The Inspiration of Holocaust Survivor, Mathilde Freund (And Other News)

I have been away from my cyber-venues tending to matters related to the accident that I had this past May. Whenever I stray from the momentum of my writing, I always find it difficult to begin again. But I'm sure this idiosyncrasy of mine is of no real interest to anyone, and so I'll just begin my reentry into cyberspace where I left off, which was with a post I made on July 4th, 2016, — one week and four days ago.

In the aforementioned entry, I wrote a little bit about Mathilde Freund, a holocaust survivor who lives in my hood. I stated that Mathilde and I "spoke about Elie Wiesel, the holocaust survivor who died in his NYC home this past Saturday, July 2nd. Mathilde knew Mr. Wiesel because he was in the same camp (Buchenwald) that her husband had been in. She told me that she was in hiding at the time, but her husband was killed at Buchenwald two months before it was closed. She recalled that her husband was twenty-five years old at the time and that Elie Wiesel was much younger. She also remarked that the man who was pope at the time “turned the other way,” and she is quite impressed with the efforts of the current pope. She is someone who is most thankful for what Independence Day is SUPPOSED to represent, and is truly an amazing lady! I’m always grateful when I see her!" 

Since the publication of that blog post, I came across a YouTube Video that includes Mathilde. It is produced by Fordham University and I've posted it atop this blog entry. If you view it, dear reader, I'm sure you will see why I'm always grateful to see her. Moreover, I dare say I believe upon viewing the clip, that like myself, you will find her attitude toward the tragedies in her life uplifting and inspiring.

An inspiration to persevere through our given circumstances is most welcome during these times when tragedies continue to occur in our world, including the ones that have occurred in the days after my last entry on Blogger!

Just last night (July 14, 2016),  eighty-four folks of all ages, celebrating Bastille Day in France were killed in what appears to have been a terrorist attack. France has been a friend to NYC over the years and their most memorable gesture was the gift of The Statue of Liberty (pictured below), which stands on Liberty Island in our harbor.

Cam (my visiting female cardinal who happens to be an author), plans to include facts about The Statue of Liberty in a subsequent volume of  Words In Our Beak, which will be a sequel to her first book (seen below).

As you can see, her first book is now available in Apple's iBook's Store and it's on Amazon!

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.