Last Friday I visited Geraldine, a wonderful woman and the landlady of my sister. She is American (I was even fantasizing that she is the one Lenny Kravitz wrote a song about), a musician, a singer, a rebel, always on the road, a tireless brave traveller and an explorer of the unknown, which of course means she has a very interesting life story. We were sitting and talking for hours. Woo, she told me so much... that Van Gogh apparently wanted to become a priest in order to send the message of LOVE to the people, then he was expelled from the monastery in a village in Belgium, because the clergy thought he was weird... He must have then figured out another way to tell the people, through his paintings. Maybe that is why he is so famous, for his passion and eternal motive to spread the good among humankind. Isn’t it great? He wasn’t some ambitious fame obsessed artist, he just had this incredible need to make the world a better place!

Another interesting anecdote about Geraldine: her piano is completely broken, the wires were snapping even while we were talking, she was throwing pieces of it in the garbage. Being without an instrument, she started learning to play the ukulele. She played a little for me - the simple melody that she had learned - an archaic sound filled the dining room we were sitting in. She also told me about the guitarist Jose Feliciano and how his virtuosity touches her deeply every time. Thank you Geraldine for making my Friday! You rock the casbah!!

Image - Van Gogh: Starry night