October 11, 2012
C'est Inspiré is simply that - what is inspiring. Where the words end, images continue to speak. Seeing all that is around us, we seek some aspect of something that is life enhancing... something that you would like to be reminded of - to revisit. Something to capture and bring into your world, not leave behind... . That is why I take a camera everywhere; have spent countless hours organizing images in scrapbooks and pouring over them later to revisit the place, the people, the memory.
So, C'est Inspiré may be a single photo - or it may be 50, it may mean one thing to me, another to you - the meaning isn't important. Did it inspire? Did it make you smile? Did it bring back a pleasant memory? One or all of the above will do.
During a brief period of his life, the legendary art historian Bernard Berenson kept diaries where he wrote about how to see - and what he saw. These diaries were published under the title The Passionate Sightseer and edited by Raymund Mortimer.
Anyone, anywhere, anytime can be a passionate sightseer - just look.
A Time to Give : Holiday House 2012
A Time to Give : Central Park Beautification
Each year in Central Park, thousands of daffodils and tulips mark the arrival of spring, while mums herald the beginning of autumn. What better gift than to have flowers planted in someone's honor in Central Park? With a minimum donation of $50, the Central Park Conservancy will plant your daffodils, tulips or mums in the Park. For your donation the individual you are honoring or t
heir family will receive a certificate indicating the flowers planted and the date of the gift.
I recently received a beautiful gift from friends. I can't think of a better way to honor and enjoy the city I live in.
Next time you want to do something special for someone….take a peak at your options, and spread some beauty.
For ways to give go to: www.centralparknyc.org
June 26, 2012
A Time to Give : The New York City Ballet Spring Gala: À La Française
A Time to Give : Ambassador Spogli Speaks at Fort Bragg
Something to ponder this Memorial Day weekend…
Ambassador Spogli was the U.S. ambassador to Italy during the administration of George W. Bush. Ambassador and Mrs. Spogli have been clients of our firm for over 20 years. Ambassador Ronald P. Spogli's speech was given recently at Ft. Bragg, NC on March 8, 2012.
An Excerpt From Ambassador Spogli's Speech at Fort Bragg:
Good leaders I have known have comprehended fully the value of the people who surround them. In their understanding, they do not pay mere lip service to the value of their TEAM. They know with certainty that no matter how well-conceived a plan or how powerful the resources employed, no military squad, no sports team, no business enterprise, and no government agency can reach its potential without the committed participation of its people. People matter more than anything.
Duty, Honor, Country.
Earlier I asked the question: do these words have relevance today? Are they in fact a mere slogan or are they, as MacArthur said, “your rallying points?” When the idea of the va
lue of the human element is added to them, can they be a guide to act and live our lives – well and happily – wherever we may be and in whatever context we may find ourselves? Can they help us to make better decisions as soldiers, officers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, Mothers, Father. Can they help us to become better leaders? The answers to these questions reside, of course, in each one of us. I, for one, truly believe they can. I believe they can be a compass which always points us in the right direction – helping us to become better decision makers and better leaders. A compass which does not give us the answer but helps us see those answers which are best – those that are fairer, more moral, more principled, and more compassionate. You here tonight have the solemn duty to defend our nation. There is no greater responsibility on earth. May the ideals embodied in MacArthur’s Duty, Honor, Country speech always be with you. May they be your guide, and in the General’s own words, “may they create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life.
To read the full speech click here.
May 22, 2012
A Time to Give : Remembering Mom
MARTHA CLAIRE MOSS 1927-1990
Recently at my house in Aspen I was looking for something in my kitchen when I ran across a package of brown paper bags. I didn't buy them, my housekeeper Arcelia must have. For what purpose I have no idea, but in an instant, upon seeing them, I had a flashback about my mother. I wondered, how many school lunches my mom prepared when I was growing up, there were five of us. Five children, twelve years of school minus a few holidays and snow day
s, countless hours spent making lunch, painstakingly wrapping them in wax paper packages precisely cut and folded and writing our names in her perfect lefty penmanship.
So I pulled five bags out of that drawer and wrote our names on them, and remembered those moments when every night late or at the crack of dawn in the morning my mother was sending us off to school with our favorites. Those were the days, as my brother Jeff remembers his elementary school power lunches of two apple butter and peanut butter sandwiches, with a Hostess cherry pie and four milks. He was, after all, a growing boy – she would say.
Thank you mom.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.
May 13, 2012
