Taking time to smell the roses

"Stop and smell the roses" is a cliche for saying, don't go so fast, slow down and take in what surrounds you. So much now people everywhere, particularly in cities, are frantically trying to make ends meet and continually looking for the next best thing to come along. Our need for more, our greed for success, has left us forgetting about the small things in life. Like taking the time to appreciate something as simple and beautiful as a rose. If we could take off the layers of time, and return to our roots, much of this craziness that surrounds us would no longer exist. I find myself taking a break for the moment to enjoy the beauty of one of life's most beautiful miracles. The ever growing, ever changing development of my twins. Watching them learn the most basic skills each day makes me appreciate so much more. So, how do we find these most basic layers again? How do we peel back the layers and see once again what made life so enriching? Taking a break is definitely an option, but will most people do this? I don't know. From an outsider's perspective, and based on a brief visit in March, I can see the beauty of the old Macao, the richness of it's mixed culture of Chinese and Portuguese. It does sadden me to see so many huge buildings going up around the smaller historical landmarks which have made Macao such a unique place. It's integrity must be saved. I think for a theme for the new work we can certainly start with the "taking a break" idea, and I also was thinking about :underlying beauty surrounded by a hard shell; peeling back the layers; claustrophobia vs. open space. Stella, Candy, does any of this sound like it would be good?

-Amy Marshall