Sunday Quote

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

- Neil Gaiman

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Farewell in lieu of Sunday Quote

Oh, I loved him.  Such a crush that went on for years.  When others swooned for rock stars and young actors, he was the one I admired.  My mom even bought me a Broadway ticket years ago when he made a rare and special appearance on Broadway so I could see him in person.  A lion in winter, Mr. Chips, the one striding on top of the train as Lawrence of Arabia.  Thank you and farewell, Mr. O'Toole.

Manhattan all decked out for Christmas

The building with the scaffolding is St. Patricks which no one in their right mind would ever venture into this time of year...especially with all the scaffolding inside too...which of course one would not know unless they went inside.  Oy.

The windows, the windows!  Lots of video/media content this year which had us old school gals asking plaintively - where are the doll houses?  the wee villages?  the puppets?  Tiffanys had the fancy white mansions which were okay - but frankly, ever since their magnificent Fox windows a few years ago based on the Roald Dahl book turned movie, it all pales. 

 

loved the tribute to Al Hirschfeld windows...and right outside Rockefeller Center, Saks had a countdown ...which was exploding stars, dancers, ribbons, lots of glitz, and then this familiar looking guy popping out of a box.  Very fun. 

In between all this wandering about we hit up the children's book art exhibit at the NYPL and the Magritte exhibit at MOMA (can you say EXHAUSTED with me?) but that's another post this week...because here are the angels and the tree which is, of course, year after year, absurdly crowded and ridiculously touristy and yet amid all the crush and photo opps and clamour, it still is magical.

Did I get an extra shot in of the tree by accident?  Ah well, blogger makes it too hard to backtrack and besides...it's a short season.  A fun day bringing back memories of all the excursions in to the tree ("Let the Lady with the pram through!")  Enjoy all the lights and festivals you can.  Merry, merry.

Sunday Quote

Great Writing News

 

Very happy to say that a short story I wrote has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  The story is called The Exit and can be found here at The Lowestoft Chronicle.  The photo here with all its open door into the future obvious symbolism and vaguely Narnia-ish charm is a grateful nod to Manhattanville College (where such lovely buildings exist including the main building known as The Castle...and it really is just that gorgeous) as I wrote the story while in a class with the amazing Neela Vaswani at Manhattanville College's MFA program. 

Sunday Quote

Pie first

The proper order of leftovers:
Pie
Coffee.
Everything else.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

A little photo of the Thankful tree I put up at our little library for kids and their grown-ups to write what they were thankful for if they wanted to...so much to be grateful for and yet it is often hard to maintain a grateful heart.  Every year I like to reconsider this poem by George Herbert.  The last lines ring especially true for me.

GRATEFULNESS
by George Herbert (1593- 1633)

Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.
See how thy beggar works on thee
By art.

He makes thy gifts occasion more,
And says, If he in this be crossed,
All thou hast given him heretofore
Is lost.

But thou didst reckon, when at first
Thy word our hearts and hands did crave,
What it would come to at the worst
To save.

Perpetual knockings at thy door,
Tears sullying thy transparent rooms,
Gift upon gift, much would have more,
And comes.

This not withstanding, thou wenst on,
And didst allow us all our noise:
Nay thou hast made a sigh and groan
Thy joys.

Not that thou hast not still above
Much better tunes, than groans can make;
But that these country-airs thy love
Did take.

Wherefore I cry, and cry again;
And in no quiet canst thou be,
Till I a thankful heart obtain
Of thee:

Not thankful, when it pleaseth me;
As if thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.

Sunday Quote

What To Do When You Encounter Jell-O:
1. Never let it see you're afraid. Jell-O loves this.
2. Smile. Say you are a friend, you come in peace.
3. Reason with it.
4. Offer it a gift.
5. Find out what it wants.
6. Let it see you have no weapons.
7. If it continues to jiggle menacingly, Stab it to death with a kitchen knife and throw it in the sink. 3rd Rock from the Sun: The Official Report on Earth by High Commander Dick Solomon

Sunday Quote

I am the song that sings the bird.
I am the leaf that grows the land.
I am the tide that moves the moon.
I am the stream that halts the sand.
I am the cloud that drives the storm.
I am the earth that lights the sun.
I am the fire that strikes the stone.
I am the clay that shapes the hand.
I am the word that speaks the man.
- Charles Causeley, I am the Song.

Dia De Muertos