Inspiration

I love to see things that are so tangled they defy all logic to untangle or even understand their pattern.

Near our house is a Byzantine church. That in itself is so beautiful when they play the church bells with something like a piano keyboard. Anyhow, there is a huge nettle, a giant, wild hedge with small birds darting in and out.

Hundreds of birds seem to live in there. It is so amazing that they can so quickly and accurately navigate this dense and obtuse tangle of hedge at such a high speed. They must be geniuses.

Let me call upon you now.

Every thought calls you.

Every breath calls you.

As the waves come upon the shore, so do I call you.

Let me feel you press upon me.

Do you stare upon me as I look to see you?

So much is unseen, unheard, unknown, yet surely there.

Lift my senses into the higher realms.

The waiting is over.

I ask for a drop, and you give me buckets, oceans.

Light my way.

Let it be easy and sure and powerful.

You all seem to talk in one voice.

I grew up as a basketball buff. Once I was a player, and a person who follows the sport, in all phases: professionally, college, high school, grade school.

And the thing that I remember is that a lot of people tell you, “You couldn’t do it. You couldn’t make it because other people are better than you.” And I constantly fought that.

How you value life. How I value it is, if you can put your shoes on each morning, you’re ahead of the game.

I come from an era of people being crushed by polio, either killing them or dismantling their ability to walk, talk, work, because the virus attacked their nervous system and they weren’t able to function.

Some when people say to me, “How are you doing today?” And I say, “I can put my shoes on today.”

I look at it very basically, and I can function.

Did you ever want to go beyond what technology offers?

Way beyond what governments offer?

Way beyond what art or entertainment offer?

To live beyond the horizon of now.

I really like the idea of the outer limits.

A place in the unknown that has discovery everywhere.

Yes, it’s like being a child again – seeing what is in the world – this place and time I find myself in.

Plato believed that everything already exists – every idea, every work of art, every everything – and that we only need to discover it, find it, uncover it.

How long can you smile?

Can you consciously keep a smile for a day? for an hour? for 3 minutes?

I’ve tried this, and it does take effort.

Even consciously returning a gaze with a smile.

There are those rare people who always seem to have a smile – they actually always seem happy.

At the supermarket, anywhere where there are strangers, it is kind of fun and interesting to hunt for visually happy people.

I remember going into a garden shop and being happily surprised to see a huge parrot in a great cage. It was so unexpected. To see a parrot by itself would be a surprise, but to see it in a place where it usually wasn’t, made it shine even the better.

A similar thing happened when we visited a paper store that sells gift boxes, tissue paper, cake boxes, and so on. In the back, in a fenced in area, was an emu, you know, an ostrich – actually a pair of them. It’s like seeing a dandelion growing in a sidewalk crack.

Inspired by visiting Tickled Pink in Seymour CT (www.tickledpinkshoppe.com) .

In the local valley, with a backdrop of towering mountains and clear lakes, there is a small boutique nestled among rows of antique dealers. To me, this is more than a store. When one steps inside it, it is like being transported to a place of wonder and beauty.

Tickled Pink offers a magical, ambient setting that truly makes one forget daily concerns. It is like its own world, an enchanting, compelling, truly breathtaking realm.

Everyone has certain special things that make them smile. For me, one of those things is being around goats.

I remember one of the times my parents and I went to a local farm that we visit frequently. That particular day there were 2 baby goats, so small they could barely walk, their little legs wobbly, and their tiny voices high-pitched. One baby goat was shy, afraid, seeking shelter near his mother. But the other baby goat wanted to experience everything the world had to offer.

When our children were young, and we would go to a restaurant, we’d make pepper drawings while waiting for our food.

We would turn over the paper placemat, revealing a nice white piece of paper, and shake some pepper randomly on the paper. Then we would take turns connecting the dots.

It’s like the pepper held the essence of a picture that we slowly revealed to ourselves. They really enjoyed this, and so did I.

There’s just enough structure to prod you on, but ultimately, it is your own imagination that creates the picture. It’s really fun to see what emerges.