Da Man...Maxwell

When I was in college in New Jersey I absolutely loved myself some Maxwell. After an absence of seven years, how happy am I that he is back. Check out his new song/video above. For some old school goodness see the video below...

RIP: Michael Joseph Jackson

We Had Him
By Dr. Maya Angelou

Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing,
Now that our bright and shining star
Can slip away from our fingertips
Like a puff of summer wind.
Without notice, our dear love
Can escape our doting embrace,
Sing our songs among the stars,
And walk our dances across the face of the moon.
In the instant that Michael is gone, we know nothing.
No clocks can tell time.
No oceans can rush our tides
With the abrupt absence of our treasure.
Though we are many,
Each of us is achingly alone,
Piercingly alone.
Only when we confess our confusion
Can we remember that he was a gift to us
And we did have him.
He came to us from the Creator,
Trailing creativity in abundance.
Despite the anguish of life,
He was sheathed in mother love, family love,
And survived and did more than that.
He thrived with passion and compassion,
Humor and style.
We had him whether we knew who he was or did not know,
He was ours and we were his.
We had him,
Beautiful,
Delighting our eyes.
He raked his hat,
A slant over his brow,
And took a pose on his toes for all of us.
And we laughed and stomped our feet for him.
We were enchanted with his passion
Because he held nothing.
He gave us all he had been given.
Today in Tokyo,
Beneath the Eiffel Tower,
In Ghana’s Black Star Square.
In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh,
In Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, England,
We are missing Michael.
But we do know we had him…And we are the world.

Sigh...

Celerie Kemble

Plants, Pets, & Palms

Halle is one of the four puppies that was born to Shadow in mid April, she was adopted late last week.....I miss you Hal, xoxo
This is Sadie and Lola. Lola will be leaving me next month and I'm already heartbroken.

Shadow taking a breather from parenthood.

Marley is busy looking out for his kids.

Halle and Lola

Kobe. He has since received a much needed hair cut and can now see again.

Sabel Palm

Christmas Palm. Many of these palms in my neighbourhood have already succumbed to the dreaded and deadly lethal yellowing disease. I am hoping that mine will be spared the same fate.

My newest edition to my growing palm collection, Foxtail Palm.

Another new edition, Bottle Palm.

Bismarck Palm

Areca Palm (Butterfly Palm)

My princess Sadie. I adopted her just before finding out that Shadow was pregnant.

Lantana

Latana and Zinnia

Yellow Allamanda

Sigh...

Domino Magazine

In Memoriam

Since hearing of the news late yesterday I have been struggling to reconcile the image of the young Michael Jackson that I grew up listening and seeing on TV to the middle aged man who tragically passed away from cardiac arrest. Through the last 2 decades in fact, I have never been able to equate the Michael from the Billie Jean and Thriller videos to the one whose images were splashed over the evening news during his legal & financial troubles. He seemed to me two separate individuals, or perhaps it was a case of me preferring to see him as that cute, immensely gifted entertainer dancing along side that pretty girl in the Thriller video. What a sad end to a tremendous and iconic talent, the only consolation is in knowing that the man may be gone but his music will surely live on.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Jackson.

Sigh...

Happy Father's Day