Archive for January 5th, 2007

05 Jan 2007 Week 1, 2007
 |  Category: Acts of Kindness, Gail at Large  | 3 Comments

thanks for the scarf, Holly Yvonne, it's very versatile

Thanks for the scarf, Holly Yvonne, it’s very versatile!

I wanted to take a break from editing the Cuba photos to send knitting kudos to Holly, who crafted this scarf of scarves for me!

Actually, it’s not cold enough in Toronto right now to use it (I was happy to have it in New York the week before Christmas, though!), but I’m sure given time…

Does the first week back at work after the end-of-year holiday break feel brutal, or is it just me? I was so disciplined in Cuba: getting up early, going to bed early, go-go-go all day, lots of energy, and now I feel like a slug. Or, more accurately, a working slug. It was a short week, yet Friday couldn’t come soon enough! It’s not that I want to accomplish Great Things over the weekend, rather, I’m aspiring to do a whole lot of nothing. Or, at least, no planes, trains, or automobiles — very little other than enjoying being at home, editing photos, and catching up on correspondence. For the past year, my writing (to people) has dwindled to a shameful trickle, and that’s something I know will change this year. That, and making (social) phone calls.

I have a good feeling about 2007.

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05 Jan 2007 Street Performers in Habana Vieja
 |  Category: Cuba, Culture + Society, Videoclips  | 2 Comments

street performance, Habana Vieja
street performance, Habana Vieja

December 28, 2006
Canon A80

After a couple of days venturing through the gritty streets of Central Havana, I found the sparkling streets of Habana Vieja — the colonial part of the city — a little blinding. Its restoration is no doubt tourist-friendly, but after a day of all that fresh paint, I was ready to return to the crumbledom that is the rest of the city. Perhaps the transition was just too stark; I found myself taking a day’s break from the colonial section before I was ready to explore it further. I’m usually a museum hound, but on this trip I preferred to be outside, absorbing information as an observer and ducking into museums twice a day at most.

Here’s the sound and video accompaniment for the photos above in YouTube. Alternately, the Blip.tv version in MOV format.

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