In Memoriam...

Wow. It must be the "August"ness of it all. That would explain why I have neglected to update this blog in 10 days. To be fair, I have had a crazy 10 days. It's been more than I want to place in the blog, but I'll touch base on some of them, in one of my favorite tools - the list. Here are just some of the things that I have dealt with or experienced in the last 10 days since my last update.

▪ I heard and then watched the beach modular home directly across from mine explode and the burst into a flaming fireball.
▪ I entertained several different groups of friends in two different states and had a blast
▪ I heard someone smashing the driver side window of someone's car at 3:45 in the morning.
▪ Sold one of my favorite large-scale paintings
▪ Consumed crab ravioli with lobster cream sauce in one of my favorite Italian restaurants
▪ The ice-maker stopped working a second time covering the kitchen floor with an inch of flesh numbingly cold water
▪ I was clunked on the side of my head by the heavy blade of a fast moving ceiling fan while standing on a ladder
▪ Sold one of my favorite large-scale paintings
▪ Was contacted by a nationally celebrated talk radio personality about commissioning a portrait
▪ Watched Hitchcock's "Torn Curtain" starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews from 1966
▪ Visited the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia which was teeming with screaming, pushy, sweaty, hyper-active children from all walks of life.
▪ Made the perfect Bean Dip and Mango Guacamole
▪ Became slightly addicted to Bravo's "Project Runway"

Now, I learned today of Mike Douglas's death at the age of 81. I remember his show on television when I was growing up. He celebrity was super-huge then and being a guest in his show was quite a good PR move. One of the things that I remember and that I thought was hip was the way in which he would have different celebrities host his show for a week. One great team was John Lennon and Yoko Ono. How cool is that, huh? Huh?



In Memoriam...
Mike Douglas
Aug. 11, 1925 - Aug. 11, 2006

He died on his birthday. I have always found that fascinating. I don't know who told me and I have no idea how true it is, but I was once told that often people die within three months surrounding their birthday - usually in the month preceding or directly following the date. Though that was not the case of my father ( birthday in April, died in September) it was the case for my mother (B: September - D: August). In any event, there is something very Zen to me about the phenomena of people dying on the day they were born