a boy, his dog, his mom, and a bulldozer
—
“we make our lives by what we love.”
-john cage, american composer and music theorist

—-
i was so hoping that olive and pete the cat would bond
two cats rescued at different times
both in dubious circumstances
couldn’t be more different
each with their quirks and gifts
now home together.
—
‘home is not a place, it’s a feeling.’
-cecilia ahern
ten years have passed
since the moment
when my entire 6-pack of grandies
at last
all on the same continent
met for the very first time
in a large box on my front lawn
as long as i live
i will never forget that moment.
‘cousins are the barometers of how fun a family get-together will be.’
– jm gaffigan

mars has shared its heart-shaped craters, mesas, and depressions
photo credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
wh0 wouldn’t love to have a tangerine cat?
—
“our holiday food splurge was a small crate of tangerines, which we found ridiculously thrilling after an eight-month abstinence from citrus. lily hugged each one to her chest before undressing it as gently as a doll. watching her do that as she sat cross-legged on the floor one morning in pink pajamas, with bliss lighting her cheeks, i thought; lucky is the world, to receive this grateful child. value is not made of money, but a tender balance of expectation and longing.”
-Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a nonfiction account of her family’s attempts to eat locally. Lily, mentioned above, is her daughter, now also an author and an environmental scientist.
—
image credit: pinterest
who could resist this classic?
happy valentine’s day!
Formed in 1966, The Valentines were a popular Perth band favoring soul and British mod sounds. They had a local hit with Arthur Alexander’s Every Day I Have To Cry. In 1967 they went to the national finals of Hoadleys’ Battle of the Sounds in Melbourne and moved there later in the year. They eventually became national teenybopper idols after the success of My Old Man’s A Groovy Old Man.
The band featured notable co-lead vocalists: Bon Scott (1946-1980), later famous as AC/DC’s lead singer from 1974, and Vince Lovegrove (1947-2012), journalist, TV presenter, booking agent and film maker.
—
“there are more love songs than anything else.
if songs could make you do something we’d all love one another.”
-frank zappa
source credit: Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop (1999), pp.660-661
a beautiful, beautiful film
in every way
it will bring you
great music
great joy
great love
great passion
and
will break your heart.
early in the film
felicia, later to be leonard bernstein’s wife
asks him –
“you don’t even know how much you need me, do you?”
and he answers –
“i might.”
through all they endured
together and apart
around the globe and back
they found
the greatest love of their lives
in each other.
brava.
—
“a work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them;
and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.”
-leonard bernstein
our class of 3’s-4’s
met with their learning partners
a 4th grade class
and together
they read a book
learned about what Dr. King
stood for and fought for
in his own peaceful way
talked about
what love, fairness, equality
meant to them
then created
a lovely art piece together
each to become a square
in a large paper quilt
created by the whole school
a beautiful collaboration.
—
“make a career of humanity.
commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights.
you will make a better person of yourself,
a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – March for Integrated Schools, April 18, 1959.