Have been lost, but been found, I have.

hello-hello.

I am the keeper of fragile things and I
have kept of you what is indisolvable.


I've been feeling a bit sad lately. Perhaps just a bit tired.

rolling in the dirt

warmth

I love the way the sun radiates from behind the blinds in late morning. It reminds me of mid-summer when, outside my window, the the June sun breaks in between the clouds, bathing my skin in a warm golden light.
Those are the best mornings.

Black Forest Adventures

I'd like to visit Neuschwanstein's Castle someday, if not inhabit it. There's something so striking about it's backdrop. The mountains cut through the fog, revealing faces of rock millions of years in transition.

I have decided to take a panoramic train tour through the Black Forest in a few weeks. It begins in Offenburg traveling through Donaueschingen to Konstanz. There's also a hostel I plan to stay in north of Offenburg prior to the tour. It is a medieval castle in Ortenburg, appropriately called Ortenburg Castle. Only 20 euro/night!

For a small library, NYU in Prague has a decent selection of material. Though advised to skip it, I rented Jean-Jacque Annaud's Seven Years in Tibet. It's true, Brad Pitt's accent is practically unbearable. The production of the film is interesting though. Obviously displeased with the ideas of the film, the People's Republic of China barred entry into Tibet. However, the film was secretly shot there twice, while the remaining portions of the film were shot in Argentina and Canada. As a result of the film, Brad Pitt and David Thewlis were banned from China. (The accent didn't help.) Oh, 1997.

oh, hi february fourteen

Valentine's Day
has always been a favorite of mine. When I was younger, my parents would leave sweets beside my bed each morning of the fourteenth, usually a small pot of tulips or daffodils, nail polish, teeny tiny stuffed animals, and of course Belgian chocolate.
I remember quite well what I've received over the years. Around the age of eleven, my mother bought me Grease, which I still love to this day because it reminds me of Valentine's Day. Another year, I received delightful red tulips in a painted pot and miniature red teddy bear from my Dad. I still have both prominently displayed in my room. It's the one day of the year that love, or the absence of, is universally acknowledged and certainly longed for. Perhaps that may be an exaggeration, but it's something I've always felt to be the case.




I hate that I'm away from the ones I love, feeling increasingly isolated. I miss my best friend and my family. Spending the weekend in Terezin, a transit camp in northern Moravia and watching Apocalypse Now is clearly not ideal. However, I shall take this time to indulge. Enjoy some of the history of St. Valentine's Day, a few images, and whimsical lyrics by Sappho and Shakespeare.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. Until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine's Days. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia.

Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna, modern Terni, about AD 197 and is said to have been killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelien. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome.

three:
without warning
as a whirlwind
swoops on an oak
love shakes my heart.

ten:
at noontime
when the earth is
bright with flaming
heat falling straight down
the cricket sets
up a high-pitched
singing in his wings.

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.

Shakespeare's Ophelia in Hamlet (1600-1601)

love,

lee

a mix, hohum!

01. Gila, Beach House
02. Central and Remote, Grizzly Bear
03. Your Protector, Fleet Foxes
04. Do You Believe in Rapture, Sonic Youth
05. Melody Day, Caribou
06. Maple Leaves, Jens Lekman
07. kim & jessie, m83
08. That's That, Cass McCombs
09. It's a Curse, Wolf Parade
10. Insistor, Tapes 'n Tapes
11. A Sunday Smile, Beirut
12. Dress Up in You, Belle & Sebastian
13. Sometimes I Don't Get You, Yo La Tengo
14. God Knows, El Perro del Mar

In truth,

I wrote the previous post a week or so prior to my writing now. Since, I've decided I have quite a bit that I would like to share. Henceforth, please enjoy at your leisure.

Prague/Prag/Praha

Up until this point, I had internalized my inclinations to describe in detail my thoughts and experiences about living in Prague. Particularly because I prefer the pen on paper documentation, I had refused to create a "travel blog" for fear that it fall to cliches about cafes and locals, or merely just pictures and rightfully so. These days, one must use discretion, I feel, in creating a blog on a whim. Hell, anyone can have a blog (or two or three) with absolutely nothing of importance to discuss. Perhaps I will fall to the same humdrum blogger activity though I promise to persevere. Onward!

I wasn't certain that I liked Prague. I didn't arrive with the same starry-eyes I had in New York. Instead, I hoped very little and expected a fraction less. Prague, a mix of baroque, rococo, and post-communist architecture adorned with accompanying graffiti, unleashed yet mindful canines, abundance of birds (particularly swans), its common silences amidst metropolitan bustle, and its straight-faced inhabitants, I wasn't sure it was a good fit.

Yet after sampling pickled cheese (it's true), getting hooked on Bikram yoga, hearing from a lifelong political dissident firsthand about the Velvet Revolution, wandering the ample cobblestone streets, being mistaken for a Czech, repeating "I don't understand" to every word spoken to me in Czech, enjoying (or making a sincere effort anyway) inexpensive, yet quality beer, and witnessing a high speed car chase all the while waiting for the tram (read: standing on a narrow median) and feeling the whip of the fleeing getaway car on my blood-stricken cheeks. I think I'm learning a little more and trying to let go. I am in the Czech Republic after all, and if its people can pull themselves together, well then so can I.