Blog No. 285: Child Prodigy Alma Deutscher, Anne Frank 80 Years Later, Dogs with Sticks

June 6, 2026

Alma Deutscher Child Prodigy

This is the story of a young girl named Alma Deutscher (now a young woman of 20) and I think you are really going to scratch your head on this one. For me, it just makes it clear that there is so much we do not understand in this life. I personally find it incredibly exciting to just take it all in with wonder!

Alma Deutscher is a British composer, pianist, violinist and conductor but she had an extremely unusual early start at her career. Her earliest memories were hearing the music of Ricard Strauss as a toddler and being already mesmerized and in love. At three she was already playing piano and violin. When she was four she started having compositions and melodies come to her in her head--"they just popped in" she describes and these were not just things she had heard--they were her original compositions. She composed her first piano sonata at the age of five. At seven, she completed a short opera, and at age 9 she had already written a full violin concerto! If you want to be enchanted, please take the twelve minutes it takes to hear this 60 Minutes piece on her--guaranteed it will stretch what you thought of life and how things come about...

Wanda Sykes Illustration, courtesy RaLiz and RedBubble

Anne Frank 80 Years Later

I think it is important to keep Nazi Germany fresh in our minds right now as America goes through these scary times that sadly mirror in many ways the rise of fascism there. Let’s hope knowing history might prevent us from making the same mistakes.

Anne Frank has become a symbol of that time. Here are her experiences from Germany to Amsterdam, narrated and told from the viewpoint of Eva Schloss, a contemporary, whose own story mirrored Frank's life but sadly to a very different end.

Through her diary, Anne Frank’s words survived, becoming a symbol of resilience and a testament to the atrocities of the Holocaust, inspiring generations to fight prejudice and embrace humanity.

This documentary, entitled 80 Years Later: Anne Frank’s Sister Breaks Her Silence, directed by Rachel Stirling, interweaves Anne Frank’s diary entries with the parallel experience of other refugees at that time in Amsterdam, and is full of informative archival footage and interviews.

Dogs With Sticks

Here is a pure fluff piece that I found on youtube: Dogs Carrying Sticks. I have become a true dog lover after having my daughter's dog up with me in Maine for an extended period of time so excuse the obsession if you are not of the same mind. But this story is fun, charming, and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. We all need reason to do that these days...

Painting of the Week

An impromptu art show this week on the lawn of Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 284: Comedian Wanda Sykes, Colorful Food, Stephen Colbert's Musical Send Off

May 29, 2026

Comedian
Wanda Sykes

Photo courtesy Philadelphia Gay News. Click image for interview

Laughter truly is good medicine for the soul.

Wanda Sykes is one of my favorite comedians. I strongly recommend you take the time to watch this new film of hers Legacy, available on Netflix. It documents her performance at her alma mater: Hampton University and it is funny. We so need the comic relief right now and I am pretty sure you will get some good laughs out of it.

Beautiful Colorful Salad

Have you ever seen such a colorful and aesthetically pleasing salad?

Radishes, cucumbers and oranges contribute to the beauty of this salad.

Recipe follows thanks to journalist Emily Nunn's The Department of Salad and Italian chef and cookbook writer Marcella Hazan:

MARCELLA'S COLORFUL SALAD, serves 6

INGREDIENTS:
2 Persian cucumbers or 1 large seedless
3 oranges
6 small radishes
1 avocado (optional)
12 fresh mint leaves
Sea salt
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:
*Slice the cucumber into thin disks and arrange on a serving platter.

*Peel the oranges by slicing the top and the bottom off of the orange and using a sharp pairing knife remove the peel. (Try not to leave any of the white pithy part.)
Slice the oranges and add to the platter.

*Slice the radishes into disks and add to the platter

*Slice the avocado and arrange nicely on platter.

*Tear the mint leaves in half and sprinkle them over the top.

*Sprinkle sea salt over the whole salad

*Squeeze lemon evenly over the platter and finish with a drizzle of good quality olive oil.

Voilá!

  
And here is another beautiful healthy choice--I personally love creating these rice bowls out of all kinds of ingredients.  This one looked particularly appealing to me but you can literally put anything in there except the kitchen sink.

RAINBOW RICE BOWL

  
     
RAINBOW RICE BOWL 

Your choice of protein
1 cup cooked Brown Rice
1/3 cup grated carrots
1/3 cup shredded red cabbage
1 avocado, cut into thin slices

PREPARATION FOR KALE:
 1/2 cup chopped kale into small pieces.
Toast the sesame seeds lightly in dry frying pan, then add shredded kale to the pan
Add 1 tsp sesame oil and 
1 tsp olive oil. 
Turn the heat to medium and sautee for a few minutes until bright green and nicely cooked. 
Add 2 tsp tamari and turn the heat down - cook for 1 minute to reduce the liquid then turn the heat off. 
DRESSING
1 tsp. olive oil, 1 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp tamari, 1 tbsp sesame seeds

  

  
  

Stephen Colbert's Send Off

The final send off from Stephen Colbert’s eleven year run on CBS (boycott CBS please) includes two back to back musical numbers: Jump Up by Elvis Costello and finally The Beatles Hello Goodbye, all performed by Colbert himself alongside Louis Cato, Jon Batiste, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney and the Great Big Joy Machine. It ends in a giant singalong that involves the audience and the entire staff.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow Green Garden. mixed media on canvas. 50” x 80”. $8500

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 283: Artist Activist Natasha Mayers, Stephen Colbert/Anderson Cooper: A Conversation, A Few Short Poems

May 23, 2026

Natasha Mayer's
Artists' Rapid Response Team (ARRT!)

Natasha Mayers, Activist Artist, photo courtesy Sean Alonzo Harris

My friend and fellow artist Terrie Frisbie has been trying to get me to come with her to a monthly artist gathering called ARRT! (Artists' Rapid Response Team), where artists have been gathering once a month for many years to make political signage and artwork for the greater good.

I finally went last Sunday--what a wonderful group of artists, such creative collaborative energy floating in the space, and all of us hard at work all day. There is something amazing about being in a room and creating--that group spirit--and especially if it is for a good cause.

ARRT! was founded fourteen years ago by an extraordinary woman named Natasha Mayers, who is the founder and force behind this artist collective. It has been going strong since 2012, dedicated to political causes of decency, kindness and justice for the less privileged in our society.

In addition to her own art and organzing the artist collective, Natasha has worked with prisoners, children, refugees and local residents to create banners, murals and signs with the purpose of bringing visual reminders of what is important in life and to call attention to crucial issues we face as a society. As one of Maine's national treasures, she is celebrated in this wonderful PBS documentary Natasha Mayers: An Unstill Life. Please watch for inspiration, dedication, and the determination of one person to spark and mobilize a whole group of individuals into collective years of action.

Organized by Natasha Mayers, these lobster buoys, symbols of Maine, are depicted here with flags from all over the world, painted by Portland immigrant students representing their countries of origin.

Stephen Colbert/Anderson Cooper Conversation

Both Anderson Cooper and Stephen Colbert have had their share of major loss. Take the time to listen to this touching, raw conversation between the two of them where they are incredibly open about their life experiences and their personal feelings on their own grief.

To dig deeper, you might also be interested in Anderson Cooper's entire podcast All There Is, where he engages in moving and honest discussion with people who have faced life-altering losses.

Anderson Cooper’s Podcast All There Is has three seasons, currently 56 episodes.

A Few Short Poems

  
    
APRIL IS A DOG'S DREAM
by Marilyn Singer


april is a dog’s dream
the soft grass is growing
the sweet breeze is blowing
the air all full of singing feels just right
so no excuses now
we’re going to the park
to chase and charge and chew
and I will make you see
what spring is all about



THE RED WHEELBARROW
by William Carlos Williams


so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens



THE CRY OF THE CICADA 
by Matsuo Bashō


The cry of the cicada

Gives us no sign

That presently it will die.



HOPE IS A THING WITH FEATHERS
by Emily Dickinson


“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
 And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
 And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
  

Painting of the Week

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 282: Theo of Golden, Singing Bowls, Ajo Blanco Gazpacho Soup

May 17, 2026

Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi

“Stories cast spells.” And this one certainly does… I just finished the New York Times bestseller Theo of Golden this morning and decided to toss aside all my plans for this lead story on my blog and write about this book. I am not going to say much because I was in many ways left without words upon finishing it and I want the book and the author Allen Levi to speak for themselves...

What I will say very broadly is that the central character is an 87 year old man from Portugal named Theo who shows up in the southern town of Golden, Georgia and gets to know many of the townspeople.

I found the book very inspirational although the author insists it is not a book about idealism--he is convinced that it is realistic... Allen Levi reminds us that life is all about choices.

I just want to encourage you to read it and then please come back to this blog entry and comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I hope you like it as much as I did.

If, when you finish, you don’t want to see it end or you have questions and want more information, there is a great conversation between Levi Allen and his old friend, bookstore owner Ben May. Well worth the listen!

Singing Bowls for Stress Relief

There is so much free floating anxiety in the air these days that we can't help but be affected. As an antidote, I find meditation and listening to these singing bowls from time to time as a way to ground and center myself and release some of that anxious feeling deep in my gut when I think of the state of the world.

I hope this eleven minute video from Tibetan yoga teacher Tseyang helps to reduce some of the stress...Get comfortable and spend the next ten minutes just letting go...

White Gazpacho Soup

  
    Babbo-Style White Gazpacho (Ajo Blanco Inspired) 

Serves 4–6 
 
Ingredients 

* 1 cup blanched almonds (Marcona if possible) 

* 2 cups seedless green grapes 

* 1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped 

* 2 slices rustic white bread, crusts removed 

* 2 garlic cloves 

* 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

* 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar 

* 2–3 cups ice 

* Kosher salt 

* White pepper 
 
Garnish ideas 

* Halved green grapes 

* Toasted almonds 

* Chive oil or olive oil drizzle 

* Tiny cucumber dice 

* Croutons 
 
Instructions 

1. Soak the bread in a little cold water for 5 minutes, then squeeze dry. 

2. Blend almonds, garlic, grapes, cucumber, and bread until smooth. 

3. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while blending so it emulsifies. 

4. Add sherry vinegar and enough ice water to reach a silky soup consistency. 

5. Season with salt and white pepper. 

6. Strain through a fine sieve for a restaurant-style smooth texture. 

7. Chill at least 3 hours before serving.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow Fish House. mixed media on canvas. 60” x 40”. in progress

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

Blog No. 281: The Secret Inner Life of Dogs, Monika Zgustová When Society Tolerates Evil, Playlist: Music About Boats

May 9, 2026

A Mother’s Job is Never Done!! HAPPY MOTHER”S DAY to all you wonderful, tireless, kind-hearted mothers out there…Not sure who to attribute this photo to—it was posted on René’ Volpi’s substack.

The Secret Inner Life of Dogs

Click image to hear more about dog expert Alexandra Horowitz. Photo courtesy Frenchy the dog…

This one is for all you dog lovers out there (like me).

Have you wondered why your dog is always with the nose to the ground--what could all that sniffing mean to them? Or what they are thinking when they give you that stare?...Do they understand and have a sense of time? Do they get bored?

Alexandra Horowitz, author of new book The Secret Inner Life of Dogs as well as multiple other books on the subject answers those questions and many more. As Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor and director of the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College, she has dedicated her life to the study of animal cognition and most specifically about dogs.

Oprah Winfrey sat down with Alexandra Horowitz and what follows is their very informative just short of an hour conversation--everything you wanted to know and more.

When Society Tolerates Evil by Monika Zgustova

Author, Journalist and Translator Monika Zgustová

Monika Zgustova was one of my closest friends when I lived in Barcelona from 1980-1985. I've stayed in touch with her over all these years although as of late she doesn't travel anymore to the States for obvious reasons...

Originally from Czechoslovakia, her family fled Prague when she was a teenager when the Russians invaded and she and her family ended up in the States, where her father taught linquistics at the University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana (he spoke 16 languages, Monika speaks six). I have watched Monika's career blossom over the years--as the author of many successful fiction and nonfiction books, a translator of prominent Czech and Russian writers into Spanish and Catalan, including such luminaries as Václav Havel, Milan Kundera, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky and she even wrote the Catalan Russian dictionary!

Monika has lived in Barcelona for many years now and regularly contributes articles and editorials in Spain's El País and La Vanguardia newspapers, The Nation and CounterPunch in the United States and Lidové Noviny in the Czech Republic. She is one of the most intelligent people I know and it is my honor to include this article, featured in El País and Counterpunch, where she reflects on tyranny, in my substack newsletter:

"In communist Prague, my father was repeatedly arrested, imprisoned, and tortured for his dissident activities. My mother suffered, and in her attempts to halt that downward spiral, she made small gestures to appease the authorities. Her concessions consisted of the fact that, like most people, during communist holidays—the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, Labor Day, and others—she would place small Czechoslovak and Soviet flags in the windows of our Prague apartment and let them fly together, even though doing so was not strictly mandatory, but was well-regarded by the regime.

My parents are an example of the two attitudes displayed by citizens whose country becomes authoritarian, dictatorial, or totalitarian: a small group of people rebels and maintains its opposition to the regime despite the circumstances (which may include frequent interrogations, threats, imprisonment, and torture, as in my father’s case). The vast majority of citizens, however, choose to make concessions to the regime (like my mother), or to engage in full-fledged collaboration. .

During my student years in the United States, where my parents eventually fled with their teenage children thanks above all to my mother’s courage, I spent a few months in Argentina, which at that time was under military rule. There, too, I observed behavior similar to the totalitarianism of my childhood. I saw a resigned society, because dissidents were in prison or in exile. In Buenos Aires, people rarely went out; the cafés were almost empty. People had little money and much fear. However, some people from various professional backgrounds told me that at first they had welcomed the military because, after years of guerrilla warfare, they wanted peace and security. And I asked them if it was possible to enjoy peace under a regime that controlled and mistreated society. .

When the Argentine junta eventually expelled me from the country for having questioned a military officer’s statement at a meeting of interpreters for the World Cup, where I was supposed to work, I was glad because, like any society under a dictatorship, Argentina was a blind and self-absorbed community that turned a deaf ear to the reality of lives violated and tormented. .

Years later, I interviewed several women in Moscow who had been sentenced to the gulag during Stalin’s time. Those women told me that even in the labor camps—that microcosm of a society under tyranny—those two essential attitudes existed: that of rebelling and that of complying. Some women stood up to the guards and the camp leaders despite the consequences their defiance might bring: if not instant death, then harsh punishment. Other women, the majority, in their search for peace, remained obedient. Strangely enough, a higher number of daring women survived the gulag compared to the pusillanimous prisoners because the guards laughed at their fear, relished their panic, and punished the terrified women with a sadistic glee. .

Something similar also occurred in the Nazi concentration camps. The Czech journalist Milena Jesenská, a steadfast, intrepid woman who remained inwardly free even as a prisoner, used to rebel through acts of disobedience to the rules: she arrived late for roll calls at the Ravensbrück camp, brought wildflowers into the office where she worked, sent clandestine messages to other prisoners, and jotted down notes for her planned book on tyranny. Strangely, the guards rarely called her out on it. What was the reason? The explanation is simple: they knew that the Czech prisoner did not fear them. The other prisoners in her Ravensbrück barrack adored Milena for her attitude, but most of them were unable to imitate her: fear of the consequences overwhelmed them. One of the few women who gradually learned Milena’s fearlessness was her best friend Margarete Buber-Neumann, who survived imprisonment in Stalin’s gulag and another in Ravensbrück and was able to tell future generations how an attitude that tolerates tyranny gives wings to the oppressor. .

But let’s return to Russia, this time to contemporary Russia, the one that has Putin as its president and Stalin as its deity. Three decades ago, there were plans in Siberia to open museums dedicated to the gulag. Recently, the Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen traveled there to investigate this topic. Her guide was Inna Gribanova, a former enthusiast of historical memory. “However,” Gessen told me, “over the past few decades, Inna has become a different person: she didn’t found any museum; on the contrary, she now claims that the testimonies of the gulag exaggerated their horrific experiences. And to top it all off, she has become a Putin voter.” “How do you explain this?” I asked in astonishment. “She got tired of belonging to the minority,” Masha replied." In the United States, where I used to travel for work several times a year over the past three decades and where I’ve stopped going since Trump’s second term began, part of society doesn’t want to acknowledge what’s happening. When I ask my American friends why, aside from the No More Kings protests, there are few reactions to the gradual destruction of democracy, they reply: “We don’t act because we’re numb." "Numb?” “Yes, from so much sudden change.” Political science professors at American universities tell me: “This can’t last.” I am stunned: so while armed troops control the streets and airports, while raids are carried out on the homes of immigrants and political opponents, and the number of paramilitary groups loyal to a single man grows, a large part of American society repeats with resignation: “This will pass; this cannot last.”

When in 1990 the opponent of communist totalitarianism, Václav Havel, was elected president of democratic Czechoslovakia (and later the Czech Republic), in his speeches he praised the acts of resistance against the regime carried out by “powerless” individuals and blamed Czech society, which through its passivity and complacency had allowed forty years of tyranny. A state of inaction similar to the one Havel referred to has taken hold of the United States. But when a society grows accustomed to the violation of laws and goes about its daily tasks without reflection, as if everything were normal, that’s the beginning of the end. .

A few weeks ago, I was struck by the words I read in The Guardian in an article by the writer Colm Tóibin, who lives in New York: “I learned first hand not only what evil is like but how evil is tolerated. What is strange about being in America in the time of Trump is how ordinary it is, how what was unimaginable just over a year ago is suddenly, shockingly no longer a surprise.” .

Authoritarian politicians are relying on the apathy of society. Backed by tech moguls, they encourage people to spend long hours scrolling and listening to loud music through headphones. They aim to make the society deaf, blind, and submissive while they, the autocrats, take over the world. .

That is why, instead of closing their eyes and letting themselves be deafened, societies in danger of falling under autocracy should imagine what life would be like in five or ten years if they allowed authoritarianism to take hold. The horror they would see should compel each individual to make every possible effort to prevent that imagined future from becoming reality. .

Playlist:
Music about Boats

Pam Smilow. The Tropics, mixed media on canvas. 50” x 80” approx.

Boats are heading back into the water all over Maine, harbormasters are back at work, and finally spring is approaching (very gingerly I might add...). Thought I would include a playlist of songs related to boats, harbors and the sea...

David Gray Sail Away

Susan McKeown and Chanting House Albatross

Grand Funk Railroad I'm Your Captain

Mazzy Star. Quiet, The Winter Harbor

Tom DiMenna sings Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Crosby Stills & Nash Southern Cross and
Wooden Ships

Otis Redding, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Stanley Samuelsen The Water is Wide

Pam Smilow. The Dock of the Bay, mixed media on canvas, 50” x 80”

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow Spring Tree in Bloom mixed media on canvas 50” x 38”.

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...