mouse medicine

song of the open road

2012-05-31T18:26:00.001-04:00

TO The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States, Resist much, obey little;
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved;
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty.

Walt Whitman (31 may 1819-1892) poet, essayist, and humanist
"Caution" in Leaves of Grass

Thus in silence in dreams’ projections,
Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals,
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,
Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad,
(Many a soldier’s loving arms about this neck have cross’d and rested,
Many a soldier’s kiss dwells on these bearded lips). excerpted from "The Wound Dresser" in the Leaves of Grass

to celebrate walt whitman's birthday i turned to my cache of photos and post two photos of walt's words that i've encountered on my wanders.

the first photo is of the sign that stands proudly in front visible voice books - one of the few remaining independent bookstores remaining in town -- as walt whitman is a national treasure; visible voice books is a cleveland treasure.

the second photo is of the entrance to the dupont circle metro station in washington dc - pretty far out to read walt's words emblazoned as one descends or ascends from the depths of the earth.

instead of a song, today i offer a reading of one of my favorite whitman poems, song of the open road - (to hear the second half of this epic poem go here)

in response to steve's comment and question, i offer this addendum:

walt whitman lived in dc for 10 years (1863-1873) during that time he nursed wounded soldiers - whitman was a great opponent of slavery when he was living in new york he was most affected by the reports and photographs of injury and death to the union soldiers. he was also most worried about his brother george; george was serving as a union soldier. walt was so moved and worried, he decided to walk to washington from ny - he found his brother (who it turns out at the time he got there was okay) but whitman stayed on and cared for the wounded. i'm sure this is the backstory as to why this verse was chosen. a few years ago there was a wonderful exhibit at one of the smithsonian museums i attended on whitman's experiences and life in washington. if i find a link to this exhibit i will add an addendum to the addendum!

addendum to the addendum:

ah, the wonders of google.... the exhibit i remembered was at the smithsonian's portrait gallery july 2006-march 2007, to get started an on-line version of the exhibit, one life: walt whitman, a kosmos click here

puff the magic dragon

2012-05-30T13:29:00.000-04:00

The symbolism of the Goddess is not a parallel structure to the symbolism of God the Father. The Goddess does not rule the world. She is the world. Manifest in each of us, She can be known internally by every individual, in all her magnificent diversity.

Starhawk (b. 1951) writer, activist, ecofeminist

an image of an ancient goddess and a dragon adorn the body of kathy, the local wisewoman who owns goddess blessed, a most magical of shops in my hood.

kathy may have a dragon tattoo, however, the other day i encountered a dragon with a girl tattoo.

the dragon with the girl tattoo, created by local artist rob masek is in front of the tower press building

currently there are 25 dragons roaming the streets of cleveland; well, okay they aren't really roaming the streets. the dragons are on display around town as part of the st. clair superior development association's annual public art project celebrating the animals of the chinese zodiac

as soon as the dragons were installed i went off on a dragon hunt with a friend - below is a photo of the dragon-hunting party in reflection with the imperial king of all dragons, created by mitzi lai - this is the fourth animal mitzi has had in the annual zodiac project- they are all wonderfully fantastical and all festooned by mitz's signature bling!!

We are our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

Tom Robbins (b.1936) writer

to see a slide show of all the dragons which grace cleveland click here - the slide show contains information as to the name of the dragon and the local artist.

peter, paul and mary singing their mega hit puff the magic dragon in 1966, the song was written by lenn lipton and peter yarrow in 1963. the concert footage is part of the bbc series tonight in person.

blue haze

2012-05-26T09:31:00.001-04:00

If you understood everything I said, you’d be me.

Miles Davis (26 may 1926 - 1991) jazz musician, bandleader, composer

it may still be may, but with the outside thermometer hitting 90 yesterday and more of the same for the next few days it certainly feels like the hazy days of summer are here!

nothing like listening to some cool jazz to help one chill out! last night we did that very thing - we caught the jazz combo cuda at the barking spider . without a doubt, the spider is one of the best places to chill in cleveland and catch live music seven days a week!

have a sweet memorial day weekend!

blue haze from miles album of the same name, the song was recorded on march 15, 1954.

the album was released in 1956. joining miles on this song is horace silver (piano), percy heath (bass), and art blakey (drums) - several other musicians (including charles mingus) join miles on other tracks of the album blue haze.

photo: self-portrait, woodlawn cememtery, the bronx, june 2010.

forever young

2012-05-25T16:42:00.001-04:00

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 may 1803 - 1882) philosopher, poet, essayist

emerson's sage advice will keep one forever young!

speaking of forever young and some more wise words, here's dylan singing his 1974 song forever young. by the way, in case you missed it yesterday was dylan's birthday! happy belated birthday zimbo (apparently according to imdb, zimbo was dylan's childhood nickname! funny, given that kimbo was one of my childhood nicknames! and there are still a few souls that call me that!)

photo: vermilion, ohio 19 may 2012

scarborough fair

2012-05-22T10:28:00.000-04:00

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

Arthur Conan Doyle (22 may 1859 - 1930) novelist, poet, physician

this weekend was the hessler street fair - the fair has been a staple of the cleveland community for over forty years and for me an absolute must. it is by far the most colorful of our fair city's many festivals. in addition to great music, wonderful arts and crafts, a place to meet lots of old and new friends, the fair is a wonderful venue to see some really fine ink.

today we shine our spotlight on the body art of ray raymond a particularly gifted and delightfully entertaining slight of hand artist who was busking at the fair.

ray's ink is an eclectic array - and range from a visual ode to a favorite musical group (six feet deep and their song angry son) on one arm to an ethereal angel and dove on the other.

There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. (acd)

as in past years, the mouse offers a slide show of some of my photos from the 43rd annual hessler street fair - to view it click here.

to celebrate fair season and the unofficial start of summer on the north coast, today's song is one of my all time favorites scarborough fair.

this version is done by the incomparably talented eclectic group the imagined village. however, before the song gets really underway is four minutes of wonderfully entertaining prattle by billy bragg. i love billy and as far as i'm concerned he can prattle on forever. in this vid billy discusses his identification with marmite, his quest to define what is is to be english, along with all sorts of other interesting bits (including quoting one of billy and my heroes - woody guthrie).

for what it's worth

2012-05-18T11:40:00.000-04:00

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly.

Bertrand Russell (18 may 1872 - 1970) philosopher & polymath

today i offer a favorite song in honor of a favorite thinker.

buffalo springfield's for what it's worth -written stephen stills, was released as a single in 1967 and was included on buffalo springfield's debut album, supposedly the original title comes from a comment that stills made to a record producer "I have this song here, for what it's worth, if you want it." sometimes the song is also referred to as stop, hey what's that sound.

buffalo springfield was only together for two years (1966-1968). however, the group served as a launching pad for the skyrocketing careers of neil young, stephen stills, jim messina, and richie furay. young and stills went on to perhaps even greater fame in crosby, stills, nash and young; and, messina and furay went on to create poco.

today all four are still active making music as soloists and with various groups. the original group also included two other musicians, who also continued to make music, - bruce palmer (d. 2004) and dewey martin (d. 2009). young, stills, messina and furay did reunite in 2011 for a six concert reunion tour. wow, that would have been a real flash to the past.

photo: long island sound, madison connecticut. may 2012

favorite color

2012-05-16T16:39:00.000-04:00

My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.

Adrienne Rich (16 may 1929 - 27 march 2012) poet & essayist

today's vibrant wall was done by kazilla (aka cassie williams) - originally from santa fe kazilla now lives and works in miami. kazilla's women centric work straddles the worlds of street art and fine art and is distinctive with her use of bold colors and lines and frequent incorporation of animals.

in late march the brilliant poet and feminist essayist adrienne rich died - my haphazard blogging failed to recognize this loss to our world - today i belatedly pay respects and give thanks to ms rich.

favorite color a very early joni mitchell song - in fact the song doesn't seem to appear on any recordings and this video was recorded before joni was joni! her she is introduced on the canadian television program, let's sing out in 1965 by her given name joan anderson!

oscar brandt's introduction is priceless as is joni's performance.

photo: 532 nw 29th street miami (wynwood district), 29 april 2012

too much to hide

2012-05-15T09:36:00.004-04:00

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) 35th president of u.s.

bet you didn't realize may 15th is international conscientious objectors' day. i didn't until i glanced at the calendar this morning (wondering what calendar would list such an occasion, wonder no more - it is the 2012 syracuse cultural workers calendar, the syracuse cultural worker calendars have been a staple at casa mouse since the mid 1980s).

today's quote by jfk is spot on!

along with being international conscientious objectors' day, it is also tattoo tuesday. i met the woman with today's extraordinary tattoos the other day while wandering about the neighborhood - although i didn't think i would forget her name, i have - one would think with my record of forgetting names, i would start writing them down!

i was so focused on the ink and discussing the various buddhist images of her sleeve tattoo, i forgot to ask her due date - but given the size and presentation of her belly, i predict she's definitely having a may baby! peaceful passage little one!

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace. - Buddha

too much to hide from the album nuclear daydream (2006) by joseph arthur.

white bird

2012-05-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

As soon as you can say what you think, and not what some other person has thought for you, you are on your way to being ... remarkable

J.M. Barrie (9 may 1860 - 1937) author

today is the birthday of scottish author sir james matthew barrie best known for his stage play peter pan or the boy who wouldn't grow up (1904).

when i was a wee lass i was captivated by the story of peter pan; in 1960 there was a telecast of peter pan which starred mary martin as peter, after seeing the show i became obsessed with the notion of flying. i don't remember if it was peter or tinker bell that i wanted to be, but i do remember driving my parents to distraction by "flying" when i was inside the house (flying = propelling myself from place to place by jumping from one piece of furniture to another ). it is a good thing i was born in the 1950s and not today; surely if i was born in this day and age somebody would have pathologized my 'creativity' and given me some type of medicalized label!

before peter pan, barrie wrote the novel the little white bird (1902) which introduced the mythology and character of peter pan.

in 1969 the group it's a beautiful day released their song white bird on their debut album - maybe it was some weird cosmic holdover from my obsession with peter pan and flying, but this song has captivated me since i first heard it 1969!

photo: wall art in the wynwood neighborhood of miami florida, 29 april 2012

where the wild things are

2012-05-08T10:07:00.000-04:00

Today we are aware as never before of the plurality of human life-styles and possibilities, while at the same time being tied, like in an old silent movie, to a runaway locomotive rushing headlong toward a very singular catastrophe.

Gary Synder (b. 8 may 1930) poet, ecological philosopher

quote from Earth House Hold: Technical Notes and Queries to Fellow Dharma Revolutionaries

i met ben a few weeks ago when i went to a wild ramp picking party - the ramps were great but they weren't nearly as wild or as wondrous as the asian inspired art which ben wears.

ben graciously gave me on a tour of his ink work - most of the magnificent and powerful art was done by a denver based tattoo artist named john slaughter. ben said he simply told slaughter the type of symbolism and images he would like and away slaughter went!

the detail and intricacy of each piece was amazing - i particularly liked the small fox-like face at the center of the samurai's body!

ben recently moved to cleveland and is currently the executive sous chef at muse, one of cleveland's premier dining establishments. i have found that some chefs have some of most amazing and interesting body art - not too surprising - for the core of preparing good food is a creative and expressive endeavor!

this morning i heard that maurice sendak died .

adieu maurice.

in memory of maurice, in lieu of a song today i offer a reading of where the wild things are, sendak's most famous book. although i love max and his wild things, i think my personal favorite children's book by maurice is mickey in the night kitchen. probably because for me it is the most fun to read out loud -it is so musical and fun and of course centers around food - i'm in the milk and the milk in me!! god bless milk and god bless me!

i am a child

2012-05-05T10:48:00.000-04:00

No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) activist & author

in japan and south korea may 5th is children's day. in japan, since 1948 the day has been considered a national holiday. however the observance of children's day is ancient and traditionally children are celebrated twice a year - march 3 for girls and may 5 for boys. today in japan the march children's day is now known as the doll festival.

according to the portal, many many countries have a special day to celebrate children. what is odd about children's day in the usa is that although there have been , and continue to be, there is no single or permanent observance of children's day - the day seems to vary from place to place and from time to time.

in 1954, the united nations declared a universal children's day to take place on november 20th and although the usa is a member of the un, it doesn't appear to me that the un declared day has really caught on.

as for me i'm going to celebrate children's day by going to ms. t's soccer game - after the game, maybe i can talk the gang into going out for some sushi for lunch!

today's song is one of my all time favorite neil young songs i am a child -- thie version belowe was recorded in 1973.

neil wrote the song when he was with the buffalo springfield. and appeared on their third and final album last time around (1968)

photo: koinobori (carp windsocks) at the entrance of the morikami japanese garden in delray beach, florida. april, 2012

by the way, these windsocks grace the landscape of japan from april through may in honor of boys with the hope that they grow up strong and healthy.

a little this 'n that

2012-05-04T10:53:00.002-04:00

The world to come may be like a song, with a little a' this 'n' that.
To make ev'rybody want to sing along, with a little a' this 'n' that.
A little dissonance ain't no sin,
A little skylarking to give us all a grin.
Who knows but God's got a plan for the people to win, with a little a' this 'n' that.

Pete Seeger (born 3 may 1919), singer-songwriter, activist

yesterday was the birthday of pete seeger - he turned 93!

happy belated birthday pete!

regular visitors to the mouse know that pete is one of my personal heroes. a few years ago, in fact, to correspond with the year that pete turned ninety, there was a campaign to have pete be awarded the nobel peace prize for his lifelong and tireless devotion for working toward peace and justice. sadly, despite that thousands of people around the world signed the petition, seeger was not awarded the peace prize. instead that year the peace prize was awarded to barack obama.

now, i respect mr. obama and i am very, very happy that he is our president. i voted for him in 2008 and i will be voting for him again this year. but to award obama the peace prize over pete seeger - well, i couldn't make sense of it then or now! at the time i sweeten my sour grapes by thinking , well maybe, this will get obama to bring the troops home immediately -- especially george's folly as i call the war in iraq.

well that didn't happen now did it?

as far as awarding pete the nobel, i'm afraid that ship may have done sailed! it is unlikely that the nobel committee will consider another american anytime soon. but one never knows. by nobel committee rules, the person who receives the peace prize must be alive; if pete is to be recognized for his peacework, i hope someone start strategizing sooner versus later!

pete is still going strong at 93. rumor has it he may perform at this year's clearwater music festival in june. a festival he inspired - along with being a lifelong activist for peace, seeger has also been dauntless in his efforts to protect and clean up the environment.

peace and protecting the environment do go hand in hand - all things are connected

although pete is not singing much these days in public, his singing voice is not what is was, he is still recording. earlier this year he contributed a spoken version of dylan's song forever young to the album chimes of freedom: songs of bob dylan honoring 50 years of amnesty international.

to celebrate pete's birthday i thought i'd share a few photos i took over the last week that make me happy - i hope they make you happy too .

let's just say it's a little this and that!

lily of the valley - it is the season! i just adore these fragrant delicate beauties. there is a huge patch a few blocks from my house which i stumbled upon a couple weeks ago when there was just a couple blooms out. yesterday i walked by to see how the field was doing - the lilies are in full bloom now - talk about olfactory nirvana! i'm wonder if the people in the two houses that flank this lily patch would mind if i camped out for a couple days.

while in florida we stayed in a place right on the beach. i was totally smitten by the shore birds - especially the sanderlings. these little sandpipers are just amazing. they breed in the high arctic and winter up and down the atlantic and pacific coasts from canada to argentina.

speaking of birds, i just adored watching pelicans in flight while i was in florida. for me, watching pelicans is like time traveling - they remind me of flying dinosaurs.

one last pic - unfortunately, the photo is pretty crappy - but the encounter was exciting!

last night i wandered over to the park on erie's edge not far from my house. i wanted to get a good sky photo for skywatch friday on the snap. a cool front was coming in (thank goodness! it was over 90 degrees here yesterday); when i left the house there were some awesome thunderheads and i thought they would make a dramatic photo. by the time i got to the park, the thunderheads were gone, but the sky was still nice. however, what really rocked my world was the close encounter with brother fox.

some kids went down among the rock pilings and apparently flushed out the fox who then ran up the hill - i instinctively snapped. no time to adjust settings, but still the photo makes me happy as seeing a fox really makes me happy!

today two tunes! first a brief little irish love song that pete plays on flute which then is followed by the song a little this 'n that, pete wrote the song to celebrate the birthday of his beloved wife toshi. the video comes from a concert that pete and his grandson tao rodriguez-seeger gave at wolftrap in 1993

i'm a manatee

2012-05-02T07:45:00.000-04:00

Graffiti is one of the most free art expressions of the world; you don’t do it for money nor for an institution, it’s free expression and it liberates yourself creatively from a lot of restrictions.

Roa - from vincent morgan's 2010 interview with the belgian graffiti artist

i recently returned from a brief sojourn to south florida. the purpose of the trip was to attend the wedding of a nephew. it was a great trip - there was a nice mix of visiting family, chilling at the beach and poolside, exploring new places, eating good food, and meeting new people.

the wedding on saturday and friday night's pre-wedding activities were fabulous - in fact, so much so that i am rethinking my general curmudgeon attitude about weddings. how can i not love a wedding which takes place in a beautiful japanese garden, where the two main readings are dr. seuss's oh the places you'll go and bob dylan's forever young, and where the female attendants are wearing green dresses of their own choosing, not to mention a wedding which has the cake is topped with monsters instead of those plastic bride and grooms in formal and traditional attire.

because of air fares we were better off by flying down on thursday and returning on monday, this worked out well as we had time for a mini-vacation. in spite of being born in florida and having lived there only several months as an infant; i only have been to florida once and that was only for about eight hours several years ago - and for that trip i solely wandered around south beach looking at the architecture and all the beautiful people and visiting with friends who had recently moved there.. as with weddings, until this most recent visit my general attitude about florida has been pretty grumpy (too hot, too humid, too many bugs) - and as with weddings, i am now rethinking my earlier biases! i now understand the allure of the sunshine state.

the wedding was held in delray beach, a charming beach town on the atlantic ocean. friday and saturday we had plenty of time to explore the area and also get in some quality lounging about. as delray is less than an hour north of miami on sunday after checking out the delightful wright by the sea resort where we stayed, we headed to the big city to spend the day wandering around. unfortunately the stormy (read torrential rains) weather prevented us from taking our planned walking tour of the art deco district of south miami beach, however, we did enjoy a bit of the architecture by driving around and looking at the buildings through rain streaked windows. after driving up and down collins avenue and adjacent art deco laden streets we left the island miami beach is located on and took the causeway over to miami proper. first stop in miami was to eat a late lunch in little havana at versailles. normally i'm suspicious of places that tout themselves as the 'world's most famous such and such --in this case, "the world's most famous cuban restaurant" -- but versailles was recommended to emma by a friend who lived in miami for many years and appreciates good food. what can i say, after eating at versailles, i must say there is just reason for such a grandiose claim to fame!

after lunch the weather calmed down and the rain lightened up enough to leave the comfort of being inside a building or car. upon leaving the restaurant we drove through the little havana district checking out the giant chickens (or roosters) and street art.

little havana may have had some decent murals, but we heard that the real mecca for edgy street art/graffiti in miami is in the wynwood art district. in fact, street art/graffiti is so pervasive in wynwood there are even street art bike tours! unfortunately, i learned about this too late - however, if i ever return, you can bet i will find a way to schedule this activity into my itinerary! our wanders in wynwood barely scratched the surface on all there is to see!

we pretty much aimlessly wandered around wynwood - and only through dumb luck did we happened upon the fantastic giant manatee by roa in the top photo. what i love about this piece is how roa artistically editorializes the most pressing human related threat to these gentle sea cows - injury and death caused by collision with watercraft.

like many street art enthusiasts roa is one of my faves - during wanders in nyc, i've seen a few animals in his artful menagerie - a squirrel, a rat*, a bird*, and a rabbit. (*i thought i've posted snaps of the rat and bird but couldn't locate the past posts to link, so i guess it is time to mine the archives and work them into future wall wednesday posts!)

the acclaimed actor john lithgow wrote a book and song in praise of the gentle and very threatened manatee - the book and song is entitled i'm a manatee -today's vid is by a youtuber named hugh having puppet fun with john's song.

poem in your pocket

2012-04-25T18:15:00.000-04:00

Every single soul is a poem.

Michael Franti (b. 21 april 1967) musician & bard

today is wall wednesday and tomorrow is poem in your pocket day!

i've known that april is national poetry month for years, but until i heard this story on npr i never knew about poem in your pocket day -- even though it has been going on for years!

poem in your pocket day is a moveable feast - this year it occurs on april 26th. poem in your pocket day (piyp) began in nyc in 2002 as part of the city's celebration of national poetry month. the idea of piyp started to spread and in 2009 the academy of american poets deemed that it was such a bonne idée they deemed the day as a national day of celebration and made it an established part of national poetry month!

observing piyp is simple....the basic idea is to select a poem that you love and carry it in your pocket, share the poem with whoever - friends, family, strangers or whatever - mice, cats, or twittering birds - you wish in the course of the day.

speaking of twittering birds, according to poets.org, for people who tweet, there's even a way to share your poem on twitter. i don't tweet, but i thought there was a character limit for tweets - if that is still the case than i guess your pocket poem has got to be short and sweet in order to tweet!

as for what poem i'll be carrying in my pocket tomorrow; i'm thinking of lewis carroll's

there are a many vids on youtube for poem in your pocket day - however, this one from 2009 is my favorite.

photo: cleveland ohio, april 2012

shangri-la

2012-04-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

How hard it is to escape from places. However carefully one goes they hold you - you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences - like rags and shreds of your very life.

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) writer

the theme today's tattoos have in common is love of place.

the top photo is of vincent -- although vincent now lives here on the north coast his left arm is an homage to his california 'home' and pictures the pier in huntington beach (which he considers his home), two bluebirds which in the cosmology of tattooing denote love and happiness, a bright sun, and the logo for the california angels baseball team.

the second photo is of josh who i met this past weekend. i was taken by his eclectic and artful assortment of body art; among the images on josh's right arm are two train cars of the cleveland rta - as a fan of public transport i applaud this embodied monument to mass transit.

the final tat for the day shows the cleveland skyline -- this was the first tattoo that theresa got - it is a friendship tattoo - theresa and her best friend got the same tat when they were eighteen. although they got the same image the tats are in a different locations on their respective bodies. i love the idea of friendship and family tats -

shangri-la by the kinks - appearing on their 1969 concept album arthur.

rocky raccoon...

2012-04-20T12:43:00.008-04:00

The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.

Okakura Kakuzō (1862-1913) scholar and author of The Book of Tea

this week's weather has been utterly resplendent - i've been lucky to be able to spend considerable time outdoors.

bingo and i spent a couple days strolling through the local metropark - the first of days in the park was a magical day for animals. now we didn't see any exotic animals, but the critters we encountered were a particularly friendly sort.

our first close encounter was with brother squirrel - this fellow was so bold i was nervous that he was going to jump into the stroller!

a short while later we met up with a chipmunk. i was surprised on how close i was able to get - one expects woodland chipmunks to be shy and hesitant; this chippy must have felt that we intended no harm and she let me get quite close and even seemed to pose for a portrait.

much of the walk goes alongside the Rocky River; there were plenty of ducks and geese about - it seems as if it may be prime nesting season. and bingo loves calling the birds - and on the whole they are much obliging.

we saw a local ranger with her high power binoculars looking under the hilliard road bridge for the peregrine falcons that generally nest there. i didn't see the falcons, but i did notice a curious sight - a pair of canada geese who seemed to be checking out a most peculiar location for their nest!

while crossing a small bridge over a culvert, i felt the presence of another being - i looked down and lo and behold what should i see but a young raccoon busily feeling around in the water, i suppose looking for some tasty treat.

it is unusual to encounter raccoons in the early afternoon for they are mainly nocturnal creatures. however, raccoons are the masters of adaptability and sometimes a raccoon will come out during the day when they are disturbed or when they know that some tasty treat is going to be available. perhaps this raccoon sensed that bingo and i were on the path and could anticipate the lovely baked goods we were carrying from our pre-hike stop at the local bakery.

as soon as i pointed out the raccoon to bingo, bingo dropped some of the roll he was eating down into the culvert - i followed up and threw a piece a bit further out, closer to the raccoon. the raccoon sensing that we were friends, not foes, waddled towards us, eating the trail of bread.

for at least ten minutes we were just hanging with the little raccoon. it was very magical. he got very close to us. then the spell was broken as a couple other humans came up to see what held our attention; the little raccoon who sensed rather than saw the additional humans quickly scampered under the bridge and was no longer visible.

not all of our encounters were with wild animals - as we were leaving the park we encountered our friend lynn who among other things is a dog-walker, with her were 5 very friendly dogs - and bingo was in heaven as each dog sniffed him and greeted him!

i have long had an affinity for raccoons - in fact, the first time i was conscious of having an animal totem or spirit guide was with a dream visit by raccoon. had not mouse visited me later and gained prominence in my pantheon of animals guides, this blog may have very well been named raccoon medicine.

for those curious about raccoon medicine, here is what one student of animal totems has to say:

Raccoon is our comical friend of the dream world. His hands have great dexterity, and raccoon uses them to get himself into all kinds of mischief. His gifts are imagination, inventiveness and intelligence, for raccoon is an amazing problem solver. Raccoon is the perpetual student. The key is to love learning, and raccoon teaches us to observe life with an innate sense of curiosity. Thus, raccoon fully understands a situation before taking action.

the beatles rocky raccoon (1968)- the song first appeared on the album known as the white album. according to the portal this song is the last beatle song to feature lennon's harmonica playing.

rock and roll hall of fame trivia - paul mccartney (1999 inductee) was inspired to write the song while jamming in india with john lennon (1994 inductee) and donovan (2012 inductee).

hi'ilawe

2012-04-17T19:55:00.003-04:00

There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.

Thornton Wilder (17 april 1897 - 1975)

generally on tattoo tuesday i feature one or two photos of a particular individual - but today i was hard pressed to keep it down to 3.

i met myles the other day - initially i was quite taken by the organic looking peace sign tattoo on his right forearm. bold mouse that i am went up and told him how i admired his tattoo and asked if it was possible that if we were done shopping at the same time if i could take a photo of the peace sign ...for a millisecond he was a bit taken aback by the request, but then realized i was sincere and the startle morphed into being flattered and he graciously consented to having my request.

once outside the peace tat began to pale as myles enthusiastically showed me his other body art - he proudly presented the image of his most recent addition - a 'mother earth' image that adorns his upper right inside arm.

and as we can see in the top two photos, the left arm is a celebration of the sea - among the images are: poseidon holding a trident, a mermaid, a ship, and numerous hawaiian tribal tattoos - including nine sea turtles.

seeing the hawaiian inspired art and myles' exotic good looks made me wonder whether he might be hawaiian - so i asked. he said no he wasn't hawaiian and is actually a local clevelander and his descent is half sicilian and half african-american. however, he mentioned that he does have family in hawaii and it was there, while on an extended stay with his cousin when he was 18, that he was first bitten by the tattoo bug.

hi'ilawe performed by peter moon and cyril pahinui - cyril is the son of the late great gabby pahinui (1921-1980) gabby, a talented self-taught musician was one of the key figures of the hawaiian renaissance of the 1970s and popularized the slack-key method of playing guitar.

until the movie the descendants came out, i haven't really thought about the hawaiian sound/music for quite a long time - now i can't get enough of it!

wishin' & hopin'

2012-04-16T11:07:00.004-04:00

Lord save us all from a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) humorist, writer & lecturer

this past week cleveland was the location for the rock and roll hall of fame induction festivities. despite being the home of the rock and roll hall of fame and museum, this is only the third time that cleveland hosted the induction ceremony; the first year cleveland hosted was in 1997 and next in 2009.

however, to quote one of rock's best loved bards the times they are a-changin' - in 2007, the powers that be announced that cleveland will be home for the induction ceremony every three years - when not here, new york city is the the other location. unlike new york, in cleveland the event truly rocks -- in new york it is an exclusive vip-only gala; here the induction ceremony was open to the public (granted tickets sold out in a blink of an eye). not only that, but in cleveland the induction is a ten-day long celebration! what can i say cleveland rocks!

alas, i didn't attend any of the festivities - there were many. however if i'm still here in 2015, you can bet i'll be seeking out some of the induction week fun - all the reports i've heard from those that attended paint a picture of a mega good time!

12 performers were inducted this year, one artist was inducted as an early influence, and 4 individuals were included in the sidemen category - to see the full list go here.

since we are coming off rock hall mania, it is only fitting that today's song come from the lofty group of performers who have been inducted into the hall of fame.

today is the birthday of dusty springfield - born mary isobel catherine bernadette o'brien on 16 april 1939 - with a name that long no wonder she changed it. during the 1960s springfield's voice was ubiquitous and had 18 songs reaching the billboard hot 100 from 1964-1970. the portal states that some international polls consider springfield among the best female rock artists of all time.

springfield died in 1999, finally succumbing to the cancer which first emerged several years earlier. ironically she died on the very day she was scheduled to go to buckingham palace to receive her award as an officer, order of the british empire from queen elizabeth II. when knowledge of her hospitalization became known, arrangements were made and springfield received the award in a small ceremony in the hospital.

ten days after she died, springfield was scheduled to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame; the induction took place as scheduled, sir elton john was among those who championed her inclusion in the hall of fame. others inducted that year include: billy joel, curtis mayfield, paul mccartney, del shannon, bruce springsteen, and the staple singers (for full list go here)

photo: casa mouse birdhouse and tree, 15 april 2012

validation

2012-04-13T09:15:00.004-04:00

You validate people’s lives by your attention.

Anonymouse

yes, yes the film festival has been over for more than a week, but the spirit of the festival continues as i follow up on some of the gems i missed or heard about. today, i want to share a short film which i watched last night. the film, validation, can be seen in it's entity below. it is among the body of work of kurt kuenne who was the recipient of this year's director's spotlight award at the cleveland international film festival (ciff).

at the festival, i watched his newest full-length film shuffle and absolutely adored it - it was a funny, touching and affecting tale of man named lovell milo, with a very odd condition - when he fell asleep he never knew what age he'd be when he'd wake up. sounds a bit odd and it was, but oddly wonderful. make sure you keep an eye out for it; if it comes to a theater near you, check it out! by the way i just learned that shuffle took the prizes for best picture and best director at the phoenix film festival just a few days ago.

kurt was around for a q&a after the showing of shuffle - and i must say he was as delightful as his films. during the session he mentioned that a few of his shorts - including validation, are available via youtube. so last night i began my own kuenne film festival and started with validation.

i started with validation because one of my favorite things about ciff is the validation desk and the joy this festival constant brings - not only because i get to chat with the wonderful people who staff the desk, but for the fodder of fun that comes when one goes with the validation bug - if i'm hanging out at the desk visiting, i often can't myself and chime in to tell people how wonderful and great they are as they come up to have one of the cadre of festival staff or volunteers stamp their parking ticket.

while the faces and bodies at the desk do vary from time to time, the validation station is mainly the domain of two gregarious, creative, and extremely validating individuals - the husband and wife team of tim and danielle (danielle can seen making origami balloons to add even more fun to the - what'd i say creative!)

so, go get yourself some popcorn and come back for a real treat - or should i say a reel treat - the delightful and award winning* short validation. the film is about 16 minutes long; if you don't have time now, make sure you come on back for a spell at another time.

*Winner - Best Narrative Short, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Jury Award (2007), Gen Art Chicago Film Festival, Winner - Audience Award, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Comedy, Breckenridge Festival of Film, Winner - Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award, Heartland Film Festival, Winner - Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award, Williamstown Film Festival, Winner - Best Comedy, Dam Short Film Festival, Winner - Best Short Film, Sedona Int'l Film Festival.

the elements

2012-04-10T19:30:00.002-04:00

Tattoos mark their wearers as members of a tribe. In the language and symbols of the tribe, the tattoo communicates what is meaningful: I prefer Harleys; I have killed three men; I know a lot about fonts...The symbols of science set the tattoo-wearer apart from the rest of us at the same time they draw us in with their beauty and mystery.

Mary Roach, from the forward of Carl Zimmer's book
Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed (2011)

i took the periodic table tattoo a few years ago - long before i started tattoo tuesday. my memory of mm's tat was jogged a couple weeks ago when i took the second photo which is the inside forearm of theresa, of last week's wonderful bird tat. by the way, since last week i learned the name of the book and illustrator of theresa's tat - alle voegel sind schon da (all the birds are already there) by ida bohatta-morpurgo. the book by the way is derived from a famous german children's song.

not surprisingly my friend with the period table tattoo was a chemistry major in college and is now pursuing a doctorate in an applied subfield of macromolecular chemistry. mm and his periodic table tattoo would be a suitable addition to carl zimmer's collection of photographs of scientific tats.

i first learned of zimmer's book and collection last fall when the new york times posted a slideshow of some of the images from zimmer's collection. the times piece corresponded with the release of zimmer's book. i forgot about zimmer's book until i started thinking of posting today's snaps.

how about a wee CoNtesT! the first to identify what the molecule on theresa's arm represents will win a fabulous prize (just comment your answer, if it isn't obvious on how to contact you - eg you are not an identified reader then email me [kyanoshik at gmail] your email/contact info)

tom lehrer's catchy and instructive song the elements - about the periodic table - cleverly animated by timwi terby

and still i rise

2012-04-04T22:30:00.001-04:00

Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud.

Maya Angelou (4 april 1928) poet, writer, activist
from Letter to My Daughter

dr. maya recites her poem and still i rise (1978)

photo: it is wall wednesday!!! today's featured art is a slight variant of wall art - 'tis fence art - although this piece is not signed (at least not that i can see) it looks like it was made by my bud anna arnold, a very talented local artist/muralist. i ran across this work last month while wandering about the buckeye neighborhood in cleveland. march, 2012

golden slumbers

2012-04-03T19:15:00.003-04:00

While thought exists, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.

Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) writer & literary critic

today's tattoo tuesday photos feature body art influenced from images found in literature. the top photo was inspired from an illustration from a cherished children's book which was handed down by the grandmother of the baby in the photo - hopefully next time i run into mama theresa i'll remember to get the name of the book - she mentioned it was a german book written in the 1930s, but we were so busy talking about other things, getting the name of the book slipped my mind.

regarding the second photo, with the exception of the felix the cat tat (which incidentally was christopher's very first tattoo) the other tattoos on this arm are primarily characters from alice in wonderland - we see the mad hatter, the march hair, and the cheshire cat (not seen because it is on the inside of c's arm is alice). these alice inspired works were all done by sean kelly one of the owners and artists in residence of the kollective gallery in cleveland heights.

gold slumbers, written by paul mcartney, and first appearing on the abbey road album (1969)- the song is inspired by the 1603 poem cradle song, a lullaby by the dramatist thomas dekker. mccartney uses the first stanza of the original poem, with minor word changes, and added single lyric line repeated with minor variation. the original album does not credit dekker with the stanza or with the title.

photos: lakewood, ohio, march 2012

unforgettable

2012-04-02T13:15:00.005-04:00

If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I... will answer you: I am here to live out loud.

Émile Zola (2 april 1840-1902)writer, critic, activist

my annual film-cation ended last night! what a ride - now it is back to reality from 10 days of reel-ity. in the past on the mouse, i listed and summarized the movies i saw at the festival; however this year i'm going to modify tradition and simply give a rough account of my reel-life travels. to list and summarize all of the 44 films (and 10 shorts) i viewed would take too long especially considering that i put real-life on hold for the last ten days and i really need to get my head out of the clouds!

the cleveland international film festival (ciff) is a true celebration of international filmmaking - more than 60 countries were represented this year at the festival, my personal cinematographic journey took me to more than 25 countries. even though i visited all the continents, my own viewing habits seem consistent with ciff's particular strength- ciff is renowned for showcasing and supporting films from central and eastern europe and eleven films i choose to go to came from this region of the world. perhaps this is due to my own czech/slovak heritage. in fact, the first film i saw was a german-polish collaboration. despite the scores of films that came afterwards, winter's daughter remained in my festival top ten list. it is a wonderful moving family drama and an inter-generational road trip film.

fortunately none of the films i saw were losers all though there were a couple that didn't live up to my expectations. looking at my list of films seen, it appears that i lean toward dramas - 26 films i saw were primarily dramas; and 9 films could be classified as comedies (although most of these so called comedies were infused with significant dramatic aspects - such as come as you are which is also on my top ten list); and 9 films were documentaries.

i don't think i could choose one film as my festival favorite - instead i've constructed a top ten list. for film lovers out there consider these films ones i enthusiastically recommend, although a couple of them are definitely not for the faint of heart.

my list, in order seen during the festival, each film is linked to the festival's blurb:

winter's daughter germany/poland drama
chronicle of my mother japan drama
nicky's family czech/slovak documentary (about the rescue of more than 660 czech children during ww2 by a british businessman)
tyrannosaur uk drama
headhunters norway drama/thriller
the girls in the band usa documentary (about the history of women in jazz music)
mabul israel drama
come as you are belguim comedy
lucky south africa drama
intouchables france comedy (dramatic comedy)

like most favorite lists - what you see above is today's list - if asked in a week the list may very well be different. there are a handful of other films which i can't get out of my mind - for instance women with cows, a swedish documentary about two elderly sisters that is most affecting and visually arresting; tomorrow will be better, a unique road-trip film about 3 russian homeless boys who seek a better life in poland; and, found memories (from argentina and brazil) and nana (france) two narrative films with are gorgeous visually poetic reflections on different stages of life.

photo: terminal tower as seen through the skylight during last night's festival closing night party held around the fountain in tower city, cleveland.

galaxies

2012-03-29T09:45:00.001-04:00

At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.

Eric Idle (b. 29 march 1943) comedian, actor, singer, composer, author

today is day 7 of my film-cation - i haven't tallied up the number of countries i've visited or broken the films down by genre and type, however, my overall, number already has me reeling. to date - i've seen 28 films and there are still 4 days left of the festival. definitely this year will break all previous records in terms of number of films watched. so far i can honestly say, i've enjoyed every film - even those that had me a total emotional wreck after it was over (more on those in the final accounting!)

well, no time for more prattle, even though today will be a light day (relatively speaking - compared to yesterday when i started at 9:20 in the morning and saw a total of 6 films - i got home around 11:30!) i do have to get a move on it!

as today is eric idle's birthday, i thought we could celebrate with one of my favorite idle songs - the galaxy song from the 1983 film monty python's the meaning of life

photo: terminal tower in bright sun. cleveland, 26 march 2012

be carried away

2012-03-26T08:59:00.008-04:00

....the best way out is always through.
And I agree to that, or in so far
As that I can see no way out but through.

Robert Frost (26 march 1874-1963) poet
from a servant to servants

last thursday night the 36th cleveland international film festival began, and starting the next day i began my annual stay-cation.

however, calling this a stay-cation is a misnomer, i might not be going anywhere, but i am hardly staying around. in fact i am traveling the world!

so i've coined a new term - a film-cation - which is a vacation where you sit in the dark and travel to far off lands.

going to the film festival is a bit like taking a trip - each day i decide my itinerary and choose what countries to visit, what type of emotional terrain would i like to traverse, and what food and drink should i pack in to provide sustenance for the day's journey.

well, speaking of which gotta run - got lots of places to visit today!

be carried away is the theme for this year's festival. hope you enjoy the infectious and happy theme song and the video provides a sweet animated view of our beautiful city!

photos: top - tower city in the mist - where the films are shown, 25 march; insert - a fellow film fanatic dennis displaying his ciff button collection