simply titillating....

Good Evening Rahul . . .hope all is well. WOW - your writing is marvelous - I can feel myself there. It is amazing the memories that can be triggered by subtle events.

Great poem as well - makes you crave bread and butter - a comfort memory of having fresh bread with butter dipped in sweetened indian spiced tea . . . never caring or thinking about cholesterol or calories or clogged arteries . . . simply enjoying butter spread liberally on fresh baked bread!! Those were the days . . . never worrying about too many white carbs . . . just eating as many slices to satisfy the comfort within.

Wishing you a day filled with plenty of happiness, laughter, joy and pleasant memories . . .keep smiling!! Laila

A.A. Milne was the best...Made me think of "Good Night Moon", I read that every single night to my son!

I think sometimes we make things harder for ourselves than we need to, when things are just so simple....I am practicing "simple" now!

Thanks for sharing the poem Rahul!

hi Rahul,that is a beautiful poem. I will print it and store for future use,such as when I get grand children.When I see mango jam or gooseberry jam I think of a tutor who like your teacher, used to eat it infront of us with out sharing.God bless you Rahul,

Rahul,
What an amazingly vivid memory. Feels as if I were sitting at a desk next to you in the classroom. Lovely poem. Thanks for sharing.
Kanika

Oh, I forgot to mention. Like Joanie, I was also reminded of reading Goodnight Moon to my daugther each night - until she began to cry when I started to read it because she knew it was time for separation!

Sense memories from America:

Listening to the Monkees -- Daydream Believer, actually.

"You once thought of me
As a white knight on a steed.
Now you know how happy I can be."

That stanza takes me back to me lying on my aunt's plastic covered coach, in Brooklyn, circa 1967 daydreaming of whatever it is that nine year olds daydream about.

Not all sense memories are happy ones. This one washes over me ever year as the Time Square Ball is about to drop.

Again, Brooklyn. Circa anywhere between 1965 through 1972.

The clock ticks us all into a new year. All of us-- meaning my father's side of the family--are all celebrating at my grandmother's. I turn to look at my mom. I see the sadness in her eyes as she realizes the cold war has kept her away from her family in Cuba, yet another year.

My mother died in 1985. The last time she saw her family was 1961.

There are others: the smell of fabric takes me back to my dad's factory in Miami. Black bean soup always makes me debate who made the best: my mother or my aunt. My mother's was thick with beans my aunt's watery as if she was trying to make it last. (Which I'm sure she was!)

There is so much more. My dad who past away two years ago suprised me one balmy Miami night with his suggestion of how to get to sleep. Since my brain surgery five years ago, I have trouble sleeping.

He looked at me and said, "can't you think about the good things in your life and have those memories lull you to sleep." (He said that in Spanish. My dad didn't speak English.)

For him, it was his years as a child in Cuba, on his horse.

My father suprised me . . . is sense memory had turned him a spiritual man in his old age.

Sense memories from America:

Listening to the Monkees -- Daydream Believer, actually.

"You once thought of me
As a white knight on a steed.
Now you know how happy I can be."

That stanza takes me back to me lying on my aunt's plastic covered coach, in Brooklyn, circa 1967 daydreaming of whatever it is that nine year olds daydream about.

Not all sense memories are happy ones. This one washes over me ever year as the Time Square Ball is about to drop.

Again, Brooklyn. Circa anywhere between 1965 through 1972.

The clock ticks us all into a new year. All of us-- meaning my father's side of the family--are all celebrating at my grandmother's. I turn to look at my mom. I see the sadness in her eyes as she realizes the cold war has kept her away from her family in Cuba, yet another year.

My mother died in 1985. The last time she saw her family was 1961.

There are others: the smell of fabric takes me back to my dad's factory in Miami. Black bean soup always makes me debate who made the best: my mother or my aunt. My mother's was thick with beans my aunt's watery as if she was trying to make it last. (Which I'm sure she was!)

There is so much more. My dad who past away two years ago suprised me one balmy Miami night with his suggestion of how to get to sleep. Since my brain surgery five years ago, I have trouble sleeping.

He looked at me and said, "can't you think about the good things in your life and have those memories lull you to sleep." (He said that in Spanish. My dad didn't speak English.)

For him, it was his years as a child in Cuba, on his horse.

My father suprised me . . . is sense memory had turned him a spiritual man in his old age.

Chantico, I enjoyed sharing the vision of your memories. Patzi

Thank you.

I don't remember my parents reading to me.

I remember getting our first TV, watching the Ed Sullivan show. On Saturdays, as a 11-12 year old I would have a ritual weekly of watching "Sky King" and eating a grilled cheese sandwich that HAD to have a carrot slice inside the sandwich. Once my teenage son saw me do that and said "Mom, that is really disgusting" LOL

I remember riding into downtown Pittsburgh when the Pirates won the pennant and throwing stuff out the car windows....

Chantico: Memory Lane! Since I also turned nine in 1967....I still love "Daydream Believer," too!

That summer, my family moved from the neighborhood I am back out now--Littleton, CO--to Vancouver, BC. What an incredible time the 60's were--it was still wild, free and clean here in Colorado. You could still drink right from the rivers entering Denver up until the late 70's and early 80's--and traffic....and

...well I remember a grandfather I had who actually interviewed both Kennedy and Castro during the 1958-1963 timeframe.

Once, when we were late for a plane to fly where this grandfather was having us all gather for Thanksgiving, I will never forget as it was during your 1965-72 timeframe (as are so many strange coincidences in that seven years), my dad stopped the car and called that grandfather and explained we were late--and my grandad had been able to get a Continental Jet to wait an extra twenty minutes for us!

I've lost interest in traveling much after being spoiled like that! But anyway, "Cheer up sleepy Jean, oh what can it mean, to a day-dream believer.... Thanks for the re-memberance! Dave

PS, Is it you--or another respondent--whose name is Annette?

David-- I believe I've been busted. Chantico

David-- I believe I've been busted. Chantico PS do u remember anything ure granddad might have said?

Chantico: Re--the grandad stuff? Said to who, or what?--he was a newspaperman who said alot of his 45-year career!

I am a "nobody" in the scheme of things--except kind of a memory for his life in ways that would cause people to feel I'm living in the past too much--his.

Actually--it is almost funny, something just came up today about his estates that is a series of conditions that have shattered and plagued my life for twelve years solid--and 25-30 years more indirectly.

Today--though--I was pleased! I didn't panic, or get more than mildly disappointed about corporate corruption being "never ending."

I guess I am rambling!! What a surprise Dave!

I just finished reading Gotham's exceptional post with sooo....many diversified and articulate responses about George W. Bush--from Ron W. to Joanie, Patzi, Laila's multiple posts with Robin Cook's resignation speech.

They helped take me away from my "anger and reactiveness" towards a bank, its officers, andd their never-ending game-playing tactics. They are missing millions of dollars from the estates of this very grandfather, have sent thugs after me, the IRS, and otherwise malisciously and intentionally focused vast amounts of money that is supposed to be used for "health, education, maintenance, etc." to sue me, try and kill me (and my cats).....etc.

And....I do not think it was coincidence to read "No's" and Ron W.'s posts with the undercurrent of anger----but...this time, well, I just thought I can go along time without eating food these days and I left them a message and with only a moderate hint of displeasure at the stupidity of it all.

One of the last arguments I got in with someone who was once a close friend was the difference between the Bible's use of "kill," or "murder."

I had a dream this morning about one of the people involved in hiring thugs, with an AZ court, some bankers in the AZ headquarters of Bank One trust dept. (trust--what an ironic word!), and a whole slew of corporate and private attorneys--in the dream I had actually forgiven this person and even missed her--she is my biological mother.

Sooo...it goes on Chantico---while I continue to read the new posts--I think I'll listen to "Daydream Believer" in my mind. this Intentblog is healing because it is often the stranger(s) who listen to our confessions who cause the most room for healing--because the stranger has no judgement or vested interest in anything but being a comfort to "the child in distress--who thinks he/she is alone in this world." Dave

PS Chantico--the "mother" who went on the thug deal because I wouldn't sgin some forged documents---well, the last picture she sent to me was of her and Barbara Bush together at a function her in Denver! Sooo...I don't blame Barbara as we have the same birthday (June 8)--but I don't trust those Bush boys when it comes to issues of power, money, politics, oil, and/or covering up corporate and/or personal corruption in those arenas!

But like Gotham said....personally and privately--they appear to be very likable, magnetic, sincere and charismatic people--and they take care of their own! Dave

Sorry, David, I don't find the Bush family "sincere, magnetic, likable and charismatic people." Jesus Christ. Ghandi. Clinton. Mother Teresa had some if not all of these qualities. To add any one Bush name into this library. . . Sorry. I can't. They are not nice people. They are a self serving, egocentric, money and power hungry family. Think of it: Bush #1 was head of the CIA and President. Bush #2 governor of Texas and now President for a second term. Jeb - governor of Florida. (I also think there is a Bush who anchors for Entertainment Tonight, hopefully that doesn't count.)

For a country that worked really hard at checks and balances and not having power monopolized by any one person, this is alot of Bush monopoly.

THE BUSHES ARE NOT NICE PEOPLE.
Do any of you remember Bush #1 calling his grandchildren from Jeb and his Mexican wife, Columba, "the little brown ones." When said in spanish, it is a term of endermenat, as a Cuban, I've been called everything from "la trigena" to "la negrita" because of my skin color. However, those words have come out of the mouths of my family members and actually fellow hispanic cabdrivers in new york, who might not know my name but can see the hispanic in me a mile away. Hispanics have a long history of nicknaming you something that is obvious at first glance. My father was "cara viejo." Old face. His sisters called him that.

Translate the phrase "Los Trigenitos" into english, and let it come out of an anglo's mouth, with all it's ugly skin color history -- well, it just doesnt sound as endearing.

From the Houston Chronicle
August 11th 2000

'The Little Brown Ones'
One would think that George P. has spent a lifetime extolling his "I'm-Brown-and-Proud" message. That's news to some of his former classmates at Rice University in Houston. There were Hispanic campus groups and events that promoted Latino pride and heritage in his era. But the GOP's new "genie in a bottle" was nowhere among them. More importantly, some of his former Latino classmates remember a rich boy who, in contrast to his current assignment, steered clear of virtually all things Latino.
Ten years before his Rice graduation, George P. and the other grandchildren of the elder George Bush made their first mark on the national scene. Bush, in a presidential race against Democrat Michael Dukakis, was yearning to show off the grandkids to President Ronald Reagan, arriving for the GOP convention in New Orleans. Unaware of the media microphones picking up his comments, Bush pointed the family out to Reagan as he said, "That's Jebby's kids from Florida, the little brown ones."

The comment infuriated Democratic Hispanic activists, who charged that Bush was insensitive. An enraged Bush defended the comments as affectionate. In current media interviews, George P. shrugs off the incident. He likes to point out that he is the favorite of the elder Bush, regularly accompanying Grandpa on fishing or hunting trips. His mother made sure he was brought up bilingual and appreciated Spanish music long before the fashionable days of Cristina Aguilera.

END OF NEWS STORY

In America Bush is on TV alot. Lately Ive been looking at him closely. He looks older; this war is taking it's toll. Just yesterday I saw him interviewed for the Israeli news, brought to the US by the BBC. During the interview he stated very clearly that he has not ruled out force against Iran. Who does this man think he is?

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie The Death Zone with Martin Sheen. Im not going to go into details but, Sheen wants to start the war of all wars. Simply for the power. That scene were Sheen starts the war, all happy and Citizen Kane like (boastfull). That's how I see Bush . . . a frat boy who played way to much Battleship as a child and apparently lost, and now he is taking it out on the innocent.

Fidel Castro on August 13th, celebrated his 78th birthday. He has survived 10 American presidents. It seems like he will survive Bush #2. But Bush #2 in order to get all that Cuban power and money nesstled in Miami, tightening US/Cuban sanctions. That is one of the reasons that when Ibrahim Ferrer from the Buena Vista Social Club won a Grammy recently he couldn't come get the award.

BBC News
February, 2004
US blocks Cuban Grammy nominees

Ibrahim Ferrer recently won a BBC Radio 3 world music award US authorities have refused to let five Cuban Grammy Awards nominees travel to Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles. Musicians up for best tropical Latin album award - including veteran star Ibrahim Ferrer - have not got visas.

Ferrer, 77, told press in the capital Havana: "I am not a terrorist. I couldn't be one. I am a musician."

A US diplomat in Havana said the US administration could suspend the entry of people deemed to be "detrimental to the interest of the United States".

The US has imposed economic and travel sanctions on Cuba for 40 years - and President Bush has strengthened the country's policy against Cuba and cut back on cultural exchanges.

Something as noble as music is being converted into a policy against Cuba

From the BBC News
October, 2003
US to tighten Cuba sanctions

US President George W Bush has announced fresh measures designed to hasten the end of communist rule in Cuba. They include tightening an American travel embargo to the island, cracking down on illegal cash transfers, and a more robust information campaign aimed at Cuba.

Mr Bush said the punitive measures were being introduced because the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, had acted with "defiance and contempt and a new round of brutal oppression that outraged world conscience".

The speech - before members of the Cuban community at the White House - came as the 2004 election campaign gets under way.

Mr Bush's advisers know that fiercely anti-Castro Cuban exiles living in the key state of Florida might well be hugely important in determining whether the president holds on to power, says the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington.

--------------------

As a person who studies the media and has lots of inside sources in the National Media, the consenssus from my friends is that everyone has given up on this president including the media. And the president for all his bravura seems to be playing the "emperor has no clothes." Everyone including himself sees this as an never ending war, but noone wants to be the first to confront him, not even himself.

It's so sad. I really hope mom Sheehan gets her talk.

PS David, I was befriended by an older actor who was part of what was the #1 sitcom in america during the 80s. As i am always apt to do, i steered our conversation toward politics. We started talking about the Bushes . . . all of them. He didnt like them, but he said something I hadn't heard before, the no one should underestimate Barbara. She is the one that controls that family. I guess still waters do run deep.

Sorry, David, I don't find the Bush family "sincere, magnetic, likable and charismatic people." Jesus Christ. Ghandi. Clinton. Mother Teresa had some if not all of these qualities. To add any one Bush name into this library. . . Sorry. I can't. They are not nice people. They are a self serving, egocentric, money and power hungry family. Think of it: Bush #1 was head of the CIA and President. Bush #2 governor of Texas and now President for a second term. Jeb - governor of Florida. (I also think there is a Bush who anchors for Entertainment Tonight, hopefully that doesn't count.)

For a country that worked really hard at checks and balances and not having power monopolized by any one person, this is alot of Bush monopoly.

THE BUSHES ARE NOT NICE PEOPLE.
Do any of you remember Bush #1 calling his grandchildren from Jeb and his Mexican wife, Columba, "the little brown ones." When said in spanish, it is a term of endermenat, as a Cuban, I've been called everything from "la trigena" to "la negrita" because of my skin color. However, those words have come out of the mouths of my family members and actually fellow hispanic cabdrivers in new york, who might not know my name but can see the hispanic in me a mile away. Hispanics have a long history of nicknaming you something that is obvious at first glance. My father was "cara viejo." Old face. His sisters called him that.

Translate the phrase "Los Trigenitos" into english, and let it come out of an anglo's mouth, with all it's ugly skin color history -- well, it just doesnt sound as endearing.

From the Houston Chronicle
August 11th 2000

'The Little Brown Ones'
One would think that George P. has spent a lifetime extolling his "I'm-Brown-and-Proud" message. That's news to some of his former classmates at Rice University in Houston. There were Hispanic campus groups and events that promoted Latino pride and heritage in his era. But the GOP's new "genie in a bottle" was nowhere among them. More importantly, some of his former Latino classmates remember a rich boy who, in contrast to his current assignment, steered clear of virtually all things Latino.
Ten years before his Rice graduation, George P. and the other grandchildren of the elder George Bush made their first mark on the national scene. Bush, in a presidential race against Democrat Michael Dukakis, was yearning to show off the grandkids to President Ronald Reagan, arriving for the GOP convention in New Orleans. Unaware of the media microphones picking up his comments, Bush pointed the family out to Reagan as he said, "That's Jebby's kids from Florida, the little brown ones."

The comment infuriated Democratic Hispanic activists, who charged that Bush was insensitive. An enraged Bush defended the comments as affectionate. In current media interviews, George P. shrugs off the incident. He likes to point out that he is the favorite of the elder Bush, regularly accompanying Grandpa on fishing or hunting trips. His mother made sure he was brought up bilingual and appreciated Spanish music long before the fashionable days of Cristina Aguilera.

END OF NEWS STORY

In America Bush is on TV alot. Lately Ive been looking at him closely. He looks older; this war is taking it's toll. Just yesterday I saw him interviewed for the Israeli news, brought to the US by the BBC. During the interview he stated very clearly that he has not ruled out force against Iran. Who does this man think he is?

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie The Death Zone with Martin Sheen. Im not going to go into details but, Sheen wants to start the war of all wars. Simply for the power. That scene were Sheen starts the war, all happy and Citizen Kane like (boastfull). That's how I see Bush . . . a frat boy who played way to much Battleship as a child and apparently lost, and now he is taking it out on the innocent.

Fidel Castro on August 13th, celebrated his 78th birthday. He has survived 10 American presidents. It seems like he will survive Bush #2. But Bush #2 in order to get all that Cuban power and money nesstled in Miami, tightening US/Cuban sanctions. That is one of the reasons that when Ibrahim Ferrer from the Buena Vista Social Club won a Grammy recently he couldn't come get the award.

BBC News
February, 2004
US blocks Cuban Grammy nominees

Ibrahim Ferrer recently won a BBC Radio 3 world music award US authorities have refused to let five Cuban Grammy Awards nominees travel to Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles. Musicians up for best tropical Latin album award - including veteran star Ibrahim Ferrer - have not got visas.

Ferrer, 77, told press in the capital Havana: "I am not a terrorist. I couldn't be one. I am a musician."

A US diplomat in Havana said the US administration could suspend the entry of people deemed to be "detrimental to the interest of the United States".

The US has imposed economic and travel sanctions on Cuba for 40 years - and President Bush has strengthened the country's policy against Cuba and cut back on cultural exchanges.

Something as noble as music is being converted into a policy against Cuba

From the BBC News
October, 2003
US to tighten Cuba sanctions

US President George W Bush has announced fresh measures designed to hasten the end of communist rule in Cuba. They include tightening an American travel embargo to the island, cracking down on illegal cash transfers, and a more robust information campaign aimed at Cuba.

Mr Bush said the punitive measures were being introduced because the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, had acted with "defiance and contempt and a new round of brutal oppression that outraged world conscience".

The speech - before members of the Cuban community at the White House - came as the 2004 election campaign gets under way.

Mr Bush's advisers know that fiercely anti-Castro Cuban exiles living in the key state of Florida might well be hugely important in determining whether the president holds on to power, says the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington.

--------------------

As a person who studies the media and has lots of inside sources in the National Media, the consenssus from my friends is that everyone has given up on this president including the media. And the president for all his bravura seems to be playing the "emperor has no clothes." Everyone including himself sees this as an never ending war, but noone wants to be the first to confront him, not even himself.

It's so sad. I really hope mom Sheehan gets her talk.

PS David, I was befriended by an older actor who was part of what was the #1 sitcom in america during the 80s. As i am always apt to do, i steered our conversation toward politics. We started talking about the Bushes . . . all of them. He didnt like them, but he said something I hadn't heard before, the no one should underestimate Barbara. She is the one that controls that family. I guess still waters do run deep.

Hi Rahul!

I just came across the site and having read numerous blogs from different people over the web and never bothering to go back and read more, i had to stop and read all your entries.They are indeed very well-written.Despite the contents the writing never dragged which i guess justifies what i just wrote.

May be you should have been a writer.;)

Will look forward to the next entry.
Sincerely,
Shameema M

thank you for sharing that poem.

My greatgrandmother used to read Milne to me before going to bed and I still can remember the smell of her subtle perfume (lavender) and the various smells from the kitchen where she worked the whole day. When I now smell lavender with a mix of hot apples and cinnamon I remember my greatgrandmother. Her plump short body perched on the side of my bed, her faded green eyes behind the short wire rimmed glasses and her once flaming red hair neatly tucked into a bun at the nape of her neck. It seems I can almost hear her soft contralto voice reading to me - almost. Joy and sadness are the partners of memories, I miss her even after 27 years since she died.

You have a very talented and skilled writting. I had a great time reading your comments. Extensive methods for this: http://skys.jp/blog/archives/200504/06-1228.php , Soft voice over the net

A A Milne-the last name is associated with Winnie the Pooh, right?!?!?!?