The Friday Evening Nudes

Above:
Goldfish
Klimt


Below:
Sleep
Gustave Corbet

The Mirror of the Toilet
Pierre Bonnard
c.1930

Auguste Macke
Nude Seated on a Pillow
1911

Let The Mystery Be

1) Let The Mystery Be - Iris Dement
2) Sunny Side of Heaven - Fleetwood Mac

If you have five minutes, these songs are worth it.

Peace,
Pagan

,
Good morning...

Peace Tree

My post is up at The Peace Tree. - some videos of the Dalai Lama. See also an excellent article by azgoddess about Monsanto Corporation.

Related Links:

Free Tibet

The Beijing Olympics - Shame the Games

New York Times story on Tibet

Beijing, Dalai Lama representatives may talk before Olympics

Buena, Benua (Good, good, good)

I'm blogging like a crazy woman when I should be dealing with clutter, organizing, cleaning and otherwise engaged in mindlessness. But what's a break for one little song, right? ;-)

by the band Morphine

Okay, so I go over to Ed's blog, Enriched Geranium because I haven't been there in a while and I read his comment here recently, and while I'm there, I look at the top post and read about this French song. I then click on the youtube clip and following Ed's advise, I don't view the clip but instead read the lyrics translated into English and of course, listen. So now I'm thinking that if I'm to be treated to gems like this in the future, I have to visit Enriched Geranium more often. Another blog added to the list and with pleasure!

Yikes. It's 12:30 and I'm late to have lunch with W.P. at what we call The Polish Wagon - excellent Polish food, with what I would call roadside atmosphere. :-) It's a gray day, so we'll likely bring it home, across the river, and watch the chickens in the backyard. Yes, you read me correctly: the chickens. We have two chicks in the backyard that are quickly growing into hens. We're in love. What can I say, we love birds. I wish I had photos but my camera is broken. My kids have pics in their cameras but they're hardly ever around.

Arte y Pico Award

My friend Betmo of Life's Journey has graciously presented me with the Arte e Pico Award. The award is given to recipients whose blogs exhibit creativity, design, interesting material and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language. I am, of course, honored, as Betmo is someone I'm truly happy to know and learn from in the blogosphere.


1) Pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.


2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.


3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.


4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here
Arte y Pico

The five bloggers I'd like to present this award to are:

Bobbie of Almost There for her photographic talent and her ability to build bridges between a nostalgic past and an ever-changing present, with an uncertain future. I look to her blog daily for interesting writing, beauty, hope and honesty.

Sherry at After The Bridge. I admire Sherry for her talents as a poet, as well as her delicious posting choices of poems by other poets. I love seeing snippets of her life, especially her beautiful granddaughter and her sweet puppy Max. There is always something at her blog that makes me smile or think or celebrate. I can't go a day without checking what Sherry has posted.

Minnesotablue at Random Thoughts.This lady's writing is what gets me over to her blog so frequently. I don't know what it is about it but every time I read a post, I take away some savory piece of wisdom. I often go back to her posts to re-read them, just in case I missed something. I admire Minne greatly for thinking outside the political box and doing so freely and without hesitation.

Singingbear at Tiz Yer Tiz: Bear is in what sounds like a beautiful place in England somewhere. Another creative blogger with amazing poetic talents, which I feel very lucky to be able to read regularly. Bear's creative posts span music, art, poetry and reflection. Another blog I can't go without checking daily.

Dianne of Forks Off The Moment: I love her blog and I read it frequently. There are so many comments for every post that sometimes, I feel like I'm merely echoing what everyone else has already said. Dianne is a creative photographer, she is political and is not afraid to express it, she is a talented, creative, funny writer. I love her comments on my blog. I just can't thank her enough for what she brings to us, her readers.

It's fun bestowing accolades on people I admire! That was fun. Thanks again, Betmo, I really enjoyed this. Oh, and a word to the lovely bloggers I just gave the award to: I won't be offended if you are too busy or otherwise not into this type of thing, and you're not able to follow through. Really.

Peace to one and all,
Pagan

Caramel - Suzanne Vega

Caramel - Suzanne Vega
From the album Nine Objects of Desire, 1996

Jaco Pastorius With Weather Report

I have a thing for the electric bass...and certain bassists...

I really didn't know Jaco Pastorius until I saw him on tour with Joni Mitchell in 1979, for what has become known as The Mingus Tour. What he added to Joni's compositions couldn't have been more perfect in atmosphere; nor his interpretations more stellar. And while I'm not, as a rule, heavily into the technical aspects of music, it's easy to recognize Pastorius's genius. Above all, he was an intense, soulful, passionate player. It is for those qualities I admire him most.

Pastorius is perhaps best known for his work with the jazz-fusion band Weather Report. He was with the band from 1977 until 1981. He is recognized as being responsible for the band's success in the late 70's and early 80's.

I knew a little about his life from having read and commented on what was at that time the first blog-style web page I'd ever seen. It was written by his wife Ingrid. I either never knew or had forgotten that he had bipolar disorder; of which I was reminded in the youtube comments. In his later years, Pastorius' drinking and drugging caused his mental health to reach a devastating level. He died as a result of injuries sustained in a confrontation with a nightclub bouncer.

This is a little tribute, if you will. Just because I felt like it. :-)

Pathways, Bridges & Walls

I've just finished reading a recent post at what is perhaps my favorite blog: Sexuality In The Arts. Its title is deceptive in the sense of what it implies about the blog. It's a lot about the arts, yes. But it's also about loving, living and how personal expression can have an impact on lives - privately, socially, politically and spiritually.

Perhaps because of the path I'm currently traveling, One More Option, the author of Sexuality In The Arts, has become a sort of teacher. As is typical, OMO's post is about a lot of things but what I've taken away from it most is this, the ending paragraph:

I’m not a big fan of traditional boundaries. When life has given me boundaries, I’ve often responded by building sustainable archways, gates, bridges and tunnels - anything that might help people avoid being confined.

Whether it be physical, political or spiritual confinement, I can think of nothing more hellish. I find it especially sad when people impose confinement and isolation upon themselves and resist those who, in good faith, attempt to offer another path. Perhaps that path is not where they think they want to go. And granted, there are paths of various lengths, that lead to many places; not all of them acceptable to all of us.

My feeling is that we can walk down a path that is not for us, perhaps by the hand of someone else and still hold tight to who we are and what we believe. If that path is not leading to a place we like, or the view is not what we want to see along the way, we can always come back to where we started or take another path that leads back to where we want to be. To me that doesn't necessarily mean we have to unconditionally accept the path that is not for us. What it means is that we walked it and that we attempted to do so in another's shoes. It could very well mean that the path was not for us but it does give us another perspective. Perhaps even some common ground with the person who invited us to walk.

What I hold as an ideal for myself is not always how I manage to behave. I try. I try so hard. Mostly I fail, as I consider myself much more of a student than a teacher or sage. When I see how very far I have to go, I feel infantile. It does not stop me from attempting those few first steps. When I read something like the post by OMO, I feel a sense of wanting to try even harder. That is why I look up to her so much.

Paths not walked, when we are invited to do so, are a type of confinement. I choose to walk the paths I'm invited to walk upon. There are bridges, many bridges, that I want so badly to cross and have no idea how. I want to learn how. Everywhere I turn there are walls. We can either curl up and accept our confinement or we can paint a picture, write a poem or compose a song. Others then can see what we have to say. If we're lucky, we can be invited to tear down the wall - together - when we can see what each of us have to say and where it may lead us.

One More Option: thank you for being my teacher.
Yours in Peace,
Pagan Sphinx

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