800th Post.
Showing posts with label Anniversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anniversary. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Super Dry - Park View Hotel / Alexandria (Sat 17 Mar 2012)
Cheers to 32 years.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
What I think about when I think by the side of the River Charles - Boston (Mon 22 Aug 2011)
On a whim, I recently bought myself a copy of Haruki Murakami's (*) book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (*). As I read it, I was quite taken by the following passage ..
It's been 10 years since I lived in Cambridge [Boston]. When I saw the Charles River again, a desire to run swept over me. Generally, unless some change takes place, rivers always look the same, and the Charles River in particular looked totally unchanged. Time had passed, students had come and gone, I'd aged ten years, and there'd literally been a lot of water under the bridge. But the river has remained unaltered. The water still flows swiftly, and silently, toward Boston Harbour. The water soaks the shoreline, making the grasses grow thick [..]I sat beside the River Charles. It was late afternoon on the last day of our 4 days in Boston. We had arrived on the Friday from a week in New York. Here are a few photos from my time sitting by the River Charles.
Maybe because it's the home of the Boston Marathon, Cambridge is full of runners. The jogging path along the Charles goes on forever, and if you wanted to you could run for hours. The problem is, it's used by cyclists, so you have to watch out for speeding bikes whizzing past from behind. At various places, too, there are cracks in the pavement you have to make sure you don't trip over, and a couple of long traffic signals you can get stuck at, which can put a kink in your run. Otherwise, it's a wonderful jogging run.
We had already been away for a day short of 4 weeks and it would be another 3 weeks before arriving back home. I was enjoying the trip but was thinking a lot about all the changes that had been occurring in my life - I was without a car and I had moved back to Kirrawee while I waited for my house, I had never really planned or contemplated to live in, to become available while I was away. Tried not to think about these things too much from a far, as I had no control over them. Instead, I just sat myself down on a seat bench by the River Charles and tried to think of other things.
I sat there in the beautiful afternoon sun, I thought of many things. I thought of all the other times I had been to Boston, what took me there and what I did while I was there. I also tried to remember who I was and what I was doing in my life around the time of each trip.
September and October 1988 was the first trip, and it would be just under a year before I would meet Jenny for the first time.
I reflected on the two years since Jenny had left us and all the things that happened since that time. In some ways, it was just sitting there by the River Charles, that I finally stopped and had a chance to clear my thoughts and to really think about things.
I had really kept myself busy and distracted since Jenny's passing (*) - it was one way of coping with the enormity of Jenny's loss. In some ways, I was starting to forget things - who I was, the things that we had done and what I thought I was going to do with my life.
As I sat there by the River Charles, I watched the walkers, runners and bicycle riders go past. Their long shadows, created by the late afternoon sun, are what struck me and this is what kept me interested as I captured these photos. I wondered who these people were, what had brought them to Boston and whether one of them was the future creator of the next social media craze.
A couple of rowers set off from near where I sat and I wondered if they were the Winklevii (*) of Facebook fame (*).
As I sat there I could see tiny sail boats, standup paddle boards and wind surfers. One wind surfer was fairly inexperienced and a more experienced wind surfer went to his aid, if only to provide advice and moral support, in the knowledge of just being there.
The small sailing boats were from MIT, which is just across the River, and it was only when I saw through the transparent sails, that I realised that in reverse, MIT, spells TIM, my late Brother's name - so I thought about him for a little while. He had been to Boston a few times also, so I thought about all the same things for Tim. Maybe he had sat here and pondered some of the same things, 25 years earlier? I also wondered why I had never made the MIT to TIM connection. Or thinking about it now, I think I may have thought about it a long time ago, but maybe I had forgotten remembering the connection.
Have been to Boston four times prior to this trip and I have visited it on each of my trips to the USA. The last time was just over 17 years earlier in April 1994, where I had hoped I might be able to run the Boston Marathon (*).
Now as I sit here and think about the things I thought about by the River Charles in Boston that late afternoon on Mon 22 Aug 2011, I can now see where Haruki Murakami's (*) ran along the side of the same river on the very path he captured in words above and I have captured in the photos on this page. I also now have an appreciation and can imagine where he found part of the inspiration to write What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (*), which I am now reading and enjoying.
That will do for now. Just leave it here.
A bit of ramble to mark my 700th Post here.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Yarn Cart (1 of 2) - Agata Olek - 9th Ave / New York (Wed 17 Aug 2011)
This was the second Agata Olek (*) yarn cart (*) we had come across. We spotted it just near the Chelsea Markets on the way to the High Line Elevated Park (*). The first yarn cart was spotted and photographed on the previous Friday (*) at the Broadway entrance to Wall Street. It will appear here (*). Also have a photo of a yarn bicycle (*) which will also appear here (*).
Today, virtually, I found the very same yarn cart (*) doing the rounds of the East Village, starting from Sat 20 Aug 2011 (*) and still going around on Thu 15 Sep 2011 (*).
Was able to make the connection through the EV GRIEVE blog (*) which was found writing my Sun 02 Oct 2011 post (*).
I had wondered who had created the yarned objects (*) we had spotted at various locations during our week in New York. It was great to make the connection.
Pretty amazed to be have made the connection both physically and virtually. One could say this is the beauty of both travel and the Internet, at least in my mind.
A nice way to mark my 600th post I think.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Going out on a Limb - Tree of Life Review - Paul Byrne (Sat 02 Jul 2011)
This is my Life - just completely blown away by this Movie.
The imagery of Water and Trees. The silent suffering and subsequent loss of a son and brother, a Brother's searching and wandering, the amazing Jessica Chastain - her inner and outer beauty as Mrs O'Brien - her tragic loss, the one a Mother should never have to bear.
Not for everyone and I would not recommend it, unless you have some kind of empathy towards it's themes, until after reading Paul Byrnes review above (it helped me see it in a different way, compared to if I had not read the review).
Audiences will be polarised. During my screening yesterday afternoon, one person stormed out loudly within the first 30 minutes, while most appaulded at the end (the only time I have witnessed this, based on my experience of watching many movies at the Dendy since Jenny left us two years ago). The audience was definitely an older one compared to the usual Dendy audience and I was probably the youngest one there.
Will definitely go again as I fell asleep in a couple of parts (exceptional tired from all the training and early hours commuting), besides I just want to take it all in again.
[Postscript: My 500th Post.]
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Jenny and Geoff / 30th April 2000
Thursday, July 1, 2010
30 June 2010 - Jenny's Anniversary
Jo and I would like to thank everyone for last nights little ceremony under the Anzac Bridge as we finished our dragon boat training session. It was a complete surprise and we were very touched - in fact a little overwhelmed.
We also thank you for your support, words, cards and the beautiful necklace that was made for Jo, which she is wearing today.
Anniversaries are times to celebrate, reflect, and to reaffirm your values and goals. Today is a day we do this with Jenny in our thoughts and heart. She inspires and guides us from above.
Thanks again.
Love .. Geoff and Jo x-x
Jo - St George Private Hospital - Wed 30 Jun 2010 (picasa)
Anzac Bridge - Wed 30 Jun 2010 (picasa)
Jo, Jenny and Geoff - Flowers from PD's - St George Private Hospital - Wed 12 Mar 2008 (picasa)
Jenny and Geoff - Cape Leveque Sunset - Wed 09 May 2001 - (picasa)
Jo and Jenny - Chamiox - Sep 2005 - (picasa)
Jenny - Coffs Harbour Xmas 2006 - Mon 25 Dec 2006 (picasa)
St George Private Hospital ICU Waiting Area - 9:16am Wed 30 Jun 2010 - (picasa)
Jenny - Lord Howe Island/Mt Gower - Oct 2001 (picasa)
We also thank you for your support, words, cards and the beautiful necklace that was made for Jo, which she is wearing today.
Anniversaries are times to celebrate, reflect, and to reaffirm your values and goals. Today is a day we do this with Jenny in our thoughts and heart. She inspires and guides us from above.
Thanks again.
Love .. Geoff and Jo x-x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)