Happy 2009 !

Copacabana Beach Today ( New Year´s Eve )

My New Year’s Celebration this year was by the beach watching
the fireworks and drinking Champagne !

It was really cool ( even though a little too crowded for my taste ) to celebrate it by the ocean again after all these years.
It is so peaceful ... even with all the noise .

Wishing all of you my dear friends a 2009 full of joy , peace and health !
Next year I might try spending it in Copacabana. Right down there in the crowd .They calculate that this year two million people spent the festivities in Copacabana and another one million along the rest of the coast.

HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR !

Like they say in Brazil , Axé !

This was taken earlier today by the beach

... and yes , I did drink coconut water ...

Happy Holidays !

( My apartment in New York City last year ... )

Another Holiday Season is just around the corner...and for the first time in twenty years I am not spending it in my beloved New York , near my friends ... and that makes me feel blue ... I am homesick !

Spending it here in Rio at 110 degrees makes me feel like the turkeys and the chestnuts that embellish our tables at this time of the year ...

Be sure that I miss you all very much and that you will all be in my thoughts and prayers.

And I thought that more than celebrating Christmas , Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, we should celebrate life.

That's why I picked a beautiful article I read from a Brazilian Rabbi that made me think a lot about what really matters in life.

( uma versão em portugues segue logo abaixo )

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Waiting for ...
“ We wait too long to do what needs to be done , in a world that only gives us one day at a time , without any guarantee of a tomorrow.
While we lament that life is too short, we act as if we had available to us an endless supply of extra time.
We wait too long to say the words of forgiveness that must be said , to put aside bitter feelings that need to be expelled , to express our gratitude, to comfort someone.
We wait too long to show affection to our parents, relatives and friends.
Who knows how soon will be too late?
We wait too long to read the books, listen to the songs, see the paintings that are waiting to broad our minds, enrich our spirit and expand our soul.
We wait too long to say the prayers that are waiting to cross our lips, to execute the tasks that are waiting to be fulfilled, to express the love that might not be needed tomorrow.
We wait too long backstage, while life has a role to be played on stage.
God is also waiting for us.
Waiting for us to stop waiting.
Waiting for us to do NOW everything why this day and this life were given us for.
“ IT IS TIME TO LIVE ”!
( Rabino Henry Sobel )

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Esperar......

"Esperamos demais para fazer o que é preciso ser feito,

num mundo que só nos dá um dia de cada vez, sem nenhuma garantia do amanhã.

Enquanto lamentamos que a vida é curta, agimos como se tivéssemos

à nossa disposição um estoque inesgotável de tempo.

Esperamos demais para dizer as palavras de perdão que devem ser ditas,

para pôr de lado rancores que devem ser expulsos,

para expressar gratidão, para dar ânimo, para oferecer consolo.

Esperamos demais para dar carinho aos nossos pais, irmãos, amigos.

Quem sabe quão logo será tarde demais?

Esperamos demais para ler os livros, para ouvir as músicas,

para ver os quadros que estão esperando para alargar nossa mente,

enriquecer nosso espírito e expandir nossa alma.

Esperamos demais para enunciar as preces que estão esperando

para atravessar nossos lábios, para executar as tarefas

que estão esperando para serem cumpridas,

para demonstrar o amor que talvez não seja mais necessário amanhã.

Esperamos demais nos bastidores, quando a vida tem

um papel para desempenhar no palco.

Deus também está nos esperando.

Esperando nós pararmos de esperar.

Esperando nós começarmos a fazer AGORA tudo aquilo

para qual este dia e esta vida nos foram dados.

"É HORA DE VIVER"!

( Rabbi Henry Sobel )

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Happy Holidays !

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Walk Walk Walk ... Run Run Run

Walk , walk , walk

Run , run , run

Rush , rush , rush

Fast , fast , fast

We are always ina hurry

To get nowhere

To accomplish nothing

Just rushing

Nowhere to go

No one to run to.

And here we are.

We rush so much

That we forget the essence of it all:

To enjoy life !

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Sorry my friends.

I promised to create this Blog

right before leaving ...

but I kept postponing it and only now

, seven months later ,

I am finally doing it. I hope I can update it as

often as I plan to...

But knowing myself, it might happen only

once a week or so.

I just want you all to know that I

miss you all so very much !

And I will try to update you

with photos as well.

And I beg you: Please do not forget me.

Ever !

Ciao.

Skyline Pigeon

Skyline Pigeon
( Elton John * 1973 )
Turn me loose from your hands

Let me fly to distant lands

Over green fields, trees and mountains

Flowers and forest fountains

Home along the lanes of the skyway

For this dark and lonely room

Projects a shadow cast in gloom

And my eyes are mirrors

Of the world outside

Thinking of the way

That the wind can turn the tide

And these shadows turn

From purple into grey

For just a Skyline Pigeon Dreaming of the open

Waiting for the day

He can spread his wings

And fly away again

Fly away skyline pigeon fly

Towards the dreams

You've left so very far behind

Just let me wake up in the morning

To the smell of new mown hay

To laugh and cry, to live and die

In the brightness of my day

I want to hear the pealing bells

Of distant churches sing

But most of all please free me

From this aching metal ring

And open out this cage towards the sun