The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
My painting 2/5/2015
In 1903 fourteen years old Anna met seventeen years old Nikolay. She wrote poetry since she was 11 and he published in 1902 his first book of poetry.
In 1905 Nikolay first time asked Anna to marry him. However, they married 5 years later, in April of 1910. Before marriage Anna wrote to her friend: “…I believe that it is my fate to be his wife. Whether or not I love him, I do not know, but it seems to me that I do.”
The couple honeymooned in Paris. In September of 1912 their son Lev was born.
Anna Akhmatova, Nikolay Gumilyov and Lev Gumilyov
Before marriage Nikolay extensively traveled in Europe and Africa. From Wikipedia: “Gumilyov was fascinated with Africa and travelled there almost each year. He explored, helping development of Ethiopia, … and brought to the Saint Petersburg museum of anthropology and ethnography a large collection of African artifacts.”
At that time Nikolay published two more books of poetry. While in Paris he published a literary journal and there one Anna’s poem was published.
Soon after marriage Nikolay started to rebel against its restrictions. At the end of 1910 he left Anna for a six-month trip to Africa. Anna wrote to a friend that Nikolay “lost his passion” for her.
During Nikolay’s absence Anna became one of founders of the Guild of Poets. Her magnetism and allure attracted many great men. It is known that Anna had affairs with some of them.
Nikolay also was a founder of the Guild of Poets. To illustrate their ideals, he published two collections of poems,The Pearls in 1910 and the Alien Sky in 1912.
In 1912, the Guild of Poets published Anna’s book Evening..
Anna was recognized as “a new and striking young writer”.
“The Rosary …appeared in March 1914 and firmly established her as one of the most popular and sought after poets of the day.” (from Wikipedia).
At that time she “became close friends with Boris Pasternak (who, though married, proposed to her many times).”
In July 1914, Akhmatova wrote “Frightening times are approaching. Soon fresh graves will cover the land”.
On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia.
Nikolay volunteered to serve in an élite cavalry unit. For his bravery during the war he was awarded two St. George crosses.
His book of war poems The Quiver was published in 1916.
In 1917, when Russian Revolution started, Nikolay was in the Russian Expedition Corps in Paris. He returned to Petrograd (Saint Petersburg). There he published several new books of poems.
In August of 1918 Anna and Nikolay divorced.
Soon after divorce Anna married prominent assyriologist and poet Vladimir Shilejko.
She later said “I felt so filthy. I thought it would be like a cleansing, like going to a convent, knowing you are going to lose your freedom.”
There was no cleansing. She began affairs with theatre director Mikhail Zimmerman and composer Arthur Lourie.
Nikolay In 1919 married Anna Nikolaevna Engelhardt, a daughter of a well-known historian.
Three years after Anna and Nikolay’ divorce Nikolay was shot with 61 others for conspiracy against the state.
Anna wrote:
“Terror fingers all things in the dark,
Leads moonlight to the axe.
There’s an ominous knock behind the
wall:
A ghost, a thief or a rat…“
The case against Nikolay Gumilyov and all others was completely fabricated and all victims were rehabilitated by Russian authorities in 1992 (71 years after their deaths).
Painting by JF
For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.
Life is a flower.
It opens its petals to everybody.
Each of us has opportunities to enjoy its beauty.
We need to see it, to smell, to appreciate, be grateful and to add to it.
photo by JF
I was looking for something interesting this morning and I found a test below.
Surely, I took it and answered all questions. Results are fantastic!
Please, try it and tell us what you got.
SUNRISE by JF
CHURCH’S PARKING LOT by JF
TO WORK by JF
ON THE BEACH by JF
SUNRISE by JF
I think that majority of my followers did not read this post.
During our 40 years in America we often heard: “I want it and I want it now!” My responses are: “What did you do to get it?” and “Go for it!”
There are many good motivational blogs in the WordPress blogosphere. They are well written and many of them contain beautiful uplifting photos and wise quotes of famous people.
However, I believe that life is the best motivator.
Let me share with you our experience.
My wife and I came in the USA in 1975 with two children. My wife did not know English at all. I believed that I knew English as in the USSR I translated many scientific papers and was able to communicate with foreigners in English. However, my first days in New York were terrible. I could not understand people and people could not understand me.
What did we do?
I found a job as a cutter in a tie factory. I worked 8 hours daily and spent 4 hours to go to work and back. There were 4-5 hours for sleep. All remaining hours I read books by…
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I wonder how many people remember Hedy Lamarr and know about her life.
There was time when she was the most beautiful woman in the movie industry.
There was also time when she made very important inventions.
Embed from Getty ImagesWho was Hedy Lamarr?
Here is an excerpt from her official website:
“She was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, 1914 in Vienna, Austria. At 17 years old Hedy starred in her first film, a German project called Geld Auf Der Strase. Hedy continued her film career by working on both German and Czechoslavakian productions. The 1932 German film Exstase brought her to the attention of Hollywood producers, and she soon signed a contract with MGM.
Once in Hollywood, she officially changed her name to Hedy Lamarr and starred in her first Hollywood film, Algiers (1938), opposite Charles Boyer. She continued to land parts opposite the most popular and talented actors of the day, including Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart. Some of her films include an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat (1942), White Cargo (1942), Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Female Animal (1957).
As if being a beautiful, talented actress was not enough, Hedy was also extremely intelligent. In addition to her film accomplishments, Hedy patented an idea that later became the crutch of both secure military communications and mobile phone technology. In 1942, Hedy and composer George Antheil patented what they called the “Secret Communication System.” The original idea, meant to solve the problem of enemies blocking signals from radio-controlled missiles during World War II, involved changing radio frequencies simultaneously to prevent enemies from being able to detect the messages. While the technology of the time prevented the feasibility of the idea at first, the advent of the transistor and its later downsizing made Hedy’s idea very important to both the military and the cell phone industry.”
There are some of her quotes below. I would appreciate if you comment on them.
#1. I am not ashamed to say that no man I ever met was my father’s equal, and I never loved any other man as much.
#2. A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.
#3. I have not been that wise. Health I have taken for granted. Love I have demanded, perhaps too much and too often. As for money, I have only realized its true worth when I didn’t have it.
#4. Compromise and tolerance are magic words. It took me 40 years to become philosophical.
#5. American men, as a group, seem to be interested in only two things, money and breasts. It seems a very narrow outlook.
#6. It’s funny about men and women. Men pay in cash to get them and pay in cash to get rid of them. Women pay emotionally coming and going. Neither has it easy.
#7. I advise everybody not to save: spend your money. Most people save all their lives and leave it to somebody else. Money is to be enjoyed.
#8. The ladder of success in Hollywood is usually a press agent, actor, director, producer, leading man; and you are a star if you sleep with each of them in that order. Crude, but true.
#9. It is easier for women to succeed in business, the arts, and politics in America than in Europe.
#10. Jack Kennedy always said to me, Hedy, get involved. That’s the secret of life. Try everything. Join everything. Meet everybody.
#11. Perhaps my problem in marriage-and it is the problem of many women-was to want both intimacy and independence. It is a difficult line to walk, yet both needs are important to a marriage.
#12. Any girl can look glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.
Yesterday I received incredible information connected in unbelievable mysterious ways with Wassily Kandinsky. I am going to publish it this week.
In the meantime I recommend all of my followers and guests to read about life of this artist HERE and in other articles on the internet and to read his quotes below.
Everything starts from a dot. ”
There is no must in art because art is free. ”
The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul. ”
The more frightening the world becomes … the more art becomes abstract. ”
Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential. ”
The true work of art is born from the ‘artist’: a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being. ”
The artist is not a ‘Sunday child’ for whom everything immediately succeeds. He does not have the right to live without duty. The task that is assigned to him is painful, it is a heavy cross for him to bear. ”
To create a work of art is to create the world.”
I believe that summer is our time, a time for the people, and that no politician should be allowed to speak to us during the summer. They can start talking again after Labor Day.
Both the Winter and the Summer Solstices are expressions of love. They show us the opposition of light and dark, expansion and contraction, that characterize our experiences in the Earth school so that we can recognize our options as we move through our lives.
Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world.
Summer is like the ultimate one-night stand…hot as hell, totally thrilling, and gone before you know it.
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SWEDISH COUNTRYSIDE IN SUMMER courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
I looked at my stats and found that old post “Lady on the bicycle” was the most popular post on this blog. It’s time to reblog it for new followers. Hopefully, they’ll like it.
1) Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.
2) A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
3) Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
4) The truth is you don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.
5) You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
Not too long ago I published the post FROM WINTER TO SUMMER. Several months passed. We had wonderful time in Hollywood, Florida.
Now is time to move from summer to spring, from 84 degrees in Hollywood to 65 degrees in Queens, from palms to blooming magnolias, from our friends here to our family and friends in New York and New Jersey.
It takes only three hours to come from summer to spring and to enjoy wonders of New York City. In a week we can walk in the Central Park, we can go to the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, we can visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Embed from Getty ImagesLife is wonderful! You don’t need to be a millionaire to enjoy it! Just walk and look around you, smell flowers, soak wonderful views, greet people with smiles, listen to laughter of children, to music in churches, in some buildings on the 5th and Madison Avenues.
Life is wonderful! Enjoy it! Enjoy learning, enjoy work, enjoy meeting friends, walks, workouts, meditation, gaining wisdom!
Think and grow! It is never too late to become a better person, to understand your place in the world, to make your contribution to it!
Rimantas Dichavicius is a photographer and an artist.
He is a born romantic. It is a romantic touch that helped him to publish an album, glorifying feminine beauty. The album ”Flowers of Flowers” was presented at the International Book Fair in Moscow in 1987.
Rimantas Dichavicius recalls: “There was censorship. This topic has been banned…Adherents of strict morals did not attack me. Just had a surprise – not up to criticism. ”
Foreign experts wondered how such high level of skill emerged in the country where the photos in the genre of “nude” have been banned for 70 years?
Rimantas Dichavicius never thought about that. He just did poetic, upscale photos elusive beauty.
Read about Rimantas Dichavicius and see his photos HERE.
“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”.
“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”
“Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.”
Both of us lived in Moscow for many years but we did not know each other there. In 1975 we emigrated with our families and then we met in the small inn on the 35th street between 5th and 6th avenues.
Vladimir did not know English at all so it was my task to find good and cheap apartments for rent in some beautiful and peaceful area of New York City. I was fortunate to find such apartments for our families on the same floor of a building in Rego Park in Queens.
We and our children became friends. I was very interested in Vladimir’s work. We discussed his projects, what were his thoughts when he worked on any painting, his thoughts about art and artists.
Vladimir’s paintings were not simple or just beautiful. They were always thoughts provoking.
In 1975 I also met a businessman Eduard Nakhamkin and I suggested to him that it could be a very good idea to open an art gallery in Manhattan and to introduce Russian artists to American public. The gallery opened in 1977 and Vladimir Ryklin’s one-man show was the first.
I remember that there were 27 paintings on the display at that time and 25 of them were sold during first two days.
Today I found an article about my friend Vladimir Ryklin with several of his paintings. You can read it HERE.
It is trying time for people who lived both in Ukraine and Russia. I am one of these people. That’s why I decided to reblog this post today.
There were always many talented people in Russia.
They appeared despite wars, revolutions, mass repressions, famines, terrible conditions of living.
Georgy Kurasov is one of them. Please read about his life and see his art below.
I know that majority of my followers are young and beautiful.
However, sooner or later people blessed with children and grandchildren.
We have 5 grandchildren and we love them very much.
You know there are some people who say that their grandchildren are geniuses. It’s too much!
Our grandchildren are simply beautiful and very smart! If you doubt it please ask my wife. We have different opinions on majority of topics but in this case we think exactly the same.
Now, I found several good quotes about grandchildren. Please look at them below.
What can I say to my grandchildren?
Just one thing: build a happy family!
Best to them and to you!
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS 