Happy Heart Day

This video will warm the chilliest of hearts, mine feels all fuzzah now:

Love for Old Farts...

....is apparently BETTER than it is for young farts! SNAP! Hell yeah!

And despite the stereotypes, researchers who study emotions across the life span say old love is in many ways more satisfying than young love — even as it is also more complex, as the O’Connors’ example shows. - Kate Zirnike, NY Times, Love in the Time of Dementia

The news wires are alight with the story of former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She left her high powered post to take care of her husband who is suffering from Alzheimer's. 48 hours after he entered his care facility, he fell in love with someone new. Oof, there's the rub, right?

Wrong, Sandy didn't seem to blink, she is completely happy for husband and his new love. She visits them and sits on the porch with them. What is that? According to the New York Times Sunday edition which eats up my weekend, it is plain and simply mature, selfless, old love. Thank god, something to look forward to as our bodies deteriorate.

Young brains tend to go to extremes — the swooning or sobbing so characteristic of young love. Old love puts things in soft focus.

“As you get older you begin to recognize that this isn’t going to last forever, for better or for worse,” said Laura L. Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and a research counterpart of Dr. Gabrieli’s in the brain imaging research.

“You understand that the bad times pass, and you understand that the good times pass,” Dr. Carstensen said. “As you experience them, they’re more precious, they’re richer.”

- Kate Zirnike, NY Times, Love in the Time of Dementia

My Little Dog

My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet.
~Edith Wharton
To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring
- it was peace.
~Milan Kundera
I like a bit of mongrel myself, whether it's a man or a dog;
they're the best for everyday.
~George Bernard Shaw
I think dogs are the most amazing creatures;
they give unconditional love.
For me they are the role model for being alive.
~Gilda Radner

SMOOOOOOCH!

Happy 40th Matt!

Happy 5-0 Kelly Jane!

Happy belated Bday Lil Orphan Holly!

Congrats Lauren and Jeff!

Welcome home Crawford!

Give some money to the Human Society TODAY!

Marcel, STOP your griping!

KISSES round the world to Nikolaas and Sir Junk!

NOTE: Shelburne Farms Inn closes for the season next weekend!
Eat the food pictured above before it is TOO LATE!
Hurry up!

GO SEE Four Eyed Monsters tomorrow. YES.
Oops, it played tonight....erhm...I officially suck.
OK, go meet one of the filmmakers tomorrow at a panel I am blabbing on!

Molerats are such admirable creatures.
They deserve new mattresses and shower curtains and purple toys.

PS Allison is pretty hot, eh!

PPS Above is an intimate look inside my scrambled egg head.

Fill Your Heart

Every day lately has been bringing some new minor challenge (eg: learning how to drill), nugget of learning (eg: feeling compassion toward my dad instead of impatience), glimpse of the great unknown (eg: watching my radiators get hammered to bits) and faint taste of inner peace (eg: finally getting my ass to a yoga class).

Maybe it is my upcoming birthday or the new responsibilities of homeownership but I feel sure of only one thing these days, you better fill your heart with love today, don't play the game of time. Things that happened in the past only happened in your mind.

I finally brought a boom box and some music over to my new house. I grabbed 5 tapes randomly and the first song to BLAST through my crumbling ancient walls sent me dancing around its rooms like a spinning top.

Fucking David Bowie, he makes me feel so DAMN Hunky Dory...

"Fill Your Heart"

Fill your heart with love today
Don't play the game of time
Things that happened in the past
Only happened in your Mind
Only in your Mind-Forget your Mind
And you'll be free-yea'
The writing's on the wall
Free-yea'. And you can know it all
If you choose. Just remember
Lovers never lose
'Cause they are Free of thoughts unpure [sic]
And of thoughts unkind
Gentleness clears the soul
Love cleans the mind
And makes it Free.

Happiness is happening
The dragons have been bled
Gentleness is everywhere
Fear's just in your Head
Only in your Head
Fear is in your Head
Only in your Head
So Forget your Head
And you'll be free
The writing's on the wall
Free-yea'. And you can know it all
If you choose. Just remember
Lovers never lose
'Cause they are free of thoughts unpure
And of thoughts unkind
Gentleness clears the soul
Love cleans the mind
And makes it Free!!

In other news, I saw the biggest, scariest CREEPY CRAWLY I have ever seen in my life scurrying on its hundreds of legs into the dark depths of my already-plenty-ominous-basement. Maybe all that sage I was burning and Bowie I was blasting scared Mr. Horrible out of his evil hiding place? Eeek.

Love According to Kids

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds,

"What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined...

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca- age 8

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."

Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."

Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"

Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"

Nikka - age 6

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."

Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."

Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody . You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."

Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt."

Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."

Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."

Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you."

Karen - age 7

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a 4-year-old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

Thanks to Lani for this fun forward! Below are some kids spreading the love through YouTube and beyond - prepare to get all warm and fuzzy! Ahhhhhhh, the squealing at the end is the best part:

And if you want more, try this video for some warm fuzzies!

Do You Realize?

Do You Realize?
by the Flaming Lips

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space
-Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh

Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die -

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize