The Big W...Wimbledon - of course!

Fourth of July conjures images of fireworks, big family parties, ice cream, road races, stripes, flags and Wimbledon. I can't wait to watch this every year. Finals could be Serena v. Safina? Or better yet, Serena v. Venus! How about Roddick v. Federer? Or an upset would be fun.

You would think I was a sports queen of sorts from my posts...hardly. Heck, when I was in high school I barely knew the difference between an inning and a half. (Case in point: an old 'baseball' boyfriend asked me how many innings there are in a baseball game to which I replied, "4, of course!")

I played tennis - lots of it in my 'younger' years. Now, the stamina to play singles just isn't there anymore. Baseball, well, that just runs through most Bostonians' veins; soccer - never played but all my children, nieces, nephews and a second generation is now playing now. It's running in the family's bloodline.

Game, set, match!

Quote

Summer is a verb. ~ Lisa Birnbach

Leaving for the Cape this week - now, if only it would stop raining:-(

USA! USA! USA!

Today's game against Brasil could make history.

UPDATE: Although it (USA) didn't slay (beat) Goliath (Brazil), it (Team USA) did compete strongly, wisely and strongly.

PhotoHunt; Flags

These photos are taken of the Old North Church. I couldn't just give you the inside of the church where the flags are hanging. So you have the front, side and back of the church as well. Happy weekend to you all!

Thoughtful Silence

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part Two
Photo courtesy of: J.Good

Wordless Wednesday (well, almost)

Ok-I know this theme is wordless - but this cat is in the REM mode and that's where I'd like to be now - shouldn't have had that cup of coffee.....

I'm just a flower child -- or a rebel, I guess.

I completed the quiz "What Decade Fits Your Personality Best?" with the result 1960's.

You are anything but square...you're more like a flower. You are a cool, laid-back, deep-thinker type of rebel-- one who has strong beliefs about keeping the peace with regards to society and the world. You go against the norm and are proud of it; you don't care what others think because, after all, your differences are what make you stand out in order to make a difference. You clash with the rules and regulations of the cultural norm which stereotype you as a Class-A Rebel-- but a rebel WITH a cause. You are also in tune with nature and protecting the environment; therefore you are most likely drawn to bohemian, earthy styles (or perhaps anything that stands you out in a crowd of boring colors). Your style and attitude POP. You are in touch with your inner-self, feelings, and deep-seeded emotions, and love to express them with music and art. .

Calling all Venetian Travelers

Taken from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/arts/design/22greenaway.html?_r=1
Wish I could be there to physically see if this review is meritorious.

Going Green

The People's Pio

While driving down a Boston city street, I noticed the van in front of me had a bumper sticker for Padre Pio. I had heard of Pio before in my travels in Italy but was not aware of the popularity of this monk.

He is reported to have experienced a wide variety of supernatural abilities and miraculous events including: the reading of souls; prophecy; bilocation (being in two places at once); the odor of sanctity; discernment of spirits; living on very little sleep; miraculous healings; personal visits from Jesus and Mary; and daily communication with his guardian angel. (Wikipedia)

Padre Pio's most famous spiritual gift is the stigmata, which he received in 1918 while praying before a crucifix. He is said to have bled from the five wounds of Christ for the rest of his life, which caused him great suffering and embarrassment.

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2008/04/peoples-pio.html

Quote for Rainy Summer Monday

May all eyes be open to the transforming delight of Summer this day; may the earth be made glad by the dance of life, may we discern the blessed peace of the Plain of Delight upon our planet. ~ Caitlin Matthews, Celtic Devotional

PhotoHunt; Creamy

Bear with me - I know this is a stretch. The Modern Pastry Shop in the North End serves up some fabulous cannolis, CREAMY cannolis. OK?

The Modern is a picturesque tourist's spot to sample some authentic Italian pastries along the Freedom Trail. There are, however, even more pastry shops in the North End that serve this creamy, ricotta-filled dessert. Mike's is a popular shop among locals, even Girasoli knows Mike's!

Quote for the weekend

Be modest in thy bearing, and speak with words of gentleness.-Islam

Tripping the music fantastic

My heart goes boom, boom, boom for Chris Botti. I was ecstatic to hear him pair with two Boston icons, the Boston Pops and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. Tyler sings “Smile” on Botti’s album, Chris Botti in Boston (what else?). Didn’t realize Charlie Chaplin wrote the music to this song.

Steven Tyler playing at the Boston Symphony seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? The one and only time I’ve seen him perform in person (and it was a performance) was at the old Music Hall before Aerosmith became world famous.

Before the Wang Center became the Citi Wang Center, it was known as the Music Hall – at least in the 60’s and 70’s. Once a glorious music hall, built in 1925 and then named the “Met”, it transformed itself a few times and slowly lost its grandeur. It was in the 70s that the Music Hall tried to keep its doors open by featuring up and coming performing artists or those in their twilight years. Those were the years we could walk up to the ticket booth the night of the concert and buy seats – Aerosmith, Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, Grateful Dead.

Here’s a you tube and voice of Steven Tyler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkwR5ENCthQ

Wordless Wednesdays

Market day (enabler to the shopper in me) in Aix-en-provence.

Thought for the weekend

I'm off to the Cape - rain and all this weekend.

Praise What Comes

surprising as unplanned kisses, all you haven't deserved
of days and solitude, your body's immoderate good health
that lets you work in many kinds of weather. Praise

talk with just about anyone. And quiet intervals, books
that are your food and your hunger; nightfall and walks
before sleep. Praising these for practice, perhaps

you will come at last to praise grief and the wrongs
you never intended. At the end there may be no answers
and only a few very simple questions: did I love,

finish my task in the world? Learn at least one
of the many names of God? At the intersections,
the boundaries where one life began and another

ended, the jumping-off places between fear and
possibility, at the ragged edges of pain,
did I catch the smallest glimpse of the holy?

~ Jeanne Lohmann ~

(The Light of Invisible Bodies)

PhotoShopping

What to use; what to buy? Those seem to be the circular questions I've toyed with over the past year or so. And so by default, I use Picasa, a free downloadable program. Great for me but I am ready to graduate. Girasoli's posting of a similar question got me to this conversation again.

Now, you can ask me any question you want about MSWorks - give me data and I'll give you a database - no problem I can have-at-it/construct - but I have this mental block with photo editing programs. Why? Not sure - could be that I once took a photog class where I was way out of my league with pros and a wonderfully gifted, student friendly pro teaching and he fielded questions about PhotoShop. It sounded dauntingly geekie for me a non-tech geek.

So, my questions are: Anyone have experience to know the capabilities of PH Elements as opposed to the more robust PH? Is it EASY TO USE?

Are there other programs out there that offer a diversity in processes of editing? The field is overwhelming to me so your personal experience with the pros and cons are welcomed.

Guess I should tell you what my primary objectives are for using this type of software: Cropping, highlighting, etc. all the basic stuff of editing images; I would like to go further into layering as I do scrapbooking and would probably be more likely to actually finish a project if I didn't have to lay out the two huge bins of materials (a money grabbing hobby for sure - but it does bring pleasure to see memoirs in this form).

So, I'd appreciate any advice. Keep snapping....

Today, Tomorrow

Each one is a gift, no doubt,
mysteriously placed in your waking hand
or set upon your forehead
moments before you open your eyes. ~ Billy Collins, Days

Wordless Wednesdays

Can you smell me now?

Both my maternal and paternal grandparents lived in the North End of Boston. To this day, I remember the aroma of baked bread - it was the signal on Atlantic Avenue that I had arrived at the North End. When we were kids, we used to take warm scali bread and dip it into a simmering pot of 'gravy' as a snack. Boy, I sure do miss this smell...

Influences and Procrastination

Procrastination first - It's 11 pm and I have yet to finish readings for a seminar I am taking. .... Pensive, maybe. Tired, for sure. Overwhelmed - I'm okay with juggling for now. I guess I am still stuck on thinking about my specialized subject matter of undergraduate students and the impact one (an older adult - either faculty or staff) has on developing their minds - either through academics or student formation.

So all this stuff is getting technical I know, but I wanted to pose a question to you'all that opened this seminar. What in your education influenced you the most? Care to share?

PhotoHunt: Advertising

From one corner of the US (Times Square, NYC) to the other corner (Maui, HI):

The Big One

'Red Sox fans refuse to turn against Ortiz. They just can't. They owe him too much for 2004 and 2007. It's like turning on Santa Claus or happy hour.' So says ESPN’s Sports Guy. Really? I feel for him; he’s not a quitter and has been consistent since 2002 but he is getting older, misses Manny in the lineup, and for whatever other reasons there are, he's in a monumental slump. And it's costing the Red Sox money. True, he's not the only problem at the moment and it's early in the season. But how much longer will the Red Sox organization be patient with Big Pappi? He's been the face of the Red Sox for awhile now and one of the positive attributes of this organization is that not only are they successful businessmen, they also have a heart.

There’s talk of a possible trade – but I keep the hope burning that soon (and it definitely needs to be soon) his bat will make contact with the ball for a hit – any hit will do. I still believe…..

Wordless Wednesdays

Manna for Today

The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere, they're in each other all along.~Rumi

GM-Where has it gone?

Looks like GM is going the way of some other great institutions. My first car was a Chevy Nova - at least it got me to and from school. Nova joins the ranks of: cassette players, car ashtrays, phone booths, Gremlins, Valiants, Woolworth's, and in our neck of the woods - Filene's Basement!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJMAxbK0ho