The land with the velvet hill (peace will come)

The land with the velvet hill
(detail from The Fortress of Golkonda, 2004;
gouache, oil crayon and acrylic on paper)

Today's theme proposed by Inspire Me Thursday is PEACE - the peace symbol is turning fifty.

I'm not using the peace symbol itself here but make reference to someone who was a symbol of the peace movement of the 1960s and 70s – Melanie. In particular, I'm thinking of her song Peace Will Come whose lyrics are the reason why I chose this painting.

The song seems to focus on the peace inside oneself, yet also establishes a connection to the whole world or even becomes the world. We are all part of it, and it might not be the worst idea for everyone to buy one – a piece of peace.

Peace Will Come

There's a chance peace will come in your life please buy one

Sometimes when I am feeling as big as the land
With the velvet hill in the small of my back
And my hands are playing with sand

And my feet are swimming in all of the waters
All of the rivers are givers to the ocean
According to plan, according to man

Well sometimes when I am feeling so grand
And I become the world
And the world becomes a man

And my song becomes a part of the river
I cry out to keep me just the way I am
According to plan

According to man, according to plan
According to man, according to plan

There's a chance peace will come
In your life please buy one.

There's a chance peace will come
In my life please buy one.

For sometime when we have reached the end
With the velvet hill in the small of my backs
And our hands are clutching the sand

Will our blood become a part of the river
All of the rivers are givers to the ocean
According to plan, according to man

There's a chance peace will come
In your life please buy one

(Written by Melanie Safka, song released in 1970)

The following video shows Melanie performing Peace Will Come at the Johnny Cash Show:

So I am a snapdragon ...

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Here's what is says about snapdragons at This Garden Is Illegal, where I took this test:

Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh.

I came across this not while gardening (I don't even have a garden right now unless you count the cactus and sedum on my kitchen window sill) but while reading Linda's poems.

Mysterious parallel bounce

I. Parallel

Sometimes I have the feeling I am living in parallel worlds, especially when poetry plays in my head while I realize at the same time that a work-related conversation between my colleagues is playing outside my ears.

II. Bounce

The bounce back from my poetic parallel world can be dramatic and painful, like falling on my duff and hitting my tailbone.

III. Mysterious

Mysteriously, I have so far always come back from my poetic parallel world and have survived all the bounces.

– Leonard Blumfeld

Written to incorporate parallel, bounce and mysterious from 3WW LXXX.

Arcadian valley

bright yellow stone peeking out of dusty green –
the fading thunder of hoofs –
remote laughter of the gods

– Leonard Blumfeld

contributing to laughter at One Single Impression.

Overheard at breakfast

Said the egg to the spoon:
I’ll promise you the moon.

Even though I’ve been decapitated
I’m not entirely captivated –

I simply hate to confess
that my shell’s in a mess

while your condition is mint.
But I’ll drop you a hint:

Sugar would be very nice
instead of salt as a spice.

Taking me to a mouth
is the deed of a louth.

Our love could be torrid
if you weren’t so horrid.

– Leonard “Silly Mood” Blumfeld

Written because of the word 'torrid' at Writers Island.

Two in communication

Two podpeds in communication –
an insinuation of slight unreliability
Ink on paper, 2008

Posted for Inspire Me Thursday's "2" theme.

Novels ...

Oh to go back to the days when I'd read novels!
I'd be propped up in bed in the morning to read novels,
reclining on my grandma's sofa to read novels,
pretend to be working in my work chair but reading novels

– Leonard Blumfeld

Written in response to Totally Optional Prompts.


Fact & fiction
All true ... and gone, unfortunately. I would devour books, including lengthy ones like War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov and Anna Karenina, historical novels by Mika Waltari and tons of mysteries by the likes of Edgar Wallace, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Or anything by James M. Cain – good and bad. And I'd always wait for and get the latest by Anne Tyler once If Morning Ever Comes had me hooked.
And now? I barely manage a few every year. Get started on some that I put aside after a few pages.
Too much work. I've gotten older and choosier, read a lot more non-fiction. And sometimes when I'm not working I'd rather be creative than immerse myself in somebody else's work.
That is the plain truth.

Cross act

The crossbow acted
as intended
and split the apple
on Walter’s head

– Leonard Blumfeld

A somewhat martial take on the two words proposed by Two for Tuesday – cross and act. Also inspired by Friedrich Schiller's play about William Tell.

Blogging without obligation

Some quotes about blogging from tartx / down the rabbit hole that make a lot of sense to me:

After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post on someone's blog starting with "I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile," I decided it is time to rethink what makes a good blog and the expectations that have come to be part of it. I am thinking that no one should utter those words again ... and with that thought I give you Blogging Without Obligation.

I release all the logos, thoughts and words mentioned here about this concept into the public domain. Take the idea and run with it ... or walk away. It is all good.

• Because you shouldn't have to look at your blog as a treadmill.
• Because it's okay to just say what you have to say. If that makes for a long post, fine. Short post, fine. Frequent post, fine. Infrequent post, fine.
• Because it's okay to not always be enthralled with the sound of your own typing.
• Because sometimes less is more.
• Because only blogging when you feel truly inspired keeps up the integrity of your blog.
• Because they are probably not going to inscribe your stat, link and comment numbers on your tombstone.
• Because for most of us blogging is just a hobby. A way to express yourself and connect with others. You should not have to apologize for lapses in posts. Just take a step back and enjoy life, not everything you do has to be "bloggable."
• Because if you blog without obligation you will naturally keep your blog around longer, because it won't be a chore. Plus, just think you will be doing your part to eradicate post pollution. One post at a time...

Rosy spring come on in

Inspire Me Thursday is asking for wallpapers this time around; here is a section of a larger painting (acrylic on crinkled up paper) that I could possibly imagine as a motif for a bright sitting room with large windows into a garden.

Also, I intend it as an invitation for spring (not only at One Single Impression), which so far has come in flowers but not in temperatures:

Easter has come
with daffodils
in snow

– Leonard Blumfeld

She’s been misunderstood

“You’re telling me that you lost the money because your undies got tangled up?”
“In the drier, as I told you before!”
“And you expect me to believe that you carry your money in your undies and put them in the drier with the money? The bus fare you owe this company, to be exact.”
“Not me! My mother did.”
“This is getting more mysterious all the time.”
“You don’t understand. See, the undies didn’t get quite dry because they were tangled up, but I put them on anyway.”
“Uhuh.”
“Then, after a while, I realized they were wet, and that my pants had also gotten wet.”
“I see.”
“So then I had to put on the other pair of pants.”
“Which didn’t have the money in them?”
“Yes. – And then I had to run to make it to the bus to go to school.”
“Without undies, without money, but with the new pair of pants.”
“Yes, except they’re not new. You’re getting this all wrong!”
“I give up in desperation. Scoot!”
“You’re letting me go?”
“Yes, and you better get lost before I insist on verifying the undy situation.”

– Leonard Blumfeld
weaving the words money, tangled and understood into an incredible dialog for 3WW #78.

Constant & Split

Constant & Split
were lovers

Difficulties
they did have a bit:

Whenever Constant
got too close,

his beloved Split
wanted to quit

– Leonard Blumfeld

having his way with two words from Two for Tuesdays.

Acrylic blot mutation

Believe it or not – this started out as a blot according to the instructions at Inspire Me Thursday. Not in ink, but in acrylic. I then enhanced it with a black ink pen. It looked like a dog's face with gigantic fuzzy ears. I did not find it esthetically pleasing but scanned it anyway and then tried out various effects, eventually settling for the kaleidoscope one shown here. The dog is gone; what's left looks like some Swedish folklore motif perhaps. And is easy on my eyes.

– Leonard Blumfeld

Clean

That reminds me of Geneva in ca. 1974

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.

Morning & Three Wishes

It’s a grey morning out there,
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."

A story of numbness

The numbness began with the apartment.
It turned into numbness between us within a few months.
Now she has become so numb she never leaves anymore.
And I’m hardly ever there.

– Leonard Blumfeld

Written for 3WW using today's 3 words: apartment – began – numb.

Ruby Tuesday Meme Invitation

Introductory question:

Does the blog world need another meme?

Multiple choice answers permitted:

A. Like the plague, there are enough of those useless things.
B. Why not, count me in.

If your answer is A., then please proceed with whatever you wanted to do in the first place.
If your answer is B., then please be invited to participate in Ruby Tuesday.

What are the rules?

A. Create a post that has the word or color RUBY or something else RUBY-related or TUESDAY-related in it.
B. In your post, create a link to this Ruby Tuesday meme invitation.
C. Leave a comment here.
D. That's all!

How'd I come up with the idea for this meme? That's simple:

A. Today is Tuesday.
B. I was thinking of participating in some meme – preferably a Tuesday one since today is Tuesday.
C. Somehow, in my always musical head, the Rolling Stones song Ruby Tuesday started playing:

Ruby Tuesday

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter because it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows, she comes and then she goes

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Don't ask her why she needs to be so free
She's gonna tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothing's gained
And nothing's lost, but such a cost

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

"There's no time to lose", I heard her say
You gotta catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams and you may lose your mind
Is life unkind?

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who is gonna hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday

– Written in 1966 by Keith Richards (and possibly Brian Jones)

For added inspiration, here's a clip of Melanie performing the song:

Experiment involving ladies, leopards and a juniper tree

Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day
– T. S. Eliot

And now four Blumfeld variations, to be accompanied by lute and shawm:

Leopard: three white ladies sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day
Juniper: three white days sat under a leopard tree in the cool of the ladies
Cool tree: three juniper trees sat under a leopard in the white of the day
Cool ladies: a juniper tree sat under the leopard in three whites of the day

Posted in honor of Sunday Scribblings #101 - The Experiment as an experiment in/with/on modernist poetry.

T. S. Eliot, when asked the meaning of the line 'Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day...' from Ash Wednesday (1927), said "It means 'Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper tree in the cool of the day...'".

Questions as to the meaning of the Blumfeld variations are welcome.

Photo courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust, an organization that has been helping to save the Asian snow leopard for 25 years.

Perfect playmates ...

... and yet so different.

For Wordless Wednesday.

"We’re wordless every day, and we’re like potato chips — you can’t just have one day!!"

My kitchen, right now

It's all about kitchens in Inspire Me Thursday this time around. My contribution is a razor-edge-of-time snapshot of my kitchen's current but no so unusual state (messy).

What you see are primarily the yet unwashed containers of last night's and today's foods and drinks and some utentils. The pièce de résistance, however, is my grandma's flowered coffee pot in the background.

And yes, it was takeout last night. My daughter came over, and we ooled* Chinese while watching a rental DVD - Because I said so with Diane Keaton as the high-strung and meddling mother of three girls. The movie has its moments but isn't the greatest ever made.

* To "ool" - family speak ever since we watched Ringo Starr's Caveman way back when the kids were little. Even our dog knows what the word means. One of our all-time family cult movies.

The I should not be writing fib

I
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.

How tasty was my cereal this morning

Wordless Wednesday

Zapping the remote control

Zemi, one of the characters I met during my time zap travels.

These are some of the places and times where blind zapping curiosity took me …

Zap: Ah, it’s mighty damp here, I’ve got sweat running down everywhere after just a sec, and it’s so misty I can hardly see a thing … and what’s this ugly furry creature there that’s eying me from the front (or back?) of its furry head … about 27 feet tall … and feet on both sides of the foot if that makes any sense … now marching towards me through the swampy terrain … don’t like his/her approach …

Zap: I’m in a desert on some planet … surrounded by insect-like robots about 100 times the size of the biggest terrestrial insects … what the hell are these guys doing? … I see, they’re sifting the sand for something … gold? plutonium? planetarium? … I feel hungry, nothing edible around … better leave before they discover me and put me through one of those sifters ...

Zap: I’m in Charles Dickens’ room, looking over his shoulder as he’s scribbling on and on about Mr. Micawber … he gives me a distracted look, but doesn’t really register … let him work … I love David Copperfield the way it is, no sense in interfering …

Zap: I’m in a trench … soldiers that look like frogs, literally, they’ve got these things over their heads that make 'em look like … my God, let me get out of here before there’s a poison gas attack …

Zap: What are these four gigantic columns around me? And that above me – is that someone’s gigantic belly? And those egg-shaped things the size of helicopter cabs … are those balls? Don’t let that plesiosaurus or whatever sit down (on me!) while I’m looking for my RC in the grass …

PS: I made it back home – to my own modest time, my own modest place – as you might have guessed because I managed to survive and post these exploits.

– Len “Time Zapper” Blumfeld

Written for Sunday Scribblings' #100 prompt "Time Machine"

Synonyms for never

• one of these days
• eventually
• when I get around to it

This topic came up as a result of listening to a piece by Bill Frisell (from "Nashville") in which the lyrics "One of these days I'm gonna sit down and write a long letter" are repeated again and again.

Please feel free to add any other never variants you can think of.

– L.B.

See you lator

I still likes my amplificator
but now also wants a magnificator
before heading down to the equator
with my magnanimator
to avoid the torpiditator
with his pet alligator,
an eradicator
by trade, a voluminator,
pollutinator,
terrificator
and terminator by effect.

– Len "Procrastinator" Blumfeld

Note
That one came out of the blue. I only felt exhausted and depleted when I started a list of words, existing and invented, ending in -ator. Now I feel much refreshed. Ain't that sumpin'!

Haiku2 for me

oops just noticed
that i also work for the
other the people

There is a blog – memes at angrygoats – that generates haikus from the contents of blogs. I had the one above created from World So Wide. It's interesting what a computer can do with one's words.
Try it out on your own blog – it's fun!

– L.B.

P.S.: To be working for the other the people – I kinda like that.

A poem for Soni

A late entry for Totally Optional Prompts' request for a 'romantic poem.' I have a romantic streak (perhaps it's only sentimental – someone who should know told me there was no romantic bone in me), but usually write about other people in any love stories I write. Well, this one is all about me myself I and hopefully not too embarrassing.

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

Message in a bottle

The Teach at Work of the Poet tagged me for Mimi's Message in a Bottle meme. The picture above shows my very simple 3-word message.

Here are the rules for participation in this meme:

You are about to send a virtual Message In a Bottle across the Blog Ocean. Leave a message in the sand or on the bottle. Write anything you wish. Be a pirate or a poet. Serious or silly. Anonymous or not. What message would you like to send out to the universe?

1. Compose a message to place in your virtual bottle.
2. Right click and SAVE the blank graphic below.

3. Use a graphics program of your choice to place the message on the picture.
4. Post the Message In a Bottle meme and your creation on your blog along with these rules.
5. Tag a minimum of 5 bloggers - or your entire blogroll - to do the same. Notify them of the tag. Your virtual bottle will remain afloat in the blogosphere ocean for all blogernity (that's a Mimism for blog + eternity.)

So, if you are tagged by me, go over to Mimi's and ADD your site to her Mr. Linky list and place your blog's name and url in a comment HERE TO LET MIMI KNOW YOU'VE COMPLETED THE MEME. Mimi will add it to the master list of message bottles. Email mimiwrites2005 at yahoo.com if you have questions. Participation is optional. Just remember she has a dungeon ... and some of you are STILL there from the Band Meme. Have fun!

I'm tagging:
Fourbourne @ Fourbourne
Myrtle Beached Whale @ Myrtle Beach Ramblings
Gautami Tripathy @ Rooted
Tumblewords @ Tumblewords
Laura Scarlett @ Laura Scarlett

Intrepid little bird

Intrepid Little Bird (2006)
Acrylic on kraft paper

Inspire Me Thursday's proposition for this week was:

Action Painting

This week let us be inspired by Action Painting, a “style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied.” Think Jackson Pollock, the American Abstract Expressionist painter who was fond of huge canvases on the floor, applying paint with a stick or other objects, using a ‘drip’ technique, walking around the canvas, being ‘in the painting.’

I was immediately reminded of a series of paintings I did in 2006, for which I partially used a drip technique. What I call "Intrepid Little Bird" above is just a small section of a larger painting done with a combination of dripping and rolling.

– Leonard Blumfeld

Dread, dread

Meeting with "superior" coming up this afternoon – some fundamentals will need to be discussed.
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!

In sleep

In sleep mysteries rise,
mysteries rise in sleep.

Towards morning especially
mysteries rise in sleep.

Air lifts and sudden dives
rise in the morning in sleep.

Corridors and blocked passages,
dimly lit dives rise in sleep.

A forgotten name and a rose
this morning rose in sleep.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2008)

Note
Written in response to Sunday Scribblings' prompt

#98 - Sleep (and/or Teeth)

Sorry about the missing teeth. None have risen in sleep lately.

The form I'm using here is loosely based on the ghazal.

My darling daughter’s got a relapse of the terrible twos

Quick.
Someone.
You there....
Trip her.
– Rhian

I’m making pakoras
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.

More questions than directions

Today's horoscope said:

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.

Blurry face

Section of "Blurry Face"
Gouache and oil crayon, 2004

Posted for Inspire Me Thursday's "Faces" theme.

Cold cold poem

In response to today's Sunday Scribblings:

#97 - "Fridge Space"

I know it sounds a little strange, but the prompt this week is: "Fridge Space."

Here's some balm for someone in need I ran into today – can't offer more because I don't know her that well:

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

Time flies by ...

and you're not getting anything accomplished.

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.

Thirteen people I admire

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.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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

Glass ...

Inspire Me Thursday's prompt this time is "Glass" – here's my creation (not brand new, I admit, but today's digital modification of an acrylic painting dating back to 2002 that had turned out somewhat like a glass pane):

Nearer, up close

Verde, que te quiero verde
– Federico García Lorca

My smooth approach
did not help –
again, again
its green smoothness eluded me

I approached harshly
this time,
and its smooth greenness
shrank away

Again, again –
do not approach me smoothly

Who are you
to sneak like this?

I knew about you,
from the start, your steps
make my quartz structure
tremble

Again, again
my green

Approach me
with me in mind

Approach me green,
you’ll be inside,
you will be smoothly


– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2008)

Note
Written in response to today’s prompt at Three Word Wednesday, which was to write using these three words: approach, bottle, smooth. In García Lorca’s poem the wind is green ... here it’s a prosaic bottle. Or is it?

Oops
Just noticed that I did not use bottle! Well, since it's all about one, do I need to name it?

What the horoscope said vs. what really happened

The horoscope delivered this morning by the e-mailman sounded quite nice:

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.

And now I will recharge some more ... with some food and possibly the movie The Big Hit (Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christina Applegate) recommended by my son the other night as something outrageously funny. Let's see!

The miscellaneous fib

I
miss
you non-
specific-
ally, in that mis-
cellaneous but loving way.

– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2008)

Written in response to the current Sunday Scribblings prompt:

#95 - miscellaneous

Because it is a delicious word with unlimited possibilities, the prompt this week is: miscellaneous.

Sung by Joy

ॐ आनन्दमयि चैतन्यमयि सत्यमयि परमे
– Sri Aurobindo

These (om anandamayi chaitanyamayi satyamai parame) are the words of the first song on a wonderful CD I've had for years – Hymns and Songs in Sanskrit, sung by Joy Chowdhury of Auroville, South India.

I briefly met Joy Chowdhury at a friend's house in Auroville late in 2004 and remember – and this is a memory that's stuck in my mind for incomprehensible reasons – seeing her vanish behind a curve of an Auroville dirt road on her scooter, with her daughter riding behind her.

– Leonard Blumfeld

The musicians are:

Joy Chowdhury - Vocals
Holger Jetter - Keyboards & arrangements
Bryce Grinlington - Flute
Krishna Both - Tabla
Nadaka - Tambura and additional vocal

Leaving the comfort zone

This week's Inspire me Thursday task is to go beyond the comfort zone (the week before it was to define the comfort zone, in which I did not participate – did not feel comfortable with that one, I guess).

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.

Yeh Raatein Yeh Mausam

Here's a picturization of one of the most famous romantic duets of popular Hindi cinema – it also was sort of the theme song of the happiest times of my marriage...

The song is from Dilli Ka Thug (1958). It stars Nutan, one of the most beautiful and charming actresses of the time, and Kishore Kumar, who is better known as a playback singer than an actor. Here he does playback singing for himself, while Asha Bhosle is the singing voice of Nutan.

Limited outside sections

The new office has five windows, of which 3 are obscured by shutters this morning to prevent glare whenever the sun chooses to poke out for a sec.

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.

The Stainsby Girls

In 1990, I bought Chris Rea's album "Shamrock Diaries," which contains some of the best songs he ever wrote. I particularly loved "Stainsby Girls" and was planning on writing a novella based on the theme suggested - that of two wild, unconventional sisters, who, as Chris Rea says, could not only steal a heart, but break it in two.

I'd even decided on my names for the sisters – Charlotte and Vivian. Charlotte, I was definitely sure, was the proper name for my Rolling Stones loving heroine. She would be the one to break my hero's heart in two.

Alas, I never even wrote a single line of the novella. But the idea has lingered in my head for over 15 years and is revived each time I listen to the song. Which still happens now and then...

The lyrics follow below the video. Watch out for Chris' slide guitar solo!



Stainsby Girls

Some girls used to kiss and run
Never knew what they had done
Some girls always wasted time
Keep you hanging on the line
Some loved horses and always stayed at home
But the Stainsby girls loved the Rolling Stones

Now some had games that you had to play
Making rules along the way
Strange attractions newly found
Pride and passion kicked around
Some girls stole your heart
Like most girls do
But a Stainsby girl could break it in two

And I fell in love, I fell in love
I fell in love with a Stainsby girl

Deepest water Stainsby blue
Running straight, running true
Names and faces fade away
Memories here to stay

And I fell in love, I fell in love
I fell in love with a Stainsby girl

– Chris Rea (from Shamrock Diaries, 1985)

Give my love to Rose - Bruce Springsteen

This post is for my friend Chris from New Jersey, who is married to Rose. The other day he told me about a song he'd written for her, and that reminded me of the Johnny Cash song "Give my love to Rose," of which I recited part of the lyrics to him. He thought it was unbelievably corny. But then he doesn't like country music in general. However, then I discovered that his fellow New Jersean and hero Bruce Springsteen performed the song on some occasion. So here it is - Springsteen-style...

When the horoscope is right on...

Occasionally, the daily horoscope I get by e-mail is right on target, as it was today:

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!

Prior to dive-in fib

Oh
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.

The best was what hurt most

The
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.