A Mindful Life

Oy! I worked a 9-hour day on Saturday. Today was an 11-hour workday. Tomorrow will be a 15-hour day. Wednesday is another long day (10 hours?). Ditto for Thursday. Friday is a half day, though that afternoon and evening my fellow Americorps and I will be celebrating the achievement of 1000 hours (we have all [...]

This photo was taken last year in Syracuse, New York at Wegmans. Salt potatoes come in five pound bags; they are small new potatoes cooked in water with one pound of salt (included in the bag). The potatoes are then eaten with butter and are heavenly. Leftovers make excellent hash browns too.

I don’t really care if my glass is half full or half empty — I’m just happy to have a glass.
—Joe Farrell

For the first time in a year, I got a massage. A few days ago I decided it was time. I looked on Craigslist, and among headlines such as
ULTRA MASSAGE ULTRA MASSAGE
Asian Man, CMT, Will Give You a Massage That You Can’t Forget
RELAXING FULL BODY MASSAGE DONE BY CUTE,BUSTY C.M.T ASHLEE
I found [...]

Things that please me and make me a nice person to be around.

The car engine light remains off and it’s running great.
My car passed smog inspection.
I got a free cup of coffee this afternoon when I happened upon a grand opening party of a new Starbucks in San Mateo.
There was a musician performing for the [...]

“People in the photography world, anyone who is sophisticated about photography, knows that this is not offensive,” collector and former gallery owner Stephen White told the LA Times. “Taking away a lollipop is not child abuse. There’s no irreparable harm. I’m just not sure there’s any significance to the photographs either.”
–Critics call foul over LA [...]

Do not kiss your children so they will kiss you back but so they will kiss their children, and their children’s children.
–Noah benShea

A Craft Manifesto

People get satisfaction for being able to create/craft things because they can see themselves in the objects they make. This is not possible in purchased products.
The things that people have made themselves have magic powers. They have hidden meanings that other people can’t see.
The things people make they usually want to keep and [...]

The crepe myrtle weeps in the heat
I step out the door and wilt
like a bunch of collard greens abandoned
at the farmer’s market. The wind’s
fingers press my skin, sticky as the tarmac.
I am a bacon ultimate cheeseburger,
dripping and overcooked.

Each day brims with dots rivaling the stars
and bursts. Millions pursue me as I await
penetration, integration, creation.
A dot is an adventure contained
within infinite boundaries.
The mystery blooms, the line emerges: here,
a rigid, attentive marching row of Marines,
there a meandering rivulet of rain,
sometimes wavering and shaking like a drunk,
other times oozing blood-viscous. The hand
takes no heed of [...]