A trib-Hugh-te

Ah Valentines day. Hello again

In the past few weeks, these cartoons seem to have captured the hopes, spirit and vacancy of that which is the day of love (subject to debate of course). One of my friends/readers, not a nomad by choice but rather work necessity, wrote recently on the blog posts, that as she reads, her responses are the to the effect, “Ahhhhh yessss meeee tooooo!” That’s what these cartoons do for me. Reminders of happy times, some teary times, times which are reflected upon with a nostalgic sigh and solicit glimmers of hope for the dreams and hopes and tomorrows and tomorrows. Valentine’s day in Finland is celebrated as ‘friends day.’ Indeed my Hugh print sits in Finland awaiting my next nomadic destination so it can find a suitable spot on the wall. When I first met a certain someone, there was a Hugh cartoon on the back of their business card and so it began…

Here you can find the Valentines set. Today’s post therefore are the ones which for me  garnered a giggly snicker, a smile of course and sometimes sigh.  Enjoy.

Here’s one from our fuzzy friends:

An this one takes me back to Finland, where it all started, best accompanied with Nat King Cole’s ‘Nature Boy’:

I’m a romantic, not a donut

Il me rappelle

Originally uploaded by esrad

There’s the tale of the froggy and the scorpion. The Scorpion wants to cross the river and asks Mr. Frog for a ride, with a promise not to sting him when they get to the other bank. Upon arrival, the Scorpion stings the Frog. Before dying, Froggy asks the Scorpion why he stung him. The Scorpion replies ‘its my nature.’

I asked a friend last year what was their nature. The wild-card, of course is being asked these questions in return …and it’s not too often I get a taste of my own medicine 😉

Another good self-inventory exercise came in the form of the TED Fellows application. One of the questions was, if your close friends could describe you in 3 sentences, what would they say. I sent this question to a bunch of close buddies. The feedback was flattering. Return to lesson from earlier post: the energy you put into the world is the energy you get back.

Later in the year, I had a chance to visit my sister’s father in law in Rome where I understood something else about my nature. I only had a few days – it was my first trip to Rome. He asked what I planned to see. Two answers: the Vatican and Antonio Canova’s old workshop. Item number 2 stopped the conversation and turned heads, after all who goes to Rome with the pure intent of seeing Canova’s workshop turned cafe? A flickering smile came across his face, “ahhh, you’re a romantic, just like me.” So I’m a romantic, not a donut. I asked him for his advice, to which he replied, “oh its very difficult,” and shook his head. He actually used the French term “dur” which means difficult plus concrete and brick walls. This explains, amongst other things my enamor with Canova’s sculpture Psyche and Cupid, above. Art is art when it expresses those moments that words fail you. That’s what this piece does for me.
Have a go at the self-inventory’s and see what comes up. Feel free to share in comments below…oh and click on donut above for a chuckle