Tuesday tissues...

I'm not kidding, you better crack open a new box... I was looking through old pictures (it was a snowday...) and I came across pictures of the time I took the Chicklet to see The Nutcracker when she was about 4 years old (she still has the ballet slipper we got that night)... And I started thinking about the musicals I had seen at The Place des Arts (where I actually had my B.A. commencement ceremony)... and I remembered being a student and sitting in the back at Les Misérables. Have you ever felt like the world disappeared, have you ever wondered what it's like to float? As if your body is suddenly no longer your own and you are lifted and transported back in time simply by listening to a song? That's how I felt when I heard this... This is the song I was looking for... As I said, I was looking for Les Misérables and Jean Valjean, but first I found this song... I'll give you a minute to, um... what is it that Vince says? Oh yeah, tired eyes... There isn't an evening that goes by that I don't ask God to spare families the pain of losing a father, a mother, a sister, a son, a friend to war... There isn't a day that goes by that I don't hope for PEACE... There are too many days where children don't eat to their stomachs content... My Chicklet sent me an e-mail today (she's discovered how to e-mail me...) and asked me what I want for Christmas. I want PEACE LOVE For children everywhere to go to sleep on a full stomach, knowing someone loves them... Please help, show them someone cares... Love you all more than my luggage! Hugs, smooches and gropes!

Dona Nobis Pacem - Blogblast for Peace

World Peace.. do we achieve this through a blog post? Probably not.... so why? what's the point? What can you do in your own small way to bring Peace to this world? Well, as Mother Theresa said.. remember, we belong to each other. Hug your child, smile at a stranger, hold a door open, reach out to an old friend, make someone laugh... and maybe, just maybe, the times we live in will change. "Peace is every step..." - Thich Nhat Hanh Take a step today... Go on, just do it... Thank you Mimi... You rock! Love you all more than my luggage! Hugs, smooches and gropes!

Think.. act...

Today is the summer equinox and before I fetch my druid robe from the eco-friendly cleaners so I can participate in the "dance under the moonlight" tonight with the other earth goddesses I wanted to show you something... This past June 6th, so many of us in the bloggosphere put up peace globes (Thank You Mimi). I feel the need to put mine up again. Yesterday was World Refugee Day... I was too busy trying to get my daughter's 63 panties and 45 pairs of socks washed (and matched.. WHERE in the H E double Hockey Sticks do the socks go?) to write about this.. I was too busy making certain she was packed for a weekend with her Dad (poor thing will have to lug around new clothes and eat and be merry...) If you're curious about the Geneva Convention and the status of refugees.. you can read it here. My prayers go out to the families of my country's latest casualties in the war in Afghanistan. Three fine soldiers killed yesterday by a roadside bomb. Sergeant Christos Karigiannis, 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Corporal Stephen Frederick Bouzane, 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Private Joel Vincent Wiebe, 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. May their souls be at Peace. Love you all more than my luggage. Hugs, smooches and gropes!

I tried.. but I have something to say...

They sing it so much more eloquently... To every thing, turn, turn, turn There is a season, turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep To everything, turn, turn, turn There is a season, turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time to build up, a time to break down A time to dance, a time to mourn A time to cast away stones A time to gather stones together To everything, turn, turn, turn There is a season, turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time of love, a time of hate A time of war, a time of peace A time you may embrace A time to refrain from embracing To everything, turn, turn, turn There is a season, turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time to gain, a time to lose A time to rend, a time to sew A time to love, a time to hate A time for peace, I swear it's not too late "Choose The single clenched fist lifted and ready, Or the open hand held out and waiting. Choose: For we meet by one or the other." - Carl Sandburg "You can't shake hands with a clenched fist." - Indira Ghandi "Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism." - Dorothy Thompson "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." - Moshe Dayan "How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?" - Isabel Allende "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." - Leonard Bernstein Love you all more than my luggage! Hugs, smooches and gropes!

Easy Sunday Listening

Sweet soul... My featured artist for a lovely Sunday of easy listening is... Amos Lee I LOVE this guy. He's on my MP3 player, my car cd player, the cd player in my office and the one in the bathroom (GFC plug, far from the shower), my computer, I listen to him through the dvdv player on the big screen TV!.. you get my point, I've been listening to him all the time lately... This singer songwriter from Philly brings a sensibility and a soulfulness to music that finds my spirit rejoicing. His sophomore album is a joy and delight. There's a soothing, easy quality to his voice and the simplicity that caracterizes his style let's the melodies and words reach out to the listener. Maybe it's the flip side of an exhibitionist nature... but I love people watching and I especially love peering into people's windows as I walk down the street... getting a glance of the life they live within their walls... Here's the single for his second album 'Supply and Demand'... 'Shout Out Loud' It never fails to make me smile. Some people have interpreted it as a sad song.. I find it to be hopeful... And as this beautiful song by the immensely talented Amos Lee reminds us... we have to reach out to one another... at least, that's what I make of it. I wanna shout out Shout out loud Why don't you all Just come on out And we can Tear it all down, yeah Cause everybody's got a part in the game And everybody's got a cross they can claim And everybody's got somebody to blame But we all must find our own way, yeah yeah Have you ever wondered what that person walking past you has going on in his life? Have you been on the outside looking in? Have you shut yourself off from the rest of the world, waiting for someone to reach out? Hold my hand ... Come ... Tear it all down ... I found this live performance of a lovely song off the second album called "Sweetpea". The video quality leaves to be desired but you get a feel for the joy he brings to an audience, the intimacy of his live sets. From his first album is this beautiful soulful number... I've been dreamin' myself... Dreamin' By Amos Lee BestAudioCodes.com Finally... this song speaks to me.. takes me deep within myself... makes me dream... It too is from his self-titled debut album... and it's scrumptious. Yes.. I know.. I'm not following any order... I'm just going where the music takes me... You know, the way music is supposed to do... *sigh* Here's a performance clip that has me itching to see him live... Hope you enjoyed this talented artist... he's found a place in my soul. Love you all more than my luggage! Hugs, smooches and gropes!