The Allegheny River and a cup of coffee at 7:30
Morning view
A list
This list inspired by Susannah Conway’s post today:
(www.susannahconway.com)
Reading: The Time in Between by Maria Dueñas
Feeling: Glad to see the sun for two days in a row
Smelling: The tang of cut grass
Tasting: Blueberry coffee
Listening: John Gorka
Creating: New graphics for a client’s website
Wanting: More energy
Pondering: The book I’m reading (mentioned above) has brought back so many conversations of my childhood home. How does our past mold the people we become in the future?
And lastly, one of my own:
Remembering: A walk along the rim of the Grand Canyon after a storm
elk at dusk
Riding up a hill, we saw this and were awed.
Value your talent
On a brilliant summer day in a beautiful and artful city, a gentleman walks along a red-bricked street. Passing a small boutique, his gaze is arrested by the most enchanting, exquisite bow made of satin ribbon. This bow would be a perfect addition to his daughter’s birthday gift. Elated at his luck in finding this intricate adornment, he walks into the small shop.
“How much is the bow in the window?” he inquires from the young man approaching.
“The bow is $50.00,” comes the reply.
“What?! I’m not going to pay $50.00 for a 10 cent ribbon!” shouts the man.
“Ah, no problem sir,” says the young clerk.
He moves toward the window and with one quick jerk of his hand and wrist grabs the satin bow and whips it once into the air. Immediately, the bow becomes undone. As he holds out the long, straight, gleaming ribbon to the gentleman, he says simply, “Now, you may have it for 10 cents.”
This story was passed on to me almost 30 years ago by my
beloved Commercial Art instructor, Ray Coia.
What my sister sees
For more of Wolfgang’s beautiful images,
visit instagram.com/wolfgangstearns
Smoke
It’s 9:00 in the morning in my steel city, 3:00 in the afternoon where you are; where Columbus set sail for the new world.
What are you doing today?
Are you drinking your afternoon café, as I sit sipping from a chipped cup at a gritty south-side coffee house?
Are you writing words in your notebook? Are you sketching scenes or pushing stray thoughts around on napkins?
Have your blue eyes turned murky grey with age?
Or do they still match my own?
Would I know you if you walked in the door right now?
Would I want to know you?
I would like to be smoking the Spanish cigarettes you smoked the last time we met. The sweet smell of tobacco forever firing nostalgia straight into my senses.
How I love to smoke, even though I don’t smoke.
Read: Everything that Remains
Everything that Remains: A Memoir by The Minimalists by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus (www.theminimalists.com) is the best book of non-fiction I’ve read in a long time.
I’m going to be posting some thoughts regarding Minimalism in the near future. For now, if you are even remotely interested in trying to break free from the burden of possessions, drop everything and read this book.
Remembering this moment
This Moment inspired by Amanda Blake Soule at soulemama.com
Saying Yes
There are always a roomful of reasons to say “no”.
Reminder: Say “yes” more often.
Doors
Doors can be heavy
and thick;
they can be transparent
and thin.
Doors are different than windows,
whatever lies on the other side is anyone’s guess—
elephants or sinkholes,
mint leaves, magpies, corduroy or moonlight.
spanishwoods 