CocoGarcia

Lovely Lucy Leaves Us

 
For almost 10 years our neighborhood has been blessed with two harlequin great danes, Lucy and Cesar.  Suddenly last night Lucy left us, tugging on her leash all the way to doggie heaven.  We will miss her loping down the street, nuzzling hello, barking as we pass by her corner sentry spot.  She loved the NW corner of our garden and when awol was often found there sniffing away to her heart's content.  Always in the same exact spot.  Now we'll never know.  It's not like any other dog goes there.  It was Lucy's spot.  Nothing broke a smile like this enormous pony sized dog!  She just took your breath away and forced a chuckle. Kind of like the time my german short hair saw his first horse on the beach.  He just sat in amazement.  We're all better for the dogs we've had in our lives.  Lucy, may you find the light, may you find the sniff of all time.

Tropical Winter Light in Palm Beach

The tropical winter in Florida definitely agrees with these two Tostesons.  Winter light washes beautifully across a cloudless blue sky resting a golden glow on the dark green trees and blue water.  Lovely.

Leo Cullum's Legacy of Mirth

  My neighbor and friend Leo Cullum died on Sunday night surrounded by his wife and daughters after a long battle with cancer during which he kept his sense of humor.  Leo leaves quite a legacy as a husband, father, neighbor and friend.  An airline pilot who took up cartooning in his spare time between flights and ended up the most published cartoonist of all time in The New Yorker Magazine.  His was the first cartoon to appear in the magazine after 9/11 depicting a woman saying to a man, "I thought I'd never laugh again but then I saw your jacket."  You just had to love this man!  My favorite Leo story is the time we were flying back to LA from San Juan only to discover that Leo was in the cockpit.  Towards the end of the flight he walked back to where we were seated to offer us a lift home!  Our dog Zen visited Leo's garden every night in search of his company.  Leo's joyous spirit will be missed by many.  His legacy of mirth eternal.

Kaya Turns Ten!

Our god daughter Kaya turns ten today!  We were present at her birth and have see her blossom from a peanut into this beautiful young girl full of heart.  Happy Tenth Birthday Kaya!

Yvonne Marie Hoggard, RIP

Today my friend Teri and her sister Gail held a memorial for their big sister Yvonne.  Two sisters bade farewell to their oldest surrounded by an intimate group of friends gathered to celebrate the life of Yvonne Marie Hoggard.  Gail recalled Yvonne as a young girl, a basketball and track star, a shining talent.  Teri spoke of all she had learned from Yvonne right up to the very end, the sentimental sister.  A soft place to land said Moira.  Joy led us in meditation, prayer and several inspirational readings ending with this anonymous poem.  Love filled the room.

I did not die

Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep.  I am the thousand winds that blow.  I am the diamonds glint on snow.  I am the sunlight on ripened grain.  I am the gentle autumn rain.  When you awaken in the morning's hush, I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds in circled flight.  A am the soft stars that shine at night.  Do not stand at my grave and cry.  I am not there, I did  not die.  Anonymous

Fending off Flab Now Takes 60 Minutes a Day

I don't know how I feel about this.  Is it ever enough?  This latest research reported in the NYT and WSJ  last week from an article appearing in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association states that older women need at least an hour of moderate activity daily to fend off weight gain in later years.  Brisk walking, leisurely bicycling and golfing all qualify.  Or you can engage in 30 minutes a day of intense activity like running, cycling, swimming or working out at the gym.  Tossed is the idea that 30 minutes a day 3-4 times a week is enough to fend off weight gain when consuming a normal diet.  Let's face it.  Any amount of exercise is good.  More is usually better than less unless I'm in pain.  If it's fun, all the better.  Apparently a half hour of exercise 5x a week will not stop weight gain without my limiting calories.  The bottom line is that with age we become more sedentary without changing our eating habits.  So ramp it up!  Walk, garden, bike, hike, dance.  And knock off those peanut butter filled pretzels from Trader Joe's. 

Respect Your Fashion Elders!

Don't miss Horacio Silva's Respect Your Elders in today's NYT.  What a treat to stumble on Ari Seth Cohen's lovely blog Advanced Style featuring the irrepressible looks of older people free to dress as they want and their commentary on how they go about pulling together their particular look.  One advises to isolate all black clothing to the back of the closet and use it only as an accent color.  How about that?  I love it!  Check out the statements.  The stories.  The freedom.  What fun!

The Magnificent Regina Carter

We just get better with age.  We do!  Last night I had the total pleasure of attending a small concert at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theater featuring the magnificent jazz violinist Regina Carter.  She regaled the audience with her masterful violin and tunes from her upcoming CD Reverse Thread due for release in January.  A decade ago I caught Regina Carter on the fly at the now defunct Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles.  She was breathtaking then, a young woman with long flying hair in a neon orange gown, playing jazz violin so magnificently, as if someone was singing.  I wept with joy.  Her CD at the time Rhythms of the Heart remains an all-time favorite.  Last night, ten years later, a more mature and rounded woman took the stage wearing a sweeping dark brown brocade skirt and short tailored jacked, her hair cropped in a natural halo.  Beautiful.  Grounded.  Playing east African melodies with her still exquisite jazz violin, making me weep again with the sheer beauty of her performance.

Cheever Restoring Sex in Sexagenarian!

Susan Cheever hits it out of the park with today's commentary in The Daily Beast on the magnificent women coming of age right about now, turning 60!  It's quite a line up including Meryl Streep and Vera Wang soon to be joined by Anna Wintour, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange.  Check out Susan's various and charming articles on aging by tuning in to her RSS feed link.  Her take on the Emma Thompson/Dustin Hoffman romantic comedy Last Chance Harvey takes talk of aging to a new level, something well worth a forward glance!

The Power of Good Looking Empty Nesters?

Check out today's Mimi Swartz article in The Daily Beast on The Power of Empty Nesters.  What a commentary on the continually evolving role of women now boosted by new and improved appearance.  Full circle?  Now on top of competence and talent high profile women in Washington are also lookers!  And this is an improvement?  I get the progress in not automatically ascribing frumpiness to accomplished women in public life, however I'm not so delighted with the notion that "finally" we have good looking party girls in roles of responsibility.  It hardly does justice to these talented empty nesters who are rising towards the infamous glass ceiling.  What a twisted concept.  Are we in fact better when we meet higher social standard of attractiveness?  I'm not exactly relieved by all this.