Apollo and Daphne

Apollo and Daphne Carrara's marble cm. 243 Gian Lorenzo Bernini

"Gian Lorenzo Bernini created an unpreviousd masterpiece for Cardinal Scipione Borghese depicting the chaste nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued in vain by Apollo god of light.
This life-size marble sculpture, begun by Bernini at the age of twenty-four and executed between 1622 and 1625, has always been housed in the same villa, but originally stood on a lower and narrower base set against the wall near the stairs. Consequently anyone entering the room first saw Apollo from behind, then the fleeing nymph appeared in the process of metamorphosis: brak covers most of her body, but according to Ovid's lines, Apollo's hand can still feel her heart beating beneath it.Thus the scene ends by Daphne being transformed into a laurel tree to escape her divine aggressor.
The presence of this pagan myth in the Cardinal's villa was justified by a moral couplet composed in Latin by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII) and engraved on the cartouche on the base, which says: Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands.
In 1785, when Marcantonio IV Borghese decided to place the work in the centre of the room, Vincenzo Pacetti designed the present base by using the original pieces, adding plaster to the plinth and another cartouche bearing the Borghese eagle, sculpted by Lorenzo Cardelli. "

This is one of my favorite sculptures, I am a big fan of the Greek myths and had recently read Ovid's Metamorphosis. Just as the title implies it is full of myths that include people changing in one way or another. In the story of Daphne and Apollo she changes into that of a Laurel tree right in front of the pursuing Apollo. The artist Bernini has captured not only the grace of the transformation, but I also like the fluid movement in Daphne's hair as it turns to Laurel leaves, the wrap that is around Apollo that although made of stone seems to float on a wind that blew long ago, and the way he has carved it so that you could walk around it so many times and still see something new.

Is it time to say goodbye?

When is it time to acknowledge the death of a family tradition? My family has been going to the same lake every summer, for as long as I can remember, for a family reunion. My aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts and great uncles, cousins removed several times, second cousins...you get the idea. We all gather to eat, look at each other across the pavilion and realize we have never ever ever talked to each other in our lives.
This is what it has evolved into.
When I was little the reunions were a blast. My grandpa would arrange games that were played by everyone, especially the kids. Water balloon fights, sack races, three legged races, pinatas every year, swimming, watermelon seed spitting contests (we only had this because my aunts are wicked good at this, I suck), Frisbee games, baseball games, stuff like that was arranged every year. Now that my grandfather is older and not able to handle the arrangements, nothing gets done. I tried to make some fun stuff happen last year, but no one was interested in helping me.
So as the family reunion rolls around again this year I find that I have less than zero interest in going, and I am not the only one. Most of my great aunts and uncles don't feel like driving up for the reunion, the only one of their generation attending is my grandpa. This means most of their (great aunts and uncles) children probably will not attend. Yeah, that leaves my aunts, uncles and cousins, all of whom I see on a regular basis. Not so much a family reunion as a family get together. I feel no real need to go, add the fact that it is over an hour away and I feel even less need to go.
So the question is when do you declare a family tradition dead, and not worth carrying on as a tradition anymore? When half the people stop showing up for it. When it is no longer the joyous occasion it used to be and has turned into a hassle? When the many generations seem to just not care about getting together anymore it just doesn't seem worth it. Any thoughts?

3 Doors Down

I am not known for being the girl that seeks out new music, concerts and musical experiences and the like. If I hear something i like, fine, I know what I like when I hear it, tend to have varied taste of what I enjoy when it comes to the music that I like. The music I grew up with, the music my parents grew up with and the music my grandparents grew up with...it all appeals to me.

When I was around the end of my High School years or so the band 3 Doors Down came out. I have fond memories of driving around with their tunes blasting on the car radio and singing at the top of our lungs. Their lyrics have always reached a certain place inside of me that I rarely acknowledge and feel free enough to let it out for the few minutes it takes to belt out, sway along with or just listen to one of their songs.

So when I heard that they were coming to town, and my friend Jess (who also really enjoys them) asked if I wanted to see them I knew I had to accept or regret missing the chance to see the band that has represented not only a piece of my life, but keeps doing so by speaking my thoughts before I can realize them.

The concert was awesome. They played every song I hoped they would, including the song Kryptonite, the song that as a teenager I belted out of the car window, into the sunny summer days and forgot, briefly, all of my worries.

Plus the opening band was Tim Mahoney (sp?) So there was even a non sucky opening act!

Too Much Junks

So we are moving, and we are moving to a smaller place. This is an excellent time to go through things and get rid of anything that we no longer want/need. However, as I put things into boxes and bags to head to the Goodwill it makes me wonder why I have kept these things as long as I have. Some are sentimental, some because i might someday need whatever the object was, and some i kept just because i had no real reason to get rid of it. Well now I do, so I am going through all of my things and wondering WHY?! Why I have held on to things I didn't even realize I owned, didn't remember I kept. Why, when we have moved so much over the years did I take the time to pack it every time, move it, unpack it only to forget about it before the next thime we moved only to repack it again?!
My parents are not the worst pack rats that I have ever seen, but my mother has sentimental attachments to things, keeps things that she doesn't know what they go to- because we might miraculously discover what it belongs to one day and need it, thus creating the whatnot drawer. My father is like a squirrel or a ferret, he has little places all over the house that he puts little pockets of his collections of stuff. You will open a drawer and there are all of his old eyes glasses, another drawer holds all his old belt buckles. Well not after we are through this time.
We have gone through the ceder chest, our linen closets, my parents closets and the storage room and we are on our third car load to the Goodwill.
Although we are only moving a little way away this might be the hardest move we have made to date as far as workload.

You Know it!

Movin on Up.

So yesterday we decided to move. It was just that fast. Usually we hem and haw for about 4 months about if we should move, where we want to live, what kind of area, what kind of building..etc. But it wasn't that hard of a decision as we are only moving up a floor and down the hall this time. It is a two bedroom unit- but smaller, and with only one bathroom instead of two.

So for the next couple months we will be moving things upstairs and going through what we own and deciding if we REALLY need to keep it as the space is smaller. We do have a storage room and can store some of the stuff, but in order to get some of the stuff we want to keep into storage we need to clean the store room out of all the junk we don't want as you can barely stand in the room right now. *sigh* I hate moving.

Anyone know anyone who wants to buy the BIGGEST tool box i have ever seen filled with tools??

The Good old Days

Remember when you were little, in elementary school, and it was the last day of school? A certain feeling would come over you as you left school that day, a feeling that I have never felt since and I think only belongs to children in the years of youth before responsibilities, worry, and anxiety take over their lives. It was the feeling of freedom, because for the rest of the summer anything was possible. The world belonged to you and your friends for the summer and all you had to do was set out on your bike and discover new parts, pathways and adventures. There was no homework, no school buildings, or schedules to get in the way of the simple agenda of being a child during the summer. That was the best feeling, complete freedom to just be yourself with your friends and have three months to just be a child. It is a feeling I don't think that adults recapture enough, I don't think enough adults remember to play. They get too caught up in being adults and forget what it is like- not just what it is like to have fun, but what it was like to just enjoy life without thought, to just sit in the moment and enjoy.

I often find myself waiting..."oh i cant wait until this happens" "I cant wait until this day". Many times passing over weeks of my life, missing many enjoyable things in my rush to get to something that passes in the blink of an eye. My goal is to start enjoying smaller pieces of life, everyday so they don't pass me by, smaller moments as I am in them instead of after I have experienced them.

And I thought I had too much time on my hands.

The word of the day is...

Snarky!


Snarky -
Adjective - Any language that contains quips or comments containing sarcastic or satirical witticisms intended as blunt irony. Usually delivered in a manner that is somewhat abrupt and out of context and intended to stun and amuse. Origin: Snark="snide remark".

Snarky ( which is a blended word ( snide + remark), yea for my Anthropology of Linguistics class) has been brought to you today by the letters S-n-a-r-k-y!

Use it!
Abuse it!
Embrace your inner snarkness.