The Man I Love

                                                              Xiayin Wang - The Man I Love


    A New Jersey man has written a love letter to his wife every day for nearly 40 years. Each letter is signed with his name, followed by an infinity sign. By now there are thousands of letters, stored in boxes in their attic. What an amazing love.  Listen to this man's story here. Listen to the woman's comments about "The Man I Love".  Some loves truly are inextinguishable.

Read the story behind the George and Ira Gershwin song here.

Don't Throw It Away

ON THE ADVICE HE GAVE HIS CHILDREN:

"One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away."

Stephen Hawking To Diane Sawyer/ABC News, June 2010. 

The love we have in this world is important, awesome and unique.  We should't forget that. This sentiment is wonderfully expressed by the scientist and engineer, Stephen Hawking, in his words of wisdom to his children. Love is also humorously and uniquely expressed by the writer, John Green (below). 

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.” 
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

Where My Sweetheart Lives

ONCE a beloved asked her lover: "Friend,
You have seen many places in the world!
Now - which of all these cities was the best?
He said: "The city where my sweetheart lives!"

                  ~ Rumi

One of the security questions from Apple iTunes is "In what city did your parents meet?" That is their most romantic question. But the question Rumi asks, then answers, is even more romantic. "What city in all the world is the best?"

  

    Take no more need of travel destinations today, Valentine's Day. Answer the question,"What city is the best?" If you are lucky, then your answer cannot be found in any book. The answer is unique only to the two lovers on Valentine's Day. 

     Have a Sweet Valentine's Day!

                                                                                      "Give In To Me"

Sweets and Beauties

SONNET 12

When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow;
   And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence

   Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. 

                 ~William Shakespeare


The chimes of time remind us that that beautiful flowers, animals taking shelter from the heat, and sweets and beauties must eventually pass away and die.  Shakespeare questions this unpleasant part of life. The group I Fagiolini uses the instruments of Shakespeare's time to sing Sonnet 12. Listen to them here:

  https://soundcloud.com/doublemono/when-i-do-count-the-clock

The sonnet is performed on early instruments from the Renaissance period including: Theorbo, Harpsichord, the Lirone (a 13 string cello as played by Leonardo da Vinci) and sung by I Fagiolini.

      

    
When I behold the violet I am happy that such fragrant, sweet smelling flowers exists, however short their appearance. And those who possess great beauty are remembered, not only in the eyes of poets, but survive much deeper in our souls.

     

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