An Unexpected Gift

I woke up this morning and after journaling the dream I had last night, I rolled out of bed and padded across the living room floor to go outside and stand on the balcony and take a look at the dawning day.  The unexpected gift of the morning was a strong and cool breeze blowing through the courtyard.  It was very quiet except for the rustle of the wind in the trees.  All of the other apartments, save one down at the far end of the courtyard, were dark and silent. Birds were just starting to sing their morning songs.

I just stood there for a while, leaning against the rail of the patio, listening, watching, and feeling the morning unfolding.  After the heat of the last couple of days it was a welcome morning, with the temperature down to a sweet 62 degrees.  It will climb back up in the eighties today, but the eighties are fine temperature wise.

So now, I am sitting here, drinking my morning coffee, with the radio turned on so it is soft and low, all the windows open, and a cool wind swirling in and dancing around my apartment.

I am trying to place the voice of the woman in the dream. In the dream it was a voice I knew, that I had that sense of knowing, but now as I move into the day, it tickles at the back of my mind.  It was a voice that was both bright and soft, with an accent, and an underlying gentleness.  Ah well, it will return to me, or I will hear someone's voice and know it again.

It is Friday, so work should be nice and quiet, perhaps even productive and then I will slip into the weekend.  The Los Altos Art & Wine Festival is this weekend, and I will be heading up there, currently planning on Sunday.  If tomorrow dawns cool again, I might try and make my much delayed trip to the coast on Saturday. I've planned to go for the last three weekends, but always found something intervening - not good, not bad, just intervening.

Meanwhile, let me savor the unexpected gift of the cool wind swirling through my little corner of the world.

Tags: Unexpected Gift, San Jose, Morning, Los Altos Art & Wine Festival

A Dream On Friday

I dreamt of a woman, sprawling on a very big bed, on an angled pedestal bed, in the middle of a very big and brightly lit department store. She had alabaster skin, was wearing a bright red and flowing robe, and wore many gold chains. She was simply happy. She called my name and I knew her voice. As the dream began to fall apart, she called me back again, called me back to focus on her simple happiness, as if to reinforce her lesson. In the midst of the department store, a very common, very ordinary place, was sublime happiness. I woke into the darkness of the morning with her voice, bright and soft, echoing in my memory. Sent via BlackBerry by AT

Tags: Dreams, Woman In Red, Happiness

To One Unnamed - Li Shangyin

You said you would come, but you did not, and you left me with no other trace than the moonlight on your tower at the fifth watch bell. I cry for you forever gone, I cannot waken yet. I try to read your hurried note, I find the ink too pale. Blue burns your candle in its kingfisher-feather lantern and a sweet breath steals from your hibiscus-broidered curtain. But far beyond my reach is the Enchanted Mountain, and you are on the other side, ten thousand peaks away. - Li Shangyin, To One Unnamed Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Falling Into A Dream

I had a cool experience last night. I had woken during the middle of the night and went I closed my eyes, rather than falling asleep, I fell straight into a dream. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Mornings Worth

Eventually each day draws to a close.  Sometimes they end well. Sometimes they do not. I often think that at the end of every day that ends well we should spend a moment remembering one that did not.  For every day that ends badly we should spend a little time remembering those that ended well. Perhaps if we take this approach, we will not be swayed so much by the ending of a day. They all end.  Then they begin anew and life is best lived in the beginning of each day.

Maybe that is why I like mornings so much.  It is the beginning of the day.  It is full of all the potential and possibility it can possibly contain. From the beginning of each day I can make those choices that shape the day. Sometimes, like everyone, I do not make the best choices.

 Sometimes though, I make some pretty good ones.  All in all I am sure it balances out and life is what life is.  Everything is tucked inside the life that is.  The closer we stay to that core then the closer we are to our core.

I would be very happy to live in an eternal morning.  To live inside of an eternity of the potential, of the possible, to live inside of it and never leave it. It is not possible of course.  As we go through our lives we must, of necessity I think, pass through all parts of a day.  We must begin in the morning, we must pass through the mid-day, we must move across the evening, and we must slip into the night.  Every second of every day brings us closer to the next morning though.

I am fascinated lately by time zones.  Even just the simple four time zones that cross the United States fascinate me. I glance at the clock and I automatically think of each time zone, of the people I know who live in each one. Because I am on the west coast, in the Pacific zone, I live life anywhere from an hour to three hours behind everyone. While I am basking in the golden light of dawn, others are moving steadfastly further into the day.  When evening falls and I am wandering with my beloved Twilight Gods, others are already curled in bed, perhaps even deep in the embrace of sleep.

So, for everyone who lives east of me, I appreciate the gift of morning.  Speed it on its way as it passes you. Enjoy it, savor it, linger inside of it and then send it onward. Perhaps a bit of your joy will ride with it. Perhaps I can catch a tiny portion of your sense of wonder, even if it is only a momentspause to admire the breaking of the day.

Tags: Morning, Dawn

Just Morning

I woke early this morning, about 3:30 AM Pacific Time. I had slept about six hours, maybe a little less. I don't recall anything specific that woke me up.  I just woke up, clear and alert.  I lingered in bed for a while, just laying there thinking, watching my old friends, the shadows on the bedroom ceiling.

When I was a child, we lived on Jackson Boulevard in Rapid City, SD.  My bedroom faced the street and one of my earlier memories is laying awake watching the shadows cast by the headlights of passing cars slide across the walls and ceilings.  So, laying awake watching the play of shadows on the ceiling is an old tradition of mine. I had seen a lot of things there and thought many a thought.

I rolled out of bed and opened the apartment all the way up, windows and doors, and fired up "The Big Fan" to clear out the lingering heat from yesterday.  Before I leave this morning, I will shut everything back up and pull the blinds.  That will keep the temp in the apartment at a reasonable level until the afternoon sun slides on the patio windows.

I don't really have any formed thoughts this morning. I am just sitting here, watching the sky turn gray with the light of dawn, drinking a can of diet coke, contemplating the day that is going to unfold in front of me.  So, nothing profound, nothing spectacular, nothing amazing today.  Just morning. I like the sound of that today.  Just morning.

Tags: Morning, San Jose

AOL's 10 Books To Read Before You Die

This list was from AOL this morning, I just thought I would share it.  The article was titled 10 Books to Read Before You Die.

1. Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
2. Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein
3. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
4. The Stand, Stephen King
5. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
6. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Angels & Demons, Dan Brown
8. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
9. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
10. The Holy Bible

Well, LOL, I had to resist the temptation to list the Holy Bible's author. I think it was Dan Brown. I don't think Brown belongs in this list, at all.  Any novel by David Morrell, who writes in the same genre, is significantly better, and even Morrell doesn't belong on a list of ten books to read before you die. 

I also think you could probably die and skip Harry Potter (though, I have read them all). I have read all of the books on this list (including the Bible), and just as matter of personal taste, there is one book that stands head and shoulders above the rest in my mind, and that is To Kill A Mockingbird. I think the Stand was a particularly inspired choice, as it has long been one of my favorite Stephen King books.

I am going to start thinking about my own list of 10 Books To Read Before You Die

Tags: Books, Reading

55 Bel Air Hood Ornament

I took this on Saturday in south San Jose.  It was a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, parked alongside the street.

Tags: Hood Ornament, Bel Air, Steel Bird

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One Less

One Less Demon

I woke up this morning
I rolled out of bed
I stumbled through the shower
As I tried to clear my head

There is something different
Something different in the day
There is one less demon
One less demon standing in my way

Somewhere in the night I lost you
Somewhere out there you slipped away
I can't say I'm gonna miss you
But I'm surprised you didn't stay

Your's was a familiar haunting
A smoky voiced whisper of a song
I'd gotten used to your ghost
You'd been with me so long

There is something different
Something different in the day
There is one less demon
One less demon standing in my way

I slip on an old pair of jeans
I button down my favorite shirt
I pour the first cup of coffee
I'm surprised it doesn't hurt

You were part of the my landscape
An emptiness with every sun
You danced in my darkness
When every day was done

There is one less demon
One less demon standing in my way
There is something different
Something different in the day

There is one less demon
One less demon standing in my way
There is one less demon
One less demon today

Tags: Lyrical Poetry, Love, Demons

A Day In Three Parts

What I Did Today

Today was spent in mostly idle pursuits and incidental errands. I woke, I chatted, I walked, I drank coffee, I listened to music (it was an Elvis Costello day), I watched a DVD, I slept, I read, I played guitar. Around about 2:00 PM I ran up to San Jose International to pick up my friend Tony who was returning from Colorado, where he had been visiting his sister.  We stopped at Flames on Winchester for lunch and conversation. I had a chorizo scramble (chorizo sausage, country style potatoes, green peppers, onions, jalapeno peppers, and eggs, all served in a ceramic skillet, topped with hot sauce.  It was good.  Then, because I felt like destroying my stomach with food groups that should never associate, I had the Boston Cream Cake for desert.  Conversation was as good as the food.

Afterward, I stopped over at REI to pick up a replacement for my Swiss Army wallet, but they did not have the specific model that I was searching for, so I resolved to check another sporting goods store.  I do get attached to the tools that serve me well in this life, and this particular model of wallet has given me good, secure, and durable service for seven years, so I am trying to replace it with the exact same model.  From there, I drifted home and tossed in two loads of laundry, which are churning away right now.  The only remaining errand is a trip to get groceries and there is no pressing timetable for that.  I prefer to go grocery shopping in the off hours, later in the evening, otherwise the grocery store can be a true zoo.

What I Did Not Do Today

I spent a good part of that quiet time trying to write.  As I mentioned before, I have several things percolating inside of me, waiting to manifest themselves as either short stories or poetry or prose poetry. I tried priming the pump by writing and wrote several thousand words that I ultimately threw away, as there was no discernable narrative flow to it.  For me, writing is often a process of writing and rewriting remorselessly and repeatedly until I get it right. Until the Muse kicks in and I feel the narrative flow start to work it’s way through the words. Today, I just could not get to the point of flow.  I will try again in a while.  Perhaps this entry into my journal will serve as the starting point.

What I Thought Today

Some days have a central thought that runs through them.  Something that is predominant.  Today did not.  My thoughts mostly rambled through the day, touching on each of the things I was doing.  That was nice.  It is nice not to have something overriding the other thoughts and pulling me out of the moment.

Tags: Flames, San Jose, Incidentals