VOMA

Went last night to see The Violence of My Affection at the Red Orchid on Wells Street.  I found it a fabulous exploration of the opposing forces of intellect and emotion.   The bare bones plot – an academically inclined young man, Steven, meets a passionate young actress,  Sofania, while studying in Italy, their relationship from courtship through divorce is charted in a marvelously structured narrative that relies fairly heavily upon the audience’s capacity to follow along intellectually.  (The title of the play comes from Jane Austen.)

The young woman who plays Sofania more than met the challenge of the emotion laden role, demonstrating delight in new love through the madness of love scorned.  And while she was clearly the “star” she had a “co-star” in the script by Gaetano Marangelli.  The dialogue of the characters both internal and external  folds back upon itself repeatedly in an elegant structure that allows Shakespeare to be quoted frequently and references the “A”s and the "V"s of the dictionary that plays a central role in the story of the couple’s unfolding love, and then its demise. 

My comment after the play ended was “that poor woman” and Phil’s was “I hated her.  I would have run as far away from her as possible.  What did he do to her to deserve that?”  And I suppose therein lies the crux of the matter.  I felt her passion and understood her inability to fathom the lack of the same from her “betrothed.”   I was drawn to the references and structure of the play and Phil found them confusing. 

Perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned in graduate school while studying psychology was the owning and acceptance of projections.  Fritz Perls could have helped Sofania understand that her relationship to Steven was not the relationship Steven had/has with her and never was, but alas that is the subject for another exploration of life’s issues.

For an intellectually stimulating 90 minutes- go to the play.  If you want spoon-fed Hollywood simplicity then stop into the movie theaters around the corner at Piper’s Alley. But if you want to experience participating with poets and dreamers and passion then this is the play for you.

here is the blurb from the promotional materials:

The Violence of My Affection tells the story of the shared passion for art, language, and each other that unites an Italian actress and an American scholar. She adopts his country and raises their son, but after twenty-five years, he wants a divorce, and her love turns to vengeance.

last night

I got a call from Heidi Perez, my long time travel impresario at Nature Expeditions.  I "met" her in 2002 when Phil and I planned a trip to Chile that she helped me arrange.  this woman is not just a travel agent - she is more like a travel consultant and advisor.  Heidi helped us plan the Chile trip and then the next year helped Jennifer and me plan our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam - still a trip I look back upon with great memories (and which I have mentioned in prior blog entries as it was the best time ever to be at Angkor Wat etc. due to SARS)

the other person we have used in a similar fashion for very personalized trips to the former soviet countries is Joanna Millick at MIR Corp out of Seattle.  and at some point I will regale you with tales from those trips as I have dozens of pages of journal entries and plenty of photos to go with the narrative - but back to Heidi...

we were discussing places we might want to visit in the future and afterward she sent me some information on southern India - which along with Sri Lanka is very high on my list right now and it may be that I get there in 2012 very late... as the weather is tropical and always hot I would be looking at December....

I wrote a rather lengthy reply to her and in it I was recalling the trip she planned for Phil and me to Laos and Vietnam in early 2009.  we made a stop in Hong Kong on the way over for a couple of days.  Hong Kong is a place we always love to spend time - western luxury and British history and Chinese exoticism in a perfect mix.  but I digress as I often do-

I specifically recalled to Heidi a day we spent in Hanoi - in the morning we visited the "Hanoi Hilton" POW prison where john McCain was held for years and very late that evening we watched the inauguration of President Obama.  it was an amazing juxtaposition of events that have framed our world view as boomers.  the war - which we watched on TV - and which we referred to as The War because it was the one we lived through- that our peers were sacrificed in - that we hated and ranted and protested and fought with our parents about.  and all the while we were in the middle of the civil rights movement which through a long and slow process led us to that day in January 2009 when President Obama was sworn in.

I know that if you are even a sporadic reader of this blog you understand that travel is my passion but sometimes I feel like I don't express how amazing travel is in creating new perspectives on the world around us, how it creates and promotes new relationships with people we wouldn't otherwise get to know, what gifts there are in such experiences.

anyway - since Heidi called I though today I would post some photos from the fabulous trip she helped us create in Vietnam that January two years ago...

let's start with two of my favorite images that have always paired up in my mind-

souvenir ceramic ladies in traditional dress from a stand along the Perfume River in Hue

and the latest fashion available for individual tailoring in Hoi An

Next some temple photos from Hue (top) Hoi An (middle) and Saigon (bottom)

I loved these doors opening on to the terrace from inside the temple

 the beauty of the red lacquer and gold trim really caught my eye

The incense coils hang in temples throughout Asia and always make for an interesting picture

(loud speaker included at no extra cost- the old and the new)

here worshippers light incense to honor the dead or to pray for the future

this temple is dedicated to those who make their living on the water

in Dalat we visited a temple complex where monks lived and prayed and they were at their morning prayers when we walked by - the dog (god spelled backward as we learned as kids) seemed less interested in the chanting then the fresh air.

and below the symbol of the Cao Dai sect at their Holy See - located north of Saigon in the countryside and featured in a segment of The Quiet American a famous novel from my childhood.

and finally a few strays I like and decided to include today- the amazing color of the water in Halong Bay

 and the wonderful rainbow of silk lanterns in a Hoi An vendors shop



have to get back to packing.... take a trip- call Heidi at Nature Expeditions Incorporated in Florida - she can help you plan a journey that will create just such magical moments for you!

and no- LOL- I don't get a commission - seriously - GO SOMEWHERE  treasure the time we have... next week will be the one year anniversary of my sister's death at 54 years of age... we all have so little time- even if we live to 100- it is the blink of an eye- don't wait... "just do it"

down time

so I guess it was inevitable that since Phil got sick last week so would I - virus especially the short lived kind are usually - LOL- virulent so when it hit me on Sunday very early AM it wasn't too surprising.  and of course I did what we are all told to do- push fluids and rest... but that really screwed up my Sunday stuff- things I had on my list to do to get ready for Africa. 

oh well about something like 20 hours of sleep later I am feeling much better (again no surprise) and am only a day behind... maybe this is why I learned at some point to stop procrastinating (which I do not do at all these days) because you never know when something will come up- good or bad... literally or figuratively.

so here it is Monday morning (still barely) and I am back making lists and getting through emails and doing stuff like paying upcoming bills for when I am gone etc... and feeling so happy to be feeling better.  when I am knocked down like yesterday I so appreciate feeling good and having good health.  I remember how much my mom said it was a struggle many days just to get up and dressed as she neared the end of her life.  When I get sick I understand that in a visceral way rather than an intellectual.

anyway- good news - back on track and after juggling some of the packing last weekend we will be with computer so I hope to post along the way when we find connections - and when we don't I will be journaling for blog posts (in order) when we do.

as for photos for today I have some new ones from the yard as we finally have decent weather and I planted my pots for the memorial day get together of friends...here are a few.

and one of sweet faced Penny who was watching me do my blog entry on NEXT

we win!

after weeks of trying- along with tens of thousands of others - we scored same night tickets to NEXT Paris 1906 the first menu of the Grant Achatz ticketed food theater event of the year....



so here is the report-

• service is beyond outstanding- perfect in every way including the casual ease and friendliness of the staff.
• food was also perfect but be warned - this is no show stopper menu like you get at Alinea- there are a number of amazing dishes (more on that in a bit) but nothing that is jaw dropping like some of the courses we have had at Alinea
• the atmosphere is serene- calm colors and the semblance of the iron work of Eiffel's Tower over head make for a lovely dining experience. 

so the food and drink: first the menu

then the photos:

this platter of starters was served with Champagne which was not set upon the table for a photo 

all were wonderful but the foie gras in the brioche was exceptional!

from here the wine came before each of the menu items

so the photos follow along with our experience

  the turtle soup was correct but was my least favorite course

our favorite dish of the night- the sauce was "to die for" the essence of crayfish and butter and cream

(even if that wasn't exactly what was in it...)

the diamond shaped chicken breast was the most flavorful chicken I have ever eaten

and the cucumbers were stuffed with a chicken mousse

the duck was perfectly executed and the sauce again amazing- this was my second favorite-

maybe we could even call it a tie it was so good!

the potato dish was served along the duck and did not disappoint - flavorful with a great crunchy topping 

the salad was a perfect intermezzo and palate refresher

I am a sucker for ice cream dishes and this one was good enough to eat two!

the rum soaked cherries were fabulous but the best part was the cookie bottom.

so at the end of the meal we of course got a keep sake copy of the menu (saves surreptitious writing at the table - LOL) and they also included a short write up of the concept of the menu -

I felt like Charlie in Willie Wonka when I got the email that they had a table for us and it was especially nice since we are heading to our tenth anniversary so it was a perfect way to start off the anniversary season!!!!!

my mom

went to Africa in 1988.  she was following in her father's footsteps literally and figuratively.  my grandfather went in 1964 and somewhere in my family photos I have a photo of his car with a sign saying Africa or Bust attached to the bumper.  but back to 1988- my grandfather loved Africa so much he wanted to return and go with his two daughters both of whom were happy to oblige.

so off they went just weeks after my mother became a grandmother for the first time when my nephew Nick was born.  and they had an amazing trip. it was always one of my mom's favorites.  we are headed into new territory as she went to Kenya and Tanzania and we are going to southern Africa to Botswana and Zambia and Zimbabwe along with South Africa.  so as is now the custom - she will go with me to "see" new countries and her ashes will be scattered at various places along the way. 

my mother was a notoriously bad photographer (she once took a photo of me in Florence with the Duomo sticking out of my head and it wasn't a joke!) so her photos of Africa which I will post here are somewhat edited after scanning.  but as you can see these were once in a lifetime moments even with mediocre photos.

getting more and more excited - can't wait!!!!!

 

next up- AFRICA!

in the photo journalism/travel thing is our long planned trip to Africa to celebrate our tenth anniversary.  who knew ten years could go by so quickly?  probably anyone our ages and older- LOL

anyway- I of course jumped into action last year when Phil mentioned that it might be time to do the safari thing because I knew it was pretty pricey and that it would be better to try to pay for something like that kind of trip when I was employed rather than fully retired.  so we talked about it and decided that it was REALLY far away so we would likely only make this trip once-

we started to plan our own trip front end and back and then decided that for the safari trip we would join a group thing to make it easier on ourselves.  so last week we got the list of the dozen folks we will be with for fourteen days (3 nights at four locations in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe and 2 nights at Vic Falls)

I was surfing to find photos of the lodges where we will be staying (lodges may be over estimating the level of luxury) and came across some photos posted by a guy who had taken the trip in 2007 to the very same camps-

so here is a little taste of the Botswana part of our upcoming (OMG the nightmare of packing- LOL) trip

this was a "cabin" in the camp in 2007 probably looks pretty much the same now-

some elephants along the way



kitty food - big kitty food!

I see zebras- will definitely pack binocs for both of us and a telephoto is clearly indispensible-

and finally - this came from some other website but I post this photo here becasue this is the prize everyone seeks- cheetah (they have the tears) who are the world's fastest animal and among the least sighted on these trips- so this might be the only photo we get -hope not- everyone keep your fingers crossed.

Helene our friend and house/cat sitter arrives on the 9th- time to start making lists! soon we will be off-

I plan on using video as well so maybe you will get a few clips along the way or when we return.

more about the prep before we leave- oh did I say we are doing Cape Town, wine country and the Garden route on our own?  lots to see and do- could easily spend six weeks or more there....

time marches

my friend Brad died the night of May 13th.  his memorial service was full of love and extremely touching.  several friends gave eulogies and his father read a poem.  a woman sang a beautiful rendition of Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World in medley.  he was one very special man and the hundreds and hundreds of people who came to the service were only a small portion of the number of people whose lives he touched. 

today I made a CD of a hundred and fifty photos I have of Brad- I made it for his dad who requested it when we went to the shiva.  posted just above is one that was our favorite photo of our years of friendship.  it was taken in 1984 so Brad would have been turning 23 I think- it was his birthday party - given at his parents house - it was the first time I had skirt steak (a Chicago favorite) and we always called this our "lea & perrins and pineapple" campaign photo-

since the week I returned from Phoenix I have been super busy and it started with the memorial service.

one of the things this loss and the loss of my sister and my mom all in less than a year has really brought home to me is how precious time is- so while I did several days of  board meetings we still managed to find time to see our friend Neil twice for diner and to have out of town company from Atlanta for a weekend, along with having our friend Tom visit from Denver. then catching up with Sheila and Mary while watching the Bulls disappoint their fans in the playoffs against the Heat. 

we also packed in a play - fabulous work called the OUTGOING TIDE- also about time and end of life choices.  oh and had a party for fourteen at our house yesterday.  so while I am a bit behind on the blogging I have been working very diligently to keep up with my two jobs and my third temp job as my mom's executor (paperwork anyone?)

also putting the finishing touches on the Africa trip- reworking a part of our itinerary when we are on our own. anyway get ready for posts from the road and fun new pictures....

meanwhile I am going to add a few more of my buddy Brad because I had such a nice afternoon remembering all our good times...

with Mary Ellen Giffels and me at Jennifer Cayer's wedding.

with Randy Freeman and Jill Stone at Lincoln Park Zoo

With Sam Krangle at a party at my house on Bellevue

with John Bjornton  and me at the Sound Board in an Insight Seminar

with Leslie Sann at a Halloween party

good times - great memories...for the last decade or more I have been very clear that I don't need anything more by way of physical stuff- what I have been focusing on has been experience. creating memories by being with people and doing new things.  when I was doing my Masters we had an exercise in creating a mission statement for ourselves.  my mission is to be a teacher and a student of the wonder of life.  some days I hold that focus quite nicely - other days it is more of a challenge - but oddly enough (not) Brad and I fit that mission perfectly - we were both each others students and each others teachers.  what a gift he was to me.

love always TOR

Brad and me and Jennifer Cayer at my MA graduation