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Showing posts from February 25, 2011

Magical moment 392, "Witchcraft"

This video was taken at the Little Red Square in lower Manhattan. I watched this video for the first time in several months and couldn't stop smiling when I saw the women on the bench singing and tapping along.  Enjoy the video! Witchcraft To see more videos from the Play Me, I'm Yours project, click here . A couple of my favorites: Bye Bye Blackbird, Hello Baby Peacocks! My Student Cold Cold Heart in Brooklyn

Magical Moment 391, "A Message of Song"

I count myself fortunate every single day that I'm able to do what I love, make music. Playing for ballet rehearsals has made me a more professional, well-rounded pianist. Performing my original music at local venues has made me a better, more confident entertainer. But what I LOVE doing the most, is playing for a small, intimate audiences at nursing homes, retirement homes, or hospitals. I began playing in local nursing homes in college and discovered that I felt the most comfortable and inspired in this setting. My taste and style in music seemed to be a perfect fit for the crowd and I never felt more fulfilled at the end of a performance than when I played in these places.  Since becoming involved with a charity organization called  Sing For Hope , I've been fortunate enough to contribute my music in bedside performances in New York City hospitals. With my voice, guitar, and an audience of one, I have the opportunity to uplift a sick patient, and the magic never fails to d

Magical Moment 390, "She Ain't No Bill Gates, but She's Getting There"

My mother is a smart, capable woman in all areas of life, but technology. Her feelings won't even be hurt when she reads this, because she is a self proclaimed technology-illiterate. I know you probably hear a lot of people make that joke about themselves. I've even said it on occasion when I can't figure out why the HTML code messes up the spacing on my blog. But truly. My mom doesn't know what "cut and paste" means. To this day, she doesn't have a cell phone. It took her 3 months to learn how to change her profile picture on her facebook page. It took her 6 months to figure out how to transfer photos from her digital camera onto her computer. She has no idea what a thumb drive is. My 2 grandmothers are facebook masters, while my mother has 10 friends and called me to ask how to "like" someone's status. (It's the button that says "like," mom.) Learning to use a computer is one of those things my mother has procrastinated sinc

Magical Moment 389, "The First Time She Called Me 'Daddy'"

"It was just her and her mom for a long time when we met, and naturally she was a little protective of her mom when we began dating. I tried to plan activities that the 3 of us could do together and over time, we became good friends. Three years went by and I asked her one day after I picked her up from school, 'How would you feel about me and your mom getting married? Would that be okay with you?' She looked down shyly, but I could see that she was smiling. I knew it would be okay. Our relationship shifted after the wedding as I took on a more paternal role. I was involved in her school decisions, her daily life, and her discipline. I always loved her, but now I loved her like my very own daughter. She still called me by my first name and I didn’t blame her. I knew I could never fathom the feelings and emotions of a preteen girl and I just wanted her to be comfortable with our family situation, though I secretly longed to hear her call me Dad. One day she got home from

Magical Moment 388, "The Unobvious Beauty"

Do you ever get frustrated with where you are? Do you ever feel jealous of the people who live near mountains, or ocean, or lush, vibrant pastures? A few days ago, I spent some time in Thomas Edison's Greenhouse, taking pictures of the  stunning flowers . I went back today and I found even  more  beauty to inspire me. This time, it had very little to do with the blooms of the prize winning orchids.  I discovered that a single drop of water, contains as much beauty as an entire ocean. I noticed that this tiny, little orange had fallen from its tree branch into this watering can. I couldn't imagine an orchard being much lovelier. One petal fell. And it rested lightly above the earth, casting its gentle shadow.  I wouldn't have thought a New Jersey Sunset could look so stunning behind the smoky, steamy window panes of an old greenhouse. It takes slightly more effort to notice this kind of unobvious beauty, but it makes me thankful f

Magical Moment 387, "One-Legged Pigeon in the Making"

After I forced Eddie to join a gym with me so I could get some running in during the winter months, my plan backfired. Eddie has a bad lower back and insists that yoga does wonders for his back muscles (he also makes me play raquet ball with him once a week and I wake up with nightmares of that stupid rubber ball shooting straight at my head). I have no doubt of yoga's benefits for the human body, I just prefer a work out that lets me use my iPod. At the beginning of the class, the instructor directed us to hang forward at the waist, allowing our fingertips to reach as low as possible towards the ground. Mine went to about mid-shin. I spent the next hour breathing, stretching, contorting, and bending into every unnatural shape imaginable. At one point, I looked like a sad little, messed up pretzel that wouldn't make it through quality control. Everything was painful and I couldn't even form the full poses like the rest of the class. At the very end of the session however

Magical Moment 386, "Emily's Cozy Spot"

On rainy days like today, I like to cozy up on the couch. I guess Emily the cat has her own place to cozy up. Having a dog and cat, I find animal hair in my carpet, on my clothes, and all over my furniture. The bathroom sink was the one place I thought was safe, until today... (Although, she might think it's raining inside , when I turn the water on...) The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you'd just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency.   - Susan Allen Toth , England For All Seasons