Day 2061: What are the themes?

What are the themes in yesterday’s photos from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

The themes I notice there include music, performers, location, help, animals, food, love, family, friendship, honesty, and humor, all important themes in my life.

When I do therapy groups, I always ask people, “What are the themes?” If I do a Fringe show in Edinburgh next year, I’ll ask that question too.

One constant theme in this daily blog is gratitude. Thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and — of course! — to YOU.

Day 1334: The world is your oyster

Yesterday, the world was my oyster, again, at the Festival Fringe in precious-as-pearls Edinburgh, Scotland.

I received that wrist band informing me that the world is my oyster from some oysters, who should know.

The oyster to the far left is Marc Mackinnon, a wonderful and supremely talented man  we met at last year’s Fringe.  The world is Marc’s oyster as he moves from Scotland to London next Monday to attend a postgraduate acting program.

Here are more pearls from our last full day at the 2016 Festival Fringe:

Even though those last few pearls seem to be imploring us to stay in Edinburgh, my precious and only son Aaron and  I need to get on a plane in a few hours to return to the oysters in Boston, Massachusetts.  I’m happy-and-proud as a clam that Aaron will be returning here in a few short weeks to start attending the University of Edinburgh, where I’m certain the world will be his oyster for the next five years.

Here‘s some precious music and images from beautiful-as-pearls Scotland:

Any pearls of wisdom you share in a comment will be very precious to me.

Pearly thanks to all  who helped me create this world-is-your-oyster post and to you — of course! — no matter where in the world you are.

Day 1331: Tasks

I love my daily tasks of (1) taking photos for this blog and  (2) creating a new post here on WordPress.

Yesterday morning, I captured this image in Edinburgh, Scotland  …

… and took this picture shortly before I went to sleep at night:

Between those two tasks, I

1. had breakfast with my son Aaron and Vicki, a wonderful Scottish woman who has the daily task of living with the same kind of unusual heart  I have (and who appeared in my blog a year ago),
2. was relieved, thanks to Vicki, of any tasking worries about (a) my son starting University in Edinburgh next month and (b) my having open heart surgery soon after that,
3. swapped horror stories with Vicki about doctors and other medical people we’ve both encountered  who have  failed miserably in their basic tasks of providing expertise and empathy,
4. met with somebody  at the University of Edinburgh about all the tasks we need to accomplish when we return home to the USA in order for  Aaron to get his student visa in time to start his freshman student tasks on September 11, and
5. enjoyed the continuation of our current task of attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

You now have the task of looking at my other photos from yesterday.

 

 

Was there anything you especially enjoyed about that task? Anything you found particularly tasking (or taxing)?   If you have questions or comments about any of those photos, I will fulfill my daily task of answering them before I blog again tomorrow morning.

Before you get on with your own daily tasks, I shall now give you an additional task: My son Aaron and I were discussing the insignia of University of Edinburgh, seen here in close-up:

Your task is to identify the top part of that insignia, above the book.  Is it:

1. A disco ball?
2. A golf ball?
3. A flower?
4. All of the above?
5. None of the above?

Thanks to all who helped me fulfill the task of creating this post and to you — of course! — for completing your task of reading it.

 

Day 1328: Welcome, World

I welcome the welcoming spirit of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is known around the world and demonstrated in this worldly welcome I saw yesterday:

If anybody is thankful that I took and shared that welcoming photo, you’re welcome.

When my son Aaron and I welcomed the new day in Edinburgh, yesterday, it was raining. Because we’ve been to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe three times before, we were ready to welcome the rain.

As we were walking through Edinburgh’s welcoming  Grassmarket section, we were welcomed by a new concept in comedy delivery:

I welcomed the idea of attending a fifteen-minute comedy show inside a van, especially because it was raining.  Also, I welcome any new concept I think is smart and effective.  Aiden, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the Titter Truck, was very welcoming.

Aiden — who welcomed the rain with that fashionable animal-skin raincoat —  welcomed my  telling him I welcomed the Titter Truck as a brilliant innovation. He also suggested I give my welcoming thanks and credit to Jed Marshall, who welcomed the Titter Truck to the world:

Jed welcomed my thanks for his business genius and comic timing, and also welcomed the idea of my son Aaron doing a fifteen-minute version of his own stand-up routine (which has been welcomed in Boston, L.A., and the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014) on a later date in the Titter Truck.  I welcomed that invitation  by negotiating with Jed a deal of 5 pence for Aaron if he performs,  with me, as his manager, getting a welcome 10% of that payment.

I hope Aaron welcomes the effort I put into promoting his comedy career around the world.

It’s time to welcome the other photos I welcomed into my iPhone yesterday  in worldly, welcoming Edinburgh.

At the end of long day filled with welcomed laughs and titters in Edinburgh, Aaron and I welcomed seeing that poster for the same Louis C.K. show we welcomed seeing in Massachusetts USA earlier this month.  Just as we were welcoming the realization that we were fast approaching our Edinburgh lodgings, we saw another unexpected but very welcome sight:

Tom Joyce, whom I first welcomed into this blog three years ago as my favorite Edinburgh comic, was spotted by Aaron last night welcoming people into an improv comedy show.  Even though I was tired, I welcomed the opportunity to see Tom perform again.

I very much welcome the fact that Dr. Tom Joyce — who recently welcomed his doctorate in mathematics and who will have a research job at Edinburgh University next year —  will be welcoming Aaron into the Edinburgh worlds of academics and comedy.

I hope you welcome this question: which of the photos in today’s blog did you welcome the most?  Which photo did you welcome the least? As always, I welcome all comments, no matter what in the world you choose to share.

Thanks to all the welcoming people we met yesterday in welcoming Edinburgh and thanks to you — of course! — for your welcomed visit, here and now.

Day 1325: Say but little and say it well

Yesterday, I saw this little proverb outside the Scottish Parliament building:

I plan to say but little in today’s post. You are the judge of whether I say it well.

My son Aaron and I had a wonderful time in Edinburgh, Scotland yesterday. We attended several Fringe Festival events and visited different locations of the University of Edinburg, which he will start attending next month.

 

Do any of my other photos say but little and say it well?

Feel free to say but little in a comment below.

Here‘s a song that says but little and says it well.

I have time to say but little thanks to all who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for reading it.

Day 1188: So what do you think the meaning of life is?

So what do you think the meaning of life is?

So I (and Merriam-Webster) think the meaning of life is

the ability to grow, change, etc., that separates plants and animals from things like water or rocks
: the period of time when a person is alive
: the experience of being alive

So I think the meaning of life is

what you make it.

So what do you think the meaning of life is, in these photos I took yesterday?

So what do you think the meaning of life is?

So what do you think the meaning of life is, in the following photos?

So I think those photos have special meaning in my life,  because they show my son in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he’ll be attending university.

So what do I think the meaning of life is?  So I don’t think I could explain it all in one blog post.

… I think it includes giving thanks.

So thanks a million, for reading this post.

Day 1187: Fools

Here are some foolish associations with the word “Fools,” on April Fools Day, 2016:

1. On April Fools Day, 2015 (as documented in this foolish post),  I was fool enough to meet with an arrogant fool of a cardiologist,  who did not fool me or my doctors with his declaration that I was a doomed fool for not consulting with him earlier.
2. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
3. My son, Aaron, born of a foolish mother, is foolishly happy  he will soon be attending the University of Edinburgh , whose alumni include fools like Charles Darwin, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and J.M. Barrie.
4. Because I’m a foolish mother, I naturally believe that any college admissions offices that do not accept my  son into their schools are fools.
5. According to psychologist Carl Jung, the most developed and highly evolved archetype is The Fool,  as described at a  website discovered by this foolish daily blogger:

The Fool/Jester archetype urges us to enjoy the process of our lives. Although the Fool/Jester can be prone to laziness and dissipation, the positive Fool/Jester invites us all out to play–showing us how to turn our work, our interactions with others, and even the most mundane tasks into FUN. The goal of the Fool/Jester is perhaps the wisest goal of all, which is just to enjoy life as it is, with all its paradoxes and dilemmas. What causes most dread in the Fool/Jester is a lack of stimulation and being ‘not alive’.

I have no foolish photos to show you today.

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April Fools!

Here are lots of pictures recently taken by Ann Koplow, Fool:

 

 

 

I hope you are fool enough to make the foolish choice to leave a comment on this April Fools Day.

Foolish thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to you (be still, my foolish heart!) for visiting. No fooling!