Day 1694: Enjoy

Here are my latest photos from Edinburgh, which I hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

For two weeks,  my son Aaron and I will stay in the happy place of Edinburgh. Then, Aaron will stay here to enjoy his second year at University and I’ll fly home to enjoy my new happy place by the sea with my boyfriend Michael.  By the way,  today is Michael’s birthday.  Enjoy!

I enjoy thanking all who help me create this daily blog and all who enjoy reading it.  Enjoy this enjoyable day, wherever you are.

 

Day 1329: Edinburgh dreams

When one is at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it’s dreamily natural to dream, to think about dreams, and to wonder if you’re dreaming.

Yesterday, I almost missed this dreamy sign because I was daydreaming in the Edinburgh mist and rain:

The people who dreamed up that sign didn’t dream of letting us know who they are, what their dream is and why we’re not in it. What do you suppose is the dream behind that Edinburgh sign?

Personally, I have a dream of peace, love, growth, laughter, music, health, and mutual respect, and you’re all in it.

Here are other dreamy Edinburgh sights I didn’t dream up, from yesterday:

 

I had a  dreamy reason for taking this particular photo …

… of Sara Hirsch and Ben Fagan, who shared their dreams of childhood, adulthood, and success with us. I took that dreamy photo because of the dreamy song that was playing, which is a dreamy memory for one of my readers, Derrick J. Knight, who probably never dreamed I’d be mentioning him today.

This is for you, Derrick.

 

What do you find dreamiest about this post?  I can only dream that Jane Austen would find it too short.

Dreamy thanks to Edinburgh, to the St Andrews Revue for the great sketch comedy show Loop, to Sara Hirsch and Ben Fagan, to everyone else who helped me create this post, and to you — of course! — no matter what your dreams, here and now.

Day 1326: Perfection is a matter of time

What do you think of today’s blog title?  Is perfection a matter of time? Is perfection ever possible, no matter how much time we have?  Is it worth our time trying to be perfect?

Because I woke up so late today in Edinburgh, Scotland, I have no time to make this post even close to perfect.

Yesterday, it took time for me to perfect my understanding of this sign:

It was a matter of time before I perfected how I captured that sign (because of my son’s perfectly timed interruptions):

Earlier in the day, I thought I had found the perfect title for today’s blog post …

…  but it was only a matter of time before I changed my mind.

I don’t have time to explain all the other photos I took yesterday. I will, imperfectly, mention some Scottish experiences that matter to me:

1. My perfect son Aaron and I are attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for our fourth time.
2. We love taking the time to talk to the perfectly wonderful people here.
3. My ex-sister-in-law Deborah, her daughter Laura, and Laura’s daughter Victoria arrived yesterday to join us, after spending lots of imperfect time in a New York airport that had no power and waiting hours of time for their rooms in Edinburgh to become available.
4. We found a perfect Edinburgh labyrinth yesterday.
5. Whenever Aaron gets hold of my iPhone camera, it’s only a matter of time before he takes extreme closeups.
6. Aaron and I spend a lot of time discussing which of the Fringe posters comes closest to being perfect.
7. Last night, we saw Josh Ladgrove a/k/a Neal Portenza in another amazingly inventive and hilarious performance. Every year we see him, Neal Portenza perfectly puts Aaron is his show.
8. It’s only a matter of hours before we  all see the Neal Portenza show again.
9. After we see Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza Neal Portenza  Neal Portenza Tracey again tonight, we are going to see Tom Joyce, our favorite local comedian.  Every year  Aaron and I have been coming to the Fringe, it’s only a matter of time before we run into Tom on the street at the perfect time or otherwise figure out a way to see him.

It was only a matter of time before I showed you my other photos from yesterday.

 

 

 

 

It was only a matter of time before I would remind you if you can’t perfectly see any of those imperfect photos, you can click on them to enlarge them.

What’s the perfect music for this post?  Damned if I know, but it was only a matter of time before one of those photos would inspire this:

As imperfect as this post is, it took me much more time than I expected to finish it. So here’s some imperfect thanks to all who helped me create it and to you — of course! — for taking the time to visit today.

Day 1308: Waiting

What are you waiting for?

Let’s do this post about waiting!

What am I waiting for? All these things:

1. My son Aaron to finally hear from the University of Edinburgh that they have kept their agreement with him and unconditionally admitted him to their school, since he received a good enough (actually perfect) score on his Math Advanced Placement Exam.
2. My open heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic.
3. My downstairs neighbor and we to decide on a mutually advantageous way for her to buy our upstairs unit.
4. Another Open Mic night at the Kickstand Cafe in Arlington Massachusetts so I can sing in front of an audience.
5. My son’s appearance in a local production of the musical Anything Goes.
6. The opportunity to see the amazing American comedian Louis C.K. with my son.
7. Another trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

There’s no waiting for me to share this information:  I expect five of those seven awaited events  to occur within the next two weeks.

If the first thing we’re waiting for does NOT happen soon, that will be the hardest part.

 

There’s no waiting for me to share that I often think of that Tom Petty song when I’m waiting.

Are you waiting to see the photos I couldn’t wait to take yesterday?

 

I’ll be okay, especially if there’s little or no waiting for me to get some comments about this post about waiting.

Thanks to Tom Petty for The Waiting and thanks to you for waiting until the end of this post!

 

Day 961: Pareidolia

My son Aaron, who has a very nice face, tells me that “Pareidolia” is the word for our tendency to see human faces where they do not exist.

For example, when I faced this car, yesterday, in Edinburgh, Scotland …

… it looked, to me, like it had a human face.

We probably see human faces, where they do not actually exist, as a way make the unfamiliar more reassuring.

It’s also reassuring to see actual human faces, especially if they look friendly.

That’s Joanna, who reassured us that the unfamiliar Scottish custom of including white AND pink marshmallows on hot chocolate was actually practiced widely across Europe.

That’s Fearghas, with whom we swapped recommendations about what shows to see at the Festival Fringe.

That’s one of the faces of the terrific improv group Men with Coconuts, whom we’ve faced several times this year and during the Festival Fringe in 2014.

One of the first friendly faces we saw in Edinburgh, when we arrived a week ago, was that of an imposing redhead, named Marc,  from an original play called STYX:

While there are SO MANY choices at the Festival Fringe, we knew we would eventually face STYX, because we kept seeing the faces of Marc and his fellow STYX performers on the streets of Edinburgh. Also, STYX has a really stand-out poster, which our faces have been seeing everywhere. AND, we’ve been facing these neat give-aways in our hotel room, since we first saw the STYX players’ faces:

So, yesterday, we finally faced STYX. Here are two familiar faces I saw, before the show:

Here are faces I saw on stage:

  
  
  
  


Those are the faces of some amazingly inventive comic actors. I also faced some ridiculous synchronicities with my life in that hilarious play, including :

• A character with heart problems,
• Several plot points involving a DEFIBRILLATOR (installed in a phone booth) and
• A woman hobbling around with a cane.

After we saw STYX, I took these photos of some friendly faces responsible for that fabulous and funny production:

      

Now,  please face another photo of faces that were on stage AND off stage at yesterday’s great performance of STYX:

There were a lot more faces I faced yesterday, in amazing and beautiful Edinburgh. Let’s see what faces you notice in these photos:

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
That last photo includes the face of a performer my son Aaron and I have admired since last year’s Festival Fringe: Dr. Professor Neal Portenza,  who also faces the real word as Joshua Ladgrove.

  
There’s our friend Josh performing on a bus last night, facing another enthusiastic audience. Face it, my dear readers, it was great seeing Josh perform, especially since he asked if any of the people facing him on that bus were able to be in the moment and — when he noticed my face nodding “Yes” — he told the whole audience that he READS THIS BLOG.

You can just imagine my face, when he said that.

Well, we now need to face our last full day in Edinburgh, including an 11 AM performance by this beautiful face we saw on our first day here:

Because I need to get ready to face Sanctuary and the rest of the day, I am going to ask you to face a post here today without any videos. Perhaps somebody who faces this blog can provide some Pareidolia -appropriate music?

Thanks to all the faces that make my life worth living, including yours!

Day 949: Taking a break

Last night, in a therapy group, we focused in the concept of “taking a break”‘(among many other issues).

I am taking a break in this post, already, to interject my belief that “taking a break” was on people’s minds last night partly because their friendly neighborhood group facilitator (that’s me) will be taking a vacation break for the next two weeks.

During the group last night, we discussed how difficult it can be for people to

1. take breaks, to get some much-needed rest, and
2. get breaks, from bad luck and other unfortunate circumstances beyond their control.

When I start my two-week vacation tomorrow, I hope I can get breaks from

• worry,
• fear,
• and cognitive distortions like catastrophizing, comparisons, mind-reading, and personalizing

… but I work hard at getting breaks from those, even when I am not on vacation.

I am taking another break, in this post, to wonder why taking breaks from worry, fear, etc. is SO difficult for me and other humans beings. Geeesh!!! Can’t we ever get a break?

At this point, I am not sure how I am going to get breaks during my trip next week to Edinburgh, Scotland, to send my daily posts to you, through WordPress.

But, PLEASE do not suggest that I take a break from WordPress during my travels, dear readers! I hope I’ve broken through any doubts about something,  by blogging daily, since January 1, 2013,  through

• rain,
• snow,
• hail,
• sickness,
• health, and
• other trips (to Edinburgh and elsewhere):

I don’t WANT to take a break from blogging. 

So, as I like to say, in individual therapy, group therapy, and elsewhere:

We’ll figure it out.

I just hope my thumbs don’t break, with all this typing on my friggin’ iPhone keyboard.

Let’s see what other images I captured on my iPhone, during breaks in the action yesterday:

I took a break during a mindfulness exercise in my 3 PM group to notice that this Buddha on my desk looked like he was laughing. That gave me one of my most delightful breaks of the day.

I took a break during that same group to respond to a group member’s request for guidance in dealing with a difficult family situation.

Then, when my day was done, I took some breaks during the walk to my work garage to snap these seven photos:

I know that Fenway Park in Boston (glimpsed in most of those photos) ,  was filled last night  with thousands of lucky people taking breaks to enjoy two of my favorite musicians — James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt. While I would love to see them both performing live some day, I would never take a break from my therapy groups to do that.

I am taking another break to inform you that WordPress, this morning, is taking MUCH longer breaks than usual, uploading my photos. I wonder if — after posting so many photos for so many consecutive days — I’ve finally broken WordPress.

I just took a break from writing  this post to create more storage space for my photos on WordPress, by breaking down the number of pixels for several old pictures here (including some I took during a previous visit to Edinburgh). That gave me a wonderful break to remember how beautiful Edinburgh is.

That’s not one of the photos I just broke down, but I’m sure that my son Aaron (breaking into a smile on the left), my ex-sister-in-law Deborah, and I will soon be seeing Professor Neal Portenza (right) in his new show titled “Catchy Show Title” at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe (which opened last night!!).

I’m going to take one more break for myself to post one more photo here, of cats taking a break:

Let’s take a musical break, now, to see and hear the two amazing performers I missed last night:

A beautiful break of thanks to Bonnie Raitt, to James Taylor,  to Cin CA (for posting that video on YouTube),  to Aaron, to Deborah, to Dr. Neal Portenza, to all the people in my therapy groups, to everybody who took a healing break yesterday, to cool cats everywhere, and to you — OF COURSE! — for taking a break to visit me here, today.