Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Re-vision: a new perspective

During our move from a house to a condo in November 2010, we discovered a nearby Chinese restaurant. It was open late and was convenient for those late-night dinners we often needed.

During the fall and winter we got used to its kitschy decor, including year-round Christmas lights, plastic flowers, tall ficus trees and hanging plants. The latter could have been real or fake, until we noticed the leaves turning yellow and falling down.  I wondered how the trees and plants could survive in such a dark environment.

One day in March 2011, we came for dinner and were surprised to notice a skylight in the centre of the ceiling.

"You put in a new skylight," I observed to our waiter. "We like skylights." We told him about the tromp l'oeil skylight which we had painted on a canvas and attached to the ceiling of a first-floor room of our former house.



"But the skylight isn't new," he said. "It's always been here."

Then we realized that, when the sky was dark in the winter, we couldn't see the skylight. During spring's longer days we could see light shining through the skylight.



Revising a manuscript can be like that. For a long time everything looks bleak and dark. But one day, the sun shines through and you can finally see the beauty that always was there.







Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Stevie Wonder Quotations

...for his birthday, May 13.


"You can't base your life on other people's expectations."

"Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn't mean he lacks vision."

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there."

"When you're moving in the positive, your destination is the brightest star."

See my blog post last year, featuring a portrait by artist, Kevin Slattery, and my original poem, "Stevie Wonder's Sunshine."

Happy birthday, Stevie!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Echo's Leash Dance Video

I took this video of Echo on April 7.