Nothing is….

black and white.  Except:  Old photographs, some films, and these quintessentially New York cookies.

We lost a dear friend last month.  I made these for the celebration of his life that his wife threw.  I closed my eyes and tried to image what foods remind me most of NY (where they are from and where I am from) and Black + White cookies at the diner are what came to mind.

All of these friends of his came together, old friends met new friends, and new friendships were formed.  His son (and sworn protector of my son) and Alex horsed around most of the day while the grownups shared tales over beer and comfort food. The kids made us laugh.  It didn’t feel odd or inappropriate.  It was indeed a celebration of his life.

There is sadness, as he died too soon.  There was so much laughter because everyone had a story to share.

I keep looking at the photo I took of the river, and I decided to rename it.  I am calling it Broke-down Palace, in honor of our friend.  He was a huge Grateful Dead fan.  The lyrics of Broke-down Palace always seemed gentle and lovely to me, but they never up and sat right in  the middle of my chest like a curling stone, until a few days before John left this life.   I listened and was paralyzed and I listened again.  I had another copy of my image, “Brokedown Palace”, on a stretched canvas, that I planned to bring to Hospice House, to share with him and his friends and family.  I never made it there in time.  I still have it here, and I think I will send it along to Hospice House as a donation, because it is such a serene image.

(the image links to imagekind, where prints of this particular image are for sale)

The song just works so well with this…(click here for a neat page on the lyrics)

“River gonna take me
Sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy
all the way back back home
It’s a far gone lullaby
sung many years ago
Mama, Mama, many worlds I’ve come
since I first left home

Goin home, goin home
by the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul

Goin to plant a weeping willow
On the banks green edge it will grow grow grow
Sing a lullaby beside the water
Lovers come and go – the river roll roll roll

Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
to rock my soul”

We have this on a huge canvas in our kitchen.  Makes me feel at peace with the universe. This is the happy place I imagine when I meditate to fall back asleep or when the pressure is too much.  Oddly, I picture this place in black and white, just as presented here.  Color seems distracting to me, and particularly with this shot, it had a feeling of concealing the emotions.

Anyway, I meant to blog about my birthday but apparently I needed to share this instead.

Kiddo was feeling cold and goosebumpy and wanted to snuggle, so he’s curled up next to me, while I sit and type, with one arm getting achier from the weight of kiddo’s spectacular noggin.

xo,

B

 

 

 

A Letter to Patients With Chronic Disease…

I think this blog entry, from distractible.org, offers an interesting perspective… Food for thought for those of us living with chronic illness and food for thought to everyone in the medical profession who may come in contact with PEOPLE with chronic illness.  I do suggest that folks who think that those of us with chronic illness are just negative and whiny, especially about the medical profession, read the comments after the letter from Dr. Rob.

Be sure to add your comment there, or here. That is totally up to you, my dearies :-)

Here’s the link:

A Letter to Patients With Chronic Disease.

xo

Bek