RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Signs and numbers that mean something to someone, 

but leave me bewildered.

Google has me bewildered.  I got an email saying I needed to update something on my blog before the end of May or else I would not have anymore access to it.  They gave me a link.  The link took me some place with directions to something which for some reason I could not figure out.  Then our computer died.  Mother board fried.  Hmm, was that related?   

So now it's May 29.  New computer, new learning curve.  Tried finding that email again.  No success.  Am leaving for a week (see Lemurian Choir below).  Running out of time to fiddle with this Google thing.  So, here's a heads up: if I can not get access to my blog when I get back... so be it.  Thank you all for reading and commenting.  You've been wonderful friends and followers.  

You know, of course, that nothing will stop me from starting a new blog.  In fact, it may be a good thing.  It may be a sign to start posting my stories on "Food Sex & God."  Thank you Xavier for that title.  And thank you Mark Travis for asking "What would you write about if you had no fear?"  If I do find the courage to post my FSG stories, I will let you know the address. 

 

Meanwhile, Phil and I will be learning to sing the 24 ancient pineal tones so we can be part of the great Lemurian Choir event on December 21, 2012 on Maui. 

A hui ho!

CORPSE FLOWER

Went to Foster Botanical Garden to smell the Corpse Flower from Sumatra, but alas… at ten years of age, it is still considered an immature plant and only opened fully the day before, and only for one day.  They had about a thousand people line up to see and smell it yesterday.  My visit today was a day late.  It had closed up and did not smell bad at all.  I’ll have to wait another three to five years before it will flower again.  At least I saw one up close.  Here’s some info on it:

The Corpse Flower

Amorphophallus titanum, which is said to be the biggest, smelliest flower in the world, looks like something that could eat a human being. When it blooms it can reach over nine feet in height and smells like a mixture of rotting flesh and excrement. The pungent odor attracts bees which are trapped in the flower until they are covered with pollen. Then they are released to fertilize other plants.

A blooming Amorphophallus titanum's "flower" (actually it is technically a leaf or spathe) can be three feet across. It is notoriously difficult to get a titanum to bloom outside of its native Indonesia, and botanical gardens around the world often try for decades without success. Bloomings of the Amorphophallus titanum have happened only about a dozen times in the United States since the first success at the New York Botanical Gardens in 1937.

When the plant does bloom it moves quickly. It can grow as fast as 4 inches per day. The period when the "flower" is open lasts only about two days.

Although the Amorphophallus titanum looks a lot like you would imagine a man-eating plant to look like, and it even smells like somebody is dead inside, it is not carnivorous.

 Dwarfed by a kapok tree

REMBRANDT IN MY DREAM

Rembrandt, Self Portrait

In my dream I'm hosting a party for artists and other friends when a well-known woman artist approaches.

In my waking life, this woman once tried to discredit me, but ultimately failed.  I haven't seen her since.  Now she is in my dream.   
I welcome her.  
She ignores me and starts recruiting people to run for office of the Honolulu Pen Women. 

I tell her, “It’s done already. Sabra is president.” 

She stops in her tracks.  She turns her back to me and walks off. 

Oh no.  Not so fast.  I grab her by the arm.  She stops.  

“I’ve got to know something,” I say as I face her up close. “What about that thing in the past?” 

She stares at a spot below my left eye. 

“Your left eye is good,” she says, “and there’s a beautiful spot right below it.” 

I wake up puzzled.  What's that about?

Later when I check my emails, I run across a reference to Rembrandt lighting:

"When a portrait is lit by just one light source from a 45° angle to the model, one side of the face will be lit up and the other side will be part light, part shadow.  A reflection screen can be used to lighten up the shadows.  When a small triangle of light appears under the eye that is on the shadow side of the face, it is called the Rembrandt Triangle.  It's what makes his paintings so compelling."

 Rembrandt, Self Portrait

Still don’t know what to make of my dream, but the connection to Rembrandt is fascinating.   So for fun I checked some photos of myself and found one that sorta-kinda shows a Rembrandt Triangle under my left eye.  

The original photo was by my childhood friend and noted Dutch body painter Ferry Zeeman
My apologies to Ferry for changing the photo by increasing the contrast to make the triangle pop.

Now I'll be looking for Rembrandt Triangles in every picture.

TIME WARP

After having my hair cut by Stuart at Hairspray Salon on Koko Head in Kaimuki, I usually walk over to the vegetable stand on 12^th Avenue between Waialae and Harding (parking stall for Kaimuki Taxi) to pick up what looks good or what I might happen to need at the moment. 

Invariably I find myself taking a quick peek at Tam’s Shoe Repair Shop.  Not that anything ever changes inside.  Heaven forbid.  The same archeology of cardboard boxes, plastic bags, suitcases (What is it with suitcases at a shoe repair shop?)…  

The narrow (and narrowing) path between counter and storage rack… 

The constant fluorescent light fixture beating its rays over the same jumble of shoes year after year… 

 

In the window the same lone brown shoe lies on its side forever.  Old dust…

 

But wait, there is something new.  I missed it at first.  Go back outside and check out the window again.  A new green poster brightly announces a 50’s 60’s 70’s Oldies Bash Sock Hop 2012 at Pacific Beach Hotel!  How could I have missed it? 

 

Other than that one item, though, nothing has changed.  So I must be checking for my own peace of mind, making sure it’s all still there.  

 

 One day it’s going to go “poof!” and be gone forever.