deucers.com ~ miami ~ miami beach

My parents popped in last week for a quick visit. Fun fun.

Lovely to spend an afternoon in their company:

My mom and I went for a walk with Lucy in Morningside Park; I showed her my favorite banyan trees:

We drove home under canopies of Royal Poincianas bursting with orange:

Bonbonbon.

After a delicious lunch at the cozy White Lion Cafe: we went to visit the Buddhist Temple, Wat Buddharangsi:

A Thai monk guided us around: and in the temple we saw his teacher in the corner on a computer: In another corner was a huge gong to call the monks and people to prayer: As our guide escorted us to the Siddhartha garden, under the Bodhi Tree that tells the life of Siddhartha, he reminded me to “feel your feet.” Be in the moment. He said in India a Bodhi tree would be stripped bare of leaves, and I asked if I could take one, he replied, if you need one, take one.

My summer project is going to be to visit Miami places I’ve missed over the years. Any recommendations?

Went on a fieldtrip to Homestead last week and visited two interesting “houses.” The first was Coral Castle. I like a house that comes with a warning: Although the seating arrangements don’t look overly comfortable, they’re not bad, and there are lots of options depending on your mood:

My favorite spot of the Coral Castle was the Repentance Corner. Time out way ahead of its time. Lovely to have a dedicated space to experience penance and remorse and then leave it there:

And finally never hurts to have a model nearby for aesthetic purposes:

Stopped by the Hill to celebrate bartender extraordinaire, Nicky Bowe’s, birthday…and lo and behold, stumbled upon Churchill’s newest night of fun.

Of course there’s always good jazz Mondays and accousticish/ curry Wednesdays but now at least one Tuesday per month, Churchill’s is sponsoring a “talent” show. Think David Lynch meets jagermeister meets the gong show – without the gong or the hook.

This hilarious show features people’s mothers singing, juggling, a strange zither-like electric instrument with a vhs accompaniment, unamusing comedians, beat box, a few decent performers, and many dubious ones, just when you thought it couldn’t get worse than the ukelele player…..wait a while, after the way too long poetry recitations, we came to appreciate the simplicity of the ukeThere’s a panel of judges who award real trophies.

The hip crowd cheers and jeers, and the undaunted put it out there. . Bravo.

And after you can ride home on your boombike:

Click here to see more.

Good times.

by Dale Carnegie

The books starts out with: Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.

Can you imagine how quiet it would be if everyone adhered to this rule.

Imagine how quiet it would be inside your head.

I’ll let you know what happens on page 2.

When I get a letter, or card, or brochure from my alma maters, William & Mary and the University of Miami, asking for a donation, they offer me choices as to what programs I would like my money to support.

Why doesn’t the federal government do the same thing? Let’s say 10 – 25% has to go to the discretionary budget, but the rest of the money has to go where the citizens choose. We vote for a president only every four years, but we pay taxes every year. Why not add a line on the tax form that let’s the taxpayers earmark taxes for their favorite programs?

I’m tired of supporting a war  that I am fundamentally against with my tax dollars.

I want my tax dollars to support education. Bravo to President Obama for increasing Pell Grants to help low- to moderate-income students pay for college. More college graduates will get more better paying jobs and pay more taxes. It’s a win- win situation.

I want my tax dollars to go to renewable, sustainable energy.

I want my tax dollars to support high-speed rail initiatives.

I want my tax dollars to support the arts & libraries.

If you could choose where your tax dollars went, what programs/initiatives would you support?