I have my beautiful home, warm, comfortable and my sanctuary. I have amazing sons whom I adore. I am so proud of them and our adult relationship is so rich and filled with love my heart overflows. There are critters on the farm - Seren, my accidental little angora mini, Lilly the mountain lion attack survivor (both goats) and Willie, the Llama who guards the farm. My constant companions are Max and Jaz the dogs and Ubu the amazing cat. Living in the mountains of SW Colorado I am in constant wonder of the landscape. The mountains that gently hold and nurture me, the juniper and pinion and the host of wild critters that I love tracking in the snow. Yesterday there was a bunny rabbit whose tracks I followed for a while, It was a very busy little creature. I left a little grain for it last night by the barnyard gate where some of it's tracks were.
Recently read the book "A Century of Wisdom: The Life of Alice Herz-Sommer the Oldest Holocaust Survivor". At one hundred and eight this woman still practices her piano three hours a day! She refuses to talk about the horror of the camps except in the most general terms...not in denial of what happened but in the belief that today is what is important and how we live it. What an inspirational way to begin a new year. This is on the top ten of my favorite books of all time.
At 108 years old, the pianist Alice Herz-Sommer is an eyewitness to the entire last century and the first decade of this one. She has seen it all, surviving the Theresienstadt concentration camp, attending the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem, and along the way coming into contact with some of the most fascinating historical figures of our time. As a child in Prague, she spent weekends and holidays in the company of Franz Kafka (whom she knew as “Uncle Franz”), and Gustav Mahler, Sigmund Freud, and Rainer Maria Rilke were friendly with her mother. When Alice moved to Israel after the war, Golda Meir attended her house concerts, as did Arthur Rubinstein, Leonard Bernstein, and Isaac Stern. Today Alice lives in London, where she still practices piano for hours every day.
Despite her imprisonment in Theresienstadt and the murders of her mother, husband, and friends by the Nazis, and much later the premature death of her son, Alice has been victorious in her ability to live a life without bitterness. She credits music as the key to her survival, as well as her ability to acknowledge the humanity in each person, even her enemies. A Century of Wisdom is the remarkable and inspiring story of one woman’s lifelong determination—in the face of some of the worst evils known to man—to find goodness in life. It is a testament to the bonds of friendship, the power of music, and the importance of leading a life of material simplicity, intellectual curiosity, and never-ending optimism.
Heading into a New Year filled with joy and deep gratitude!
