Day 2059: HEART TO HEART

Where does your HEART go, dear HEART, when you HEAR The words “HEART TO HEART”?

My HEART goes to important conversations with those I love, including these two Scottish women with whom I share a very unusual HEART condition.

Whenever I’m in Edinburgh, I have a HEART TO HEART with Vicki and Andrena. We all have congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (cctga), the rarest of congenital HEART conditions and have a lot to say to each other. The odds of the three of us being in the same place at the same time are so astronomical, I don’t have the HEART to calculate it.

Do you see any other HEART TO HEART’s in my other HEARTfelt photos from yesterday?

I look forward to HEART TO HEART’s in the comment section, below.

Thanks — from my HEART — to my HEART sisters Vicki and Andrena, Vicki’s wonderful rescue dog Belle, Loudons Cafe, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, those who celebrate difference, all who battle suicide, Gillian Skye (the excellent writer and actor of Come Die With Us, which touched my HEART), Tony Slattery, all those who forgive and learn from mistakes, and — of course! — YOU, my dear heart of a reader.

Day 2058: The Right Way

When I was walking the right way down an Edinburgh street yesterday, I observed this:

What IS the right way, dear readers, in these times of right OR left, us OR them, my way OR the highway?

For me, the right way includes loving yourself and others …

… being responsible for your tasks …

… thoughtful consumption of food and other resources …

… finding the wisdom in books and other people …

… being surprised by joy …

… communicating with others the best you can …

… finding the humor wherever you can …

… singing along, realizing that beauty is everywhere…

… even in your own body and soul, and recognizing that change is scary.

Also, the right way includes looking out for each other, especially when people fear change.

The right way to end this post is with gratitude for all who help me find the right way, every day, to create this blog and for YOU, who found your way here.

Day 2057: Have real fun

Yesterday, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where my son Aaron and I have real fun every year, I saw this command (or suggestion):

What is your idea of real fun? For me, it includes venturing into the unknown while being connected with those I love. Yesterday, I had LOTS of real fun as I met more of Aaron’s creative and interesting friends, saw lots of macarons (including a photo of Aaron’s first attempt at making macarons), performed as a busker (!) at the Fringe across from the Beehive Inn, perhaps broke some kind of record for successful promotion of a comedy performance as I handed out flyers for Aaron’s afternoon stand-up performance at the Beehive Inn (“Hi! This is my son the comedian! He’s not only handsome, he’s funny! He won an award as the best University stand-up comic in Edinburgh! If you don’t believe me you can find out for yourself at 12:30 right there!”), and watched Aaron end his evening stand-up performance at the Bedlam Theater with an improvised exit off a giant stage.

I wonder if you’ll have real fun as you check out my photos and videos from yesterday.

I hope to get a SIM card for my phone today so I can have real fun creating these posts, checking your comments, and replying to them, all without not-real-fun data charges.

As usual, I have real fun expressing gratitude to all who help me create these real fun posts and those who read them, including real fun YOU!

Day 2056: Into the Unknown

As we enter into the unknown of another day and another blog post, I will tell you that the theme of the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe is “Into the Unknown.”

I especially like that cover photo for “Into the Unknown” because many of my known photographs include my feet, like this one:

That reminds me that I went into the unknown yesterday with my son Aaron and his friends to try a highly recommended macaroni and cheese sandwich in Edinburgh, wearing my macaroni and cheese socks. Photos of that sandwich and other Edinburgh meals will remain unknown to my readers because my son extracted a known promise from me that I do NOT take pictures of food when I’m with him and his friends.

Before this visit, my son Aaron’s Edinburgh friends were unknown to me. They are unknown no longer.

That drawing of Aaron’s friend Jago was done by his known and long-time friend Cameron, who is known to my readers.

The known Cameron is on the right and the previously unknown Jago and Michael are on the left. When we went into that unknown grocery store to get spinach, which I’m known to need because of my known heart condition and medication, it was unknown to us that no photos were allowed there. The security guard told us that unknown rule so we would know not to take more photos there.

I hope it’s known to you that I’m known for taking photos everywhere I go as I venture into the unknown.

Those last few previously unknown photos show us going into the unknown of the amazing Neal Portenza’s latest and (I hope!) NOT final Edinburgh show, despite his poster.

I plan to be going into the unknown of more Fringe shows today.

Do you know what helps you find the courage to go into the unknown? For me, it’s known that blogging helps a lot.

Now let’s go into the unknown of today’s blog post ending.

Day 2055: I’m Here

I’m Here in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival and so are many other people, including actors, improv artists, musicians, and stand-up comedians, like the guy who inspired today’s blog title.

I don’t know Glenn Doncaster, even though he is “… what the Edinburgh Fringe is all about.” No matter what else Glenn does in his life, he’s helped me find my blog post title for today by putting “I’m Here” on the back of his Fringe flyer.

I’m here and so are others.

That’s my son Aaron and his friend Camilla meeting me at the Edinburgh Airport yesterday. Camilla has been here in my blog before. She told me yesterday that after she found out about my blog from Aaron, she decided to pick a blog post to read and — much to her amazement — found a photo of herself, as the beggar woman in a 2015 production of Sweeney Todd at the Fringe.

I’m here to tell you that synchronicity and coincidences like that help make life even more beautiful and rich.

I’m here to try to find that old blog post. I was not successful. I’m here to tell you it’s okay not to succeed sometimes.

I’m here to share other recent photos with all my readers who are here, now, too.

I’m here with my son and I couldn’t be happier.

I’m here to thank all who helped me create this post and — of course! — all my readers, who are here with me now.

Day 2054: Something uncanny happened.

Something uncanny happened on the wall of our hotel room in Reykjavik on our last night in Iceland:

That uncanny quote is from page 67 of From Behind the Mountains.

During the second roundup that fall something uncanny happened. We found one sheep after another who behaved as though they’d already been herded, as though they’d been calmed and brought into the drove.

Something uncanny happened when I tried to search for the author of From Behind the Mountains. Google returned NO matching results. Uncanny.

All during the day and night yesterday, something uncanny happened in different parts of Iceland. See if anything uncanny happens when you take a look at my uncanny photos.

If something uncanny should happen in the upcoming United States midterm elections, I can always move to Iceland. After all, uncanny Iceland has lots of naturally uncanny beauty, sheep, cats, puffins who live in cliffs on an uncanny island, and bagels too!

Something uncanny will be happening very soon when we fly off to uncanny Edinburgh and start our latest uncanny adventure at the uncanny Fringe Festival.

I look forward to your uncanny comments.

Uncanny thanks to all who have helped me create these uncanny posts about uncanny Iceland and also thanks to you. Why? Because I’m canny and I can.

Day 2053: Peace & Quiet

In an Iceland hotel, instead of demanding “Do Not Disturb,” one politely asks for “Peace & Quiet.”

I think we all deserve some Peace & Quiet these days, especially with all the noise in the news.

Do you see any Peace and/or Quiet in my other photos from yesterday?

I’m off for another day of Peace, Quiet, & Dramatic Scenery in Iceland.

Peace, Quiet, & Thanks to all who helped me create today’s blog post and — of course! — to you.

Day 2052: Take the pledge

Yesterday, I saw this request to take the Icelandic Pledge.

I like that pledge. Will you take other pledges with me?

I pledge to treat others as I wish to be treated.

I pledge to look for beauty and humanity wherever I go and share it with others.

What pledge would you take?

I also pledge to blog every day as best I can and to NOT stress out when I encounter (usually temporary) problems along the way.

Finally, I pledge gratitude to all who help me create these posts and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 2051: Meet Mother Nature at her Fiercest

When I see “Meet Mother Nature at her Fiercest” these days, I inevitably think of the scary effects of global warming, like the wildfires raging in California right now. However, when you see “Meet Mother Nature at her Fiercest” when you’re in Iceland, it refers to geothermal phenomena like geysers and naturally heated pools.

However, when you see “Meet Mother Nature at her Fiercest” at Ann’s blog, it could mean many things.

What do you think of when you see “Meet Mother Nature at her Fiercest”?

Feel free to leave a Fierce comment below.

Natural gratitude from Iceland to all those who helped me create this “Meet Mother Nature at her Fiercest” post and — of course! — to you, my Fierce and/or Natural readers.

Day 2050: WOW

WOW! We just arrived in Iceland via WOW airlines.

Do you see any WOW moments here?

WOW! There’s a Dunkin’ Donuts in the Iceland Airport. That reminds me of my WOW hometown of Boston.

I was WOWed by my conversation with my LYFT driver to Boston’s Logan Airport, Johnny.

We are now on our way to be WOWed by the beautiful Blue Lagoon.

WOW! I’m successfully publishing my first blog post from Iceland.

WOW thanks to all who helped me create today’s WOW post and to my readers, who continue to WOW me!