In the Beginning

Sunrise Over 7th Street, looking East from my store.

Before I begin, I would like to extend my condolences to one of my oldest friends, Steve R. in Virginia who lost his Mom this week.  She was a gentile Southern Lady who was charming, funny, gracious and compassionate.  She will be missed I know, but the circle of life will continue and memories of her will warm the hearts of all who knew her.

================================================

 When I first came to the offices of Stay The Course at the behest of the VA, I did so with not a little trepidation but a lot.  Was I ready to reveal all my deep dark secrets?  I did not know, but I did know that I had to change the course of my life and thoughts or I was going to end up in that rubber room with a straight jacket.  I had been seeing my psychiatrist, Dr Moradi, at the VA on a quarterly basis and she recommended I engage a therapist and pointed me in the direction of Stay the Course.  I placed a desperate phone call and of course got voice mail.  I left a message and Tempa called me back and set an appointment for our first session.  It was early in the establishment of her practice with just she and one other therapist.  I have watched her practice grow to several therapists and staff members.  Many of the staff there are either Veterans themselves or spouses of Veterans, all of whom have the best interests of the Veterans and First Responders who come to them for assistance foremost in their minds.  Tempa herself is married to a Veteran and knows first hand how difficult life is when transitioning from military to civilian life.  Our common experiences as Veterans or First Responders results in a shared bond which one cannot really understand without having been there, done that for yourself.

Tempa is a tall willowy red head with a heart as big as Texas with whom I found it easy to talk.  In our first session, she asked me what my goal was for my course of therapy.  I forget now what turn of phrase I used at the time but basically I wanted Clarity,  Stability and Sanity.  I am a classic bi-polar person.  It was either depression so deep as to be inconsolable or giddy happiness that knew no bounds.  I wanted to be somewhere in the middle with the ability to handle the daily stress that comes with life.  If there is anything I have learned in my lifetime, it is the fact that I can only handle so much stress (very little in fact) before having an adverse reaction to it.  Medication certainly helps, but the ability to handle stress for me is that core feeling of inner peace, and I had no such feeling when I began my sessions with Tempa.

I am prone to erratic behavior, irrational thought, extremely OCD and easily angered.  I am also the caring, compassionate, witty 'Uncle' to everyone.  I often try to provide the means to achieve that inner peace for others that I so desperately seek for myself.  Unfortunately for me, that inner peace has never been possible.  I am closer now than ever I have been.  Tempa has guided me in my journey to get as far as I have.  I have revealed to her things I have never told anyone, often not even myself.  She helped to pry open the cellar door in my mind, sweep out the corners and is helping me to discover what I need to keep and what I need to throw away.  She has helped me to see that staying in the here and now moving forward is the more preferable state of being.  The Past is full of pain, pitfalls and traps which lures me in and then destroy my mental state which has painful physical ramifications.  However, by taking past events in my life, examining them one at a time, then deciding whether it is a treasure to be kept or just plain trash which needs to be disposed of properly has not been an easy task.  I have had to remember things sometimes best forgotten and un-remember things that did not promote a healthy mental state.  I am by no means done with my journey, but before I can tell you where I am going, I must first tell you where I have been. I have hopes my story will help someone else avoid some of the pains and pitfalls life throws at one when one least expects it.

It will take a while for the whole story to come out and deciding to share my tightly bound and hidden secrets was not an easy choice.  However, I have learned to loose their bonds, deal with them face to face one at a time and move on.  Learning how to deal with my issues has helped me face life with a few more tools in the box to deal with whatever comes my way and the way of others in my life.  I have held some of these things so tightly and buried so deep for so long, I had no recollection of them.  In order to discover what has been hidden in the corners of my mind, I must first sort through the pile of crap covering them before I can see what is truly in those dark corners.  Next week I will begin the uncovering with events of my youth, which of course is long past at his point and not always on ready recall.  The past is never as really clear as what we think it is and only by a careful examination of these things can one retain as valuable or reject as unnecessary what it is one finds there.  I hope this will not be as painful for you as it has proven to be for me.

================================================

For your listening pleasure today, I have another of my favorites among the Italian Baroque composers, Luigi Boccherini, with this recording of 5 of his 6 Flute Quintets featuring Jean-Pierre Rampal, Flute; Régis Pasquier, Violin; Roland Pidoux, Violoncello; Mathilde Sternat, Violoncello and Bruno Pasquier, Viola.  You will find the play list after the video.  Also after the playlist is this week's visual treats.  This week we are sticking with the Art side of Male Art with 7 more paintings of young men.  Thank you for the visit, please do come again and as always, Enjoy!

Quintet No. 3 in C Major, G. 439 : I. Allegro vivace (Instrumental) 00:00 

Quintet No. 3 in C Major, G. 439 : II. Cantabile (Instrumental)  

Quintet No. 3 in C Major, G. 439 : III. Andante con variazioni (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 2 in G Major, G. 438 : I. Allegro (Instrumental)15:00 

Quintet No. 2 in G Major, G. 438 : II. Adagio non tanto (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 2 in G Major, G. 438 : III. Andante con variazioni (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 1 in F Major, G. 437 : I. Allegro (Instrumental) 28:51 

Quintet No. 1 in F Major, G. 437 : II. Largo (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 1 in F Major, G. 437 : III. Grazioso (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 5 in G Major, G. 441 : I. Moderato (Instrumental 41:00 

Quintet No. 5 in G Major, G. 441 : II. Adagio (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 5 in G Major, G. 441 : III. Grazioso (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 6 in B-flat Major, G. 442 : I. Allegro (Instrumental) 53:45 

Quintet No. 6 in B-flat Major, G. 442 : II. Adagio (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 6 in B-flat Major, G. 442 : III. Rondeau. Grazioso (Instrumental

Road Warriors!

The Dallas Cowboys, playing yesterday in the nations capitol, completed a December to Remember with a thorough dismantling of their arch-rival Washington Redskins 44-17.  The Cowboys for the first time in franchise history went undefeated in the month of December with an average margin of victory of 41-20.  In yesterday's game, the Cowboys attacked early and often, scoring on their first five possessions to take a 27-10 lead into halftime.  Along the way on one play in the first quarter, DeMarco Murray surpassed Emmit Smith's single season rushing record, ending the day with over 1800 yards.  The next play saw Dez Bryant break the single season TD Reception record with his 16th TD of the season.  Bryant's TD was originally ruled out of bounds but with a challenge by Coach Jason Garrett, the replay proved the catch to be both in bounds and  highlight reel worthy.  

The third quarter was a slug fest fought to a stand still with no scoring in the quarter.  The Cowboys then took complete control outscoring the Redskins in the fourth quarter 17-7 to give the Cowboys their final margin of 44-17.  The Washington crowd was very liberally peppered with Cowboy fans who as the game wore on got louder and louder while the home town folks grew increasingly quiet and began leaving early in the fourth quarter, knowing a lost cause when they saw it.  The Cowboys victory also gave them a perfect 8-0 road record this year, something only 6 other teams have done since the 1970 merger of the AFL and the NFL into one league.  5 of those six teams ended up in the Super Bowl, and Dallas wants to make that 6 out of 7.  First they must win at home on Sunday in the late game, hosting the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card round.  By game time, we will know who the next opponent will be if the Cowboys win, either traveling to Green Bay to play the Packers or Seattle to play the Seahawks in the Divisional round.  The Cowboys have not played the Packers this year, but they have done something no other team has done the last two seasons, beat Seattle at home.  I do not expect the Cowboys to have much problem with the Lions as they are miserable on the road yet formidable at home.  The Cowboys have proven themselves to be Road Warriors par excellence all season and I am hoping this trend continues all the way to a February 1 date for the big dance in Glendale, AZ. Things may get a little crazy around here if the Cowboys do make it to the Super Bowl, but I won't mind that a bit. 

Your Monday with Mozart features an all star 1986 recording of the 4 Flute Quartets penned by the Master.  The recording features performances by Jean-Pierre Rampal on Flute, Isaac Stern on Violin, Salvatore Accardo on Viola and Mstislav Rostropovich on Cello.  Additional melodic Mozart can be heard over on my tumblr with Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major K175, "Salzburg" performed by Malcom Frager and the Orchestra della Radiotelevisione della Svizzera Italiana under the baton of Marc Andreae.

Then of course, Monday would not be Monday with out a few muscly men in sexy skivvies  lounging about the page for your visual appreciation.  This week's edition of Monday's Undies should provide plenty of fuel for our mutual underwear fetish fantasies.  Meanwhile over on my tumblr, the Hottie of the Day! is Sitting Pretty!  Thanks for kicking your week off here at Nichevo, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Happy Hump Day

I stayed up way too late last night helping a neighbor set up his new (to him) HP computer and then helping him to create and customize his own blog.  As a consequence, I still have not caught up on my feeds or anything else for that matter.  On this Hump Day I still feel a bit groggy and will probably get some more nap time in before I go to work.  However I would be remiss in my duties as a hospitable host if I were not to at least gather some beautiful Music and gorgeous Guys for our mutual entertainment and to help get us over the Midweek Hump.  I think I have accomplished that most admirably as evidenced below.  

Starting with your Midweek Musical Moment, which features the Music of Antonio Vivaldi.  The six Violin Concerti offered here are among 30 or so that Vivaldi dedicated to Anna Maria, one of his most gifted pupils who went on to become one of his most important colleagues (she remained on staff at the Ospedale Della Pieta in Venice nearly 70 years until her death at the age of 86). As one would expect given his longstanding admiration of Anna, Vivaldi crafted these remarkably versatile, ravishing concertos not only to showcase the soloist's apparently limitless expressive range and virtuosity, but he also loaded them with endearing personality and wit that often transcend the flash.  Included in the play list are the Violin Concerti in B Minor, RV387, in A Major, RV343, in D Major RV229, in A Major RV349, in D Minor RV248 and in B flat major, RV 366 "Il Carbonelli".  Your Performance today is by L'Arte dell'Arco featuring Violin Soloist and Conductor Federico Guglielmo.  You may also hear Vivaldis Double Concerti for Violin and Flute featuring performances by Isaac Stern on Violin and Jean-Pierre Rampal on Flute over on my tumblr.  

Then for your visual appreciation, on display after the play list is a marvelous collection of soaked and sexy studs as they splash about the various pools, beaches and baths of the world in this week's edition of Wet Wednesday.  As always, additional beauty and inspiration can be found in the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for sharing your day with me, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!