Our Own Little Corner–Frank Fetch Park, German Village

We love Frank Fetch Park, a tiny park just the size of a house lot in our neighborhood, lovingly cared for by volunteers.

Frank was one of the first persons to begin encouraging the rehabbing of homes in our small southside neighborhood.  We are grateful to him for spearheading the preservation of a little bit of Columbus heritage!

Here are some photos to show you just how lovingly this park is taken care of.  Enjoy.

In My Own Little Corner (Julie Andrews)

We all need places where we can dream, don’t we?

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Doo Dah Columbus Ohio, 2009

Here are some pictures from yesterday’s Doo Dah parade.  If for some reason I didn’t capture you in your fifteen minutes of fame, kindly forgive me.  There was a lot going on.

Everyone has their day…

Johnny Cash–Camptown Races

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Fireworks!

Strange Bird's Own 4th of July Firecracker!

Things have been rather out of sorts since we came back home…

…as someone recently said to me,

“It’s not easy coming back from Paris.”

To top it off has been the issue of the upper respiratory infection, and the music/neuroscience project (which I feel is getting nowhere, but that is the way Anthony says things are with research, and how would I know, anyway?).

So, I could continue to post pretty pictures of Paris, or come back to reality.  Believe me, the fantasy could live for a long time, with the number of photos I took!

Maybe I will indulge in fantasy another day, but for today, I choose to be here.

And this one has no purpose other than to remind me where I am, and to make us laugh.

Now, don’t ask, but ain’t she a beaut’?  There she was, tossed to the alley, on the way to the grocery store.  She put a little smile on my face.  I hope she does the same for you.

Here and now can be just fine.

Semper Fidelis (cracks me up!)

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Like Stone

L'Église St. Paul

Lady Chapel, St. Etienne-du-Mont

Organ, St. Sulpice

Basilique St. Clotilde

L'Église de la Madeleine

The soul selects her own society,

Then shuts the door;

On her divine majority

Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot’s pausing

At her low gate;

Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling

Upon her mat.

I’ve known her from an ample nation

Choose one;

Then close the valves of her attention

Like stone.

~E. Dickinson

Andante Sostenuto from Widor’s Symphonie Gothique

(yes, Widor plays his own music in this 1932 recording!)

Just  beware your walls…

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Scrape Me Some Sky

Skyscraper, skyscraper,

Scrape me some sky:

Tickle the sun

While the stars go by.

Tickle the stars

While the sun’s climbing high.

Then, skyscraper, skyscraper

Scrape me some sky.

~Dennis Lee

The Jeffersons – Movin’ On Up (with Leaf Trombone)

(go ahead–watch it!  You might be surprised…)

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Photo Essay: A Day in Giverny

More than one person have asked about photos from France.  I thought I would start out with one of my favorite parts of the trip–our day in Giverny.  Special thanks to my friend Stephen who suggested we go.  You were absolutely right.  I don’t know if I enjoyed it more than most, but I certainly did enjoy it!

I still don’t know what happened that day…and there was something amazing about that place, the light, the color, everything…it was as though wherever one pointed the camera, one painted a picture.

Anthony and I with our friend Huguette Chataux

Monet's Dream

What magic!

Debussy–La danse de Puck

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Inside Out

campanulas bloom in the secret garden

One of the nice things about going away on a trip is coming back home to something familiar.  That’s right!

This morning, it was Mozart on the iPod, and fingers in the soil.

Mozart–Piano concerto in C major, KV 503 (Geza Anda)

When you begin a project, have you ever noticed how and where you chose to start? This morning, the work began not out where all the neighbors can see, but the most remote corner behind the magnolia, among the impatiens.  In fact, it never went any further than the inside of the garden walls this morning.

Sometimes it just goes that way.

It’s OK to approach a task from a different direction, isn’t it?  The part everyone can see on the other side of the fence can wait a while…

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Paris, Day…Oh, I’ve lost count!

Time has become rather fluid, but I do know that tomorrow will be our return voyage to Ohio.

Today we spent quite a bit of time in the Rodin Museum.  One of my favorite moments was watching a group of children creating pencil sketches of a sculpture.

I can easily identify with the frustration of capturing three dimensions into two.

The teacher asked a student if he could more closely inspect her work.  She gave it to him, and he held it closer to his face as he silently scrutinized for a bit.

(thank you Anthony, for the following translation)

“Ah, yes,” he said, “don’t worry if you do not get the arms just right.  Rodin himself often had the very same experience that you are.  He often did not get them quite right in his sketches.”

He handed the work back to the student, and she set back to work, carefully, diligently gazing at the sculpture.

After Anthony recounted this story to me, I was quite moved.  I recounted it over and over in my mind, as time passed, and I worked at my own two-dimensional representations.  I thought, “what a world of possibilities that teacher opened up to those students!”  His careful choice of words put those children in the prime position to identify with the greatness of Rodin.

It’s nice to witness the blooming of something beautiful, isn’t it?

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Merci Beaucoup!

Monet's Water Lilies at Giverny

We are back in Paris, after two days in Margency, and one night over in Loughton.  It’s time to say thank you to some very good friends, who all played a part in showing me how wonderful people can be everywhere you go.  So, here comes the merci beaucoup!

Phillipe and Hugette, for your warmth and hospitality in opening your home, feeding us amazing food, and treating us like family.

Micheline and Alain, for your attempts at making me feel more at home by practicing your English, and for wonderful conversations about shared interests.

Kai, for welcoming us into your home, barely knowing us, and treating us like royalty and family, all at once.

Alan, for just being you.  Oh, and for toning it down!  I loved the views of London from the top of that hill in Loughton, too.

Andy, for riding the train all the way down from Lincoln to St. Pancras, just to have lunch with us.  What a treat that was!  I really enjoyed hearing your teaching stories, and being reminded that there is lots of goodness in the world, everywhere we go.

I must say, I will miss you all when we go back home…but we sill have one more day…

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

Paris, Day Five: Je T’aime!

Notre Dame de Paris, from the other side of the Seine

Paris, I love you, warts and all.  Everyone has them, even the City of Light.

Honestly, I am very tired tonight, mostly due to sensory overload from an incredible night of music and food.  Ninety minutes of delicious Chopin, and then over two hours of perhaps the finest bistro cooking in the world.  I won’t tell you exactly what I ate, but some of you might think it to be something that should have been thrown out with the scraps, not served in a fine restaurant!  I assure you, it’s all good.

On that note (and these notes to follow) I leave you…

Etude, Op. 25, no. 1 (Chopin)

May your spirit soar as much as mine has, and…

Be well, and at peace,

Phil