At one minute past midnight, I received my first present. Someone out there - but not too far from here - sent me the words of the Bob Dylan song : "Forever Young".AS, I so appreciate that, bless you.
2 29th Novs...well one 28th, but I don't expect to change much overnight!
«I took this photo of some hairy-ape guy this morning. Of the photo that resulted when I gave my camera to my friend Tom, who had come to Paris (where I was living then) from England to visit us for my birthday. I asked him to take this like this, standing on the top step in front of Sacré Coeur with a cold, grey Paris below. 1975.
This second photo was taken this afternoon, 5 pm.
This is my dear friend Ventura. He runs a car-repair place across the road from my house. Whenever I see him, we get into long, hilarious conversations about life & the state of the world. Like me, he has been around a lot. He is the mostly worldly person I know in Portugal. He is also the best speaker of colloquial English, thanks to 37 years in Zimbabwe. He swears as impecccably as any Londoner! When we talk, I can be who I would be if I were talking to my English family or friends. Even the humour is the same (remember, Jenny?). Always a joke. He sees it all, knows what can't be done. I love the guy and he is as fond of me. He is 76 and I must say, between you & me, I think he's wearing better than me! When he saw me this afternoon, he said "Ah, my good friend Stewart. You're looking well". I replied: "Ventura, as I prefer to give presents on my birthday, which is tomorrow, I'm going to take you on a trip round the world".
"That's fine", he said. "How?" And I took out my camera & produced this. I showed him and said "Ventura, welcome to the internet! That's where we're going tonight!"
May you all stay forever young in your hearts, my friends. and have a perfect, peaceful, healthy 29th November for me!
20 comments:
Hi, Stewart.
Just passed by to wish you a very Happy Birthday. Even better than the day before (28th). Today and everyday.
I wish you good health, harmony and that you can always be amoung those you truly care.
May the light of wisdom shine on your Way.
Mazel Tov, mate
k
Kajo, is this Groundhog Day? I swear we just did this.
So, even more goals in red nets to both of us this Friday & Saturday!
Cheers!
Many happy returns Miles. I have enjoyed your blog and will be back.
hi there. just lovely photos.. n such a beautiful country :) trabalho bom! am not portuguese..just checkd this up n typed it here :P
Wishing you a wonderful, wonderful day. May good memories of today be only a preview of good memories still to make.
Love, extra hugs and 56 kisses
Ruth & Mick
Happy Birthday to my wonderful (little bruv) 56 eh your nearly cathing up with me! sending you kisses,cuddles and lots of love always,from your BIG SISTER and family.Have a great day.
speak later xxxxxxxx ps i remember that photo of you in your hippy days!
I like this song, "Forever Young", too. Particularily sung by Joan Baez.
May God bless and keep you always.
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Yesterday I put a comment on your Nov. 25th Sintra photos. Ohhh I guess the same thing happened to me, it was too long and got lost... I can't see it... (this time I believe it was by browser's fault, not the "Great Firewall" of China ;)
Oooopsss... I had to admit I can't recover the most of it from the lost data of my head :-P . I just wanna let all of you see we're OK -- they can't turn us off.
J'ai rien compris, c'est aujourd'hui ou demain ton anniversaire ?
Ce n'est pas grave car dans ma famille on dit qu'un anniversaire se fête la veille, le jour de ton anniversaire tu as le compte d'années plus un jour !!!
Alors bon anniversaire mon ami, pour quelques temps nous avons le même age !
I just want to say Happy Birthday to you, as I have done for the past 8 years, only this time, it is virtual. I can see past and present are right there with you. Long live your new life with new friends and new people (and the old ones are there too)in an "old-new" place.
From a girl in the Big City...Far away...
Hey Mile Stones!! Happy Birthday!! :)I love the pictures. Your friend, Ventura looks like a very interesting and fun guy. By the way, I think that it's cool that you give presents on your birthday. That's beautiful! Peace~
Happy, happy birthday, my friend! I'd meant to stop by this morning - now I'm terribly late! I LOVE!!! the hippie picture! (I'll have to find one of me in those days - I was 11 years old!) I think this will be an interesting year for you - isn't it exciting not to know what's going to happen to you this year? xoxo
I know I'm already late, but I just had to wish you a very, very happy birthday, anyway! May you still be around for many more years, sharing you beautiful pictures and generous words with all of us.
I don't know where my previous comment went to, but of couse that despite being late, I had to wish you a very happy birthday. And tell you I hope that you'll be around for many years, with your beautiful photographs and your generous words.
Now, I have a present for you. Yes, I've been tagged by Meg, so now I'm tagging you too. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just go to countrysketches and read my post of the 30th November. I know you're not having a lot of spare time lately, so just do it if you feel like it and find the time to do it.
I knew there was something awesome about you... a fellow Sagitarius and only a day and 6 years older than I :-) Hope you had a great birthday - Happy Happy!
I´m so sorry I´m late but not too late, I hope, to wish all the best, dear Stewart. Beijos grandes
I'm glad you had a fabulous day with your mate. And what a fantastic photo of the two of you. Now I have to sit and contemplate about your Hippie past - if your sister says you were, then it must be true! I was born just a bit too late to be one, but would have loved to have been one, I think. (Though I was never quite sure of tied-dyed T shirts.)
AAAaaW Meg! After I did my post scriptum on the next post, I just had to come back in to quash all this hippie stuff that certain people who should no better have fuelled....thank you Sista!
I was not a hippie, a yippie, a mod, a rocker, a ted, a skin, a rudie, a punk or eventually a yuppie. That pic was in 1975. I was a free man in Paris,(that doesn't mean unattached) as Joni Mitchell would have succinctly & accurately put it. The work I was doing allowed me to dress and be exactly as I wanted. I was, er, ermm, well, cool! I was the precursor of the European Man (I flew back to London that summer just to vote "Yes" in the GB referendum on staying in the EEC). Et voilà! Most "hippies" in swinging, 1967 London were of a distinctly weekend variety & went home to their Mums for their egg & chips dinners with diligence, after making sure the dope was consumed or hidden in their folks' back gardens.
And so endeth today's occidental social history/popular culture lesson. Yep!
So, a LATENT hippie!
I'm glad to be in the company of people who remembers it was EEC first, then EC, and then EU without telling me they've changed. It took me a few years to get used to EU.
Meg, not even latent. I will not wear any label, I cannot & was never able to. I'll be a humanist, if you like, I'll be a humanitarian, but I'd prefer to be just a human. A life-long detestation of labels & compartments. They only lead to more 'us & them', which leads to what you posted about yesterday (re. "Send Them Back?"). But I do echo that rhetorical question: "What's So Funny About Peace, Love & Understanding?".
Finally, my favourite EC was Eric Clapton :-))
OK, just Humanist-Humanitarian-Human you. Point taken.
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