Snow Trip

holiday card 2012

© Hector Lee, 2012

May the blessings of peace + joy + love be with you this holiday season. 

Christmas eve

La virgen de Guadalupe: 12/12/12

© Hector Lee, 2012

Congratulations Frank and Ruth. May God continue to bless your love.

narrow & very winding paved road to ruins of monte alban

© Hector Lee, 2012

toy crazy

© Hector Lee, 2012

Felíz cumpleaños, Alonso. Te quiero mucho.

there is a blessing in this

It is a miracle Mark was not seriously hurt. He has escaped death to live another day: resurrection in action.
Remember to cherish each day and tell your loved ones that you love them.

ODC's Velveteen Rabbit

Ade: I want to go ice skating.

The show was a charming, dancing retelling of the children's book classic. Congrats to Kalin on her first public performance.

A Taste for Modernism

On Sunday, MM and I had a chance to visit the William S. Paley Collection A Taste for Modernism in the de Young Museum. Paley, the founder of CBS, bequeathed his collection of masterpieces of Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne to MOMA in NYC. As his company grew into one of the world’s largest broadcast companies, he endeavored in philanthropic work, becoming MOMA’s president. He collected works that were intimate in scale and character and had the art adorn his apartment, providing a personal and immediate experience of these works.

The small and digestible exhibition did not have the chronological organization as the previous Impressionist exhibits. Rather it had the feel of a stamp collection mirroring the modern taste of the collector. A few of the works were simply striking and moving and arresting.

 Note Latrec’s deft draftsmanship and use of color and honesty.

Henri Matisse Odalisque with a Tambourine
 I love Matisse’s Odalisque: it shows movement, composition and balance of color.

Henri Matisse The Musketeer

 It is fascinating how Matisse uses the bright orange, green and red to focus on what would be unimportant parts of the Musketeer and uses muted notes for the face and gesture of the figure.

Pablo Picasso La Coiffure

Pablo Picasso Circus Rider

 Picasso’s superb draftsmanship is on display in these small drawings.

Pierre Bonnard Reclining Nude

Édouard Vuillard The Green Lamp

 I discovered Bonnard and Vuillard in a previous exbibition. Their small, intimate painting are jewels. Here you see Bonnard and Vuilllard’s work is both and representational and abstract at the same time.

Georges Braque Still Life on a Mantelpiece

Georges Rouault Biblical Landscape with Two Trees

Georges Rouault Little Peasant Girl

Georges Rouault The Clown

Rouault has been a favorite of mine for his black lines that contain bright color and his sympathetic characters and religious imagery. 

Come celebrate

© Hector Lee, 2012

© Kara Gonzales, 2012

Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.

--Pedro Arrupe S.J.

Happy 25th anniversary, Robert & Paloma.

© Paloma Similla, 2012

Believe

© Hector Lee, 2012

Happy Bday George. Love you.

Christ the King

You say I am a king.

For this I was born and for his I came into the world:

To testify to the truth.

Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.

--John 18:37

We encounter truths in our lives. Some “truths” are given to us. But some truths are born out of experience and life—no less real than the laws of physics. Below I provide some truths that I’ve come to in my life or truths I try to live out:

• The purpose of life is to love and be loved.
• I can only change myself. As I recognize the circumstances necessary for my change, I can have compassion and only invite others to their own change.
• Change can be both scary and life-affirming.
• I must accept people as they are and as they can be.
• Failure to address a problem is sometimes not a lack of knowledge and will but of imagination.
• When I am angry, I must find the cause within rather than the cause without.
• Man (and woman) are not meant to be alone. Gen 2:18
• To have strength for my job, I must remember to nourish myself, identify and do the things that I enjoy about my job, and remind myself of my core values as to why chose this job.
• To do nothing is a value.
• Be creative. Recreate.
• The best cure for loneliness is solitude.
• I have to have a God otherwise I will create one.

© Hector Lee, 2012

The mystery of vocations

Vocation is partially about the job, but more about the way a person’s choice of work allows something deeper to develop in his or her heart. For many “the call” comes at the expense of other aspirations. It is a trade-off. We let go of certain impulses and choose to follow other desires, in what is often circuitous route, that we hope will lead toward a deeper awareness of how we might better love and serve humanity.

--Fr. Paul Lickteig, S.J

Read more:
http://thejesuitpost.org/site/2012/09/how-vocations-happen-it-could-happen-to-you/

just for you

© Hector Lee, 2012

Happy Bday Armando. Love you.

WWW: what went well?

 During Sunday’s homily, Fr. Buckley mentioned that as part of helping those in the St. Vincent de Paul Wellness Center to flourish, he has the participants ask themselves: What went well? And have them list 3 things that went well. Doing this repeatedly has an impact on the person’s whole outlook and disposition.

It appears that it comes from Ignatian examen of consciousness, of 1. What went well? 2 what didn’t go well? 3. What can I do better next time? It affirms the goodness we are and we do, acknowledges the truth about our failings, and is rooted in the hope that we can change. 

extraordinary

© Hector Lee, 2012

My wonderful world of shoes

© Hector Lee, 2012

Happy birthday Anna. Wonderful to have you as my sister. love you.

fantasize

© Hector Lee, 2012

happy bday adam! I heart you.

Extraordinary

© Hector Lee, 2012

Felíz cumpleaños, Dad. Love you.

Fabulous

© Hector Lee, 2012

Haqqy Birthday Ramaud!

who we are. what we do.

© Hector Lee, 2012

Happy Bday Aaron. Love you.

Safe within my walls

© Hector Lee, 2012

Safe within my walls,
You open your arms

And invite me to risk—

To trust in honesty,

In order to be whole

And alive,

And free to love.

Longing

Longing

Come to me in my dreams, and then

By day I shall be well again!

For so the night will more than pay

The hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam’st a thousand times,

A messenger from radiant climes,

And smile on thy new work, and be

As kind to others as to me!

Or, as thou never cam’st in sooth,

Come now, and let me dream it truth,

And part my hair and kiss my brow,

And say, my love why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then

By day I shall be well again!

For so the night will more than pay

The hopeless longing of the day.

--Matthew Arnold

1822-1888

do not play with matches

© Hector Lee, 2012

Happy Birthday Eddie. Sending you much love.

Meklit & Quinn

I first heard Meklit Hadero some years ago at a KFOG concert. We got to see her with Quinn DeVeaux at Yoshi’s this past Tuesday. What a treat! The show was largely covers of songs of which I was unfamiliar. The duo had an endearing and playful chemistry. They complemented each other with music, part soul, jazz, folk, was heartfelt and just infectiously delightful. Her clear voice hit on notes in a playful and commanding way, while Quinn’s smoky voice went well with New Orlean’s jazzy notes. It was inspiring to see someone who loves to do what they do and share it with others. As their poster quotes Matthew Forss review: “The music is not rock or folk; it’s just good music with good instrumentation. It’s that simple … and delectable.”

We got to meet the artists afterwards but the best was meeting Meklit’s father who came from Florida with his girlfriend. He was such a happy and proud father.

Nurture

Nurture © Hector Lee, 2012

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! 
More delightful is your love than wine!

Your name spoken is a spreading perfume—

      that is why the maidens love you.

Draw me— We will follow you eagerly! 

       Bring me, O king, to your chambers.

With you, we rejoice and exult, we extol your love; 

       it is beyond wine: how rightly you are loved.

Song of Songs 1:2-4

The Normal Heart

On Wednesday, we went to see Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart at A.C.T. It was a moving drama set in the early 80s when the appearance of AIDS/HIV began to appear among the gay community of NYC. Kramer’s alter-ego Ned is a Cassandra telling the gay community, the medical establishment and politicians to do act on this information, but their tepid and fearful response incends Ned, whose lover and friends are impacted by AIDS. I thought the drama by Kramer, who founded ACT-UP and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), would be a screed against what individuals and organizations had failed to do in the face of an epidemic, but it was an emotional work because of the impact AIDS had on loving relationships: that with family, with lovers and friends. I was especially moved my the depiction of one character bringing his dying partner back to his mother—a modern day pieta. HIV infections continues to rise among many populations and the take away is that we should fight and scream for that which we truly care about. 

DANCE

© Hector Lee, 2012