I hate sitting between chairs!
Friday, February 15, 2008
My darling daughter’s got a relapse of the terrible twos
Quick.I’m making pakoras
Someone.
You there....
Trip her.
– Rhian
for a crowd, my hands are full,
and she is spinning like a top,
stopping only to push
the pink button again
when La Bamba’s over
on the dratted pink kid
cassette player granny
gave her on her birthday.
And off she goes again
with that exhilarated grin,
that evil chuckle on her chin...
You there, Maria, quick:
get her, grab her ...
before she trips herself.
– Len “Parent Rewarded” Blumfeld (© 2008)
Sparked by the reading of Rhian's poem for Monday Poetry Train #43.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
More questions than directions
Concentrating on the job at hand might be more difficult than it normally is for you. You'll much rather be lying on a sandy beach than checking items off your to-do list, with today's alignments influencing you. Try your best to stay focused on why you're doing what you do. If you stay focused on the prize, you'll have an easier time of it.
- My hands are on the job, even though somewhat reluctantly.
- Sandy beach ... Yearn! Sound good. How about in Puglia, around Italy's heel?
- What are today's alignments?
- All right, I'll try to stay focused. But why am I doing what I am doing? Big question!
- What prize?
Leonard "Somewhat Puzzled" B.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Cold cold poem
Here's some balm for someone in need I ran into today – can't offer more because I don't know her that well:#97 - "Fridge Space"
I know it sounds a little strange, but the prompt this week is: "Fridge Space."
Cold cold poem
for an affected heart
Angelica, you are perturbed,
I see it,
your eyes are dark
and deep and dulled,
your short curls
are matted down.
You look demure,
obedient to destiny.
I want to help you.
Do not believe
in fate. Rebel.
Take this fridge-born
poem unbeknownst,
take it to cool
your aching heart
and mind. Expand,
return to life.
– Leonard Blumfeld
Friday, February 8, 2008
Time flies by ...
Ever had one of those days?
It's shaping up to be one for me, and frantic activity does not seem to be the answer. That seems to equate wheel spinning and rubber burning (smoke and stench – oh no!).
But:
- The sun's out brightly
- A placid plane is making its way in the baby blue sky
- I bet there are many people aboard who are doing something productive ... like sleeping, blowing their noses, reading fun trashy novels, getting acquainted with their neighbors or hoping their neighbors won't disturb them*, waiting for the next meal, etc.
- Wouldn't mind being on a plane myself ... going somewhere
- ... instead of sitting here at work not getting anywhere.
Cheers!
Len "Not So Inspired Workhorse"
* Ever read Anne Tyler's Accidental Tourist? (Highly recommendable – the movie, starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis and Bill Pullman, is also quite good.) Then you know what to do in order to prevent communication with fellow travelers.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Thirteen people I admire
1. Frederick II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
2. Leo Tolstoy, novelist
3. Kabir, mystic
4. Begum Akhtar, singer
5. Mira Nair, film director
6. César Vallejo, poet
7. Max Beckmann, painter
8. Waheeda Rehman, actress
9. Emiliano Zapata, revolutionary
10. Masaccio, painter
11. Hugo von Hofmannsthal, poet and playwright
12. Kamala Markandaya, writer
13. Friedrich Hölderlin, poet
This list is in random order and non-exclusive and includes persons that came to my mind as I was trying to think of people who or whose works mean a lot to me or who I think have been or are important in the history or cultural history of the planet in one way or another.
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
What the horoscope said vs. what really happened
Today you might feel like relaxing and being lazy. Working tends to be your addiction, so it can be hard for you to rest. Try not to do chores. In fact, if you can get away with it, don't force yourself to do anything! Give yourself permission to goof off. Allow the dust to pile up another day. It will still be waiting for you tomorrow. Allow your spirits to be recharged before you venture out into the world again.So how did that compare with today's reality?
- Negative on the relaxing, laziness, no chores, no nothing front. Work is not really my addiction (more going on creative tangents), but I went in anyway and did what there was to do. Maybe a little more slowly than at other times.
- Positive on letting the dust pile up. This is something I'm really good at in general. I let the dust pile up at home while I was at work. And, lo and behold, it was still there when I got home a while ago.
- Recharging the spirit... Well, there was some of that at work since it was Luca's birthday, and just about everybody showed up in his office because he's a swell guy ... all the Italians, of course, but also the Spaniards, the French, the Russians, the Australian, one Brit and yours truly. Eyed Francesca occasionally, who is beauty in the eye of any beholder, but talked mostly to Clara, who is from sherry country, about such coherent things as yoga, García Lorca's "Bodas de sangre," his poetry and the folk songs he put to music, plus similarities between certain cooking habits in Clara's village and in Morocco. Now and then I busied myself with pouring champagne and serving carrot birthday cake. That made me feel useful.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Leaving the comfort zone
What came to my mind for this one was a quote from a postcard received from a close friend:
So you're a winner ...
You work, and it's rewarding & fun. You share your life with a marvelous woman, who complements you and moves you much as you move her. You bless the world & the world's blessing shines on you.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Limited outside sections
No. 4 shows part of an apartment building, built ca. 1920, when they still had a taste for nooks and crannies (this one has many of those). It's pale orange, with the entrance in pale pink and the hinged shutters in pale green. The most conspicuous contemporary feature is a clump of red and zinc satellite dishes on the red tile roof.
No. 5, at an angle of only 8 degrees from no. 4, shows an entirely different period in the back - a recent high-rise apartment building, all boxy impersonal lines. Pale yellow and concrete grey. Another apartment block, straight, 1960s, boring, transverse. Partially covered up by deep-green spruce trees. A beech in front. Still hanging on to last year's brown leaves.
Somehow a dismal morning. Discernable drops of rain coming down out there. Any sound from outside covered up by the humming and occasional ghostly activity of the huge HP printers stationed further back in the room.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
When the horoscope is right on...
Your usual determination has gone out of town and left no forwarding address. Of course, like any self-respecting Capricorn, you continue to accomplish what's demanded of you. But you sense something missing in relation to your motivations. Those around you notice it as well, so expect to have to justify or explain your occasional lack of pep...Please get me back my forwarding address! And, preferably, back into town!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Prior to dive-in fib
the
water
of life looked
so cold today! I
feared for kidneys, liver and heart.
But some vigorous
strokes in its
cold did
warm
me.
– Leonard “The Diver” Blumfeld (© 2008)
Ruminations
Here we are – it’s the 4th morning in 2008, and a fib – in the shape of a diamond no less – served as a warm-up exercise for a day begun with reluctance. If we are to trust Richard Leider and other commonsense gurus, it is essential to have a reason for getting up in the morning. Each and every morning. Let’s just say that some mornings are easier than others.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
The best was what hurt most
best
of two
thousand and
seven sadly was
what also hurt most: to dissolve
a marriage begun
in May with
longing,
love,
hope.
– L.B.
Note
Written in response to Inspire Me Thursday's suggestion "The Best of 2007". It is unfortunately all true.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Preparing for breakfast with Frank
there must be music on the turntable
(his beloved late French classical stuff)
before he enters the bathroom to shave,
only to come out at irregular intervals
to drop me a witticism in the kitchen or,
later, on the balcony, where I’m sitting
with something to read. To make some
sort of a point, like, “Look, I’m busy
even though you’re here and we both
know that you’re a full-attention kind
of guy.”
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2007)
Note
For some reason I tried to picture what it would be like to have Frank O’Hara over for breakfast.