http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct en-us Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:59:03 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=117 ]]> Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:59:03 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=113 ]]> Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:07:40 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=103 The two smiling boys are my husband Brian (the elder) and his brother Mark, who died last month of oral cancer at the age of 52. Brian and his sister Jo Ellen had many tales to tell of life growing up with Mark, who was the difficult middle child, so it seems. Brian always said Mark was the smartest of the three, a talented musician, funny, intelligent, open to everything and pretty much anything. But he was the one often in trouble, the one constantly pushing at the boundaries, and he led a life with many highs but also very many lows. For example, he got straight A's one semester on a challenge from their Dad - the one and only time, to prove he could do it. He just wasn't interested. Brian often felt guilty, felt maybe he helped to make Mark the rebel he was, because he himself was quiet, obedient, studious, neat. I mean, siblings always have to be different than the elder ones, right? My favorite story of Mark: Mark (maybe 10 or so at the time) was misbehaving in some way or other at the family dinner table and their Dad said "Mark, do you want a crack across the backside?" He looked at Dad with a straight face and said "I already have one." Brian said their Dad tried keeping a stern face, but Brian could tell he was trying to keep from bursting out laughing.
This is what Jo Ellen had put in the paper for his obituary:



MARK P. W., Age 52, of Orlando, passed away Saturday, April 21, 2007 following a brave battle with cancer. Born in Hartford, CT, Mark relocated to Central Florida in 1978 and was employed in the restaurant industry. Those who knew Mark will remember not only his intelligence, wit, and selfless generosity, but also his enduring sense of humor, even as life's most difficult circumstances came to bear.

This is how we will remember Mark.
]]> Sun, 27 May 2007 14:44:49 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=101 It is done! On April 19th I had the joy and pleasure of seeing Hannah's degree show. It was a 10-minute video film of a string quartet playing Death and the Maiden by Schubert. Each musician (one of whom was Hannah herself, playing first violin) was filmed by 3 different cameras. She then took the 12 films and the 4 sound tracks and worked them into her performance film: the beginning and the end were Schubert, but the 7 or so minutes in between were Hannah. It was moving, exciting, breathtakingly beautiful. Yes, I am her mother and I am prejudiced. But one of the viewers, a part-time lecturer at the university and an artist herself, turned to her neighbor when it was over and said "That was so beautiful", with a huge smile on her face. She went to find Hannah, so she could congratulate her personally on the project. Hannah was so pleased and we are delighted for her. She has worked so hard, reached way beyond expectations (at the beginning she was told she probably wouldn't be able to do it, because it was so technically challenging, apart from the artistic challenge) and we feel she is getting the recognition she deserves. So anyone in Brighton on June 2nd or between June 4th and 7th can pop round to see the original at the Grand Parade art building.

At some point, Isaac will be helping Hannah post the video so that others can see it online. He was actually her technical assistant for the performances, which would warm any mother's heart, and - hopefully in the not too distant future - will be setting up her website so she can show more of her work.

We, in the meantime, are counting our blessings!]]> Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:15:48 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=99 I feel like I am visiting Berlin between my trips to England! We had a wonderful holiday in Emsworth and Worthing with our friends, who so kindly put us up and let us make use of their beautiful homes. We also had Hannah with us for the most of the time, which was just great. She was often deeply immersed in her work, but just having her there was a treat. There were some scary moments, when the hard drive seemed to have lost a day's work, but thankfully she was able to sort it all out in the end.
We were literally on the water in Emsworth and could have put our hands in the water of the mill pond while sitting at the dining room table, if we had felt like it. (The photo is from the garden at near full moon.) It was really idyllic there: good company, lovely scenery, tasty food. We even managed some sightseeing in Chichester, a picturesque cathedral town.
After 2 days we were off to Worthing to visit more friends - we certainly are lucky to have so many kind friends who are willing to let us descend on them! - who live just across the street from the Channel. So more good company, lovely scenery and tasty food!! Walks along the promenade, a visit to a really old-fashioned tea room on the pier, some book-shopping.
On the Thursday Hannah and I had tickets to see Barenaked Ladies in concert in Brighton!!! That was just fabulous. The guy opening the show was very good - funny, a good way to warm us up. But BNL were incredible. Musically fantastic - some songs were even better live than on the cds - and just really entertaining. Lots of talk, jokes about things in Brighton, teasing each other. They were simply so affable and we left feeling really buoyant. The ages of the audience ranged from about 10 to 70 - so my daughter didn't feel out of place being there with her mother!
The 9 days flew by. Before we knew it, it was Easter Sunday, our last day. We went to a Chinese restaurant (a rather fancy one) for our dinner, which Hannah found terribly amusing. We decided to make it a new tradition: whenever we are in Worthing for Easter, we will eat Chinese!
All in all, it was a memorable trip. It is always so good to touch base with old friends, catch up on news, solve the world's problems, remember old times and, just as importantly, create tomorrow's memories together!


]]> Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:38:46 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=93 On Saturday Brian and I will be flying to England for a week, till Easter Sunday. Mostly to see our daughter Hannah, also to see friends and even have a bit of a holiday. We will be on the coast the whole time, which delights us both. We love the sea, so this is real icing on the cake!

We planned the trip because Hannah is in the throes of preparation for her final art show in Brighton, taking place on April 19th. She is doing an elaborate and complicated music and video project based on "Death and the Maiden" by Schubert (visual sample above!). She had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn't be able to come home at all before the show, so we thought it best to plan to go see her. She has had to surmount an incredible amount of problems, predominantly technical, but also artistic, personal, logistical. I guess that is all part of the educational process of becoming an artist. But the film is in the can, so to speak, and now she is doing the time-consuming but ultimately *the* artistic work of editing. I am flying over again for the show, and even her big brother Isaac is flying over from California (via Berlin) for the grand occasion! This is all so exciting. Watching our children find their way in life is exciting - and scary. But we believe in them, their talents, their decency, their wisdom (yes, I have learned an incredible amount from my children: "out of the mouths of babes..."), and try to at least accept what we don't understand. And then keep trying to understand.......

Oh, and besides seeing several old and dear friends, which is always such a pleasure, I get to go with Hannah to see the Barenaked Ladies, who will be playing in Brighton. I don't know if that will make me feel 30 years younger or older!!





]]> Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:34:03 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=89 Working on photos for the family tree on Geni, I came across this, taken probably in 1947. The couple standing on the far right are my parents. These are my dad's brothers and sisters and their spouses. The husbands in the back row are standing behind their wives, correspondingly seated in the front row, except for the man with the moustache, my Uncle Ray, who perhaps was not yet married. And the old woman in the middle of the front row, who is the matriarch, Babci (Polish for grandmother). Her husband was already dead by this time, I guess. The middle row are children from the various marriages. I am amazed that I recognize them all - I see in their youngs faces the adults they grew up to be. What I find more amazing is that in many of these faces I see their children and grandchildren - the resemblances are at times so uncanny. And touching. Only 7 of the people in the photo are still alive, but the other faces live on in their chidlren and grandchildren. Yet we are not only bound by our shared genes, but just as importantly - maybe even more importantly - by our shared memories. To end the quote from the title (from a song by Paul Simon): "Long ago... it must be..., I have a photograph. Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you."





]]> Sat, 24 Feb 2007 18:54:59 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=84 I had the good fortune to receive two tickets for "Scheibenwischer" (German for windscreen / windshield wipers), which is a televised political cabaret which has been running since 1980. It is a local Berlin production but is televised nationally.


Germans are always been teased about having no sense of humour. It's true they are not big on slapstick and their humour is different from the average American or Brit, although they actually have gotten funnier over the years and learned to let their humour show. But I have always been amazed by their wonderful sense of political humour, which probably until John Stewart, has been non-existent in the States - or at any rate it was non-existent when I was growing up (back when the dinosaurs still used 8-track tapes). The Germans have a long tradition of this. I remember reading a book in the 1970's called "The Brown and the Red Joke" and it contained jokes going around under the Nazis and then under the Communists. Not something you would think of as a source of humour, but many of them were incredibly biting and landed people in jail or a concentration camp and even, in the case of a Lutheran pastor under the Nazis, to their execution. They were good examples of gallows humour. Anyway, the tradition lives and thrives here.


I have been a fan of Scheibenwischer for as long as I can remember. The initiator, Dieter Hildebradt, retired a couple of years ago and a new team took over and I was really looking forward to seeing them live. They are the next generation. Mathias Richling, is an incredible impersonator - does a great Angela Merkel, btw. Then there is Bruno Jonas, from Bavaria, and you can really hear it in his accent - but it is the most pleasant Bavarian accent I have ever heard. (I am not a fan of things Bavarian - the North-South divide prevails in Germany as well!)


Unfortunately yesterday there were hurricane warnings in Berlin - yes, really and truly (thank you global warming!). I was going to the show with my friend Brigitte and it looked pretty dicey as to whether weather would permit this excursion. But Brigitte is dauntless, there was a lull in the storm and off we went. Half the audience was not as dauntless or did not have such a friend and consequently did not show up. The studio was set up like a club, we all sat at tables and were given wine and mineral water to drink. It was quite cozy and created a good atmosphere for the show.


Half an hour before air time Mathias Richling came out to start warming us up and within about 8 minutes had us in hysterics. We were told since half the people hadn't shown up we would have to laugh twice as hard, and he told the woman going round to keep filling those wine glasses to help the laughter along. We didn't need the instructions or the wine, the laughter came as easily as falling off a log. Each of the performers - not just those 3, there were 2 others, including a wonderful accordion player, whose warm-up song was at least as good as the one he performed on television - came out for a bit to get us in the mood, mostly with jokes about the weather and Berlin.


Then the show started: it was wonderful and witty and biting, the way political humour should be (thank you Jon Stewart for making this a normal part of American life now, too!) Topics included amongst others health reform, the situation of teachers in inner-city, multicultural schools, the present government and its ineptitude, and the resignation of a prominent politician (Stoiber of the CSU, in case anyone follows this stuff - haha!) It was one of those experiences that reminded me why I love living in this city, how much I have grown to understand and perhaps even love the Germans. Or well, let's say, at least, the Berliners!






]]> Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:59:32 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=71 Any attempts I have made to add to my blog have been thwarted by lack of inspiration, and if inspired, by lack of vocablulary. Somehow I never had all the mental tools in place at once, but because Christmas is fast approaching, I thought I would take a moment to write.
To those of you who read my blog: my best wishes for a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, joyous Winter Solstice, or whatever it is you are happy to celebrate. May you spend the days with people you love and who love you. To you and your loved ones, my sincere wishes for a happy, healthy, peaceful, hopeful, prosperous New Year. May we find find strength and joy to face our tasks and make our little corners of the world even a wee bit better than they were before. And in some cases, maybe we can even make them a lot better!!!!
God bless us everyone!

]]> Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:05:33 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-GKy1cwQ9cqjEFiAhvq8JDDct?p=59 So Halloween is over. The above photo - too late for the occasion - was taken for the German equivalent: Fasching. It is similar to the Mardi Gras-type celebrations around the world. As a result my kids got to dress up at least twice a year. Looking through the photos I saw the ghost of Halloween (and Fasching) past: wizards, lions, kittens, mad professors, clowns, crabs, bunnies. It brought many smiles to my face. I don't know where the years have flown (which is why the 2 months since my last entry are not even a blip on the screen), and am glad I have the photos to documents all those moments of happiness, consternation, joy, frustration and quiet contentment. And God, was my husband incredibly handsome!!!! (Still is...) And I am glad I have gotten over not having curly hair.


I try not to be attached to personal possessions, because they are, in the end, unimportant. Photos somehow seem to have almost a spiritual value though. A feeble attempt at making time stand still. A friend of our daughter Hannah, also named Hannah, said she doesn't like digital photos because you can erase the not-so-perfect moments. In a sense you are falsifying history. How insightful of her! Perhaps those not-so-perfect moments are what add contour and jog even more memories than the picture-perfect ones. Digital has the advantage of being so easy to share, but I think I will continue to capture the moment on a roll of film and hope I someday get around to organizing the time line of my family life. Maybe now that the kids are grown and far away digital makes more sense. But those blurry photos, the ones where someone blinks or has their mouth open because they were just going to say "Wait, I'm not ready!" - the ones we would have deleted on a digital camera!! - I see them in a different light now. I love life with its bumps and wrinkles.
]]> Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:47:13 GMT