More Favorite Things - Geek Alert!

Here they are, in no particular order - some of my favorite things, for Sunday, June 3rd.


Solitude, by Marc Chagall, ca. 1913
(come on, don't all goats play violin?)
















The first movement for the Serenade in G Major, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"



The way the shadows and light play in the works of Caravaggio. Here they dance around Jesus, Judas and the soldiers in Gethsamne, in "The Taking of The Christ", ca. 1598, probably his most recognized piece.













The prospect of someday returning to China, and spending more time there. I am fascinated by so much about this country, the people and the culture. I long to return!














The promises made in the first three chapters of Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:3-8 “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

Ephesians 1:18-20 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[fn6] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 2:4-11 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Ephesians 3:16-21 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

This last one is both one of my favorite things, and a tradition I will miss this coming birthday. The pleasure of enjoying a jazz concert at the Hollywood Bowl, followed by a fireworks display. There is nothing that compares to listening to the wonders of well written music, under a rose and purple summer sky, skin kissed by a soft breeze as the music wafts softly on the air, except when it is followed by fireworks that seem so close that they could dance on the tip of your nose.

Sometimes The Greatest Journey Is The Distance Between Two People

I recently received a gift, a movie entitled The Painted Veil. Even though the present was given a few weeks ago, I put off watching this movie because I thought it would be slow. It's a love story set in Colonial China, amongst a cholera epidemic, it had to be slow.

About half way through the movie, however, one character drunkenly asks another "When has a woman ever loved a man because of his virtue?". At that point, I realized I was involved, deeply affected by the heartache and cynicism of one of the characters emotional struggle with his adulterous wife. This movie had drawn me in.

I won't give too much away, but I just wanted to say I highly recommend The Painted Veil. It is full of redemption, love and sacrifice, and the scenes of Inland China are breathtaking.

Here is the synopsis, by the way:

A couple with a broken relationship learns some valuable lessons about love, life, and sacrifice in this romantic drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's 1925, and Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a physician and bacteriologist who has become smitten with Kitty (Naomi Watts), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and socially prominent family. Walter proposes marriage to Kitty and she accepts; however, while he clearly loves her, Kitty is more interested in her reputation than Walter's feelings, as she's recently turned 25, an age by which most of her peers have already wed.

Kitty and Walter move to Shanghai, where he sets up a practice and she takes a lover, the British Vice Consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When Walter learns of his wife's infidelity, he becomes furious, and impulsively volunteers to travel to China to work in a village stricken with a major cholera epidemic. While Walter's actions are meant to punish Kitty rather than reflect his own benevolence, the daily trials of living in a community in crisis have a striking impact on the couple, giving them a new and deeper perspective on their relationship.

There is a hopeless romantic in me, and today, on this cold & dreary Sunday, it has had it's indulgences.