Major earthquake hits Haiti

Haiti was rocked on January 12 by the largest earthquake ever recorded in the area. The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince.

This situation in Haiti is desperate. Some 50,000 people are believed to be dead while countless others are said to be injured or homeless. It is feared that many more will die if the wounded are not given immediate medical attention.

Drumbeats called the faithful to a Sunday Mass praising God amid a scene resembling the Apocalypse - a collapsed cathedral in a city cloaked with the smell of death, where aid is slow to reach survivors and rescue crews battle to pry an ever-smaller number of the living from the ruins.

Anger has turned to violence on the streets of Haiti as survivals lose patience with the painfully slow process of getting international aid after the earthquake that authorities say may have killed 200,000 people.

Let us pray....

Happy New Year - Happy 2010!

Christmas of 2009

My Advent....

I got involved with politics during my teenage years, as one can read it in my Family web site. The Hungarian Revolution in 1956 was a turning point in my life for escaping with my young husband to start our new life and to raise our future children in a free country.

When I am reflecting on those long and struggling years I am not surprised to find that there was no room for politics in my life. But I was praying for the ending of the Korean and Vietnamese wars, and was overjoyed when in Europe the Iron Curtain fell with the Berlin walls.

In the past decade I am getting more and more disturbed by the political maneuverings, the actions of the groups of terrorists, and with the wars and blood sheds. During the time of Advent I am praying again very hard for the honesty and wisdom of the leaders that they will promote World's peace and our future with their decisions.

Approaching Christmas season

A suspected uranium-enrichment facility near Qom

While getting into the the warm and loving holiday spirit, one can not overlook the brewing dangers of the World.

World powers united in condemnation of Iran's nuclear activities yesterday in a rare show of international consensus on the threat posed by Tehran's continued nuclear defiance. China and Russia joined the United States, Britain, France and Germany in backing an International Atomic Energy Agency resolution censuring Iran and ordering it to halt construction of a secret uranium enrichment plant.

The resolution, the first since February 2006, passed with 25 votes and six abstentions. Only Malaysia, Venezuela and Cuba supported Iran. (picture and quotation from the Times)

Tristan and Isolde

"Tristan and Isolde is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based on the romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was composed between 1856 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bulow conducting."

"Wagner composition of Tristan and Isolde was inspired by his affair with Mathilda Wesendonck and the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertory. Tristan was notable for Wagner's advanced use of chromaticism, tonality, orchestral color and harmonic suspension." (from Wikipedia)

I had had the good fortune in November of 1955 to attend to the opera of Tristan and Isolde at the Hungarian Opera House in Budapest. It was an unforgettable evening for me.

Unfortunately I do not have chances like that anymore, and that is why I was so thrilled few days ago when listening to BBC Radio 3's live production from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. (Antonio Pappano conductor, tenor Ben Heppner and soprano Nina Stemme as the tragic lovers.)

Edith Piaf - Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles Mortes)

The Song from my youth...