Harlem, New York





Chinatown, NYC

East Harlem, NY


Caraceni Suit, London


"Old Man Style is hard to beat. Gentlemen of a certain generation learned how to wear their clothes not let their clothes wear them."


Images from the sartorialist.

When It Thundered Through Her

Elizabeth Gilbert, ladies and gents.

How Special You Are

Your presence is a present to the world.
You’re unique and one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be.
Take the days, just one at a time.
Count your blessings, not your troubles.
You’ll make it through, whatever comes along.
Within you are so many answers.
Understand, have courage, be strong.
Don’t put limits on yourself.
So many dreams are waiting to be realized.
Decisions are too important to leave to chance.
Reach for your peak, your goal and your prize.
Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.
The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it gets.
Don’t take things too seriously.
Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.
Remember that a little love goes a long way.
Remember that a lot … goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment.
Life’s treasures are people … together.
Realize that it’s never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
Have health, hope and happiness.
Take the time to wish upon a star.
And don’t ever forget …
For even a day …
How very special you are.

Light of Your Face

Lord bless me and keep me
Cause Your face to shine on me
Lord be gracious
Let the light of Your countenance give me peace

i believe that a woman may be stronger than a man,
particularly if she has love in her heart.
i guess a loving woman is indestructible.
john steinbeck { east of eden }

Prompt Me

I've begun Tuesdays with Morrie for the first time, and, halfway through the book, I already decided to read it again. I don't know what I can say that hasn't been said before, but I think I look up to Morrie's simplistic aphorisms, and I really really want to take them to heart - I loathe the way information seems to glide over me, leaving me with eyes glazed, attention diverted.

I want to take what he can teach me, too.

This stubborn old man, who passionately loves life, who contains an unyielding compassion for others, was dying.
And still he taught.
The account of Morrie Schwartz, written by his student (in so many more ways than one), Mitch Albom.

"One afternoon, I am complaining about the confusions of my age, what is expected of me versus what I want for myself.
'Have I told you about the tension of opposites?' he says.
The tension of opposites?
' Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.
' A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle.'
Sounds like a wrestling match, I say.
'A wrestling match.' He laughs. 'Yes, you could describe life that way.'
So which side wins, I ask?
'Which side wins?'
He smiles at me, the crinkled eyes, the crooked teeth.
'Love wins. Love always wins.'

And because Love battles

Pablo Neruda

And because love battles
not only in its burning agricultures
but also in the mouth of men and women,
I will finish off by taking the path away
to those who between my chest and your fragrance
want to interpose their obscure plant.

About me, nothing worse
they will tell you, my love,
than what I told you.

I lived in the prairies
before I got to know you
and I did not wait love but I was
laying in wait for and I jumped on the rose.

What more can they tell you?
I am neither good nor bad but a man,
and they will then associate the danger
of my life, which you know
and which with your passion you shared.

And good, this danger
is danger of love, of complete love
for all life,
for all lives,
and if this love brings us
the death and the prisons,
I am sure that your big eyes,
as when I kiss them,
will then close with pride,
into double pride, love,
with your pride and my pride.

But to my ears they will come before
to wear down the tour
of the sweet and hard love which binds us,
and they will say: “The one
you love,
is not a woman for you,
Why do you love her? I think
you could find one more beautiful,
more serious, more deep,
more other, you understand me, look how she’s light,
and what a head she has,
and look at how she dresses,
and etcetera and etcetera”.

And I in these lines say:
Like this I want you, love,
love, Like this I love you,
as you dress
and how your hair lifts up
and how your mouth smiles,
light as the water
of the spring upon the pure stones,
Like this I love you, beloved.

To bread I do not ask to teach me
but only not to lack during every day of life.
I don’t know anything about light, from where
it comes nor where it goes,
I only want the light to light up,
I do not ask to the night
explanations,
I wait for it and it envelops me,
And so you, bread and light
And shadow are.

You came to my life
with what you were bringing,
made
of light and bread and shadow I expected you,
and Like this I need you,
Like this I love you,
and to those who want to hear tomorrow
that which I will not tell them, let them read it here,
and let them back off today because it is early
for these arguments.

Tomorrow we will only give them
a leaf of the tree of our love, a leaf
which will fall on the earth
like if it had been made by our lips
like a kiss which falls
from our invincible heights
to show the fire and the tenderness
of a true love.

You

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. And you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. Woodrow Wilson