On Sunday, I walked by this architectural salvage shop in Little Italy, and I saw this through the window.
Sadly, the store was closed, so I could only admire this old card catalog (remember those?) through the window. I have no idea what I would use this for, but I kinda really want to own it.
Perhaps I will go visit it tomorrow when the store is open...
hush (n): silence or stillness, especially after noise
This is something that I need more of in my life. I need to hush more. Aside from the ten minutes before I fall asleep at night, I don't spend any time just being still. I'd like to, and I have tried, but as soon as I settle in to attempt some sort of meditative reflection, my mind starts racing. I think of ever other thing I could or should be doing-things like cleaning, exercising, cooking, planning for school, catching up on phone calls, figuring out what I should do with my life, and on and on. And so, I get up and go about checking things off of my to-do list.
What I am realizing is that I am never going to get to the bottom of the to-do list, and all the multi-tasking in the world isn't going to change that. I am going to try to be more like this guy...
Look at Buddha.
He's so...beatific.
He's not thinking about what he needs to get at the store later.
He's certainly not obsessing about his abnormally large ears or even the fact that his eyebrows are dangerously close to chola territory.
{Buddha}{chola}
He's just being.
I am still struggling with not seeing this as a huge waste of time, but I'm working on it.
Creativity Boot Camp, Day Nine. My imagination is going to be able to kick your imagination's ass by the end of this boot camp....just sayin'.
Today's word was drizzle. Thanks to over a decade in New England, my first thought was of the kind of weather that just spits and hisses at you, beating you into submission with seemingly insignificant flecks of moisture that gradually drown your will to ever leave the house. Or...maybe that's just me. Anyway, chances were slim to none that we would see that kind of precipitation on the third day of summer in Southern California.
My next thought was of hot fudge and caramel on a delicious frozen treat. I summoned up all of my willpower and reminded myself in no uncertain terms that I did not need to spend the calories or the dollars on some ridiculously Extraordinary Dessert just for the sake of "my art." (Ok, in looking at their website now, I am seriously reconsidering my earlier resolve. Those people know desserts but good!) Point is-I went with paint drizzle. It was fun, and I think I may have accidentally created a masterpiece of modern art.
According to freedictionary.com: (n) something that decorates or adorns
Naturally, upon first reading this Creativity Boot Camp word prompt, I thought immediately of pine trees, gingerbread, manger scenes, and sugar plums. As much as I love the yuletide, I want nothing to do with anything Christmas related from December 26th through about mid-November. I wring a lot of Christmas magic out of those six weeks, but outside of that time frame, Christmas accoutrements make me feel sad. Don't even get me started on those shops sell ceramic Santas and winter wonderland scenes all year round; I don't know how the employees do it. I would want to stab a stake of holly through my own heart.
Annnnyway, since I was not going to be hauling out the Christmas gear for this photo, I decorated myself instead....
The prompt for Day Seven of Creativity Boot Camp was fly. My original plan was to go to the park, jump on a swing, and take some shots of my feet flying through the air. My plan was foiled however as the park was filled with kids and they were totally hogging the swings. Selfish! I blame the children for my completely literal interpretation of today's word...
Today is Father's Day, and to celebrate, my family (with the palpable absence of my brother) headed to the beach in Coronado. Coronado has always felt like home to me. I love Vermont, and it will always have a place in my heart, but as my dad has said, I have sand in my veins. Plus, legend has it that beach was my first word... Either way, Coronado has always been uniquely special to me... Even during college, when I hadn't lived there for over ten years, I wrote an essay about Coronado for my Landscape Spirituality course. Yep, Landscape Spirituality. I just checked my transcript to verify...it was an art seminar and we had to write about our "sacred space."
Anyway, point is - celebrating Father's Day in Coronado felt appropriate. As I said tonight at dinner, I hit the parent/family jackpot... Spending the afternoon at the beach was also incredibly convenient as the random word prompt for day six of Creativity Boot Camp was fluid.
The random word prompt for day five of Creativity Boot Camp was grow. Given my fixation on my little "garden," more than a few of my daily photos have been of my tomatoes and such at various stages in their development, but they were the first thing that came to mind in response to this prompt.
Yesterday's real life picnic and Shakespeare was lovely. We set up our spread in the center of Balboa Park near the Air and Space Museum and the International Houses. I, of course, had to take a few pictures...
Tom was very patient, but he was hungry and he has his limits...
Tom: "How about we eat our dinner instead of just documenting it?" (Or something to that effect.)
And so we did, and it was delightful.
I am quite the witty dinner companion.
We gorged ourselves on fruit, salami, bread (that I baked myself, thank you very much), and three kinds of cheese. Did you know that there is a word for someone who loves cheese? I think that it is safe to say that Tom and I are both turophiles, or according to Merriam-Webster's online, fanciers of cheese.
After dinner we headed up to the Old Globe for Taming of the Shrew. The Old Globe has a new program called Twenty Under Thirty where you can buy any ticket for their Shakespeare festival performances for $20 as long you are under thirty years old. We got in just under the wire! They also offer on-stage seating for only $10 if you are part of the Twenty Under Thirty Club.
We were about seven rows back, but there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. The theater is open-air, so it got pretty chilly, but they had blankets available for rent, and boozy coffee drinks to warm up with during intermission.
The cast interacted with the crowd as everyone took their seats.
The play was a lot of fun and all of the actors were excellent. One actor in particular seemed oddly familiar, and Tom must be given full credit for identifying him...
Yep, Geoffrey, the long-suffering butler from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is actually a classically trained Shakespearean actor named Joseph Marcell. He played Gremio, one of Bianca's suitors. So, yeah, celeb-sighting.
