"To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Maison Pestea" for you abuelito

Last month I was in France, in the basque country. I got to visit the village of Hasparren where my ancestors are from, and I found the house where some of them lived and died. It was in the family for a few hundred years and was built around 1700, it still stands as you can see. Is pretty incredible to me, that I was able to find this house. I have many records from my research that mention the " Maison Pestea" as the place of birth and death. My grandfather spend 2 years traveling in France and lived in Paris for a while, he liked it so much he added to his pen name " Tito Paris". He went there in search for his family and never found them. I feel like I completed the task and even though my grandpa has been gone for a while, I hope he can see how much I have worked on his French genealogy.

I had a realization yesterday. Email and text and chat are not ways of communications, not when things are important. I knew this, but got sucked into it anyways. Important conversations should be made face to face. Nothing beats the real thing, where you and all your senses can express what is in your heart and mind. To not do this, is messy, as I now know. I am never ever going to do this over email or text or chat, is not worth the misunderstanding. There are times when emails and letters are necessary, but I prefer the real time interaction. I hate how lazy we've become and have replaced people with technology. I'm much kinder and nicer in person anyways. This makes me want to get rid of texting from my phone all together. I'm sorry I took the easy way and not the best way. Lesson learned, will not happened again.

sometimes i blink.sometimes i squint.

i love

the muppets, and

poetry .......the romantic era
greek yogurt with honey
heavy blakets
kitchen pottery
boots
french manicures
steak tacos
my hair
manly men
genealogy
black and white pictures
honesty
the color of wine
burning oils
hot showers
to be impressed
and to laugh so hard my jaw hurts
books
paintings
admire someone
watching people at airports
warm laundry
new beginings
intelligent conversation
clarity and truth
courage

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you're not." -Andre Gide

Joshua James

how long does it take you to run away.
run run run
i have been numb.
i take a spoon and I have tasted that.
from my toes to my waist, I'm in it, with no way to go
a seat belt will never keep you safe from it
walking on Lincoln road he told me
in a letter I told you
at a taco stand he told me
at night I told you
takes me no time to run, no time.

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.