Day 2426: Expanding the View

On my way to Edinburgh Airport to catch my fight back to Boston, I expanded my view to notice this:

After attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for seven years with my son (who is now a student at University of Edinburgh and a well-established local comedian), I would say that the Edinburgh Fringe is all about expanding the view.

This year, my view was expanded by doing my own Fringe Show — Group “Therapy” with Ann — and also attending The Mail Room, the Fringe show my son shared with one of our long-time favorite comedians, Tom Joyce. Tom expanded my already favorable view of him by showing up yesterday, unasked, to help me expand the audience for my two shows yesterday by passing out flyers outside the venue.

Which ones of the many other photos in this post are expanding the view?

Expanding your time spent with this post, I will tell you that ONE of those views is NOT from Edinburgh, but rather from back home in Boston. If you can guess which one, that will expand my view of you.

Soon I’ll be expanding my view on a plane flying over the Atlantic Ocean. As usual, my gratitude for all who help me create and who read my posts is expanding. Here’s today’s final view:

Day 2420: Considerate constructors

Yesterday, when I was in the considerate city of Edinburgh, continuing to construct my August 19th Free Fringe show “Group ‘Therapy’ with Ann,” I noticed this sign:

After many years of attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I agree that the people who live in and visit Edinburgh are consider constructors. Thanks to all of them for their consideration!

Also, consider this poster for an especially considerate constructor of brilliant Fringe shows: Joshua Ladgrove a/k/a Dr. Neal Portenza:

My considerate son and I will definitely attend that show, probably today.

I love being at the heart of Edinburgh …

… which I experience as a calmed area …

… particularly in contrast with my home country of the USA, here and now.

Here are some considerate constructors in an interview with Josh Ladgrove from the Edinburgh Fringe last year:

Before listening to that interview, I didn’t know that “Neal Portenza” was considerately constructed from an anagram of “Not a Real Perzon.”

I look forward to fetching comments …

 

… from the considerate readers of this blog.

Considerate thanks from the constructor of this post to all who are reading it, including YOU.

 

 

Day 2207: What’s made you smile lately?

I’ve noticed, by looking at a lot of people’s faces lately, that there aren’t a lot of smiles out there.  It made me smile, this morning, to think of asking you today’s blogging question:

What’s made you smile lately?

This on-line article made me smile lately:

Chocolate better for coughs than cough syrup, study says

It also made me smile lately to receive this email from the Edinburgh Free Fringe:

Hi Ann

Your Show number is 306

We’ll be sending the first round of allocations this week but don’t worry too much if you’re don’t get one straight away, it takes a while to sort through the pile.

Best regards

The Free Fringe team

It also made me smile lately to get this message from my son, back at school in Edinburgh:

Too late to apply for fringe? I have a show I want to do.

It makes me smile to think of my son and I both doing shows at the Edinburgh Fringe this August.

Yesterday, I deliberately took photos of images that made me smile lately:

In my Free Fringe application, I included links to all my original songs, including this one:

It would make me smile to know what’s made you smile lately.

Getting in touch with gratitude always make me smile, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

 

Day 2063: How to be Amazingly Happy

When I was amazingly happy yesterday at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I noticed this:

What do you know about how to be amazingly happy?

I am amazingly happy that I travelled to Iceland and Edinburgh, spent time with people I love, and am returning home later today.

Do any of my other photos from yesterday make you amazingly happy?

I am amazingly happy that I blogged every day of my vacation, despite many internet connection challenges.

I would be amazingly happy to read any comment from you.

As usual, I am amazingly happy to express gratitude to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to you, for being so amazing.

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 also here to tell you, eleven days after I published this post and am back home in Boston, that I was able to search for the post with Camilla’s photo and link to it, both in the paragraph above and also here.)

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 2002: What gives you a lift?

In times like these,  it’s important to ask the question “What gives you a lift?”

What gives me a lift includes a visit to Chicago,

sunshine, being near the water,

urban parks,

liberty,

freedom of the press,

 

Edinburgh, Scotland (which I’m visiting again with my son in August), good public transportation,

Lyft drivers who have candy for their passengers,

sand sculptures,

embracing that it’s my time to fly, and most of all, coming home.

My friend Dave guarantees that watching this will give me a lift:

 

It did!  I’m sure your comments will give me a lift, too.

Gratitude, as always, gives me a lift. Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

 

Day 1705: Meanwhile

Meanwhile, from Edinburgh, there’s this.

Meanwhile, on my last full day before returning home tomorrow, I’m sharing my photos from yesterday.

Meanwhile, as my son and I have been whiling away the time with comedy, food, walks, talks, music, and good company  before he starts his second year at University of Edinburgh, there have been lots of meaningful things going on in the world.  I’m not sure what these will all mean, but let’s not be mean to each other in the meanwhile. Do you know what I mean while I’m writing this?

Meanwhile, here’s a video featuring Peter Brush and other U.K. comedians:

Meanwhile, thank you for visiting  and please come back soon!

Day 1702: Inevitable quiet

On the last day of the 70th annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as things were quieting down, I noticed the words “Inevitable Quiet” on a poster.

I suppose it’s inevitable that I would point out the very unusual heart on that poster.

I took that photo quietly last night as workers ripped down weeks and weeks of thousands of posters quietly and noisily. Some used chain saws and other unquiet tools to remove the evidence of the month-long festival.  Soon after we witnessed the beginning of that inevitable process,  my son Aaron and I saw and heard noisy events like fireworks over Edinburgh Castle and a talented Shakespearean troupe performing an unquiet version of Romeo and Juliet in which Juliet was sh*t-faced.

Do you  see inevitable quiet in my other photos from yesterday?

As Shakespeare wrote at the inevitable quiet of another play’s ending,  “The rest is silence …..”

…. except for the inevitable noise of today’s YouTube video:

 

I don’t know if this was inevitable for the entire run of Sh*t-Faced Romeo and Juliet at the Edinburgh Fringe, but on the last night both Romeo and Juliet also lived, to my quiet satisfaction. Those two young deaths are inevitably depressing.

I hope there’s not too much inevitable quiet in the comments section for this post. That would also be depressing.

Inevitable thanks to all who helped me create today’s quiet and unquiet post and — OF COURSE! — to you, for visiting.   Make some noise, people!

 

 

Day 1701: Very unusual hearts

My very unusual heart was happy to connect, yesterday, with two people who also have very unusual hearts.

Andrena, Vicki, and I have congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (cctga). That’s a very unusual heart condition and it’s very unusual when three of us can share a heart-to–heart-to-heart talk.

My very unusual heart overflowed with gratitude  as we shared what was in our hearts.  Then, my very unusual heart spent another unusual day in the heart of their very unusually beautiful and busy city of Edinburgh.

 

For Andrena, Vicki, and me, living with very unusual hearts is business as usual. Because we’re in this together, we are not afraid.

This very unusual heart loves jazz, so last night I  attended ” Jazz at the Movies” …

… at the Edinburgh Jazz Bar …

… and heard this very unusual song.

 

Do you think that everybody wants to be a cat?  I hope you express what’s in your very unusual heart in a comment, below.

Thanks,  from the bottom of this very unusual heart, to all the very unusual hearts and very unusual cats that helped me create this very unusual post and — as usual! — to you, for reading it.

 

Day 1699: No worries

“No worries” is a phrase that originated in Australia. I have no worries, this morning, about …

• writing my third blog post titled “no worries” in four and a half years of blogging,
• linking to those previous blog posts here and here,
• people with great expectations perhaps preferring my earlier posts to this one,
• taking my time responding to others,
• remembering to take my medication,
• losing things,
• being on vacation, and
• snapping photos wherever and whenever I can.

 

 

 

 

 

I have no worries that one of the excellent comedians shown above has a congenital heart condition and that we showed each other our open-heart surgery scars in public.  I also have no worries that two of the lovely people portrayed in the photos above are from Australia and say “no worries” instead of “you’re welcome.”

I have no worries about giving you more details in this blog post because

the end of this post is nigh.

No worries about including this music today.

Thanks to all who help me create this daily blog and — of course! — to you, whether or not you respond “no worries” in a comment today.