Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Her name is Jesse
Jessica Hutchinson Minutaglio. She is passionate about so many things. The arts, music, photography, traveling, the environment, sustainable living, eating healthy, cooking healthy, tasting different foods, running, trying out new things...yoga?
She is ten years younger than me but she is a woman way ahead of her time. We have been friends since 2002 as co workers on the lower east side of Manhattan. There are a million and one things about Jesse that I would really want to share. She is funny, kind-hearted, great with kids, a keeper and teller of wonderful stories, she has the most outrageous ideas that really works, she loves reading and writing, she can paint, draw, sketch, do cut outs, she is a good shopper too. She loves the wild, and loves to garden, she also made me appreciate museums, flowers, plants and films. I thought we would be physically close for a long time but in the summer of 2007, she had to move to Minnesota (Jess would always say, change is good). Of course; it breaks my heart but these things that we decide on are things that make us grow, keep us stronger and broadens our horizon. I miss Jesse so much but I am also very happy for her. In just 8 months she has accomplished so many things. The traveling with Benjamin all over Canada, settling in Minneapolis and buying a house are definitely milestones. After so many months I get to see you again Jess and I am so glad that we are friends. You have given me so much in life and I will always be grateful. You are truly the best. I hope to see you soon and we will cook pancit and lumpia in your new kitchen. LOVE YAH.
Thank you so much for taking us to Blue Hill farms, the Union Church in Pocantico Hills, the drive to Usonia with all those houses architecturally designed after Frank Lloyd Wright's tenets ( and one home he designed himself), taking us to see your parent's home and meeting Matty and mom Sue Anne in Armonk and the talk we had which is not enough,still; thank you thank you thank you.
one of my favorite walks to reflect on (2007)
"...A merging of two people is an impossibility,
and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in,
a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties
of their fullest freedom and development
But once the realization is accepted that even between
the closest people infinite distances exist,
a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them,
if they succeed in loving the expanse between them,
which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other
as a whole and before an immense sky."
by: Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Stephen Mitchell
Blue Hill Farm at Stone Barns (April 27, 2008) New York
sheared sheeps enjoying their gourmet organic sweet diet of grass and a watchful graceful and alert sheep dog.
Mom Sue Anne and daughter Jesse
Jesse once told me "Hey Ev, mothers are so amazing right?"
I so agree to that.
and they are extremely loving too. I guess we won the mommy lottery.
together again after 8 months
We are standing at the front entrance of a quaint church in Pocantico Hills New York. It is non denominational and could probably house around fifty guests on their pews. What makes this Union Church exceptional? Her stained glass windows. The very first stained glass window that was installed is a masterful piece done by Matisse. He designed it as commissioned by the Rockefellers in honor of Abby Rockefeller on Mother's Day in 1956.Two days after Matisse designed the glass rose, he died of a heart attack in France. This could probably be his last work to date.
The South huge windows and all the side windows were all done my another modern master; Marc Chagall. All of these windows which depicts biblical events and prophets were made in Reims, France. The stained glass windows were just simply breath-taking. Thanks Jesse for sharing this rare gem of the Hudson. XOXO
Jesse and the family's baby Matty
active, healthy, playful, sweet lab Matty.
She can keep two balls in her mouth and her teeth are so white and healthy. She runs, jumps, skips, plays soccer she is just sooooo cute. We miss you Matty we hope to see you soon.
Lovely and so warm
the blend between a log and a craftsman home makes this earthy, inviting and pleasing home design of Jesse's family home a sight to see
The Cherry tree
Jesse told us that when they were little (all three kids) they would always climb it and swing on its branches. But now she is old and probably her twigs are fragile,just appreciating her pink blooms will suffice.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
SHINE A LIGHT ( MIND BLOWING DOCUMENTARY)
A true adrenaline rush. A panacea for the ailing soul. It's Scorsese, it's in New York City and man it is the Rolling Stones!!! Hard knock rock and roll. That Jagger in his 60's gyrating his teeny abs and tight ass. The acoustics and banging of drums and electric guitar from Watts, Richards and Wood. The scandalous words and eclectic tunes. Sexy Aguilera, blues and grass baron Buddy Guy and mesmerized fan himself; vocalist and guitarist Jack White added more hype to the already magnified sweat profused arena of stones music. I was hooked from the start. Yeaaahhhhh there will never be satisfaction. MORE of the STONES please.
the not so final bow
another 60 years of stones????
Mick Jagger on vocals
Keith Richards on lead guitar
Ronnie Wood on bass guitar
and Charlie Watts on drums
And those lips that shines over Manhattan
proverbial bliss to end a Scorsese musical masterpiece on film
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Nathaniel Ayers, Steve Lopez and a woven twist of Life
NATHANIEL AYERS AND HIS LOVE FOR THE ONLY THING HE KNOWS...HIS MUSIC
Life; as Shakespeare in his sonnets praise...
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
Love is not love
Which alters when alteration finds
best foretells the life of two very different beings, whose lives suddenly had intertwined.
I was driving back home from work and as always, I listen to NPR(national public radio:www.npr.org) at 3 in the afternoon for Terry Gross' show " Fresh Air" and today I thought was rather mundane, with Terry not doing the show and another book to be discussed, reviewed and overviewed. I was wrong. Steve Lopez, a journalist of the L.A. times, who now writes mostly from Skid Row had the most amazing story I have ever heard this month. ( I hear mind-boggling stories often, anecdotes of ordinary heroes and ordinary miracles)But, this one episode is an exception for now. It was by accident that Mr. Lopez passed by a homeless guy, in his 50's playing music on his violin, tattered, old; two string violin. That was the ultimate clincher. As Steve described his amusement, the music from a two string violin is not as bad as 4 string violins must be and should be. Yes, it was rustic, probably there were off shoot notes but you hear it and its melody purely encrypted in what we may say in lay man's term, within the heart of a musical genius. The friendship began. Lopez the headstrong, tough paper writer and the black compassionate crooner of a Master Composer ( he plays his violin on one part of the street as he told Lopez, that he plays for the statue on the other side of the road which happens to be that of Beethoven)that is, Ayers. The story between these two surpass any precipice of boredom. Their constant meeting gets more interesting by the second as I traverse the bottle necked FDR Drive. My favorite parts were; when Ayers had to play at the Disney Hall designed by Frank Gehry and Lopez described it like a metal schooner on sail ( i so agree, the architect is a fluid virtuoso of concrete and steel), when Ayers called Itzhak Perlman a molten lava on strings and when the life of Ayers was being shot in film ( Jamie Foxx plays Ayers and Robert Downey Jr. as Steve Lopez)in Disney Hall; as Lopez picked up Ayers from the street to watch the highlight of the film being shot, with all these big stars in, Ayers chose to stay outside of Disney Hall and play his cello for he was just in this music that is in his head and he could not stop. Lopez crossed the street, talked to director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) and became an audience to the soloist...which happens to be the title of this movie.
The Soloist is also Lopez's biography which profoundly details his life and that of Ayers as nature had her purpose of crossing their paths in perfect time. Ayers was once a student of the prestigious Juilliard School but had to leave on his 3rd year due to schizophrenia and thus spiraled into a life of doubt, mental apathy and turmoil, even depression to that of being homeless. In a way, Ayers almost drained the now big brother Lopez that he almost gave up on him. Thank God that Lopez did not.
The love of Lopez to his craft met a crossroad,tempted in choosing an easy path of venturing to another career. Ayers made him stay, it was Lopez's healing. Ayers helped him reflect on his inner purpose and greater calling. Writing was, is and will be Steve's maniacal vow with all its subtlety. As for Ayers, Steve professed that despite what we can all see as unstable and probably inherent aggravation related to his illness, Ayers' notes, his violin and cello street performances are the only things that keep him still and unchanged. Ayers' music stays and everyone will have a chance to listen to what his strings are saying. Be it only two.
Please visit this site to hear Ayers music on the street:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez-skidrow-nathaniel-series,0,1456093.special
HAPPY EARTH DAY 2008
April 22nd is always Earth Day! In fact we must celebrate it every single day. The Lorax has been gone too long UNLESS, we all would do our collective effort and will; to make this world the most beautiful place to live in. It comes with less pollution, less footprint, less harm to species great and small, and probably the most crucial thing of all...zero emission from fossil fuels.
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