The Boomer Muse
The Art of Window Shopping
If you're a regular reader, you know of my passion for photographing windows, doors and reflective surfaces. Window shopping in New York is the holy trinity for me.
The quintessential New Yorker carries a bag in one hand and a cell phone in the other plowing their way through crowds but stopping for a moment if something catches their eye.
The quintessential New Yorker carries a bag in one hand and a cell phone in the other plowing their way through crowds but stopping for a moment if something catches their eye.
This Is January in New York?
A balmy Tuesday in New York was warm enough for sunbathing and al fresco dining. No one, especially the tourists minded the abnormal weather for the end of January. New Yorkers take everything in stride. From Soho...
to midtown...
to uptown...
a day made for people watching and... to be continued.
to midtown...
to uptown...
a day made for people watching and... to be continued.
Blink And It's Gone
Photo quote de jour "Wordless Wednesday".
Improvised New Life
Happy Chinese New Year! It's always celebrated on the lunar new moon. As a practitioner of the ancient art of feng shui, I respect and follow many of the traditions. Whether you celebrate or not, the new moon is a time of new beginnings in every culture.
To celebrate new beginnings, I'm delighted to share our first guest post by a young Chinese artist and poet Yun Yi. She's an avid blogger and her poetic meditations on the art of one of my favorite artists Paul Klee. is inspiring.
To celebrate new beginnings, I'm delighted to share our first guest post by a young Chinese artist and poet Yun Yi. She's an avid blogger and her poetic meditations on the art of one of my favorite artists Paul Klee. is inspiring.
Yun Yi
I am an artist by profession, a thinker by nature, a poet by heart.
Originally come from China, living in U.S. for over 16 years, I started writing English poems several years ago. Contrary to my realistic art style, I developed a “hobby” to break the realism in my poems, a strong desire to transform my creativity from “visible reality” into “invisible abstraction”. However I still feel like doing art in my poetry - I make “paintings” by words, trying to capture an imaginary “landscape” which consists of both my “intuition” and “reflection”. This is how I found paintings of Paul Klee inspiring - his geometrical forms and playful compositions instantly disconnected me from the material world, “elevated” me into a place that is completely free from the boundary of reality.
Abstract - reading Paul Klee #19
Improvised New Life
In a brief moment of
absent-mindedness
a new life was improvised
as some tree-shaped figures
soon transformed
into musical notes
joyfully
departed from
their unseeded
womb
Google + For Dummies +
Just when you think you've got a handle on social media, another twist rears their Cerberus heads. I'm on Facebook and questioned whether I needed Google +. Maybe you've thought the same? A publicist from Wiley sent me Google + for Dummies by Jesse Stay, so being a good sport, signed up and felt confident having a book to guide me step by step.
Being a visual learner, I liked having screenshots and illustrations galore. Having many choices and more filters for privacy than Facebook is an attractive feature Google +. Let's face it, Google is the largest and best search engine, it makes sense to at least have some presence on Google + if you are in business or a blogger. With Google+ there are friendly sounding places like circles and hangouts. I added Jesse to my circle or as they say, circled him. Then, my brain shorted. TMI. I had to take a break. The book is as clear as humanly possible and I'll be referring to it as needed.
Being intuitive, I went back without any instruction and with a few clicks on the clean interface, I found myself in the Dalai Lama circle and found this quote from him: There is a saying in Tibetan that “at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar.” The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come from wealth, but from setting limits to one’s desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction.
Thank-you His Holiness and thank-you Jesse, I'll be seeing both of you again soon. And yes, I will be setting limits to my desires. If you join Google + please be aware when anyone Googles you, your Google+ profile will pop up first.
Google + for Dummies by Jesse Stay (@Jesse on Twitter)
I'm eager to read a riveting new novel. Any suggestions?
Being a visual learner, I liked having screenshots and illustrations galore. Having many choices and more filters for privacy than Facebook is an attractive feature Google +. Let's face it, Google is the largest and best search engine, it makes sense to at least have some presence on Google + if you are in business or a blogger. With Google+ there are friendly sounding places like circles and hangouts. I added Jesse to my circle or as they say, circled him. Then, my brain shorted. TMI. I had to take a break. The book is as clear as humanly possible and I'll be referring to it as needed.
Being intuitive, I went back without any instruction and with a few clicks on the clean interface, I found myself in the Dalai Lama circle and found this quote from him: There is a saying in Tibetan that “at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar.” The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come from wealth, but from setting limits to one’s desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction.
Thank-you His Holiness and thank-you Jesse, I'll be seeing both of you again soon. And yes, I will be setting limits to my desires. If you join Google + please be aware when anyone Googles you, your Google+ profile will pop up first.
Google + for Dummies by Jesse Stay (@Jesse on Twitter)
I'm eager to read a riveting new novel. Any suggestions?
The Box Of Earth and Sky
Random photo quote de jour week continues except the photo that popped up didn't have a quote. This image reminded me of what the guru Baba Hari Dass said in a Q & A from his The Yellow Book. The tattered remains of a copy from 1974 has given me much solace over the years. The spine is broken and individual pages pop out like loose playing cards along with their wisdom. Babaji was my guru until I met Amma but he is one of a few remaining true gurus alive on the planet today.
Q: Did you start your life like us with lots of demands, and what spurred you to give it up?
A: When I was six or seven, I would feel I was inside a box of earth and sky, and I would weep.Once I asked my mother: "Take me out of this box of earth and sky."
She said, "I can't."
Then I said, "I'm going."
A: When I was six or seven, I would feel I was inside a box of earth and sky, and I would weep.Once I asked my mother: "Take me out of this box of earth and sky."
She said, "I can't."
Then I said, "I'm going."
Baba Hari Dass (Punjabi: ਬਾਬਾ ਹਰੀਦਾਸ) was born in 1923 near Almora, India. He is a silent monk and guru who was classically trained in the tradition of Ashtanga Yoga since the age of eight. He has maintained a continual vow of silence since 1952. He and his teachings have inspired the Mount Madonna Center and Mount Madonna Institute near Santa Cruz, California, The Salt Spring Centre in British Columbia and the Sri Ram Ashram in Haridwar, India. Baba Hari Dass was initiated into the Vairagi Vaishnava order in 1942 by Baba Raghubar Dassji Maharaj, a renunciate and Sanskrit scholar.
Baba Hari Dass first came to the attention of the West in the book by Baba Ram Dass, Be Here Now. Ram Dass' Guru, Maharaj-ji, AKA Neem Karoli Baba, instructed Ram Dass to receive teachings from Baba Hari Dass, who taught Ram Dass Ashtanga Yoga using only a chalkboard.n the wisdom of yoga. ntained a continual vow of silence since
1952. Residing in California since 1971, Babaji's life is dedicated
to passing on the wisdom of yoga.
The Dance of Success
Random photo quote jour week continues...
There is more than meets the eye in this image about the dance of success.
What's Wrong With Money?
Update: customer support assures me everything is working normally with subscriber emails and suggesting anyone missing notifications to check their spam folder. If you are still experiencing no Boomer Muse emails, please email me layla@laylamorganwilde.com.
Random repurposed posts continue... with this one: as valid as ever. What's wrong with money?
Spring Preview
Dearest subscriber,
Please accept my apologies for the technical glitch via my blog host/server Godaddy. Only some subscribers are receiving The Boomer Muse by email. The rest, maybe yours? are lost in the ethers of cyberdom. Nothing remains lost forever and order will be restored soon or someone will be moving their business elsewhere. Any suggestions?
Now back to our normally scheduled Peace, Love & Insights. Our week of repurposed by random photo quote de jours continues with a spring preview and this cheery song/video
This it feels like eons ago, but we'll have a repeat performance for real in about 12 weeks. Ah, bless the magic of nature and tech gurus.
Please accept my apologies for the technical glitch via my blog host/server Godaddy. Only some subscribers are receiving The Boomer Muse by email. The rest, maybe yours? are lost in the ethers of cyberdom. Nothing remains lost forever and order will be restored soon or someone will be moving their business elsewhere. Any suggestions?
Now back to our normally scheduled Peace, Love & Insights. Our week of repurposed by random photo quote de jours continues with a spring preview and this cheery song/video
Repurposed: Life, Art & ?
Quote de jour
"In every artist's development the germ of the later work is always found in the earlier..."
~Edward Hopper
My favorite word these days is: repurposed; making new things out of old things, using things differently or for different purposes. This week, we'll be repurposing some photo quote jours from our archives randomly, like picking a card from a fortune teller. We went way back for this really old one...
Here are some other ways to repurpose:
Emptying instead of accumulating.
When shopping, ask if you want it or need it.
Listen instead of blabbering.
Breathe instead of freaking out.
Say, "I'll find time" instead of, "I have no time."
Say, no if it feels wrong.
Say, yes if your soul requires it.
What might you repurpose this week?
Life Would be Perfect if I Lived In That House Etc.
Reading is like riding a bicycle isn't it? I mean after not doing it for a long time... posting regular book reviews that is. I haven't set foot in the library in weeks and my reading pile is more mole than mountain.
My guilty pleasure is HGTV especially House Hunters and I'm no stranger to open houses locally or while on vacation. Meghan Daum, in her saucy (perfectly titled) memoir: Life Would be Perfect if I Lived In That House. I immediately related to the quest for perfect real estate, the difference between houses and homes, the endless moves except I didn't up and move from a coveted New York apartment to a farm in Nebraska and on to L.A. on a whim but Ms. Daum did. All in a quest to make sense of her life and find wholeness. I won't tell you if she found it, but you can find out more at her website Meghan Daum one of the more interesting writer websites.
The publicist for Wiley Book sent me a few new how-to books for baby boomers. I'm a baby boomer and I was curious to see how my techno-dodo brain comprehended material like The Facebook Guide For People Over 50 by veteran tech writer Paul McFedries or iPad For The Older and Wiser by Sean McManus. Considering I spend an obscene amount of time on Facebook, there is much I don't know.
For a person new to Facebook, this book lays it out like picnic lunch, all neat and organized. He writes clearly and a fearful 50-someone wading into Facebook waters for the first time will do swimmingly. But I had a question for Paul and he invited me to friend him (that's what he said in the book) so I did. I posted my question on his book page (with a whopping 20 fans/friends) and the question disappeared. Only posts by him appeared. Oops, I must still need some education re: FB. Maybe you'll have better luck with Paul The Facebook Guide For People Over 50. Let me know if you do. I fared better with iPad For the Older and Wiser.
While tech savvy in some areas, I'm not an early adopter of technology. I have resisted e-readers, tablets or iPads (aren't tablets something to ingest, like Xanax?) until now. After skimming through the heavily illustrated iPad For The Older and Wiser I changed my mind. Thoughts like I can do this, this is interesting, oh oh, this is getting complicated, okay I'm sold but not today. One of these days, I will get a tablet and it will be an iPad and I will be happy to have this book. If you're ready now, be wise and buy a copy at Amazon
My guilty pleasure is HGTV especially House Hunters and I'm no stranger to open houses locally or while on vacation. Meghan Daum, in her saucy (perfectly titled) memoir: Life Would be Perfect if I Lived In That House. I immediately related to the quest for perfect real estate, the difference between houses and homes, the endless moves except I didn't up and move from a coveted New York apartment to a farm in Nebraska and on to L.A. on a whim but Ms. Daum did. All in a quest to make sense of her life and find wholeness. I won't tell you if she found it, but you can find out more at her website Meghan Daum one of the more interesting writer websites.
The publicist for Wiley Book sent me a few new how-to books for baby boomers. I'm a baby boomer and I was curious to see how my techno-dodo brain comprehended material like The Facebook Guide For People Over 50 by veteran tech writer Paul McFedries or iPad For The Older and Wiser by Sean McManus. Considering I spend an obscene amount of time on Facebook, there is much I don't know.
For a person new to Facebook, this book lays it out like picnic lunch, all neat and organized. He writes clearly and a fearful 50-someone wading into Facebook waters for the first time will do swimmingly. But I had a question for Paul and he invited me to friend him (that's what he said in the book) so I did. I posted my question on his book page (with a whopping 20 fans/friends) and the question disappeared. Only posts by him appeared. Oops, I must still need some education re: FB. Maybe you'll have better luck with Paul The Facebook Guide For People Over 50. Let me know if you do. I fared better with iPad For the Older and Wiser.
While tech savvy in some areas, I'm not an early adopter of technology. I have resisted e-readers, tablets or iPads (aren't tablets something to ingest, like Xanax?) until now. After skimming through the heavily illustrated iPad For The Older and Wiser I changed my mind. Thoughts like I can do this, this is interesting, oh oh, this is getting complicated, okay I'm sold but not today. One of these days, I will get a tablet and it will be an iPad and I will be happy to have this book. If you're ready now, be wise and buy a copy at Amazon
Walking Your Way To Inner Peace
The best thing about no snow this winter in New York is being able to walk the labyrinth near me. If you don't have a labyrinth, just focus on walking one step at a time, one breath at a time, cell phone turned off... you might be surprised to notice what you notice when you slow down. Have a great weekend!
NYC Garbage In, Art Out
Driving in the city, late, stuck behind a garbage truck, cabs blaring; nothing to do but wait or create art.
Roses In January
Roses in January? Why not?
Photo quote de jour
Photo quote de jour
The Best Advice Today.
I've been in the business of dispensing advice of all kinds for half my life. It comes easily to me. A little too easily and sometimes it's another matter when I'm on the receiving end. It can feel like the sharp whack of a Zen master's stick. It smarts momentarily but it's a small price for a wake up call.
Photo quote de jour (with apologies to Coleridge)
Photo quote de jour (with apologies to Coleridge)
The Road Less Travelled
This weekend I enjoyed breakfast outdoors. A year ago today was the scene pictured below. What a difference a year makes and what a difference each of us can make when we take the road less traveled.
Photo quote de jour
Photo quote de jour
Books To Crow About
Someone once said: never complain never explain, so I won't. I've been remiss with my Sunday reviews but will return next week will some semblance of normalcy.
I haven't been reading much more than a few short stories and The New Yorker, but when I'm super stressed I love reading children's picture books. So regressive. So relaxing. Give it a go. In lieu of my usual melange, I'm posting a review from my other blog today about the true friendship between a cat and a crow which dovetails with my earlier post on crows My cat Merlin feels the same way I do about this book
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Windows On Your World
The windows on your world begin with you. We are always filtering, deflecting and reflecting our own reality.
Photo quote de jour
When Inside is Better than Outside
Another door today. I have thing for photographing portals: doors, windows, holes of all kinds. They speak of transition, of going through one dimension into another. I don't really mean when inside is better than outside something magical will happen. But it might. Everything we do like getting out of bed in the morning, begins with a thought inside. Oh no another day. I'm so tired. My back aches. What a beautiful day. I'm alive. Something wonderful is going happen today. One thought can change your day from the inside out.
