corner view..."street photography"

This weeks corner view is street photography, so I decided to dig up some old photos from past travels and share with you guys... enjoy and stop by Jane's for more corner views.

street corner, Mexico 1990

near the Opera House, Armenia 2006

country road, Armenia 2006

busy Paris, 2002

a corner view from my window, Rome 1995

enjoy hopping around corner views today :)


love...peace...joy...

who we are today...

Now I know most of you have thought about this too, must have crossed your mind at one point or another in your lives. Perhaps something small on a given day makes you think of someone in your past, or a situation you are faced with brings back memories of people that have impacted your life in some way. An old friend, someone you loved, an experience you had a long time ago.... a kind word from a loved one, a good bit of advice someone gave you, an acquaintance who is long gone or even a stranger you exchanged some words with....people who have touched your heart or spoke to your soul... some who hold a special place in your heart...

When we do think back and reflect, we see that every one of those people who have come and gone, or are still part of our lives, who we were fortunate to find or come in contact with... all hold a deep connection in our hearts. Some were important stepping stones to the person we are today. And we realize that most of these people, we were meant to cross paths with in order to grow, to learn, to laugh, to cry, to feel, to experience, to hurt, to love, to make us think, to open our eyes.... in other words to create the layers that make up the whole person we are...

This is an ongoing process of this thing called life... it is not over yet by any means, we will still meet people who will touch us, show us something new to discover, share words still not spoken, make us feel things not felt yet.... And our heart will grow ever more to hold more memories, our souls will get deeper, our wisdom stronger.... as the saying goes... "we live and learn"... till the day we close our eyes forever...

We honor those long gone who have touched us, and meant so much to us by thinking of them, by remembering the things we've learned and felt through them, but what of the people that are still with us, or the ones we've lost contact with. I think if any one person has made an impact in our lives, or holds that special place in our hearts... they need to know that in some small way they still live in us, with us, through us. We should tell them.... perhaps today they need to hear it...they need to know that they are special to someone out there, that they put a small brick in the foundation of someones life.... tell them, think of them, thank them, honor them....

So, here's to all that is yet to come, to all the hearts and souls that will touch us and be touched by us.... all that still remains to be learned and seen, to be felt and experienced...all still to look forward to...


love...peace...joy...

if i had a time machine...

I had a very interesting conversation with the boys some time ago... about who we would want to meet if we had a time machine and could go back in time. They had some interesting input on the subject... Arman, my oldest wants to meet Bob Marley, he loves the music that the man put out. Robert was interesting in meeting Bill Gates when he was a kid...he thought that would be "cool" as he put it...
So, that got me thinking about who I would want to meet from the past and have a conversation with. Here is a short list of people that came to mind...

First person I would go see is my maternal great grandmother, I would love to give her a piece of my mind for abandoning her three little children during the Armenian Genocide, after their father was killed. She ran off with a British soldier just to save her own ass... excuse my French... I mean a mother doesn't do that, so yes I'm pretty sore about that. Actually my father is writing a book about this, so far it's amazing and wow I had no idea my dad had it in him to write so well...anyways I'll let you guys know how that turns out.

Others from the past that I think would be pretty cool to meet would be, Mesrop Mashtots he wrote the Armenian alphabet. I'd love to exchange a few words with Charlie Chaplin, I think he was pretty brilliant. Maybe have a drink or two with Modigliani, go see Beethoven perform. Maybe sit in during one of Plato's philosophical conversations... go get a manicure with Marilyn Manroe, how cool would that be. And I would also like to meet Bob Marley.

I'm sure I could think of so many more amazing people that I'd love to meet, but these are just the few off the top of my head.... So, who would you guys want to meet...tell us will you :)

Have a great day you guys...


love...peace...joy...

corner view..wisdom from an elder..

Well last week I had a post about my paternal grandfather...and for this week's corner view I would like to share that with you guys... It's very appropriate I think :)
here it is

enjoy visiting other corner views Jane has a whole list..




love...peace...joy...

security...

I've been contemplating about this post, wondering if I should write it or not. It's a touchy subject, most people don't like talking about it with others, it's the sort of thing that you discuss with close family, if that...But I have shared many deep and intimate issues with all of you, so perhaps this is something that needs to be covered as well...as this too is a part of the path I find myself on right now...

Most of you know from previous posts, about our shop, and I may have mentioned on several occasions that business has been on a steady decline for a couple of years now. This is mostly why I decided to get my culinary degree and possibly do something different. My husband used to think that the industry is slowly dying and it was time to venture out into a different one. Well since his death, now seven months ago.. things have been going worse at the shop, I've tried with many failed attempts to keep it afloat, but it would seem that it's a very heavy, fast sinking ship. I haven't given up on it yet, he invested so much of his life in this place and I want to do all I can to keep it going, even if it means getting into more and more dept, I owe him and our hard working employees that much... So, we'll see..I have a few more projects to give the business a new life with and I hope these wont fail miserably as the others did.

Let me get to my point here without putting any of you to sleep... What I want to talk about here today is the subject of money, of possibly better and smarter thinking about your future and the future of your loved ones. Now, mind you we didn't throw money on senseless things nor did we save, the business needed a constant reinvestment of our funds and we worked hard to establish something that could grow and be our security blanket for our future and our children's future as well...not a very smart strategy I know...but hey that was us and to a certain extent we had a pretty modest yet comfortable life...But life as it seems is never safe, there are no guarantees, none of us really have a secure future if you think about it... But I think there is one sure way we can at least do something for our families that may give them some sort of a security blanket in the future...after we are gone... If you don't already have life insurance, please get it now, as soon as possible, it is probably the best investment you can make in your life...
Now..I know what you are thinking.... yes...no amount of money can replace your loved one, but let me tell you, what is worse than grieving for the loss of someone so important in your life, is going through this grief with the stress and burden of financial hardship. It makes for a very difficult situation... Now I'm not writing this so you can worry about me, or feel sorry or pity me. That is not me, I refuse to be pitied or to feel weak, nor would I ever give up hope. I have an amazing family that supports me in every way possible, and I do have faith in myself, I know that I will get through this as well, and as my husband used to say... this too shall pass...I just want you guys to think about it, ask yourselves this question..."If I'm gone tomorrow, how will my family live, are they secure enough to at least get through the hard times?".... Just something to think about...

On that note, today I invested in my children's future and the future of their children... Life is not safe, we don't know what awaits us tomorrow or the next day... So, yes..we live each day as if it's our last, we love fully, laugh a lot and give joy to our loved ones...and in the process we also need to give them a warm blanket for when they will need it most.... We live and learn, and hopefully correct the mistakes we've made in the years past...


love...peace...and joy...

a life worth laughing about...

I found myself thinking of my paternal grandfather the other day, what a happy, full of life kind of man he was... Actually I have been very fortunate to have had both sets of my grandparents around growing up, all beautiful people...so much I have learned from them...

For some reason my thoughts took me back to the day he passed away many years ago, I was in my teens back then. What I remember most about that day, as we rushed over there after receiving a phone call from my grandmother that morning saying that he had flown away... was all the happy memories we shared and the amount of laughing we did that day. As a young girl I thought it very strange... that having had just lost a man we all loved so much, a man who had given us so much joy throughout our lives... we should be sad and hurting.... But instead as we sat there for hours that day with family around, and with all the tears we shed..we laughed more that day then on so many happier occasions... We remembered his happy character, and all the funny things he did just to make us all laugh.... He was a very kind man, loving, patient, loved animals, he was a Veterinarian, he also had an amazing talent with building things out of metal. The sound of him working in his shed, as he pounded the hot metal into shapes still rings in my ears and gives me that warm feeling you get with certain memories from your childhood. He was also very much in love with my grandmother...who was a very free spirited woman that loved to sing and when she smiled with her round, pink cheeks it brightened my grandfathers face.... Perhaps that is where we learn how to love, when we see it at our young age in it's raw form.... and there is much we learn as children by observing our surroundings...

I think young souls benefit so much from spending time with the older generation, their stories and experiences shared are life long lessons that stay with us in our hearts. Each memory I think back on touches my soul and the love that's there is so solid. All our children should be as lucky to have that sweet time with their grandparents, it really does enrich our lives...

Now, as an adult when I think back to that day, I understand more than ever why we laughed so much even though our hearts were in pain.... This man had seen much sorrow and pain in his life, lost family at a young age during the Armenian Genocide, had gone through much hardship in his adult life, but still smiled and laughed every opportunity he had...and also brought much joy to everyone around him. That was him... it was the whole of his life... that is what he had left us with...
A simple man, yet in our eyes and hearts a man of greatness... After all isn't that how we all want to be remembered? We should strive to live this way, give joy and love to others as well as find it within ourselves... I would consider myself very lucky if on the day I fly away...my family will have so much to laugh about.
As hard as things have been, loosing my husband, especially with the circumstances...him being so young and the illness that consumed him in the end... with all the pain we feel, we have laughed a lot still, much happiness was left behind by him too. In his very short life, he was able to do that which many people fail at in their entire lives. He captured many hearts with his love for all things and the joy he spread will live on in so many souls....

A life worth living and in the end worth laughing about...

Spread love and joy...

corner view "sweets"..

This weeks corner view is "sweets".... Well...for a person with a major sweet tooth and who loves to bake just to have that smell all over the house...it's kind of hard to narrow it down to just one or two favorites.. but nothing comes close to a warm, gooey, melt in your mouth feel of a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie.... hot out of the oven...mmmmm
It's the ultimate comfort sweet for me.

Now I'm not a big candy person, but there is something I just have to have when I get the craving for, especially at the movies, and that's Red Vines ( a licorice string), it's absolute junk I know but I just love the taste and its chewiness...gotta have it...

Stop by Jane's for more corner views... enjoy!


love...peace...joy...

the unstable path...

This ever changing path I'm walking, this journey that lays ahead is proving to be more and more challenging. It has so far been the most difficult part of my life, it has been the greatest test of my strength and abilities. And as hard as I try most of the time with the greatest of efforts to stay on course and keep my head above water... I still find myself falling harder and deeper at times.

Now, I've accepted the fact that this is really not a simple problem for which there are a few simple solutions that I can apply to and resolve. There are several aspects and challenges that require my attention and strength.... There is the shop, which has been on a slow decline for the past three years and as much as I want to devote all my time and efforts to reinventing and rebuilding business.. for the time being I feel crippled and unable to do all I can to keep it afloat. When your heart is bleeding and you are not a complete person it's very difficult to put your best foot forward, as hard as you might try... My attention is also very much needed in helping the boys through this journey as well, my 13 year old is a very sensitive child and needs allot of care and one on one time to which I always give my full attention. My 16 year old is growing fast, is starting to venture out on his own a bit more, and as much as I want him to enjoy life and all the experiences that he needs to go through at this age... It also worries me...as this is an age where trouble can happen, especially when he also is in a very vulnerable state. There is allot of hurt and anger deep down and I don't want that to be the cause of him taking the wrong path along the way.

I'm doing my best to handle all that is on my "plate" at this time and try to do it with love and a positive outlook. And yes... in a way all these things keep my mind occupied and off of all the pain inside. The little creative things I try to do with the little time that I have during the day...with the blog and the 365 Flickr group, as well as keeping up with friends on Facebook....is also a great way of keeping myself "busy"... But I wonder if all this keeping busy and occupied thing is really a good thing, let me explain...

You keep your mind saturated all day with the little and big things that require your attention, just to not deal with the emotional storm that's brewing deep down...and this keeps you going most of the day, and at night you still stay busy till the very moment your eyes give in, because you're just so tired of crying yourself to sleep each night... And days give into nights and weeks pass... as you start feeling good about yourself, and think that you may actually have a hold on this situation and perhaps have a false sense of control... You have yet another meltdown... where you find yourself weeping in the car in front of you kids, on the way home from a family night at the movies...because that reminds you of how this was his favorite thing to do....
Or you completely fall apart at a friends wedding, the happiest day of their lives...as you sit there and watch them start their new life together...your mind replays the beautiful moments you had on your wedding day... and you throw yourself out the door, looking for a dark corner to run to so people don't witness this pure and utter destruction... And at that very moment you realize that all the progress you think you've made over the past few months and everything you thought you had a handle on... you actually don't....
And...you're back to square one... feeling like you have not accomplished anything... and that you have no control of this situation.... That grief actually has a hold on you, and you feel powerless against it...so you give in once again and hope that when you open your eyes in the morning...the little things that give you joy will resurface and help you put yourself back together...

The cycle begins again... but at least each time you start over you hope that you've learned something new that you can apply this time around, you learn that no matter what you do to avoid dealing with the war inside... it is still there and needs your attention just as much as all the other things. And you need to spend time and face this pain inside and perhaps nurture it, give it your full attention...but not dwell on it too much...because when you do turn your attention inward, the pain is overwhelming and can consume you if you let it...however avoiding it completely is not a wise thing either as it will no doubt keep brewing till one day it boils over leaving you in a worst state then before...

The path continues... ever more unstable...ever more rocky... yet I'm still hopeful and have faith in myself...we will come out of this...


peace..