Lunch in the Park

The past few days have been cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. 

When I get home from work I pack a lunch, book, guitar, and ride my bicycle to Crystal Lake Park. I practice guitar until hunger arrives. After eating I stretch and read about the Buddha and meditation.

Lately I have been thinking about returning to meditation. 

I heard from David today, a single sentence email. We set a date for his visit to Urbana.

Moon

I watched the film Moon today, a story about clones and energy.

At film's end I thought of Miguel. Working in the back of the warehouse on warm summer afternoons, folding boxes and flipping them into a pile, he shared esoteric tales and disturbing conspiracies, one being the existence of human cloning farms. 

Robert, Marty, and Dennis

I had my second guitar lesson with Robert yesterday afternoon. 

Before the lesson I received an email from a man interested in buying my used golf balls, and asked if I could stop by his office. 

When I arrived at his office I discovered that he owned a used car lot. As I was getting out of the car I spilled a bucket of balls in the front seat, and as I was picking them up an older man approached and asked if I had a minivan to sell. I mentioned I was not an employee, so we walked to the office together. 

I took a seat and told the man behind the desk, Marty, that I would wait for him to finish business with the older man, Dennis.

Marty and Dennis began to talk cars, which led to tales of women, travel, college co-ed modelling gigs, and how to go broke numerous times and live to tell about it.

The Long Night

Film Still I

Film Still II



Film Still III

Isaac, Oreo, and My Favorite Place

I started the day in long underwear, two jackets, hat and gloves. When I got out of work at 10:45am the sun was out and the air warming fast.

When I returned home I decided to walk to Crystal Lake Park with my guitar, lunch, writing paper, and a book. 

Before I left I brought the dying hen out into the sunlight, under the large fir trees. I sensed the end was near, as she could not keep her eyes open any longer. 

On my walk to the park I imagined the spot I wanted to visit, a bench which is in the corner of a secluded open space, next to the lake.

Before I arrived I crossed paths with a large man with a large dog. I asked what kind of dog it was, he said its name is Oreo, a Great Dane/Lab mix. 

The man, whose name is Isaac, was sad because Oreo is getting old and having health problems. This led him to say, "We all have our time to go, and it won't be long before it is here, even for you and me. People are always getting angry, arguing politics, not getting along, but one should rather be enjoying the little time we have been given." 

At the park I took my seat on the bench and watched sunlight mingle with tree shadows.

I sensed movement nearby and I watched a beautiful woman and a young boy approach. 

I smiled.

"This is your favorite place to sit, isn't it?" asked the woman. 

"Sometimes."

"This is my favorite place."

"Please sit here, I have many favorite places. I can walk into the woods and sit there."

"No, I just wanted to tell you that this is my favorite place, too."

Hen

One of the hens is dying. 

I decided to sit with her this afternoon in the yard. 

I practiced guitar while keeping an eye on her.

Namibia

Rachel showed me a photograph from Namibia she made when she was in the Peace Corps in the early 1990s. 

Namibia

The Music Studio

A New Beginning

When my photography adventure ended two years ago I experienced the peculiar sensation of floating in space without propulsion, direction, or aid. Floating aimlessly, hope fades.

A day arrived when the floating began to slow and I returned to day to day living. A guitar had replaced the camera, sound had replaced sight.