February 22 - Caroline

Let's break the rule. I took this picture on the 31st of December (a day before the beginning of 2009 and therefore formally outside of the project), but somehow it was the picture from which the whole thing began. I have been tempted to included it under a fake date, but finally agreed with my conscience that "honesty is the best policy" and stopped tantilizing myself. So there we go.Caroline is my neighbour. We are of the same age, we listen to the same music (sometimes literary the same, as we tend to raise up the volume so that music becomes almost tangible - thick matter filling up the rooms and kitchen, slowly leaking through all the window and door chinks). We drink Chinese tea and South African wine together, talk about life and death and Jim Morrisson, while our kids play together in another room.

Caroline has just come back from New York and said that NY is an ultimate place to live and die and that it is definetely out of any competition with any other megapolis. One more dream to enjoy. Indeed, I like people who bring me new dreams in present. Happily, I happen to know a few.

The character in the left upper corner stands for "aroma" or "scent". The whole phrase says - 茶禅一味 - "Tea and Zen are of the same scent".