Jon Schmidt's New Video - "Game Day"

It's been two long years since seeing Jon perform this piece at a concert in Wisconsin. I check his website weekly to see when he will be back in this area. I can't wait to see him perform again. His talent and passion for his music are astonishing.

Grade School Class Picture Circa 1962......

....recently shared on Facebook by Brian O'Leary, a fellow Our Lady of the Rosary classmate.

That's me in the lower right hand corner, with the perfect hair and round face...

From the Publishers of Smith Magazine.....

....more on the subject...."Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure" by Larry Smith.

Finding brilliance in so few words....

Dharma Man - A Video by My Brother

A lovely, gentle song from my big brother in Ireland....

Dharma Man from ken walsh on Vimeo.

.....Jimmy, you so, so look like Daddy......

2010....Another Chance to Begin Anew.....

To my family, thank you for making me the luckiest person alive.

May this new year bring unimagined wonders, unbridled happiness, untold contentment and uncommon good fortune.

I love you beyond all words.

Those I Have Admired....And a Single Task...

Looking back at the myriad of women I have looked to for inspiration during my lifetime has brought me to one salient point. It is time to be finished with waiting to become someone other than myself. End of story.

Here then, were my heroes.....

Joan Marlowe, my dancing school teacher...no photo of Miss Joan, only memories...



The older girls in my Irish Dance classes...I strove to match their amazingly complicated steps....



Sister Miriam Joseph, 7Th grade teacher...incredibly beautiful, the epitome of smooth....no photo available....nor necessary....



Pattie Boyd, girlfriend of Beatle George Harrison, cool, lovely, George's girlfriend....no more need be said...



Betty Smith, author of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"...I tried to fashion stories as she did...



Joni Mitchell....sigh...was, and is, an enormous part of my overall psyche...I adore her and cherish how she is a constant in my heart and mind...



Mary Cassatt, artist, Impressionist, free spirit...while attending the Art Students League in Manhattan I once believed I might channel her talent on those most creative of days...



Joan Marlowe, Part Two...while teaching dance in the South Bronx, thought surely that I would perish if not able to follow in Joan's path of choreographing musicals...did not choreograph, nor did I perish....



Elizabeth Berg, fellow Chicagoan, novelist extraordinaire...she writes me....not about me...rather writes ME...



Amy Krouse Rosenthal, writer, astonishing thinker, "The Beckoning of Lovely" muse....she puts my thoughts, my words, on paper in ways I have not...



Lastly, Beatrice Potter, illustrator, writer, ultimately independent woman when independence seemed improbable..



So then, my list....much considered, much examined. Time to allow the list to take wings. Time to find inspiration within.

This years sole task begins.....

Happy Birthday Bill!!!

The Merriest Christmas To All!!

My love to each of you with hope for good fortune, good health and unanticipated joy this Christmas Season. I will love all of you always.....

My Favorite Christmas Songs for 2009

"Fum Fum Fum", a traditional Catalan Christmas Carol.....



"Pat-A-Pan", a French Christmas Carol.......

A Christmas Blog...by Tess, Mollie & Me

Follow our holiday crafts, projects, and exciting happenings blog....25 Days Till Christmas.....created by Tess...as we make the most of this Christmas Season.

Our first project day, featuring our made from scratch Advent Calendar, is up and running....