Time Lapse Video of Milky Way Galaxy and The Mountain

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

I WONDER....

I wonder…

A young woman sits at the table across from me at the Food Court.  She seems lost in a moment, and has a smile on her face that can only be described as blissful. 

I wonder… what makes her so happy?  One of her purchases, perhaps?  I see on her table, bags from Bath & Body Works, Ann Taylor, and that oh-so-familiar pink-striped bag that doesn’t even need the store’s name printed on it.  I know, whenever I have one of those little bags in my hand, I have a BIG smile on my face! 

Or, did you get some new aromatherapy candles at Bath & Body Works, and can’t wait to get home and relax in a nice, hot bubble bath with your new candles?  I’m tempted to ask her if she has tried the Black Currant Vanilla, my personal favorite, but I don’t want to interrupt her reverie.

I wonder…

A perfect summer day!  Two young children at the zoo - twins I think to myself, racing ahead of their mother, across the green expanse of the Concert Lawn toward the elephant exhibit.  The sound of their laughter and the shrieks of joy, tell a story.

I wonder… did they enjoy the polar bears as much as I do?  Of all the animals at the zoo, the polar bears are my favorite!  Did they look at the polar bear’s feet and wonder at the strength and grace in those huge paws? Were their eyes filled with awe as they watched the polar bears diving for fish; those enormous mammals swimming with the grace of a fish?  

I wonder… did they marvel in wonder at the bright, beautiful colors of the Lorikeets in the aviary?  Did they want to reach out and touch those colored feathers?  Were their little button noses wrinkled in disgust at the smells of the monkey cage one moment, and then in the next, laughing with glee at the antics of its inhabitants?

I wonder…

Fall has come once again to the City of Roses.  Tina and I are sitting on a bench along the Eastside Esplanade, taking in the autumn colors amidst the cityscape.  An elderly couple approaches, holding hands and walking with a familiar stride that bespeaks of their years together.  Their faces radiate love and happiness.

I wonder… what is your secret?  How long have you been married… twenty years?  30?  40?  More?  Did you discover long ago, something that I have yet to learn?  Do your hearts still sing every time you gaze into one another’s eyes?  Do you wake up every morning to the thought “… I love this person lying next to me even more today than I did yesterday”? 

I wonder… when you see young couples like me and Tina, do you yearn to be young again?  Or, has the journey that brought the two of you to where you are today, been so wonderfully, marvelously incredible, that you wouldn’t trade it for anything?  Does it all really come down to these three words – Live… Laugh… Love?  Is that your secret?

I wonder…

An old man - one of this city’s all-too-many homeless - sits huddled on the sidewalk, dressed in tattered clothing that can’t possibly keep out winter’s chill, hopelessness and dejection carved into his face.  A hand held out… in hope?

I wonder… what are his circumstances?  What brought him here… to the streets?  Did he used to be a successful computer engineer, whose company merged with another and out-sourced their work, putting him out of a job?  Did some big, heartless bank take away his home with one hand, and with the other, take a billion-dollar bailout from the government?  Or, does he have a drug or alcohol problem that, over the years, took away his job, his dignity, his family, his life?  And society, in its head-long rush to over-achieve and accumulate, cast him aside, tossed away like an empty Starbuck’s cup?

I stop in front of the man and reach in my purse for something to give him.  He looks up at me and as our eyes meet, I realize that he is not that old… in his 40’s maybe.  I had first taken him to be much older, judging from his appearance. 

I wonder… how long has he been out on these streets?  How does he still have hope for his fellow man, even while they have given up on him?

Pulling the glove from my hand, I pick some bills from my wallet, offering them to him.  As he reaches across the gap between us to accept them, I have a sudden urge to touch his hand, to offer more than just money, to offer a little human contact.  All day long people veer around him, anxious to avoid any contact. 

I wonder… is it just romantic conceit on my part to think that a brief touch is going to bridge that gap, that it will make up, in some small measure, for society’s shunning him?  Will that touch keep him warm at night?

 As the man takes the money from my hand, I press my fingers against the dry flesh of his hand and offer up a small smile.  He tries to smile back, but I think he has forgotten how.  In a cracked voice, he speaks… “Thank you.”  Two words… filled with gratitude and sincerity.  I realize he is not just thanking me for the money, and I am overcome.  A huge lump has suddenly filled my throat and I am unable to speak.  I can only nod and give a little smile, my eyes welling with tears.

I wonder… at the capacity of the human heart.  Here is a person who has literally nothing, and yet, with two simple words, has given me something I will keep and remember always.  A moment in time, where another person has touched my heart… and given me hope. 

I wonder…

Veronica Marie Lewis

February 28, 2010

Portland, Oregon

POST-QUAKE DEVASTATION IN JAPAN

The earthquake in Japan, now reported as a 9.1 and not an 8.9, and the after-shocks which followed, has been incredibly devastating.  The imagery coming out of Japan is almost too much to comprehend.  Below are a couple of quick ways you can help...

Text REDCROSS (all one word) to 90999, to donate $10 to the Red Cross.  The charge will appear on your phone bill.

Text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888, to donate $10 to the Salvation Army.  The charge will appear on your phone bill.

Thank you.

FROM THE SHORE - By Carl Sandburg

A lone gray bird, Dim-dipping, far-flying, Alone in the shadows and grandeurs and tumults Of night and the sea And the stars and storms. Out over the darkness it wavers and hovers, Out into the gloom it swings and batters, Out into the wind and the rain and the vast, Out into the pit of a great black world, Where fogs are at battle, sky-driven, sea-blown, Love of mist and rapture of flight, Glories of chance and hazards of death On its eager and palpitant wings. Out into the deep of the great dark world, Beyond the long borders where foam and drift Of the sundering waves are lost and gone On the tides that plunge and rear and crumble.

THIS IS - Carrie Ann Warner / Shaffer

REVIEW - Marina V – MY STAR

REVIEW - Marina V – MY STAR

(Marina’s music is available from her website – www.marinav.com, iTunes, and Amazon)

“Hauntingly beautiful” is how the LA Times describes the music and voice of Russian-born singer/songwriter Marina V.  Were I limited to only two words to describe Marina’s latest album MY STAR, those are the two words I would use, as well.  Fortunately, I am not limited to only two words… fortunate for me, because this girl is a talker!  I want to tell you more than just how Marina’s music is “melodic and passionate” and “hauntingly beautiful”.  Music must be more than just that… it must connect!  This is what Marina does through her songs… her spirit, her soul… connecting with ours.

From the opening notes of the first track on this amazing album, “You Make Me Beautiful”, where Marina’s virtuosity on the piano is showcased, to the last track, “Magical Christmas”, Marina’s incredible voice captures and enthralls her audience.  The words and music set the mood beautifully; each and every song on MY STAR is a treasure, to be listened to over and over again.  Like The Beatles and Tchaikovsky, two important influences on Marina’s music, her music has a timeless quality that will endure.

Marina writes from her heart, of experiences she has lived through and felt.  She sings about life and love… love sought, love held, love lost, love eternal, love enduring… her rich, soulful voice conveys such deep emotion… and passion… it grips the listener’s heart… if you have ever been in love, you can’t help but be touched by these songs.  They are simply amazing; beautiful, soulful pieces of art!  It is almost as if she has looked into my heart and has seen what makes it sing… what makes it cry… what makes it… hope.   

I first heard Marina V through the Microsoft Windows Playlist 7 project, and fell in love with her instantly!  “You Make Me Beautiful” is a beautiful, inspiring song, and I was so very delighted to see it as the first track of MY STAR.  I think it sets the tone for the whole album.  There is a verse in particular that, were I to be asked what my wife/partner /soul mate does for me… this would be it.  Tina, honey… you truly do -

“You make me beautiful,

Believing in me.

You make me beautiful,

And deep within I find the best side of myself.

I know no one else,

Makes me feel beautiful like you.”

I can’t help but be touched by Marina’s music, and to me… that marks a great artist from an ordinary one.  Music, to truly capture me and hold my attention, must reach out and take my emotions… make me laugh… cry… sing… dance…it must touch my heart…it must give me something I can relate to.  Marina does that… beautifully.  She opens her soul to the listener… and shares her heart.

“Blue For You” asks the plaintive question… “What am I supposed to do without you?”  The soft-spoken lyrics and simple melody tell an eloquent story of a love that has gone away… a love given, but not returned… that tugs at the soul.  For me, it recalls the heartbreak of awakening to a note on the pillow and an empty space in a bed once shared by two.  It is a very poignant song.

The title track of this album, “My Star” is a brilliantly paced number that reminds us that love is something that you have to work at, through good and bad, through changing seasons, or else it grows stale and people drift apart.  But, it only takes one person not to give up… “to be there if you fall”, to give more than they have gotten.  Hope… as long as there is hope, love will triumph.  The lyrics in “My Star” are really quite powerful and moving. 

I have often wondered how artists arrived at the name for their album… in the case of MY STAR; the answer seems obvious, as one of the songs is titled “My Star”.  But, I wonder…not to take anything away from Marina’s other works, but this album is undoubtedly Marina’s best to date… it is the “star” of her collective works.  Perhaps then, there is a double meaning in the album’s title.

The first time I listened to “Thursday Song”, I was riding the train home and right there in a crowded passenger car, I cried.  The words touched something deep inside me… they touched my very soul.  It was like Marina had read the pages of my diary, like she was right there in the room with Tina and me.  One promising to listen and not judge, to never turn her back and always be there… the other promising to make her proud… always stand by her… “you’ll be my hero”.  This is what love means… giving all of yourself.  I still cry when I hear this song… every time.

“Killing My Dream” is a song about someone who didn’t appreciate the true beauty before his eyes, or care about the hurt he left behind.  Marina bares her soul in this song about a high school sweetheart, a very shallow one, who apparently thought he could “do better”.  I am thinking that the young man is very much regretting that decision! 

I had actually listened to Marina’s cover of “Don’t Cry” several times before I realized that it was a cover of Axl Rose’s 1991 song about a doomed relationship.  The song is breathtaking.  With her beautiful, emotion-charged voice, Marina makes this her own, bringing a soulfulness and intensity that… “sorry, Axl”… the original artist does not.  It really comes down to what an artist puts into a piece, whether or not it really connects… one heart to another.  Marina does this oh, so beautifully!

Trying to “fit in” and find ourselves in an often chaotic world takes courage and an inner strength.  In “Unbalanced”, Marina expresses a sentiment we have probably all felt –

“I gotta find some peace,

Make sense of all of this;

Find myself in this madness.”

Through her music, Marina finds herself and inspires others to find themselves.  Marina expresses herself beautifully in these two songs.  “Weight of the World” reminds us that we are not alone in the world, and that “fitting in” is not always easy, but in the end… if we remember that we are not alone and our situations are not unique to us alone…we can “lift the weight of the world”.

I love that Marina includes one song in her native Russian on each of her albums.

“Tonkaya Ryabina” is a traditional Russian song, performed a cappella in Marina’s native tongue.  It is a song about a woman mourning for her loneliness.  I do not understand the words, but they touch something inside me and I do get a sense of the loneliness and mourning.  This is a beautiful, sad, poignant song.  Close your eyes and listen… really listen!  Does it not stir your soul?   

“Magical Christmas” is the last song on this incredible album.  Marina’s beautiful voice creates a mood of wonder and possibilities for the holiday season.

It’s two o’clock in the morning as I wrap up this review of MY STAR, which is undisputedly Marina V’s best work to date.  I’m sitting up in bed… the soft glow of my constant companion Bella illuminating the dark… my slender fingers dancing over the smooth gray keys as words become sentences… become paragraphs… filling the endless white space on the small screen before me.  As I finish, Marina’s second album, SIMPLE MAGIC, is playing through the tiny ear buds.  There is a track on this album, “Guardian Angel”… it is heartbreakingly sad, almost… but, perhaps that will be for another day.

I look over at the sleeping form next to me… my guardian angel.

Мирное и хорошее здоровье,

Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw

Portland, Oregon

January 30, 2011

Marina V - You Make Me Beautiful (official music video) - directed by Ni...

Episode 1 - Oct 15 2009 Thursday Songs With Marina V

D.H.T. - Listen To Your Heart (Official Video HD)