Seize the moment - shoot the praying mantis !

This post is about  my last post so it could be called a meta post.  But my last post never happened so I am not sure......about anything. I created it as a note on my iPhone and while doing some final refinement ....poof it was gone. I googled the issue and went to the App Store and looked for a backup on the cloud. Needless to say it is still gone. 

Ironically the lost post was about time. Integrating it  with my current theme makes me wonder if I waited too long to post it. Or perhaps I didn't spend enough time backing it up,saving it to the cloud.  Was I too hasty in making my changes and thus the fatal error?

Recently In Arizona I noticed a praying mantis on the outside wall of our house just above the garage door. As most people these days, instead of savoring the moment, I ran for my phone to take a picture. Once inside I was distracted and forgot about the religious insect. The next morning I remembered the little green guy and went out with my phone. He was gone. I had missed my chance to get a photo, and also the chance to simply observe at close range this beautiful unique creature. The fact that we rarely see these alien-like life forms makes any sighting a special moment, one to be valued. 

So what is the lesson here, pertaining to time? As Patti Smith said, we must "seize the possibilities".  We must take advantage of the moment, now, because we don't know quickly it will be gone, or how many other times we will experience this unique opportunity. How purifying to live totally "in the now" with no thought of tomorrow's responsibilities or yesterday's mistakes, or even the next breath. 

Although these may be thoughts for the "high and lofty", I think slowing down and taking the time to understand the uniqueness of each moment and certain special occurrences, helps counteract the frenetic, random pace we often live at. Well gee, it looks like I am out of time, so I leave you with this: remember to seize every moment and possibility you can, recognizing the unique joy and lesson it provides. Now back to work, and don't miss that deadline !

Basil Update: the basil is now hibernating at the Arctic Circle , staying warm beneath the torsos of snoring polar bears. Sleep well my children. 

Keep the Faith !

Breathing ? I don't have time for that!

Time is very important. What would we do without it? Without the order maintaining dimension of time, I would dress for work before showering (messy),  floss after brushing (heresy!) and get cremated before I die (ouch!). But many or most of us think we don't have enough of it. I don't believe this is true.  

Most of our lives are quite busy, quite complex , because we actively choose to juggle work, family life, wellness activities and the arts. "The arts" is a very subjective term which runs the spectrum from going to the Met, ballet or museum, to spending  time at the shooting range, chicken fights or watching Duck Dynasty. It is the effective prioritization of these time consuming activities that will allow us to have the quantity and quality of time that we desire. Unhappiness occurs when we incorrectly prioritize the activities that are competing for our precious time.  You see, our time on earth is not infinite. Ben Franklin said  "you may delay, but time will not".  Wow do you hear that, gentle Ben is telling it like it is. You can delay your fatherly duties by missing your daughter's dance recital or tennis match, but by the time those activities bubble up to your priority queue, it may be too late to make a difference or you may be dead.  

They say that time is money, so these  2 commodities are certainly linked. When people feel that they have no time for "play" (sports,the arts,wellness activities,snake charming) because money making activities are more important, trouble is brewing. In addition to showing your friends and family that they matter, engaging in play isolates you from your work life, enforcing the idea that you actively choose your destiny, and are not a slave to work or "the man".  That meditation class may cost a few bucks, but if the deep breathing lowers your blood pressure, it is worth it's weight in gold. Funerals are expensive ! 

So choose wisely, as it truly is your choice. They say that "you can't take it with you" and that is true. You also cannot take "them" with you. So spend your money wisely but spend your time with your loved ones even more wisely.  Only you can be the judge of what your time is worth.   

Basil update: the basil plants are gone, victims of a nasty rainfall and that gluttonous Parsley plant (I hate him/her/it). Next year that Parsley gets put in a corner - and it will still flourish. Sweet basil planted from seed is flourishing with a pretty yellow hue. As one dies, another is born.  

Keep the faith y'all and please pray for the pope !

Did You See Us ? We Saw U2 !

This past Saturday night Linda and I were at MSG to see U2 kick off the NY edition of their Innocence and Remembrance tour. Kristin and Kaila gave us the tickets as a gift, and boy are we glad they did. The tickets were marked "BS" so we wondered if our daughters had pulled out all the stops and gotten us back stage passes (let's get there early Lin so we can visit with Bono), but as we soon learned that stood for bar stools. The seats were great and that's no BS !

In 1982 a band in New Jersey named "The Watch" played the gamut of popular New Wave tunes and that was my first exposure to U2. They played "I will follow" although I did not know at that time it was U2. Saturday night Bono stated that "when we started out, we were classified by some as a punk band. And in many ways we still are". After 33 years, its nice to get that genre classification from Bono, although U2's complex music and profound, relevant, socially conscious lyrics are far from punk to me. But who am I to question Bono, the Pope of Rock'n'Roll ?

About 3 songs in, The Edge played the opening chords of "I will follow" and I began to realize that seeing U2 live is unlike anything I have experienced. The crowd was now jumping, fists pumping, and shouting the lyrics as the rules for the evening started to emerge. Perhaps more than anything else a U2 concert is a major technological extravaganza, and although I had heard and read about this, I was pleasantly caught unawares. A huge screen ran the length of the real estate between the main large stage and the distant smaller round stage beneath us. It was 50 feet high and displayed live close-up feeds of the band, video footage, special affects of the live action, animation and U2's famous word association stream of consciousness.

The band never stayed in one place, all members walking, dancing, and running  from stage to stage, under and through the massive main screen, based on how high it was hanging.A rollicking Mysterious Ways was played to a reggae (calypso ?) beat, Bono dancing with a fan  from the crowd. Bono invited 2 fans from the crowd to dance and hang with him, apologizing to another holding a sign "great guitarist", saying that "I've gotten into trouble with the band before by doing something like that".  Bono plugged the smartphone from one of the fans into the main input feed and her texts, icon's and Bonos face and all activity flooded all screens.

Larry Mullin strapped on a portable drum kit reminiscent of the Fife and Drum bands of the American Revolution era for a very stark, stripped "Sunday Bloody Sunday". To think the Fife and Drum era preceded our own civil war by 100 years made this song about a watershed moment in the Irish Civil war even more poignant. A full drum kit was moved twice between the 2 stages, and when a piano appeared on the stage beneath us, with just Bono and The Edge visible, we knew something important was about to happen. As The Edge played the opening notes, I thought "One", but I was setting the bar too low. "October, when kingdoms rise and Kingdoms fall". Wow, I think this was the high-point of the concert for me. From the 1981 album of the same name, this very short diddy features just Bono's voice and the piano. Afterward, his voice I am sure recovering from notes designed for a 1981 Bono, he revealed that "I haven't sung that song in  25 years".

Bono explained that his mother Iris, died when he was 14, and dedicated the song by the same name from their latest album to everyone in the crowd who lost a loved one at an early age.

Crowd pleasers Vertigo (the only offering from Atomic Bomb), With or Without You, City of Blinding lights and Until the End of the World (1 of 3 Achtung Baby titles), Bullet the Blue Sky (1 of 5 from Joshua Tree!) were notable. Encore of Still Haven't Found what I'm Looking For, Where the Streets have No Name and One (sung mostly by the crowd) sent everyone home happy.

Observation: Bono is a huge presence, and truly seems to care about the fans. He introduced the band at least twice, and explained what a large part they play in his life. His stories and philosophical meanderings were priceless and left you wishing he did more of that. A Springsteenesque story-teller he is not.

Startling Observation: perhaps dues to the lights and effect of the video and animation, Bono often reminded me of Robin Williams. DOH !

Grade: B+, if you are a fervent fan, or have never been then upgrade to A.


After seeing U2 in the greatest city in the world with Linda, what can one say other than:

Keep the Faith and Grow the Basil !

Say nothing ....do nothing ....

On this the 15th of June, the first day of my 56th year, I was taught a great lesson. This is the same lesson that I have been learning for at least 40 years. Wait for it........

Our world in 2015 demands immediate, informed action, especially in NYC where time is money and he who hesitates is lost. But often, over and over, I have wished that:
1) I hadn't sent that email so quickly
2) I hadn't rushed to judgement
3) I hadn't listened to my colleagues, my peers , my rabbi (oy!), or the media and had just let things play out.

Not sure why this seems the logical choice, whether waiting a day or 2 allows us to cool off emotionally, or if it's the fact that the universe takes 24 to 48 hours to converge and restore all dimensions to normalcy.  Obviously this knowledge is "anecdotal"

This is why I am not a day trader, or a general on the ground directing troops to victory or their death, or a suicide hotline operator.  Where split second, devil may care decisions are needed, deep knowledge and vast experience make those decisions instinctive. But equally instinctive, in normal life, should be the decision to act or wait.

Given the influence of media and technology on our society (more data updated constantly) I think we need a default reality check that says ignore your first reaction and maybe your second, and see if reality has changed. When it does, and you take a breath, you can now synchronize with new data arriving, and gauge how quick and decisive the appropriate response should be.

At my age, once you've resisted the first and second impulse to respond, you've forgotten what the problem is. Ah, the joys of senior citizenship. My next post will deal with procrastination, the dangerous result of taking the above mentioned philosophy too far.  Will have that post... well not sure, whats the hurry, whenever.

Basil update: those pesky tomato plants are shielding the basils from mother sun, so they are skimpy. But once the weather gets hot (I mean hot !), nothing will stop my basil children. Also growing basil from seeds supplied by a famous producer, and in weeks they will join the ranks.

Keep the faith, and share the love (and basil).

I Love that Tree...Let's Kill it !

This past weekend we finally dismantled the final, dead, piece of the Rhododendron tree in our side yard. This was the tree that flowered in all its glory for 2 weeks a year, as a huge living impressionist painting, a staple of our lives.

Recently, it was just a tree, and we noticed its declining color and health matter-of- factly, coldly viewing it as a nuisance, an obstacle to the spreader each time I fertilized. But I remember when.....

Originally our side yard was such an overgrown wilderness, that we had no idea that the tree existed. After we blazed a trail with our machetes, chain saws and Miller High Life, using more chutzbah than expertise, this pink and white giant dominated the landscape. We used the lower branch as a swing for Kris and Kaila, as endless numbers of film store developed pictures can attest. When Kris and Kaila got older, they used it as a swing for the younger  neighborhood kids, and the tree's legacy grew.

Over the past 10 years,  more and more of the tree died, but since the girls were out of the house, it carried little emotional meaning. This past weekend, the final death march was performed.

The tree came down quite easily, as the branches and trunk were brittle, void of life as the saw buzzed through  its minor girth,  my shaking arms offering more resistance than the tree itself. After much ado about cutting and cracking and creaking and pulling,  the site of so many years of life, laughter, joy, remembrance,  and nostalgia, consisted of a large hole, and a somewhat resistant root. I, in the role of executioner, and wielding an ax long dormant in our shed, was ready.

But alas, this was a labor of love, like burying an old friend. Ironically, this friend was not being interred in the earth, but freed from it. The final result was a perfectly neat, fairly level circle of grass and top soil, ready to sprout and be green, with no sign of the beautiful, living treasure that enriched our lives and was a unique part of our early family.

As we learn each Spring, and with the passing of loved ones, life moves on, and we get back to our normal routine, our regular loves, fears and passions. Those no longer with us will forever inspire us, guide us, define us, comfort us, but we march forth to the next challenge, living, creating and embracing life. That's just what humans do.

Keep the faith and spread the love y'all !

The Car Wash and the Horror it Brings

Linda and I went to the car wash the other day for the "early bird special", as we are seniors and have been conditioned by our visits to AZ. As the car rolled through the machinery of the car wash, on the propelling rails, through the bands and the brushes and the sprays, I came to a startling realization: A person from an indigenous, isolated tribe in Borneo would view this futuristic, buzzing metal machine as a god or monster as it rolled through this droning, mechanized tube.

How silly, we would all think, that this primitive group of leaf wearing hut dwellers would be mesmerized and horrified  by something we take for granted. This same tribe of hunter/gatherers from an era past, probably eat flying beetles the size of a small bird that, no doubt, would scare the bejeezus out of all of us. Most likely they consider them gods, raise them as pets, and consume them in ritual acts for religious and nutritional purposes. Pick your poison, pick your horror.

Speaking of sheer terror, it certainly has been humid, and boy am I afraid of mildew. Yep, that's what magically materializes in the basement when it is hot and muggy and you don't turn on the air conditioner, dehumidifier, or nuclear reactor imported from Iran. I am starting to understand why the Borneo tribe opted out of the suburbs.

Basil Update: 2 lovely basil plants are in, collecting sun and sharing their earth with Tomatoes (2) and Jalapeno and Parsley. More plants to come. The grass is healthy, and nurturing the collection of infant seeds we have planted, overseen by the Cypress, that we are coaxing toward health and greenery.

As my Borneo brothers say, Y'all keep the faith !

Time: shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Yes that lyric from the Pink Floyd song Time, sounds very morbid, but it is as accurate as a clock, not good, not bad, just real. It does make you think about a few things though. Like "how do I want to spend these next 24 hours". Or "what should I accomplish in the next year ?" John Lennon poignantly wrote "life is what happens to you, while you're busy making other plans". Aha the plan !

So you may not realize this, but you are a planner. Many of you will object, and rightfully so, that you are not sufficiently organized to plan, or don't have the proper time or money to plan, or maturity (that's my excuse) to know how to plan. But you are wrong ! Unless you are an infant, or a homeless person, or an addict you definitely plan. And I am sure many homeless people and addicts plan too, but just sayin'....... Your  planning may be what subway you will take next, or what restaurant  you will go to on Saturday, or what laundry you will visit Friday night, or what channel you will next flip to.  But you plan, and when you do, you are paying homage to the gods (lower case, people, Tea Party stay out of this !) of time.

Time is not infinite. Oops I am fibbing, time is infinite. A second is infinite, depending on how many times you want to slice it. YOUR time is not infinite, our planet's time is not infinite, so Earth, use it wisely. Bruce Lee, perhaps our greatest martial artist, and a part-time  scholar and philosopher, described time's impermanence and value perfectly. He said that our lives are like hour-glasses, and when the sands of the hourglass go from the top to the bottom, they can never be reversed. There is a finite amount of sand, and a finite amount of life.

Make sure you use your life wisely.

Does this mean that each moment of our life must be staged, planned, put in a spreadsheet, approved by the Pope, and posted on social media?  Of course not. the greatest moments of life are unplanned, spontaneous, and hopefully don't result in incarceration. There are many philosophies on how to avoid  being  the person who regrets the fact that the sand has run out and you have still not changed out of your pajamas. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we live in a world, country and sensibility where "time is money". "Ya, you sit on zee couch for sirty minutes, und you pay me zee fee, ein hundert dollarz" Money dictates that you have to spend a certain amount of your finite life working, becoming educated, making out your taxes, and maintaining your house. Culture, your ego, and your peers have decreed that you must spend a portion of your hour-glass contents going to the gym, putting on makeup, and getting a tattoo.

So do we create a "Time Budget" ?  I will spend 50 hours a week working, 10 hours running , 7 hours watching TV, 3 hours at the bar/restaurant, 3 hours developing my creative side, and 2 hours per week on spirituality (not spirits, that was the bar time, no double dipping !).

Or do we create the "10 Commandments of time"? (showing only 4 due to short attention span)

1.  I will never plan my life out longer than 6 months because the chaos theories of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park makes those plans too risky.
2.  I will never spend more than 1 hour trying to figure out how to cut my commute by ten minutes.
3.  I will never spend more than 2 hours waiting to play 40 minutes of racquetball.
4. I will spend 10 days or more waiting on line to get front row tickets to see (insert your favorite singer, athlete, origami folder or queen bee for drones)

You get the idea.

Simply put, take heed of  Adam Duritz's advice "You don't want to waste your life".

Basil Update: home depot had very few plants so we did not make any purchases this weekend. The grass is getting greener, literally and figuratively, so we are excited about the planting season.

Keep The Faith (whatever yours is ) !

It's a perfectly rainy day

"OMG another rainy day, what ever shall we do ?" This is the familiar refrain in March/April/May when we might as well presume precipitation in New York. And I understand the possible vitamin D factor (no sun, no fun, where's my gun!), but I still sometimes question what all the fuss is about.

Yes of course rain can be downright dangerous when it reaches biblical proportions like when Irena and Sandy and Noah's ark all occurred. But when it's a shower, or gentle summer rain it can be downright poetic and contemplative. And what of the rain in Hawaii that comes each day for 20 minutes, waters the palm trees, spritzes the odoriferous homeless people, then gives way to sunny blue skies. Now that's the optimum situation, often referred to as "God's sprinkler system" (lie). And, of course, in areas of drought, like current Cali, rain gives life, restores order, saves money and reduces alcohol consumption borne of "nothing else to drink dude ! "

When the whole world reacts in the extreme, where do we look for reasonable, sound, moderate thinking ? To Rock and Roll ! That's why rock and rollers love rain, or at least have learned to coexist with it, writing some amazing songs in tribute to its relevance. Linda's favorite "November Rain" by GNR, the Temptations' "I wish it would rain", and, reverently, the Who's "Rain o'er me" from Quadraphenia. CCR boasts 2 classics, "Have you ever seen the rain" and "Who'll stop the rain". The answers to those questions are "yes more and more" and "nobody", so we better learn to appreciate rain and live with it.

Basil Update: I have a sense that the ground is fertile, especially given the fertility dance that I have been performing of late in full headdress constructed of empty Coors Light cans. Early May we will hold auditions for aspiring basil, parsley, pepper and tomato plants (at Home Depot garden center) and select the most impressive. In this endeavor, the rain is our partner.

This Just In: Keep the Faith y'all !