Dear Elisa:

HAPPY 43rd BIRTHDAY!

Woodblock Print #43 from 100 Views of Edo "Nihonbashi & Edobashi Bridge" (1857) by Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858), Brooklyn Museum Notes Peace Rose: Hybrid tea Yellow & pink edges Blooms with 43 petals Diameter: 6 inches Height: 4 to 6.5 feet Bred in 1935, France by Francis Meilland (Source: helpmefind.com) Spring is coming, just three weeks away! May Ando Hiroshige's Woodcut #43 with a bonito tuna caught on the Edo Bridge and yellow Peace Rose with 43 petals bring you much joyfulness, wonder, and peace in your 43rd year.

Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, Verse 43: The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world. That which has no substance enters where there is no space. This shows the value of non-action. Teaching without words, performing without actions: that is the Master's way. — translated by Stephen Mitchell      Harper Perennial (1994)

Lao Tzu (604 B.C.-517 B.C.) Chinese silk painting from British Museum

At age 43, Dante begin Commedia (1308), Brunelleschi designs Florence Cathedral (1420), Beethoven conducts Symphony #7 (1813), Brahms writes Symphony #1 (1876), John F. Kennedy becomes 35th U.S. President (1961).
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)	Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)	Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)	Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)	John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)