I've been thinking of Joan lately. Joan was a really neat lady who died much too young. I realize that I do believe in the presence of people who have left. Am I being euphemistic? No...that's the way I think of them. They pass by on occasion and I don't know whether I generate the energy or they generate the energy but they pass by.

In going through my photos I thought of Joan. She had a condition or experience known as synestheia. A neurological condition that mixes up the five senses of touch, taste, hearing, smell and vision. People with this condition may hear colors and see sounds.  The example I always remember is that of a blue buzz...
    Joan had this from a very early age but was told that she shouldn't speak of it because it seemed like a disease. I think of it as a gift.
Joan was an artist with a passion for calligraphy. She named her son, Theo, a Van Gogh connection which isn't surprising when one thinks of his art...
                 And when I looked up Van Gogh, I found the following. Van Gogh too was said to experience synestheia.
                 "Van Gogh did not paint what he saw with his eyes. He painted what he felt with his eyes."
                  And another entry: French compose Oliver Messiaen experienced synestheia. According to Simon Rattle, conductor Andre Previn once asked the complase about a rehearsal performance of Tarangulila. Messaen confusingly replied, "Just play it a little more orangey-green."
                  There's where I want to reach up or out and ask Joan, "What do you think?"