The Day That Started It All

15 May 2012 4 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in The Most Interesting Roosters - People

May 15th is a fantastic day.  It is Mojo’s Birth Day.

We like to celebrate all the holidays.  But Birthdays are particularly special.

Birth days are significant.  If we were born a different day or a different hour for that matter, we would not be the same person.  Our life’s path would be slightly different.  Who knows how we would have turned out or what could have been.  So we like celebrating the first day of our life’s journey; the day that began to bring us together, at this moment in time and space.

Luckily, when Mojo and I met a little voice told me he would be a perfect husband for me.  I say luckily because I did not know then that I was dancing with one of truly kind and decent people on the planet.  So on his birthday, I always include a thank you to his parents for raising him well.

He has brought so many good things into my life, including our children.  And even though I roll my eyes, I appreciate his humor and original jokes.

So today is a busy day – but for a very good reason.

Happy Birthday My Love.  Thanks for being you.

Happy Mother’s Day

13 May 2012 6 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , ,

Growing older can be a wonderful adventure

if you remember that the important word is growing.

– I love you, Mom.

When I talk to my mother, we have conversations about what she has learned, the books she has read, and who she has met.  Each day starts with a plan.  This winter she started writing poetry.  In the spring she will plant her garden.  She dreams of moving to a new country.  And she wonders what the Universe has in store for her.

It is as if she looks in the mirror and still sees a young, red-haired woman with her entire life before her.

And you wonder where I get it?

Happy Mother’s Day Mom

Handmade Nation

13 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by Eva the Dragon in Island Tales - Expatriate Living, The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , , ,

Faythe Levine created a documentary about the “new” trend in America – handmade crafts and art.

Trend is probably the appropriate word since it usually refers to what Americans are buying today.  But two generations ago Americans, like my grandmother Louisa Burns, who crafted their own food, clothes and entertainment were the norm.

Growing up in Saudi Arabia before the Rashid Mall existed, my own mother used to sew clothes for us.  Once she sewed me a bathing suit.  Granted the moment I entered the sea, I wished she had spent the $20 to buy me a suit from Sears.  The material she choose stretched, and my bikini quietly floated off my body with the same leisurely stroke as the jelly fish around me.

Although I haven’t seen this film, my guess is this is about Americans who are discovering joy and pride in making their own stuff, instead of buying cheap, mass produced goods imported from China.

Calling this trend the RISE of Do-It-Yourself Art, Craft and Design seems a bit grand.  However, if you are of Ms. Levine’s mid-30s and under generation, maybe you are unaware that it is possible to knit your own socks, can fruit and mold your own soap.

Potentially this film may highlight the fact that many Americans, including young Americans, are out of work because corporations have moved their manufacturing and service jobs outside the USA.  If Americans are not highly educated, they are having difficulty finding high-paying jobs that can support them.  And like people in developing countries who do not have the cash to buy manufactured goods, these Americans are re-learning the art and craft of handmade items.

Whatever the message it is an excuse to enjoy a short film that may inspire you.

Perhaps You Will Feast on This Banquet of Love

12 Mar 2012 1 Comment

by Eva the Dragon in Food for the Soul - Poetry, The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , , , , , ,

We are not forced to do anything. We are only chosen. To be chosen does not mean anything by itself, but the meaning of what you are chosen to do does. Once we make that choice, the Divine comes to meet us and gives us assistance that is beyond our capabilities.

Fariba Enteshari,

Jalal al Din Rumi student/scholar

I have never been a big reader of poetry but lately I seem to keep coming across small bits of Rumi’s work.  And although no one is forcing me to read it – I am not “in school” – I find that for some reason I am drawn to his work and find a relevant truth in nearly every passage.  Perhaps this is an example of the Divine meeting me and helping me glimpse Rumi’s magnificence.

My friend Fariba Enteshari has been a Rumi student since I met her nearly twenty years ago at the Immaculate Heart College Center in Los Angeles.    While I waded through Theresa of Avila, Fariba was immersed in Rumi’s six volume book of poetry, the Mathnawi.

The Mathnawi  is 25,000 lines of lyrical verse.  It is referred to as the Persian Koran.  The verse is spoken in the voice of Rumi’s beloved muse, friend, teacher, Shams al Din.  Our bookclub recently read a novel about their relationship called The Forty Rules of Love.  

Rumi, a Koranic scholar, was a popular Imam in Koya, Turkey.   Shams was “delivered” to his doorstep and began a conversation with Rumi that, according to the stories, lasted forty-days and nights.  During that intense period of interaction, Rumi’s heart was opened.  And after Sham’s death, for the first time in his life, he began writing the poetry which has guided people for 700 years.

Indries Shah the great thinker and writer on Sufism said a great part of Sufism “must be personally communicated by means of interaction between the teacher and the learner. Too much attention to the written page can be harmful.”

This Sufism truth was probably revealed by Rumi’s and Sham’s relationship.

If you are interested in entering a conversation with a Rumi scholar, this Wednesday, March 14th, Fariba Enteshari is putting aside her writing for the day to have a Banquet of Love.  She invites anyone interested in Rumi’s poetry to come to this spiritual feast.

If you are uncertain whether you are interested in poetry or are capable of understanding Rumi’s deeper meaning, you can take heart from Indries Shah who said

“Rumi, like other Sufi authors, plants his teachings within a framework which as effectively screens its inner meaning as displays it.  This technique fulfills the functions of preventing those who are incapable of using the material on a higher level from experimenting effectively with it; allowing those who want poetry to select poetry; giving entertainment to people who want stories; stimulating the intellect in those who prized such experiences.”

Indries Shah, The Way of the Sufi, 1970.

If you are near beautiful Santa Barbara, California this Wednesday, go spend the day at La Casa Maria with Fariba and other Rumi devotees and see what message Rumi’s poetry has for you.

Banquet of Love is Wednesday March 14th 9:30-3:30 at the La Casa de Maria, in Santa Barbara, California.  Donations will be taken at the door.  To make a reservation for the $14 lunch go to www.lcdm.org or call (805) 969 – 5031.

Mary Louisa Colvin Burns

11 Mar 2012 5 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , , , , , ,

My grandmother, Louisa Colvin Burns, on the right

My grandmother, Louisa Colvin Burns, on the right

100 years ago today, my grandmother Mary “Louisa” Colvin Burns was born.

In many ways I knew her well.

I knew she could balance a business man’s books, sew her own clothes and crotchet an afghan.  I knew she played the organ and occasionally sang at church.  I knew she was the Secretary for the Business and Professional Women’s Association and raised funds every year by selling bags of pecans.  I knew she put on her stockings during the week to go to work and wore her elastic-waisted jeans on the weekend to tend her garden.  I knew she loved chocolate and bread and believed having a bowl of ice cream just before going to bed ended the day on a high note.

I knew a little bit about her history, the time before I was born.  She was from Illinois and had attended business school.  Her Uncle Joe Colvin introduced her to my grandfather Ralph Burns during a summer visit to Colorado.  I knew they got married September 1, 1929.

But other than that she rarely spoke of the past.

She never mentioned that two months after they married, the stock market crashed.  It was her sister, who told me how my grandmother learned to cook dandelion soup when they ran out of cash during the Great Depression.   The 1930s, aka the Dust Bowl years, were described as the years they spent ranching in eastern Colorado.

Perhaps it was after her eldest son Earnest died during the great polio epidemic of 1946 that my grandmother quit bringing up what could not be changed.  Instead, she tried to stay in the present, stay positive and work hard at making something of herself.

Because she rarely spoke about the past and her beloved family “from Kentucky”, I knew nothing about her grand-cestors.

I never knew our earliest known English ancestor appeared to be a young apprentice named Thomas Wright who arrived in Massachusetts in 1639.

I never heard of Peter Jett who immigrated to the colonies from London in 1663.  With a bit of stealth, he obtained a 600-acre land grant from Governor Berkeley in OLD Rappahannock County, Virginia.  In the end it was an unfortunate acquisition because thirteen years later, in 1676, his wife, Mary Triplett, and three children were killed in a Susquehannock Indian raid.

I never knew her ancestors eventually sided against the English monarchy and her great-great-great-grandfathers Henry Colvin, George Mains and Edward Hamilton were all young privates in the American Revolution.

I never knew that after Daniel Boone cleared the trail into Kentucky, her family moved west to Bracken County.  Eight generations later, the Colvins, Mains, Jetts, Wrights, along with the Scot-Irish McKinneys, Forsythes  and Hamiltons still reside in the area around Pendleton County, Kentucky.

There was so much family history I was unaware of.

And in the end, maybe none of that history matters.

Maybe all that matters is that in her time I knew she loved me.  And unlike historical facts, I never have to re-search the memory of her love.  It sits within me, eternal.

Happy Birthday Grandma.

Andrea Bocelli Concerto – One Night in Bahrain

09 Mar 2012 3 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in Island Tales - Expatriate Living, The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , , , ,

Andrea Bocelli performed his One Night in Central Park Concert last night.  As the solar flares whipped around our sun, the energies of cultures, music, eras and beliefs mixed in the air next to the sea.

Italian Andrea Bocelli was the headliner, but the young Bahraini woman with the bobbed hair and boots sitting behind me did not seem to understand the concert was not just Andrea singing.  The renowned Russian State Hermitage Orchestra conducted by veteran Eugene Kohn was FEATURED.  And Soprano Paola Sanguinetti who has performed with Bocelli for over ten years was more than arm candy.  But each time Bocelli was walked on and off stage, the audience held their breath wondering whether HE was going to come back.

My neighbor thought when Bocelli was not on stage it was a mini-intermission so she laughed and chatted with her friends.  After Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours, I finally turned around and said “your laughing is distracting” and suggested that she save her comments for between the movements.

She said “I will try.”

The program’s second half gave the audience some operatic relief.

During his famed rendition of Shubert’s Ave Maria, the stage screen featured a video of Bocelli standing at the foot of a four-foot tall Virgin Mary covered in a floor length veil.  Muslims respect the Virgin Mary.  There are more passages devoted to her in the Koran than in the Bible.  But as Bocelli placed a white rose at her feet and the Virgin’s veil was gently pulled from her face, the Islamic tenet that idol worship is forbidden came to mind.  When the song ended, half the audience clapped and Mojo leaned over and whispered, “oops”.   Already MPs had been calling the Spring of Culture “immoral”.

The Incanto favorites Mamma and Funiculi, Funiculi did not relieve the discomfort hanging over the audience.

Bocelli left the stage and the orchestra played a suite from Romeo and Juliet.  Excerpts from Zeffirelli’s 1968 film’s balcony scene were projected behind the orchestra.  I heard tongues clucking when the blue-eyed, 17-year old Leonard Whiting snuck into 15-year old Olivia Hussey’s window and kissed her.  I don’t think anyone told the producers that in the Bahrain cinemas even Shrek’s first kiss with the princess-turned-ogre Fiona was cut out.

Ultimately it was Elvis, a showgirl and the Las Vegas crooners who saved the night under the Lenten moon.

When Bocelli sang Elvis’ familiar Can’t Help Falling in Love, the mood began to lift.  The audience cheered after he gave his young guest artist, Ilaria Della Bidia, a big hug between their duets.  The audience went wild over his New York New York encore and gave him a stomping ovation for this Liza Minelli and Frank Sinatra staple.

Just as earth lucked out without any power grid disruptions, the Spring of Culture‘s Bocelli concert ended on a HIGH NOTE.

And the audience bundled in their winter jackets and scarves proved the concert did not simply “please semi-naked women” as the MP claimed.

You Can’t Be Grumpy When Julio Sings

06 Mar 2012 7 Comments

by Eva the Dragon in Island Tales - Expatriate Living, The Most Interesting Roosters - People Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The last three days I have been feeling quite grumpy.

It’s because I am having to come to terms with the age-related adjustments I must make to my yoga practice.  As I watch my young teacher bend, bend, bend, my ego is having difficulty accepting that I cannot mimic her without injuring my knees, back or _____   (insert nearly any body part).

Perhaps next week.  If only I stretch a little further……..

Last night Mojo and I attended Julio Iglesias’ concert at the Arad Fort.  He came to Bahrain as part of The Spring of Culture.  Even though I only knew his “All The Girls I Loved Before” duet with Willie Nelson, we both agreed the show was terrific.

 

The good news was his voice is still strong.  And he was still surrounded with young women whose legs sliding out of their evening dresses trounced Angelina Jolie on the red carpet.

HRH King Hamad was impressed too.  He presented the 69-year old Spaniard an award for his prolific musical achievements.

I can only imagine Julio must be pretty grumpy today after the local newspaper featured his award on the front page.  Why? The photo was taken from his left side.

Based upon his myriad of publicity shots, Julio prefers his right side.  Even in his younger days, he entered the stage from the left and sang to his partner so his right side faced the audience.  The same was true last night.  His three sinewy backup singers all stood on the right side of the stage.

After flying in from a concert in Moscow and two nights outside in the Bahrain winter, I hope today he is resting and not obsessing about the photo.  But I know as I watched him carefully execute his choreographed moves, his age was on his mind.

“I am 47 years old” he joked with the audience.

He pretended his water was vodka.
When his saxophonist offered him a scarf, he turned it down, shouting “I feel terrific!”

Wearing only his suit jacket, he sang for an hour and a half while being pelted by an icy desert wind.

Watching him I wondered “at his age, why is he subjecting himself to this?”

Today I went to see my young hairdresser after a two month hiatus.  He looked at me and said, “You look great.  Have you lost weight?”

“No,” I said thinking a moment.  “But I have been immersed in my yoga training since January.”

“I have never exercised.  My doctor told me I should do yoga.  Everyone says yoga is excellent for you.” He continued, “You look different, better.  After seeing how you were walking, I am motivated to find a yoga class for me.”

I was so pleased.

“Yoga is great,” I agreed.  And thinking about Julio telling us how his music came from his heart and how much he enjoyed singing to people around the world, I added,

“And always do what you love.  That will keep you feeling young.”

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