Interior de stână în Muntii Făgăraş (Negoiu). Cca. 1930 Sheepfold interior in the Fagaras Mountains (Negoiu). Approx. 1930 Arhiva: Satele din România.

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Horoscope ♉: 05/10/2019

Horoscope ♉:
05/10/2019

You may be asked to slow down today, Taurus. Whether this comes in the form of a speeding ticket or a scrape on the knee when you trip, you must listen to this message. The key for you now isn’t to get too emotional as a result of this slowdown. Know that it’s for your own good. Don’t complain about it – just do it.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Today’s Holiday: International Bar-B-Q Festival

Today’s Holiday:
International Bar-B-Q Festival

This is a two-day, mouth-watering event in Owensboro, Kentucky, which calls itself the Bar-B-Q Capital of the World. In the course of the weekend, 10 tons of mutton, 5,000 chickens, and 1,500 gallons of burgoo are cooked and served. The barbecue-pit fires are lit on the banks of the Ohio River, and the chicken and meat—always mutton, not beef—is barbecued when the coals are red. Other events include arts and crafts exhibits, bluegrass and country music, street dancing, and contests of pie eating, keg throwing, and horseshoe throwing. More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Today’s Birthday: Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen (1720)

Today’s Birthday:
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen (1720)

Münchhausen was a German baron who became legendary for his fantastic stories about his adventures as a hunter, sportsman, and soldier. Sent in his youth to serve as a page, he later joined the Russian military and served until 1750, taking part in two campaigns against the Ottoman Turks. Returning home, Münchhausen acquired a reputation as an honest businessman but also as a teller of tall tales. He claimed to have ridden cannonballs, travelled to the moon, and escaped a swamp by doing what? More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

This Day in History: Siam Is Renamed Thailand (1949)

This Day in History:
Siam Is Renamed Thailand (1949)

Thailand’s origin is traditionally tied to the short-lived kingdom of Sukhothai founded in 1238. After contact with the west in the 16th century, adroit diplomacy enabled Siam to remain independent of European colonization, the only country in Southeast Asia able to do so. A mostly bloodless revolution established a constitutional monarchy in Siam in 1932. Seven years later, under Pibul Songgram’s military dictatorship, the name Thailand was adopted. What does the word thai mean? More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Quote of the Day: Mark Twain

Quote of the Day:
Mark Twain

There is an old-time toast which is golden for its beauty. “When you ascend the hill of prosperity may you not meet a friend.” More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Article of the Day: Dazzlers

Article of the Day:
Dazzlers

A dazzler is a type of a directed-energy weapon that employs intense visible light to temporarily blind its target. Compact enough for an individual to carry, dazzlers were initially developed for military use and were possibly first used in combat by the British to thwart low-level Argentinean air attacks during the 1982 Falklands War. Non-military models are now becoming available for use in law enforcement and security applications. How are dazzlers being used by US troops in Iraq? More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Quote of the Day: Mark Twain

Quote of the Day:
Mark Twain

There is an old-time toast which is golden for its beauty. “When you ascend the hill of prosperity may you not meet a friend.” More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Article of the Day: Dazzlers

Article of the Day:
Dazzlers

A dazzler is a type of a directed-energy weapon that employs intense visible light to temporarily blind its target. Compact enough for an individual to carry, dazzlers were initially developed for military use and were possibly first used in combat by the British to thwart low-level Argentinean air attacks during the 1982 Falklands War. Non-military models are now becoming available for use in law enforcement and security applications. How are dazzlers being used by US troops in Iraq? More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Article of the Day: Dazzlers

Article of the Day:
Dazzlers

A dazzler is a type of a directed-energy weapon that employs intense visible light to temporarily blind its target. Compact enough for an individual to carry, dazzlers were initially developed for military use and were possibly first used in combat by the British to thwart low-level Argentinean air attacks during the 1982 Falklands War. Non-military models are now becoming available for use in law enforcement and security applications. How are dazzlers being used by US troops in Iraq? More…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Idiom of the Day: fire in the belly

Idiom of the Day:
fire in the belly

Passion and determination. Watch the video…: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Word of the Day: long-suffering

Word of the Day:
long-suffering

Definition: (adjective) Patiently bearing continual wrongs or trouble.

Synonyms: enduring

Usage: It called to him across that leagues-wide savannah, and was like a benediction to his long-suffering, pain racked spirit.: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch

Watch “Suzanne LEONARD COHEN (with lyrics)” on YouTube (A splendid interview)

Access the following website to find out just everything you want or need to know about “the bard of our generation”, like I use to call Mr. Leonard Cohen; it’s also the best website I discovered, on the great musician:

https://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/verdal.html

The Story of Suzanne

http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com

SUZANNE

BBC Radio 4 FM, June 1998Suzanne Verdal McCallister interviewed by Kate SaundersTranscription from tape by Marie Mazur

“Suzanne Verdal perches in the doorway of the little gypsy cabin
she and her son built on the back of a truck”.

Suzanne left Montreal in 1992 with his son Kahlil.

Narrator: Now, “You Probably Think This Song Is about You” and a trip back to the early 60’s in Montreal to meet a young dancer married to Armand, a handsome sculptor. She became the muse of dozens of Beat poets but for one, Leonard Cohen, she became extra special.

Suzanne takes you down
to her place near the river
you can hear the boats go by
you can spend the night beside her
And you know she’s half crazy

Suzanne: The Beat scene was beautiful. It was live jazz and we were just dancing our hearts out for hours on end, happy on very little. I mean we were living, most of us, on a shoestring. Yet, there was always so much to go around, if you know what I mean. You know, there was so much energy and sharing and inspiration and pure moments and quality times together on very little or no money.

Saunders: Do you remember exactly when you met Leonard Cohen? Where were you that night, do you remember?

Suzanne: It was maybe several months into my relationship with Armand, which was mostly based on being dancing partners together. And he would watch us dancing, of course. And then I was introduced to Leonard at Le Vieux Moulin, I think in the presence of Armand, in fact. But we didn’t really strike a note together until maybe three or four years later.

Saunders: So Leonard Cohen saw you when you were a young girl in love?

Suzanne: Oh very much so. He got such a kick out of seeing me emerge as a young schoolgirl I suppose, and a young artist, into becoming Armand’s lover and then wife. So, he was more or less chronicling the times and seemingly got a kick out of it (laughs).

Saunders: When did you then strike up this friendship that Leonard Cohen describes in song?

Suzanne: With Leonard, it happened more in the beginning of the sixties. When I was living then separated from Armand, I went and was very much interested in the waterfront. The St. Lawrence River held a particular poetry and beauty to me and (I) decided to live there with our daughter, Julie. Leonard heard about this place I was living, with crooked floors and a poetic view of the river, and he came to visit me many times. We had tea together many times and mandarin oranges.

and she feeds you tea and oranges
that come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
that you have no love to give her
then she gets you on her wavelength
and she lets the river answer
that you’ve always been her lover

Saunders: Leonard Cohen later said that the opening verse of his poem, later to be the song “Suzanne”, was a poetic account of the time he spent with her in the Summer of 1965.

Suzanne: One of our mutual friends mentioned to me, ‘Did you hear the wonderful poem that Leonard wrote for you’ or about you and I said no, because I had been away traveling and I wasn’t aware of it. But apparently it got into the attention of Judy Collins, who urged Leonard to write a song based on the poem.

Saunders: When you heard the song as opposed to hearing the poem, did you instantly think, that’s me?

Suzanne: Oh yes, definitely. That was me. That is me still, yes.

Saunders: What did you think about your portrayal?

Suzanne: Flattered somewhat. But I was depicted as I think, in sad terms too in a sense, and that’s a little unfortunate. You know I don’t think I was quite as sad as that, albeit maybe I was and he perceived that and I didn’t.

Saunders: He writes, ‘you know that she’s half crazy but that’s why you want to be there.’ Did that mean half crazy with unhappiness or just eccentric, bohemian? What did he mean, do you think?

Suzanne: Well, that could be. The half crazy could pertain to the sadness, but I think it was because I was so on a creative drive and the focuses were so strong in spite of any private grief I may have about my break up with Armand and the wheres and whys. There was so much other wonderful things happening. There was the activism. I was already becoming aware of recycling at a very young, young age and I might say, I might be a pioneer in that because I was going to the Salvation Army and getting old dresses and old pieces of just cloth and making something quite wonderful out of them to dress myself, my child, and to make wonderful clothes.

Saunders: Again this is put in the song but then he says,’just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her, then she gets you on her wavelength and she lets the river answer that you’ve always been her lover.’ What does that mean? Is that something about your level of particular intimacy between you?

Suzanne: Well, I think the river is the river of life and that river, the St. Lawrence River that we shared, tied us together. And it was a union. It was a spirit union.

Now Suzanne takes your hand
and she leads you to the river
she is wearing rags and feathers
from Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
on our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
among the garbage and flowers

Suzanne: He was “drinking me in” more than I even recognized, if you know what I mean. I took all that moment for granted. I just would speak and I would move and I would encourage and he would just kind of like sit back and grin while soaking it all up and I wouldn’t always get feedback, but I felt his presence really being with me. We’d walk down the street for instance, and the click of our shoes, his boots and my shoes, would be like in synchronicity. It’s hard to describe. We’d almost hear each other thinking. It was very unique, very, very unique.

Saunders: Could you describe one of the typical evenings that you spent with Leonard Cohen at the time the song was written?

Suzanne: Oh yes. I would always light a candle and serve tea and it would be quiet for several minutes, then we would speak. And I would speak about life and poetry and we’d share ideas.

Saunders: So it really was the tea and oranges that are in the song?

Suzanne: Very definitely, very definitely, and the candle, who I named Anastasia, the flame of the candle was Anastasia to me. Don’t ask me why. It just was a spiritual moment that I had with the lightening of the candle. And I may or may not have spoken to Leonard about, you know I did pray to Christ, to Jesus Christ and to St. Joan at the time, and still do.

Saunders: And that was something you shared, both of you?

Suzanne: Yes, and I guess he retained that.

And Jesus was a sailor
when he walked upon the water
and he spent a long time watching
from his lonely wooden tower
and when he knew for certain
only drowning men could see him
he said All men will be sailors then
until the sea shall free them
but he himself was broken
long before the sky would open
forsaken, almost human
he sank beneath your wisdom like a stone

Saunders: After you’d heard this very intimate song, when did you meet Leonard Cohen again, after you’d heard it, and how had your relationship changed, if at all?

Suzanne: It did change. He became a big star after the song was launched and he became a songwriter. As you may or may not know, it launched him as a songwriter, I suppose. Our relationship did change with time. I traveled, went to the U.S., and we’d see him and bump into him. In Minneapolis for instance, he did a concert there and he saw me back stage and received me very beautifully, ‘Oh Suzanne, you gave me a beautiful song.’ And it was a sweet moment. But then there were some bittersweet moments that perhaps I don’t wish to divulge right at this time.

Saunders: You feel that you moved apart after the song?

Suzanne: Yes, and I don’t quite understand. I stayed true to art for art’s sake but he moved on and I stayed true to the cause, as it were. And I guess, I don’t know if that intimidated him or embarrassed him or made him uncomfortable.

Saunders: The song is about the meeting of spirits. It’s a very intimate lyric, very, very intimate.

Suzanne: This is it.

Saunders: It seems very sad that the spirits moved apart.

Suzanne: Yes, I agree and I believe it’s material forces at hand that do this to many the greatest of lovers (laughs).

Saunders: So would you say in a way, in the spiritual sense, you were great lovers at some level?

Suzanne: Oh yes, yes, I don’t hesitate to speak of this, absolutely. As I say, you can glance at a person and that moment is eternal and it’s the deepest of touches and that’s what we’d shared, Leonard and I, I believe.

Saunders: Did either of you ever try to take it a stage further and make it more physically intimate or become lovers? Did either of you ever want to?

Suzanne: Yes, he did, coming from Leonard, it did. Once when he was visiting Montreal, I saw him briefly in a hotel and it was a very, very wonderful, happy moment because he was on his way to becoming the great success he is. And the moment arose that we could have a moment together intimately, and I declined.

And you want to travel with her
and you want to travel blind
and you know that she will trust you
for you’ve touched her perfect body
with your mind

Saunders: Do you think he resented the fact at all that you turned him down when he did fancy you?

Suzanne: I’ll never really know because there is a part of me that doesn’t understand the male gender, so I can’t speak about that part (laughs). I don’t think know for sure. I forget that Leonard is more than just an amazing poet and philosopher. Hes also a human being who happens to be a man (laughs), so I can’t speak on that side.

There are heroes in the seaweed
there are children in the morning
they are leaning out for love

Saunders: Leonard Cohen finally ended up embracing spiritualism in the Mt. Baldy Zen Monastery in California, only a few miles down the road from where Suzanne now lives with her seven cats and works as a dance instructor and massage therapist.

and you want to travel blind
you know that you can trust her
for she’s touched your perfect body
with her mind

Saunders: Do you at all resent the fact that he, if you like, milked you for all the artistic inspiration and then moved on, having created this lovely thing from you? You can almost be said to have created this song yourself.

Suzanne: That may be, but I think poets do that. Poets, when they have a vision or an image, of course, use that. That’s their material. You must do this and being used is not even part of it at the time. That doesn’t exist. What came later was not remaining friends with Leonard and not knowing why. And that’s why there was some ill feeling there or some sadnesses that were not there at the beginning at all. Now the words have more meaning in a sense, because there’s a kind of detachment in the song that I hear now, that I didn’t hear then. Does that make sense to you?

Saunders: It does, indeed. I was going to say, he is almost your audience.

Suzanne: That’s right, absolutely. It’s like an observer, and not the participant any more, yes.

Saundes: Leonard Cohen recently described the song as the best of his whole career. He likened it to a 1982 Chateau Le Tour, a good bottle of wine. What does the song mean to you now, as you look back on it? Do you ever listen to it?

Suzanne: Not recently. There’s a little bit of a bittersweet feeling to it that I retain. I guess I miss the simpler times that we lived and shared. I don’t mean to be maudlin about it, but we’ve kind of gone our different ways and lost touch and some of my most beloved friends have departed from this planet into the other spheres. And there’s sometimes a very real homesickness for Montreal and that wonderful time.

Saunders: So it almost has become a symbol of your youth, if you like?

Suzanne: Oh absolutely, and for many of us, I hold dear this time, very much so.

© 1998 by BBC Radio 4 and Kate Saunders.
Thanks also to Lizzie Madder for the tape!

Photo from Montreal Gazette, © Peter Martin;
Thanks to Alan and Monique Powell for help

Read another excellent article on the CBC

Watch “Aretha Franklin – (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman [1967]” on YouTube

Looking out on the morning rain
I used to feel so uninspired
And when I knew I had to face another day
Lord, it made me feel so tired
Before the day I met you, life was so unkind
But your the key to my peace of mind

‘Cause you make me feel
You make me feel
You make me feel like
A natural woman (woman)

When my soul was in the lost and found
You came along to claim it
I didn’t know just what was wrong with me
Till your kiss helped me name it
Now I’m no longer doubtful, of what I’m living for
And if I make you happy I don’t need to do more

‘Cause you make me feel
You make me feel
You make me feel like
A natural woman (woman)

Oh, baby, what you’ve done to me (what you’ve done to me)
You make me feel so good inside (good inside)
And I just want to be, close to you (want to be)
You make me feel so alive

You make me feel
You make me feel
You make me feel like
A natural woman (woman)

You make me feel
You make me feel
You make me feel like a natural woman (woman)

You make me feel
You make me feel

Songwriters: Gerry Goffin / Carole King / Jerry Wexler

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Watch “Carpenters – Close to you” on YouTube

Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

Just like me, they long to be
Close to you

Wa, close to you
Wa, close to you
Ha, close to you
La, close to you

Songwriters: Hal David / Burt F. Bacharach

(They Long to Be) Close to You lyrics © BMG Rights Management, The Royalty Network Inc.

You can open this video, on a mobile, either with your browser, or your video Video player!

You can open this video, on a mobile, either with your browser, or your video Video player! What is it? It shows you what happens when you search for “euzicasa” in any internet browser (search engine)

Sorry for the sound selection I always forger to turn the volume down on my TV and mobile and didn’t have time to erase it…happy trails!

Visit www.euzicasa.wordpress.com front page’s right column to access more than 100 websites I collected throughout the 10 years of blogging! They are not in any order, but with a little “finger work” you can see what my interest are!

Visit http://www.euzicasa.wordpress.com front page’s right column to access more than 100 websites I collected throughout the 10 years of blogging! They are not in any order, but with a little “finger work” you can see what my interest are!

Visit http://www.euzicasa.wordpress.com front page’s right column to access more than 100 websites I collected throughout the 10 years of blogging! They are not in any order, but with a little “finger work” you can see what my interest are!

Visit http://www.euzicasa.wordpress.com front page’s right column to access more than 100 websites I collected throughout the 10 years of blogging! They are not in any order, but with a little “finger work” you can see what my interest are!

Visit http://www.euzicasa.wordpress.com front page’s right column to access more than 100 websites I collected throughout the 10 years of blogging! They are not in any order, but with a little “finger work” you can see what my interest are!

You can access this magnificent site from the widget I places on the right column of my blog’s front page: Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne – Napoléon Ier

https://euzicasa.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/you-can-access-this-magnificent-site-from-the-widget-i-places-on-the-right-column-of-my-blogs-front-page-encyclopedie-larousse-en-ligne-napoleon-ier/

You can access this magnificent site from the widget I places on the right column of my blog’s front page: Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne – Napoléon Ier

https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/Napol%C3%A9on_I_er/184359

À la découverte de l’encyclopedie Larousse