Happy New Year!

Much
joy.

The gentle spirit of Renaissance

I have an orchid about to bloom.
A year ago I purchased it.
For it's gentle
beauty.
Watched it flower
and
pass.
And, now, as I say,
it is about
to bloom again.
I drove home on
an island
in between
sand
dunes
of
snow.
When I
drove
back
home
it was floating
on
fog.
Left with
thoughts.
My grandmother
yodeled
for
me.
Just opened
up her
throat
and
filled
the mini-van
with
shrill
noise.
She
yodeled
for
me,
upon
request,
when
I
was
a
kid.
I
guess
she
still does.
I caught
my sister,
Gay,
in mid-
sentence
saying,
"You
don't
know how many
times I say
I'm Gay and
people
just
stare."
I interrupted
my
absence
by saying,
"Tell me
about
it."
We
fell
into
each
other's
arms
laughing.
And
I
stared
into faces
so
much
like
my
own
that
it
is
no
wonder
we
know
each
other.
So,
with
all
of
that,
the
New
Year
dawns.
What
to
make
of
it?
One
step
forward.
That
will
do.

To Wish you all Happiness

Never a Christmas morning,
Never the old year ends,
But somebody thinks of somebody,
Old days, old times, old friends.

Christmas 2008

To Wish you all Happiness

at Christmastide

and throughout the Coming Year.

*The inexplicable presence of existing.

Bernard Madoff handled accounts for some Twin Cities investors who may have lost more than $100 million.

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM, DAVID S. HILZENRATH and AMIT R. PALEY, Washington Post


Deborah Coltin learned Friday morning that the $8 million foundation she has led for a decade, which supported a wide range of Jewish programs on the north shore of Massachusetts, did not actually exist.

Coltin, executive director of the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, spent Friday in mourning, taking condolence calls and trying to understand what happened.

Let's
say
you
were
Deborah.
You
woke
up
one
day.
Got
ready
and
went
to
work.
Just
like
you
had
the
last
ten
years.
You
show
up.
Fed-
up
with
traffic.
"One
little
snow
and
they
all
act
like
they've
never
driven
before."
Pull
into
your
parking
spot.
Open
up
the
door.
And
you
don't
exist.
Wouldn't
you
be
pissed?


*inspired by Mary Margaret Leidle

as time goes by

Lately,
people
have
been
re-entering
my
life.
Souls
that
have
drifted
away.
Or,
perhaps,
my
journey
took
me
away
from
these
beautiful
souls.
How
fortunate
it
is
when
we
get
to
reconnect.
Always,
as
if
time
hadn't
passed.
One of my sisters
used to have
a
poster
hanging
in her
room.
It said
something
along
the
lines
of
let
go
of
what you
love.
If
it
doesn't come
back
it
wasn't
meant
to
be.
If
it
does
it
always
loved
you.
Oh,
that
isn't
right.
But
you
get
the
jest.
I
remember
knowing,
truly
thinking
I
knew
what
that
meant.
I
know
now.
And
all
these
loved
ones
circling
their
spirits
about
and
landing.
Here.
(I'm
touching
my
heart
when
I
say
here)
You
know
that.
I
always
knew
it.
Here.
Right
here.