Parking Party

A neighbor had a birthday party for his daughter in our parking niche. He didn’t ask to use it nor did he even bother to invite us. Initially it really irritated me. Then I watched the children playing and laughing and eating cake and singing Happy Birthday.

Some parents, hopefully, took fotos because it pleases me to think that years from now a grown up little girl will look at her childhood fotos and see those with our parking niche as the stage.

How lovely to be part of someone’s childhood memories.

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Tulips and Hats

That year they’d decided on fondue for Christmas lunch. But before dunking their forks into the bubbling hot cheese, they put their hats on and danced around the tulips. It made them feel silly and delightfully dizzy and like children again. Because Christmas is for kids, they decided to play.

Meanings are mobile and change when necessary. The meaning of Christmas is an example. It does not remain static but changes as we change. The meaning of Christmas for a child is not that of an adult.

Viktor Frankl spent three years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. Like Freud, he was from Vienna and had studied psychology. Frankl understood that to survive he needed to give his life meaning regardless as to the situation. Once freed, Frankl wrote a book Man’s Search for Meaning and how this meaning influences the way we live.

Three things, he wrote, were necessary to give meaning to one’s life even in a concentration camp. First of all it was important to give yourself a purpose such as having a project then give yourself pleasure by actualizing it.  Appreciation and gratitude are also important in creating meaning as is the ability to adapt.

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Morning Glory Momma

Here’s my mom washing her 1959 Chevy. It must have been around 1968 and sometimes people would tease my mom because her car was so old and stylistically dated. And when they did, she would simply say “It’s what I can afford and it’s paid for” while looking at them straight in the eye. I saw many a face turn red—I guess directness can be intimidating.

My mom put many miles on her Chevy. It was like a magic carpet that took her to the places where she wanted to go. So why not relax, take a ride, and “see the USA in your Chevrolet.”

And a special thanks to Heath for the foto!

Ringtone for “See the USA…” HERE but not verified

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Buoyant and Balanced

All along the jagged Tuscan coast, they danced to keep their balance. They were weight shifters because that’s what balance is all about. When you feel like you’re falling in one direction, you balance yourself by shifting your weight in the opposite direction. It is a form of yin yang where opposites are meant to be complementary and interconnected. Only by the presence of both directions is balance possible.

The best way of practicing weight shifting is by dancing. So that’s why we dance, dance, dance.

Related: Dancing + The Age of Decadence + Chiara Pilar Photographer +

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Janet & the Frog Fountain

My friend Janet, artist, world traveller, and age defier was in Rome not long ago. We had coffee at a bar on Regina Margherita before heading towards the whimsical and esoteric neighbourhood of Coppedé. Mystical & magical it is often included in the Esoteric Tours of Rome. Known locally as Quartiere Coppedé, the architecture is a mixture of Assyrian Babylonian, Baroque,Tuscan medieval, Gothic, Art Nouveau and much more. 

In the center of Coppedé is the recently restored Frog Fountain (Fontana delle Rane). Finalized in 1924, the fountain is a tiered basin. Frogs sit on the basin’s rim whereas four “mascheroni” (male figures) hold up four shell shaped basins while they simultaneously spit out water.

In 1965 the Frog Fountain gained recognition when the Beatles jumped into it after playing at the nearby Piper Club. In the same area lived Shelly Winters and her then husband Vittorio Gassman, Anita Eckberg, Dario Argento, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and many others.

Related: Janet Cooper Designs +  Fontana delle Rane (Roma) + Quartiere Coppedè + The Significance of Neighbourhood +  Shelley Winters, la diva inaspettata +

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