Milestones

Even while we mourn those lost and harmed by the tragedies of our times, we need a vision of the immense good still all around us. My spirit is lifted to be a part of the lives of family and friends and to celebrate and love them. So, I will now launch this post to shine a light on some milestones. Thank you, for being with me.

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Last week, was for this grand and great-grandmother, one to love forever. Lots of family, stir in some friends, add milestones and you just smile, and your heart beats a little faster as you see your families' young people grow up and prosper. 

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We'll begin at The Sports Desk:

Great-grandson Elijah "Big E!" a high school Senior out west in Utah, received awards for his beloved basketball playing with Roy High School Royals. Jeff put a video on YouTube of the Awards Banquet to commemorate Big E's moments.

They are at appx 5:12 min., 7:12 min., and 13:18 minutes...

Jeff reported that Elijah is ranked 36th of all Utah BB Seniors, and 9th of all forwards in the state.

You rock, Big E!

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Happening at almost the same time, there was another milestone to celebrate. It had a touch of poignance because it was a last hurrah when family and friends piled into cars and drove into Philly for one of the Bolding boys' music events. This time was Keoni's music recital for his Artist's Diploma from Curtis Institute of Music which completes his educational pursuits, Bachelor's at McDuffy/Mercer in Georgia, a Master's at Juilliard in NYC, and this completion at Curtis in Philly which brings us to 

The Arts Desk...

Here is the program:

The players with Keoni are friends he's made during his music studies and travels. This is the recital in its entirety...

(Earbuds help with the audio.)

Keoni has since re-posted this portion of the recital, Tosca Paraphrase, and combined it with its printed music...

And, it was so good to have Aidan back for the event, too...

What a great treat to have each of them here with us again. And, in a couple more months, Elijah, Kingston, Sonja, Jeff, and Valerie will fly in from the west for a visit here with us in Pennsylvania. 

What's not to love!!!

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But wait! There's more!!! A new beginning. Our friend Paula in Tucson just launched her new Substack blog where you can see her latest art and sign up to receive it in your inbox...

Paula Borchardt - Visual Storyteller

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Weather Report:

When your mind pictures snow, where is the snow? Colorado? North Dakota? Hmmm...picture this...

Tucson had more snow this winter than Philadephia.

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On June 20, 2015, following the Charleston Mother AME shootings on June 17, 2015, I wrote to help my mind and my heart process the sheer hideousness of the crime. Combing through old files I ran across those written words following that fearful, awful day. I re-read it and felt a wave of shock. The killings never stopped, never paused. It's even worse. Reload, repeat, over and over again--mass murders, single murders, suicides, old people, young people, tender children, gone forever. Those who survive indelibly maimed in body, in spirit. All the friends and families and communities hurt in the worst ways. A whole nation, our America stained by letting it happen. 

I wanted to celebrate the good milestones of young people growing up in my family with this posting. Instead, I'll set those words and images aside for a while in respect for those lost on Monday to gun violence. With love for them, for the many others who have likewise fallen, and for all those who loved and cared for them, I bow my head.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Thank You, Many Hands

It's Tuesday, it's spring, and our day is a palindrome, at least the way it's typed here:

3/21/23

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Arts Desk

Experience, know-how, inspiration, kindness, and a big heart bring food to people surviving disasters happening near and far. World Central Kitchen is the creation of José Andrés. He shows us again and again how to share our abundance. A portrait in his March 20, 2023, Substack newsletter called Longer Tables begins our Arts Desk today...

 Longer Tables 

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With our own hands and those of countless, nameless others we receive nourishment from Earth's provisions. 

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In Missouri, my niece Paula started painting...

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In Tucson, Paula Borchardt continues turning out her art pieces reflecting the life around her. Two pages (two weeks) from her Perpetual Journal...

...and her October Yard Journal is complete...

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Back in Pennsylvania...

...at Ray's Farm Market.

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Past and Present Come Together

The Arts Desk:

Let us begin today with art from Paula, our artist friend in Tucson...

It's like looking at an old friend to see her beautiful prickly pear rendering. It is so much a part of Tucson and the southwest's environs. I imagine in the world of cacti images that prickly pears are as iconic as the saguaro. 

Paula found The Tucson Botanical Gardens include cacti from other worlds, too...

Besides this, Paula has kept up her Perpetual Journal entries as well. Here is January 8 thru February 25...

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In Missouri, Susie and some of her friends have taken up their paint brushes to learn about making art in a local class they are attending together. Here's Susie's result from about a week ago...

Fishing is one of Susie's love's, too. Keep it up, Susie!

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Recently, on a visit to Michener Museum of Art in Doylestown there were some music sculpture installations along the sidewalk as I walked from the parking to the museum...

...and, anyone could play them. Even though it was hard to hold the phone and play them at the same time, you can sort of get the idea here...

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The Weather Desk on February 25th: 

it is Saturday

my pony Subaru and I

are heading home 

carrying groceries

the past enters the present

as my pony's radio fills the air

with Caruso's tenor

snow flurries brush the windshield

a formation of geese flies over

life smiles

and my pony glides

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May you glide through your day.

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