Thanks, for the invite. I am actually spending a pretty calm New Year's Eve. I had loads of fun on my activity filled trip this past week so I am taking a vacation from my vacation now. lol
I really liked the ambiance you described. There is only one powerful song that makes me reminisce about this past year and others- "Auld Lang Syne" . It doesn't matter how happy I am on New Year's Eve, as soon as I hear that song, it makes me cry as I remember the friends I have lost either through death or distance.
I prefer celebrating New Year's Day as oppose to New Year's Eve. For the past few years, I have made it a tradition to attend "A Salute to Vienna" which is the New Year's Day concert celebrated all throughout North America and Europe. The music of the Strausses (father & son) is contagious with happiness! I hope to see the event in Austria one day.
I think I'll cuddle up with my new book "I,Michelangelo,Sculptor" (autobiography of Michelangelo Buanarroti) (old copy newly bought) and touch up a portrait of my friend's 3 daughters.
Welcome! Thanks for dropping by, and thanks for Auld Lang Syne! I also very much love that song and the nostalgia it brings up.
I also love the Strausses' music and it would be wonderful to see the event you mentioned live in Austria! I'd love to come with you if you go someday :) My mother actually gave a presentation on Richard Strauss in college and how his music tied in with the mood and spirit of the era in which he composed.
How's your writing? I would love to check out a chapter or two of your novel! I just finished a third draft of Winter Sunrises, but know I still have major work to do with the piece.
Yes, the Salute to Vienna is an interesting show. It's a real feast for the ears and eyes! Last year, I went with a girlfriend of mine. It was my graduation gift to her. She still talks about it with a little twinkle in her eye from time to time. It's great to know your gifts are appreciated.
There are tenors and sopranos as well as various dancers in the concert. In this year's concert,the Budapest International Ballet will be performing. Zsuzsa Alfoldi will be the soprano (from Zurich) and Zsolt Vadasx will be the performing tenor (from Budapest). The conductor, Stefanos Tsialis, hails from Vienna. The conductor cracked up a few jokes last year and the tenor danced across stage as he sung. The conductor's personality reminds me of Andre Rieu -"the waltz king" - I enjoyed myself very much, especially with my friend sitting beside me.
You might be able to catch "Salute to Vienna" on PBS. Every year it broadcasts live from Vienna to about an audience of about a billion people around the world. I definitely want to go to Vienna to see the concert one day. Apparently, you have to reserve for it one year in advance!
The writing of my novel has been put on hold now because I just came back from my trip. I took along a travel diary with me and I have to rewrite my entries on my laptop. I took a few hundred photos and even some short videos. Once all my diary entries and photos are organized, I am going to send them to all my friends. I have no idea how long it will take me as so much happened and I have so many annecdotal stories and insights to add! I can't wait to share all my stories with my friends!
I've been following your "Winter Sunrises" (at least most of it). One of the most intriguing segments of your story was the one in which Stefan becomes acquainted with the prostitute who reminds him of his deceased Lysandra. I can't pinpoint exactly why it touched me. Maybe the fact that Stefan views the prostitute as a human being and not as some sex object. There was something touching and ethereal about that.
Alright, now I have to go back to my travel diaries and maybe read some of Michelangelo's autobiography. I'll drink my apple cider (sidra) with my parents and brothers at midnight!
The concert sounds simply amazing! I've been a classical music lover for many years.
I'd love to hear more about your travels! Where did you go? Care to share any highlights (if that's not too much trouble, no pressure?)
Thanks for your comments on Winter Sunrises - Faye Miranda is actually an old acquaintance of Stefan and Lysandra's from a childhood trip to San Francisco. She and her mother were traveling street people who drew their photographs for extra cash and Faye was an impetuous little child regaling them both with stories. Was novelistic coincidence that they met again after twenty-two years...but I think Stefan would have acted that way towards any prostitute he saw. He's really more of a reserved intellectual type, kind of shy in certain aspects - and has a prideful streak but also tenderness towards people who remind him of his own difficult childhood (or Lysandra's.)
I spent some time in the Carribeans. Too many stories to share in such small space.lol It's going to be at least a dozen pages long if not more. lol And the best part of it all is that I went completely ALONE and it was ,by far,the best trip of my life!
I wonder how I will ever outdo this trip...my mom jokes about my next big trip being my honeymoon. Poor mom. lol That won't happen anytime soon.
Another tradition on New Year's Day at my home, is to wake up with all the family and watch the "Rose Bowl Parade" (from Pasadena) on TV. I usually wake up later than everyone else and miss a part of it. lol
Us also - this year our TV antenna broke, though :( My brother said he would fix it but hasn't found the time to climb up on the roof and it's been very cold and rainy here, too.
I do love the parade and the flower floats always amaze me.
Yeah, it's amazing how much work goes into those floats and how well coordinated the workers must be! I think they plan the next parade up to a year beforehand!
I think they must, in order to come up with some of the more elaborate ones. I'd personally love to be on the planning crew for one of those, or for an ornamental garden.
How's the Michelangelo book? Is that the same one you were reading before?
No, this is another Michelangelo book " I,Michelangelo,Sculptor" which is edited by Irving Stone who wrote another book on Michelangelo called "The Agony & the Ecstasy". It's an autobiography. I saw a documentary which had actors that re-enacted the artist as well as how he went about creating his masterpieces. It had me spellbound. Extremely fascinating!
Both books sound incredible, actually. I'll check out that autobiography.
My mom and I are also reading collected writings of Helen Keller - and it's amazing how much detail she used to describe her surroundings. Some parts of the book make one forget her deafness and blindness.
Yes, Helen Keller was a remarkable woman. I've read some of her writings. It's incredible how your senses can be heightened when you congenitally lack neurological development in one of your senses or one of them has been damaged as the result of disease in infancy (as it was in Keller's case).
The theory of neuroplasticity has been used to explain the phenomenon of some senses compensating for the loss of others.
I enjoy reading the biographies as well as the autobiographies of artists - Van Gogh, Chagall, Picasso, Renoir, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Claude Rodin, Camille Claudel, Caravaggio, Bernini,and more. I also have read the bios of a number of poets.
Yes, Helen Keller was a remarkable woman. I've read some of her writings. It's incredible how your senses can be heightened when you congenitally lack neurological development in one of your senses or one of them has been damaged as the result of disease in infancy (as it was in Keller's case).
The theory of neuroplasticity has been used to explain the phenomenon of some senses compensating for the loss of others.
I enjoy reading the biographies as well as the autobiographies of artists - Van Gogh, Chagall, Picasso, Renoir, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Claude Rodin, Camille Claudel, Caravaggio, Bernini,and more. I also have read the bios of a number of poets.
I enjoy biographies also - the story of what inspired someone's genius. I have read biographical pieces on several Classical musicians - aristocratic Brahms, impoverished, hopeful Schubert, dramatic ditzy Beethoven, introspective, tortured Schumann, etc as I'm a fan of German and French composers. You've read about an impressive selection of artists - I love Renoir and Rodin and Claudel and the others myself. I used to work in an art gallery and we had an exhibit of busts by Claudel. Which biography and/or which person is your favorite?
Thanks, for the invite. I am actually spending a pretty calm New Year's Eve. I had loads of fun on my activity filled trip this past week so I am taking a vacation from my vacation now. lol
I really liked the ambiance you described. There is only one powerful song that makes me reminisce about this past year and others- "Auld Lang Syne" . It doesn't matter how happy I am on New Year's Eve, as soon as I hear that song, it makes me cry as I remember the friends I have lost either through death or distance.
I prefer celebrating New Year's Day as oppose to New Year's Eve. For the past few years, I have made it a tradition to attend "A Salute to Vienna" which is the New Year's Day concert celebrated all throughout North America and Europe. The music of the Strausses (father & son) is contagious with happiness! I hope to see the event in Austria one day.
http://salutetovienna.com/
I think I'll cuddle up with my new book "I,Michelangelo,Sculptor" (autobiography of Michelangelo Buanarroti) (old copy newly bought) and touch up a portrait of my friend's 3 daughters.
Best wishes for 2008!
xoxo
http://www.maybole.org/community/celebrations/christmas/greetings/AuldLangSyne2.mp3
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes
And pou'd the gowans fine.
We've wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin' auld lang syne.
We twa hae sported i' the burn,
From morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin' auld lang syne.
And ther's a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie's a hand o' thine;
We'll tak' a right good willie-waught,,
For auld lang syne.
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I also love the Strausses' music and it would be wonderful to see the event you mentioned live in Austria! I'd love to come with you if you go someday :) My mother actually gave a presentation on Richard Strauss in college and how his music tied in with the mood and spirit of the era in which he composed.
How's your writing? I would love to check out a chapter or two of your novel! I just finished a third draft of Winter Sunrises, but know I still have major work to do with the piece.
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It's a real feast for the ears and eyes! Last year, I went with a girlfriend of mine. It was my graduation gift to her. She still talks about it with a little twinkle in her eye from time to time. It's great to know your gifts are appreciated.
There are tenors and sopranos as well as various dancers in the concert. In this year's concert,the Budapest International Ballet will be performing. Zsuzsa Alfoldi will be the soprano (from Zurich) and Zsolt Vadasx will be the performing tenor (from Budapest). The conductor, Stefanos Tsialis, hails from Vienna. The conductor cracked up a few jokes last year and the tenor danced across stage as he sung. The conductor's personality reminds me of Andre Rieu -"the waltz king" - I enjoyed myself very much, especially with my friend sitting beside me.
You might be able to catch "Salute to Vienna" on PBS. Every year it broadcasts live from Vienna to about an audience of about a billion people around the world. I definitely want to go to Vienna to see the concert one day. Apparently, you have to reserve for it one year in advance!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_New_Year's_Concert
The writing of my novel has been put on hold now because I just came back from my trip. I took along a travel diary with me and I have to rewrite my entries on my laptop. I took a few hundred photos and even some short videos. Once all my diary entries and photos are organized, I am going to send them to all my friends. I have no idea how long it will take me as so much happened and I have so many annecdotal stories and insights to add! I can't wait to share all my stories with my friends!
I've been following your "Winter Sunrises" (at least most of it). One of the most intriguing segments of your story was the one in which Stefan becomes acquainted with the prostitute who reminds him of his deceased Lysandra. I can't pinpoint exactly why it touched me. Maybe the fact that Stefan views the prostitute as a human being and not as some sex object. There was something touching and ethereal about that.
Alright, now I have to go back to my travel diaries and maybe read some of Michelangelo's autobiography. I'll drink my apple cider (sidra) with my parents and brothers at midnight!
Have a great New Year's Eve!
Reply
I'd love to hear more about your travels! Where did you go? Care to share any highlights (if that's not too much trouble, no pressure?)
Thanks for your comments on Winter Sunrises - Faye Miranda is actually an old acquaintance of Stefan and Lysandra's from a childhood trip to San Francisco. She and her mother were traveling street people who drew their photographs for extra cash and Faye was an impetuous little child regaling them both with stories. Was novelistic coincidence that they met again after twenty-two years...but I think Stefan would have acted that way towards any prostitute he saw. He's really more of a reserved intellectual type, kind of shy in certain aspects - and has a prideful streak but also tenderness towards people who remind him of his own difficult childhood (or Lysandra's.)
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I wonder how I will ever outdo this trip...my mom jokes about my next big trip being my honeymoon. Poor mom. lol That won't happen anytime soon.
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Stefan sounds pretty special (in a good way). Is he inspired from a real flesh & blood man?
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http://www.tournamentofroses.com/
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I do love the parade and the flower floats always amaze me.
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I think they plan the next parade up to a year beforehand!
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How's the Michelangelo book? Is that the same one you were reading before?
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My mom and I are also reading collected writings of Helen Keller - and it's amazing how much detail she used to describe her surroundings. Some parts of the book make one forget her deafness and blindness.
Reply
The theory of neuroplasticity has been used to explain the phenomenon of some senses compensating for the loss of others.
I enjoy reading the biographies as well as the autobiographies of artists - Van Gogh, Chagall, Picasso, Renoir, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Claude Rodin, Camille Claudel, Caravaggio, Bernini,and more. I also have read the bios of a number of poets.
Reply
The theory of neuroplasticity has been used to explain the phenomenon of some senses compensating for the loss of others.
I enjoy reading the biographies as well as the autobiographies of artists - Van Gogh, Chagall, Picasso, Renoir, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Claude Rodin, Camille Claudel, Caravaggio, Bernini,and more. I also have read the bios of a number of poets.
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