submitted by Yoli

THE REVERIE OF 

POOR SUSAN

AT the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,

hangs a thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years:

Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard.

In the silence of morning the song of the Bird.

 

Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her?

She sees a mountain ascending, a vision of trees;

Bright volumes of vapour through Lothbury glide,

And a river flows on through the vale of Cheapside.

 

Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale,

down which she so often has tripped with her pail;

And a single small cottage, a nest like a dove's,

The one only dwelling on earth that she loves.

 

She looks, and her heart is in heaven: but they fade,

The mist and the river, the hill and the shade:

The stream will not flow, and the hill will not rise,

and the colours have all passed away from her eyes!

 

--William Wordsworth

Antiques, anyone?

Here are some of my passion...

they are actually all for sale..

--Deedee

 

french arm chair circa 1900s to 1950

 

chinese corner chair original circa 1900s 1930s

 

queen anne arm chair circa 1930s

 

 

 

Queen Anne chair original from 1900s to 1950...all original upholstery.

 

 

 

Jacobean Tudor china hutch mid 1800s

 

 

a very touching e-mail to Deedee

a very touching letter

The following letter was translated from Spanish to English and email from a dear friend of mine.--Deedee

You are still lucky in so many ways, at least you have your family around you no matter how few they maybe.  You have your mother, your husband and your son behind you regardless of what happens.  I grew up poor and the only thing that I had with me growing up was my will and my determination to take myself out of the gutter from utter poverty.  I have picked myself up with the help of higher education and came here to America and to tell you I have withdrawn all the roots that I thought I had in the motherland.  Everything I have that you see is the product of my own sweat and exhaustion. 

My heritage is rich in which I shall always carry in me with so much pride but whatever drip of blood that I have left in my hometown has dried out and lost its passage and linkage to me. In a way, I am my own island now, if ever that something may arise unexpectedly, I have designated no one but you to handle all my final arrangements. I know I do sound morbidly dreadful but life do take its natural course in an untimely manner.  I say I am prepared whenever that maybe.

I have no one to turn to when things fold on me. I do have friends but the length of their loyalty is somewhat questionable.  I have used my looks and my brains to get to where I am.  I am fulfilled materially but my soul is lacking of something that I can put my finger on.  Happiness my friend has been evasive to me lately.  God, what I would give for a good laughter with so much JOY right now.

Like you I have had my share of heartaches and sorrows but at least you had people around you to embrace you in times of your sadness, that my friend was scarce when I was in my lowest point.  In a way I have patterned myself after you, though no two people are alike my philosophy in life however was learnt from you. I do question sometimes if I were to blame for my failed relationships. But looking back I know that I have given so much of my soul and myself for my life to work the way everyone expected me to be.

I am so close to resorting to substance that shall temporary alleviate me from my pain yet frightened with the consequences that may bring me physically and mentally.  One thing for certain that I wish not to happen and I hopethat I shall always have it is my mind.  Cliché as maybe but mind really is a powerful thing to waste, or something to that effect.

Today I may stand tall and take pride of the person that I have become, but in reality there is this lonely soul inside me that yearning to scream for the attention that I have always long for in my entire life.  I wish to think that I am a good person, in fact I am maybe too good and way too generous to people.  I give without any expectations of reciprocations but in my heart I cry so silently with pain that is bearing my soul to the endless pit of suffering. I am grateful for the few people in my life that I can count on to listen to me but I am afraid that I shall soon exhaust my welcome in your heart.  Thank you my friend for listening to all of my gripes but I do hope that my pain shall soon savour its last breath in my existence.

con todo carino,
Sasha

**********

 

Trudging along fine thread…..

I have not realised that owning a boutique would also mean that I could very well be a counsellor or ears to people who come to my shoppe and browse. I guess I have been in the corporate world too long where the limit of my association with people is when I close a deal.  In retrospect I have as well lost touched on how to be a people person.  I have not an idea how minute my complaints are compared to others. 

This Sunday I have decided to open my shoppe two hours earlier than usual. My hubby and my son had a father and son bonding to do so I went along to the shoppe only to find two older ladies already outside my door waiting for me to open. Though age wise they both could have not been more than 60 years old but their faces looked more like they were both octogenarians.   They were both were pleasant but along the fine lines of their crinkled faces the years of hardship is visibly clear.

Carol slowly walked through the shoppe followed by her friend Sara.  I offered them tea where they both sat down and started a more like a “hanging out” hour than shopping “hour.”  Before the hour ended I had already heard such horrors in tell all tale of their lives.  Though Carol has survived three cancer treatments she has not demonstrated an ounce of defeat but a will to fight on and moving on forward to what is left in her life.  Carol endured her tour of duty in Viet Nam being one of the females POW for three years but almost did not pull through from the disease that she suffered through these last few years.  She has lost most of her hair from the chemotherapy and has gained so much weight from all the medication that she has to ingest to keep her alive.  But what astounded me were her will power and her endurance of never to lose any hope despite all the enormity of the physical pain that she endures from all these years.  Though pain was apparent from Carol's eyes but the vibrant of her spirit lingered throughout her whole hour in the shoppe.  This was my first time meeting her but she gave me something to ponder about throughout the day if not for the rest of my life. Here I was stressing so much on my marketing strategy and worrying about minor details of my day, and here was this lady who have been subjected through so much yet she showed no sign of ever losing her will to live life to the fullest. 

I have indeed lost so much in my upbringing. It seems like I have become like a machine that is slave to the material things in this world and has stopped to think about what is really important in life these days.  The simplicity of life that we tend to ignore these days is the one that bestows us a much more fulfilling life.  I have not an idea whether I am just being reflective or just realising what my life is missing. I can say that I am happy with my family life despite the hurdles that life had put us through in the past.  I am grateful to what I have yet the sense of fulfilment seems to evade me nonetheless.  I feel like I have not done much in this life to complain with such immense.  I do wonder however if how many of “me” out there who are questioning the validity of their existence, hence I have been doing that a lot since I began to have the opportunity to deal more with everyday folks.  The corporate world is nothing but a cloak of imperilled species of lost souls. The drudgery of earning more and acquiring more things in life is giving me an ailment to my stomach that I have difficulty explaining. 

-----submitted by Deedee------

 Stares of Innocence.....

I cannot remember how long has it been since I last sat down and recoup the events of my life.  I have attempted to sit numerous times to review the things that keep me going forward with my young life but it seems like I always to find an excuse not to these days.  Just the other day as I have always done in the last few months or so, I would get up so early so I can prepare to start my day facing what have you in the business world when Aiden looked at me and said, “do we have to get up so early today”?

 

I froze for a while and thought to myself what a horrible thing to do to a child to subject him to the rigors of my everyday dealings rather than allow him to have his childhood for once.

 

The poor darling has been getting up so early so I can be in my business meetings at early mornings. Daddy has been working days and nights trying to survive his residency whilst Mum was too busy trying to run three businesses that are more stressful these days than fun.  

 

Aiden is a product of two parents who are trying to have all the material things that this world can offer a child but tend to forget the most important thing that really matter in a growing child and that is “quality time.” We just do not try to make ends meet these days but try to keep abreast with the world of technology where anything under the sun is offered to keep a child busy.  

 

Aiden has all what every 6 year old dream of, from the massive collection of Star Wars to the latest gadgetry in the “game world.”  Yet when he asked me if we could go to the playground to play it was like a meteor just hit me on the head and realised that Aiden does not really have all the things that a child could want.  He really lacks of the attention that a child his age should be getting.  His parents seemed to have been neglectful of the matter that he really needs and that is the “time” from his parents.  

 

Now I wonder how many more parents are there who are too busy to give their children the simplest thing in life.  Why are we so entombed in the trappings of the material world? I do remember living in the most modest way when I was a child yet my experience made no impact on how I am raising my own now.  How selfish could I be to keep bringing this child to my office so he can listen to my grunts and rants when things are not going well in my business deals?  Who am I to expose him to such grueling existence at such an early age? My own mother did not dare do that to me, why am I doing it to my own child?

 

What kind of a legacy would I be leaving him? I know that we all want to have a comfortable life but at what expense and how much are we willing to sacrifice to have all the comforts? What are we really afraid of in just taking it slowly and eat our breakfast for once calmly without the hustle and bustle of the city streets.  

 

How many more Aidens are out there?

from Deedee

2 PHOTOS AND A SHORT POEM

 

SUMMER QUEEN

Cold winter ice is fled and gone,

And summer brags on every tree;

The red-breast peeps among the throng

Of wood-brown birds that wanton be:

Each one forgets what they have been

And so doth RAIN,  summer's queen.

anonymous

 

a piece of no peace

New York, New York..

 

Here is how my days starts everyday and how it ends

 

 

at almost AM in the morning, my day already starts with heavy traffic..by the time I get to my office I already am exhausted.  I do not know how New Yorkers put up with it.

 

 

 

it is only 4 PM by this time I have already been stuck in traffic for at least half an hour.

 

 

 

 

Food Vendor is a usual fixture along the streets of NYC...I have never tried to eat from any of them.  I always wonder where do they go to wash themselves all day???!!!

 

 

 

No chance of alleviating traffic in this big city.  They are erecting more buildings to accommodate the massive exodus of people to NYC from all over the world.  I have lived and worked here too long I guess, I am ready for peace and tranquility somewhere.  Twice a month in Newport, RI is no longer cutting it.

 

 

------submitted by Deedee------------