Month: December 2007

It’s Your World Now

On By Norbert HauptIn CommentariesLeave a comment

After almost 30 years of silence, the Eagles came out with a new double album: Long Road Out of Eden. This is a masterpiece. 

I used to be an Eagles fan in the 1970s. There are 20 songs on this double album, and all of them sound like Eagles songs, and all of them are brand-new.

The last song of the second album is titled “It’s Your World Now.” I just happened to listen to the lyrics the other day while I was painting and I realized what it was about.

This is hitting me just after Trisha’s mom passed away a couple of weeks ago now.

This is hitting me also now that Chelsea has graduated from college and she is moving on.

Resulting from both of those events, I find myself reflecting a lot about the passage of time and life right now. I am sentimental as it is, the this song by the Eagles really affected me.

I won’t play it here for you. You need to go and buy it.

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“It’s Your World Now”

A perfect day, the sun is sinkin’ low
As evening falls, the gentle breezes blow
The time we shared went by so fast
Just like a dream, we knew it couldn’t last
But I’d do it all again
If I could, somehow
But I must be leavin’ soon
It’s your world now

It’s your world now
My race is run
I’m moving on
Like the setting sun
No sad goodbyes
No tears allowed
You’ll be alright
It’s your world now

Even when we are apart
You’ll always be in my heart
When dark clouds appear in the sky
Remember true love never dies

But first a kiss, one glass of wine
Just one more dance while there’s still time
My one last wish: someday, you’ll see
How hard I tried and how much you meant to me

It’s your world now
Use well the time
Be part of something good
Leave something good behind
The curtain falls
I take my bow
That’s how it’s meant to be
It’s your world now
It’s your world now
It’s your world now

Christmas in San Diego 2007

On By Norbert HauptIn Commentaries2 Comments

I went into the backyard on Christmas morning and there was a hawk on the fence. 

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He turned around for me.

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While I was at it, I thought I’d show off the weather. Too bad that most of the country does not have it so good.

xmas-in-sd-2007.jpg

Book Review: Magic Doors – by John Pearson

On By Norbert HauptIn Books, Four Stars13 Comments

magic-doors.jpg

Magic doors is a photography book that was quite popular in the 1970ies. Artists and photographers liked this book and it was found on many a coffee table. When I pick it up now, it’s like time-travel back to my youth.

The cover photograph is the most striking of all.

To buy the book, click here.

In May of 2006 I wrote an email to John Pearson, the author:

To John Pearson:

I was twenty-one when I first picked up “Magic Doors” in 1977. It was a coffee table book for us then, lifetimes ago, when I was full of wonder. It seemed I walked through magic doors every day. I remember being touched by your statement of 13,000 days left in the epilogue.

Older now, approaching my fiftieth birthday, kids leaving for college, I sit the dining area in my small house in Southern California. As I look for something on the bookshelf behind me, I startle as I pull out “Magic Doors.” The green photo on the cover instantly transports me back about 10,950 days into the past, when the world was full of wonder and I am there, lingering, a few of tears rolling on my face, while I thumb through the tattered paperback, grateful to be time traveling through a magic door.

We have Google now, and I can find you on your web site. For the first time in all those years I get the chance to actually thank you. I flip over the book and I see on the cover that I paid $6.95 for the book, worth two gallons of gas, but I know that I have a treasure that will last another 10,950 days, at least.

One day you won’t be here, then another day I won’t be here, but the magic doors will still swing wide open for those with the heart to feel them. Since, as you said so aptly: “Of magic doors there is this: you do not see them even as you are passing through.”

— Norbert Haupt

To my surprise, John responded with a heartfelt email within a day. I would have liked to add his email here, but I wanted his permission first. I emailed him in early December, but he has not responded yet. His website was last updated on June 19, 2006, not long after my email exchange with him. I will not bother him any more, but I hope he is alright, taking pictures, living life in happiness and fulfilment. If he responds eventually, and provides permission, I will post his response here.

Rating - Four Stars