radiance for 2013

1. Cultivate genunie friendship
2. Be grateful for every moment as it is. Asking for no more or no less then what it is.
3. Move forward with open arms.
4. Cherish the past for what it was: the past
5. Be open to what may not fit your perception of things
6. Play more
7. Stay awake to the right now
8. Take care of your body, mind, and home. Give them the love they deserve.
9. Be in awe of who my children are becoming and guide them well each in their unique way.
10. Love deeply

Robert Bereny

For my Äya

handmade

Part of spending time upstate this holiday with my children was the pleasure of having uninterrupted time together. No cellphones, or buses, no trains to run and catch. We went to cut down our own tree, brought in wood to feed the stove and gathered fresh water from the spring well. We also made a lot from scratch, including our first Buche de Noel (with only a hand blender!) and gifts to each other. What struck me was the attention that the children had in the craftsmanship of what they made. Jan would measure his design on Aya's american girl doll for her spy mask and cape, carefully considering how it would fall and tie on. Aya's king doll for Jan had a hand stitched fur trim and felt crown. As for the Buche, I think we were all in awe with how it turned out. One thing that stays with me, as the more I make with my children, is how much they are teaching me about being creative and being open to the unexpected.

the real toy story

These striking and important photos by Michael Wolf are timely in this season of excess giving. Just this morning I read of a plea of help from a Chinese worker discovered rolled up in a christmas toy. I want to think that there are some factories in China where their workers are treated humanely, that not all that is mass manufactured over seas is in forced and exhausted conditions. And yet this is what we see. More of Wolf's installation here

poetry and illustration lives

Nice piece in the NYtimes including the beautiful illustrations by Luke Best

I live my life in widening circles

that reach out across the world.

I may not complete this last one

but I give myself to it.

 

I circle around God, around the primordial tower.

I've been circling for thousands of years

and I still don't know: am I a falcon,

a storm, or a great song?

-Rilke

a saturday

India St pier > South St. Seaport > Williamsburg

My cousin took this photo of my mother while visiting her in Sarasota a few days before Thanksgiving. She looks so radiant and eternally youthful. A beautiful rose really. She defies the odds, can I openly say she is much older (chronologically) than she looks? I wish I could tell you her age, but in respect I'll bite my tongue (damn!).

aestheis for the day

Walking into a shop, mindlessly at first, I realized that a man was walking out. In a strange attempt to spin around to hold the door for him as entering, I blocked his path. Somehow my intension was to hold the door from within for him, but in order to do this I would have to enter, pass him and then hold the door. Totally irrational, yet it is what happened. He was offended by my rudeness at cutting him off. Worse was that I wanted to explain my intension and was countered with a scoff. It is beautiful to note the humility in this encounter, how wrapped up we are in our daily motions. If I had been more present upon entering my actions would have been more thorough and also had I been more noble, I would have just said sorry.

So without further ado, to that gentlemen where ever you are, I extend my apologies.