To love is to be vulnerable

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

~ C.S. Lewis

For more love, and 21 Lessons They Didn't Teach You in School, check one hell of an entertaining online creative hub, "celebrating the Art of Being Alive," Rebelle Society.

A Well-earned Salute to Pin-Up Art

Above: Illustration by WWII-era French pin-up artist Romain Hugault,
for Michael Malak's forthcoming collection of pin-up art, "Wings of Angels". 

The is Model Caitling Litzinger.

My thanks to Dennis Coppinger for sending this one my way.  Facebook's "the Pinup Files" is a real treat for fans and collectors of pin-up art. I love the vintage, but was so thrilled to see the top-notch work from contemporary artists  Authentic, well-done... With an aesthetic that grew out of the era before silicon and special effects. This is how I imagine the ideal "Venus..." What a great collection! 

The Wisdom of St. Therese

My kind-hearted neighbor, bottle-feeding rescued kittens in the Spring of 2013.

"There is no artist who does not like his work praised, and the Divine Artist of souls is pleased when we do not stop at the exterior, but penetrating even to the inmost sanctuary which He has chosen for His dwelling, we admire its beauty."~St. Therese de Liseux, ie: Theresa, "of the Little Way," Story of A Soul, Chapter I

Great video: God's Gonna Cut You Down (The Boondock Saints)

"What's done in the dark will be brought to the light..." ~Johnny Cash

"And Shepherds we shall be, for Thee, my Lord, for Thee."

"Do not kill, do not rape, do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace." ~Boondock Saints

Love for John Donne's "Broken Heart"

Poet and satirist John Donne, a contemporary of William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I, is a long-time personal favorite. I feel his work has an intensity that remains unmatched to this day. This piece sings to me. 

The Broken Heart 

 He is stark mad, who ever says,

That he hath been in love an hour,

Yet not that love so soon decays,

But that it can ten in less space devour;

Who will believe me, if I swear

That I have had the plague a year?

Who would not laugh at me, if I should say,

I saw a flask of powder burn a day?

St. Luke, Portia. "Melancholia."
Ink on paper with digital color.

Ah, what a trifle is a heart,

If once into love's hands it come!

All other griefs allow a part

To other griefs, and ask themselves but some;

They come to us, but us Love draws,

He swallows us, and never chaws:

By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks to die,

He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry.

If 'twere not so, what did become

Of my heart, when I first saw thee?

I brought a heart into the room,

But from the room, I carried none with me:

If it had gone to thee, I know Mine would have taught thine heart to show

More pity unto me: but Love, alas,

At one first blow did shiver it as glass

Yet nothing can to nothing fall,

Nor any place be empty quite,

Therefore I think my breast hath all

Those pieces still, though they be not unite;

And now as broken glasses show

A hundred lesser faces, so

My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore

But after one such love, can love no more.

~ John Donne (1572 – 1631)

Go outside, look at the sky!

Imagine if you got a call from a buddy to check the sky outside...

I'm so glad they took pictures.
For more photos from this amazing experience, click here.