that soothe, and heal, and bless

last year on his birthday, our friend sander was so weakened by his multiple myeloma, and the severity of the treatments he was undergoing, that he could manage no more than an hour of quiet participation in his own festivities.
this year on his birthday, following a successful bone marrow transplant and months of therapy, he was radiantly and joyously in the limelight, opening gifts, uncorking wine, conversing...
...and piling his own party pizzas enthusiastically with parmesan and prosciutto, a feat undreamable just 12 months ago.

relentless restlessness

this length of blue and gold and aqua, draped over this chair, or - for that matter - any chair, means that my daughter is home between adventures.
when i took this, she was.
she'll be back from norway, though, in a mere week, scarf and all.

imminent flight

i've been so looking forward to this holiday, and it begins, happily, in an hour.

i'll be back in april.

thicket by thicket

"never continue in a job you don't enjoy.
if you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. and if
you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined."*
- johnny carson (american tv host, 1925-2005)

i not only need to like the work i do, i also need it to like me. i need to be sure that i can - and will - do it well.
it's not the first time i've followed my instincts, and made a decision like this.
i hope it's the last, though.

*quote encountered on myla's flickr

nips and tucks

two-muses is five years old today.

five years sounds fledgling, but it is actually quite venerable - elderly even - in this world of webcreativity, and i would be the first to confess that some restorative and corrective surgery is in order.

it's not so much our demeanor - although the possibility of posting larger images would please me no end - but functionality is faltering, especially since the hack: whole pages have gone missing, for instance, and we (meaning i) can no longer update the "inspiration" links.

help seems blessedly at hand. the lovely myla has offered to guide us through some changes (thanks, myla!) as has the cleverest of my colleagues (thanks, börge!).

within weeks, we may be looking fresh and feeling sprightly again.

until then: cake, anyone?

i know not whither

on a fine fall morning last year, out with my friend sander in his boat, gliding
gloriously through this water-wealthy village we live in, there was hardly a cloud - literally and figuratively - in the sky.
the same heavens - literally and figuratively - are looking slightly more somber just now.
*
all i can really do is go with the flow, as they say, and blow, believing, in the wind.

only in a quiet mind

my wish, for you (and, truth be told, for me, too):

clear skies.
smooth seas.
time, wisdom, perception.

happiness.
don't let the good get away.

i hope your 2008 exceeds all expectations.

the season bright

"for somehow, not only at christmas, but all the long year through, the joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you."
- john greenleaf whittier (american writer, 1807-1892)

amen.

merry christmas, everyone.

like sapphires in boxcars

"adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with."- thomas carlyle (scottish historian and essayist, 1795-1881)

it's been a rough few months.
but - surely, surely - it can only get better.

worse things happen at sea, y'know.

looking on the bright side - my nature, ordinarily - has become more and more effortful as an unsatisfactory ending to my bus situation becomes more and more inevitable.
these are circumstances beyond my control, and they are compelling me into a worst-case scenario: back into the employment market, despite having a job i enjoy and do well.
frustration and anxiety - and my futile attempts to change the course of events - have kept me from doing the things i love to do.
*
taking pictures is what i miss most of all.