Thursday, July 31, 2003

26 things

a day early and i'll announce it anyway! my 26 things are up... but the expando page isn't fully done yet... maybe august will be my scavenger hunt to find the little meandering tidbits to go along with the pictures. meanwhile, check out the bitesizedmorsels page. click to enlarge. some need stories, so check out expando anyway.

i was entry 148 even though i put mine up technically on july 31.

Monday, July 28, 2003

Friday, July 25, 2003

karmapa
his holiness the 17th karmapa stopped at morro bay today.


his holiness the 17th karmapa his holiness the 17th karmapa

matilija
for beth, who wants to plant these


matilija poppies matilija poppies

animals hiding
all seen today at or near montana de oro


bird in thistle squirrel

seal charlie, hiding

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

overheard

tiss and nu had hamster babies. they're breeders now...

tricia: we'll keep a boy and a girl so each can have company. we don't want them being "social" together.
marya: are you going all baptist so that they can't dance?

Monday, July 21, 2003

bean nods

nods to bean who turned la em nikita onto lawrence's elemental today on her delicious blogliciousness. nods to bean for circular mirrorproject. i hope to see it up there. nods to bean for all time best peice of mail i have ever received from the post man. perfectly wonderful seethrough envelope and inviting crane that beckons to the east coast.

Elemental

Why don't people leave off being lovable
Or thinking they are lovable, or wanting to be lovable,
And be a bit elemental, instead?

Since man is made up of the elements
Fire, and rain, and air, and live loam
And none of these is lovable
But elemental,
Man is lop-sided on the side of the angels.

I wish men would get back their balance among the elements
And be a bit more fiery, as incapable of telling lies
As fire is.
I wish they'd be true to their own variation, as water is,
Which goes through all the stages of steam and stream and ice
Without losing its head.

I am sick of lovable people,
Somehow they are a lie.

D.H. Lawrence
1929
early evening porch time



good reasons to drink beer on the porch on a sunday early evening: michael's birthday :: dan got home from n.y. six hours early :: heather's brother jesse came into town :: carrie baked a pie :: great day all around



early evening pete's time
dan gets elbow room




later we mosied over to pete's for a little caribbean food action. dan told ny stories about boats and lakes and cocktail hours and elbowroom and catching the five-pound bass.

Sunday, July 20, 2003

the heart of the buddha



"We might ask ourselves, "What is the heart of the Buddha like? Does it think the way we do? Does it want to have fish and chips or is it just a pious heart that does nothing but religious things alone? Would that heart be the most holy heart of all, from a Christian point of view?" The answer is no. That heart is not necessarily pious." — Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

mythmaking morning

today is the type of morning that breeds summer fantasies. it is perfect in everyway: warm, little breezy, gorgeous skies... everyone is fresh. yesterday was muggy and overcast and heavy... the far reachings of the mexican hurricane teasing the central coast. it rained several times and i think it washed everything clean.

i rode my bike, which has wisteria hanging from the handle bars; i had breakfast at linnaea's; and started reading running with scissors. augusten burroughs is geniously delicious.

ryan reads about the book looked better in person

overheard

capo: i saw you out there, bumping and grinding.
rem: it was more bumping.
capo: where there's bumping, there's grinding.

Saturday, July 19, 2003

overheard

marya: today i was in a swarm of 100 bees. the buzzed right by me, dzzzzzzeeewwwwww.
rem: did you just say "Jew"?!
capo: maybe that's what they were looking for, dude.
rem: they were obviously WASPs.
where's the humor?

my dad gave me a great piece of advice a couple of months ago. he said, "keep your sense of humor."

are you pissed? where's your sense of humor for your situation?
are you depressed? where's your sense of humor for your situation?

meaning, if you can find the humor in your predictament — and there is always something funny about the human experince — then you'll be okay. better than okay. you'll be sane.

tonight i got pissed. party at the house. i didn't know about it until it jumped to full swing at 11:00. i'm not a good one for no preparation. if i can have a little forwarning... know what to expect... i can be fairly easy going. or at least on the precipice of easy going.

but techno-central-light-show took me by surprise. just a little bit. and i tried to be flexible, to sleep despite the noise. but by 2:00... each minute i seemed to become more tense until there were tears in my eyes and i realized i was just fucking pissed off.

well, now i can find some humor in it. but not until i stormed off telling capo "for the record, i am leaving the house! i cannot stay here!!"

stomp stomp stomp off i go into the 2 am nighttime. and the music gets switch off and i can hear capo calling out "what, it's all my fault?!"

and of course it's not all his fault. it's probably not all anyone's fault. if i'd had known ahead time... if i'd been into the party thing... if if if. argh.

and i sat here... scowly... growly... and then i remembered my dad's advice.

find the humor. can you find the humor? i can hear him chiding me now.

and there was humor there. humor in my motion-towards-woundupness. humor in the exhuberance of the partiers to the point that they didn't even realize they were being other-worldly loud.

and my heart instantly softened. instantly. i'm like folgers crystals or something.

but i stormed off without my cell phone so i can't call capo and tell him...

ahhhh. whatever. it just is what it is. i'll get over myself.

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

shimmering blue in the vacant lot

shimmering vacant lot flower : trucks : powerlines

every day, monday through friday, it is the same thing. get up. get ready. get to work.

and so i do.

and the one minute before i park the car and head for the office door, that exact one minute before, each and every time, has me rounding a corner, offa the busy street and into our little office neighborhood. and the summer sunlight is coming up over the mountains just so. the day is still new and fertile with possibilites.

and i see them.

i see them everyday. the little blue flowers.

it seems that they are only visible in the morning light... something about the angle of the sun and the still drawn-out shadows and the forgiving nature of morning. they disappear by noon, evaporate against the washed out gray-brown of the hills, the pale pale pale noon blue sky that makes your eyes crinkle. by then they are gone.

but in the morning the flowers glow a light blue, a fairy periwinkle. they shimmer like a fresh-water mirage against the surrendered landscape of the vacant lot. they dance. they beckon.

they're just weeds. silly weeds that prevail even after the tractors have come by and mowed down all the brush. silly weeds that know exactly just how to manipulate the early morning sunshine in such a way that it pushes your heart into a thankful little pre-day acknowledgement.

-------------

notes from today:
» sunset over bishop's peak from tiss
» today there was a fire and i don't even know for sure where it was or how it started (tho tiss was telling terrible bird in wire next to prison stories) but fire is always scary. always alway always. and coincidentally with tissa's sunset pics, the fire smoke was so bad we couldn't even see bishop's today at lunch. it just went Madonna and then nuthin.
»: for all of you who have been hearing me coo over bishop's peak, here is a great gallery of bishop's pics. ;)

overheard

ryan: i have five fans at home.
marya: you should bring one to work; it could be your travel fan.
ryan: i thought you were my travel fan.
marya: i am. i am.

* * * * * *

professionalism, at its highest form...

tiss: what should the rejection message say?
mar: "big fat loser?"
tiss: "um, i have to take a shower on friday?" that's just like saying i'm planning on having a headache.

* * * * * *

mar: wait, was it a butt load or a shit load?
kevin: i don't use "shit load." i simply shorten it to "shload." it works, but you see "bload" doesn't.


* * * * * *

dan to mark: don't touch me; i'm sterile.
everyone else: scratches head.

Monday, July 14, 2003

little snippets

» emdot a la mirror project: one and a two
» emdot a la fotolog.net: brand new (only two so far)
» poem for the day: northern pike (from writer's almanac)
» current wallpaper at work: stars upon thars
» current slogan: work smarter to play sooner
» current bad cat: mamacat (neurosis to a whole new level)
» current best travel pic: sweetdogk (also shown below)
» currently listening to: dub natural
sugarplum ferry

bret and kb in nz supersweet kb

pics forwarded from kb and bret. i took the liberty to post some. i am the web pic pusher. here to serve you. i post before asking. meanwhile, read about their trip.

Sunday, July 13, 2003

show us your 26 things

this could be a fun thing to do — i'd love to see what my friends came up with as well: the international photographic scavenger hunt. found through stacia, the ever uber hip chick.

the jist: there are 26 ideas. take a picture for each (you gotta do it in the month of july), post them to a site (and if you don't have your own web space she gives you ideas). submit on aug 1... links up somewhere after. expand your mind... what do these words mean to you? how can you show them?
more saturday snapshots





from left to right, top row: the co-op, right by dan's and maya finding some shade on the bench (hair in face). my and jan in motion. and in stop motion. bottom row: east view from's dan's — washed out summer already. ryan capo. gus's patio. and the drive from san luis out to pismo (back country road to the beach).

full day. number one, it was hot. hanging out with tom then jan and maya and a little porch convo with el capo-tan. then going to pismo to meet my sister's in-laws to be who were great. we shoulda gotten together a long time before now. they were fabulous.

Saturday, July 12, 2003

beautiful saturday morning

tom's porch bright bouganvilla

bouganvilla pink flamingo rooftops and treetops


early morning farmer's market :: super great pete's coffee :: the abundant market :: running into people about town :: slow meandering breakfast at chez tom (tom is the king of the espresso) :: indian basil :: squaw bread :: the shocking purple of july in the bouganvilla, in the jacaranda ::

my part-time home has been such a fun little blessing. somehow i seem to be more social. different people populating my life. met my part-time neighbors: everyone seems really nice. this afternoon is jan and maya and then meeting my sister's inlaws-to-be for crab gnawing in pismo beach. meanwhile it is atleast 85 degrees and the outlook is sunny.

Friday, July 11, 2003

overheard

marya: tom, i'm your new neighbor.
tom: hmmm, i don't know how to feel about that...
marya: threatened!

thursdays with tajikis-jan



what a great day. decent enough day at work. that is a plus. after work, got an invite from tom to mosey downtown for farmer's, to catch some fresh veggies and a bite to eat.

it was mobbed and perfectly festive. i had a permagrin. i don't know why. a warm summer evening. the abundancy of peaches, nectarines, plums, beans... everything. people everywhere, happy to be outside. great company with thomas.

walking home we ran into sara, taking pictures of the amazing jacaranda tree in technocolor purple, just ready to step to the side of all-green goodness. the tree was intense purple. the sky was dusty purple. and the moon looked over it all. gorgeousness.

"jan and cholla are at the house," she said. "it's pina colada night."

i bid tom adieu at the corner and proceeded straight to the arms of my dear friends, in from outta town — cholla lives in phoenix and jan is fresh out of tajikistan. we milled around the house for a half an hour, but i finally coaxed them over to my part time abode.

we had wine and cookies and went through picture after picture of tajikistan, asking jan more questions (what is this, what is this, what is that, what are you doing there.).







who knew that jan would fall in love with tajikistan and its wonderful people. i wanted to post pictures (her pictures are amazing), but until i do lemme just say that her stories are filled with people who are nice and welcoming and friendly and exotic.

"your life," i said to her, "is so exciting."

"it's just my life," said jan. "i'm in a routine. it's what i do."

but what jan does is follow her dreams and stay true to herself and open to those around her, and that, i am sure of it, is the key to happiness.

tomorrow = catching up with cholla. :)

Thursday, July 10, 2003

overheard

christopher: it's like last night's coffee, this morning's margarita, and a couple of cigarettes.

overheard #2
via voice mail


shane: there's only been one thing on my mind since you came over to visit. can you guess? [sings this song]. it's like doing acid and playing atari. over and over and over and over. Pong! [does pong noise: doink doink doink doink doink...]. Everybody to the limit! Everybody to the limit! Everybody to the limit.

Tuesday, July 08, 2003

best site online?
go there now: clandestina.trips.13


all i could think to say was wow.wow.wow. what is your favorite? shanghai dreaminess? bath reality? columbian guard? portuguese playa? this might be the best trip set yet. do you have my email address? tell me what you think.
today at lunch
snippets of slo town, lunch time.


broad street bull


chorro street jacaranda


islay house


here is the turret hidden by the palm tree in the picture above.
cupboard cat

finding solace with the pots and pans.

overheard

dan: i've been known to be on the Tracker at very odd hours.
marya: it's Project Tracker, not Project Stalker.
emdot, where for art thou?

supersite is down temporarily. please peruse blogpics in the interim. or read about kb's nz trip. or funny little tidbits from miss tiss. or travel vicariously through clandestina. or take a bean break. or be reflective. and please know that i'm not that em.

Monday, July 07, 2003

what's the story?




today kate du nord, who lives in saskatchawan (no, not the home of saskquatch, though that would make linguical sense) wants to know if everyone except her lives in the tropics. [smile]:


"criminy jickets -- I feel like I must be the only one for whom morning glories do not proliferate wildly!"

so, just for k-k-k-katie, pictures of the morningglories that are blooming on the other side of my street (kate, for your tropics theme, note the palm tree in the background of picture one). i love morningglories, too. they are my birth flower. too bad they wilt the minute you pick them. no matter how quickly you put them in water.

overheard

carrie: where do all the days go?
marya: same place that the mis-matched socks go.
carrie: did you just say beach smacked socks?
marya: yep.

Sunday, July 06, 2003

overheard

mar: do i need to do something special to get online?
shane: you always gotta do something special, baby. like type "www."

la casa verde
with your friends shane, dan and mar




shaneyshane, my dear sweet greenster, moved his little vintner behind up to paso robles. bought a house and everything. and tonight i am over for dinner. but before dinner, he and dan are doing some post-and-beaming which means that i had time to take pictures and drink a beer and write a letter and basically lounge around while the men got all sweaty and powdered with sawdust.




the place is awesome. over a hundred years old, shane's pad is a spanish bungalow. he's doing all of the remodeling himself with some help from dan (dan is a pro). he's got a pair of $150 dollar boots, six months old, and he's already worn a hole in the toe from working so hard on the house.




he's been living in the "garden annex" while the rest of the house gets built. only shower is rigged outdoors. but who's to complain? paso hits 100 daily in the summertime. and with all that pixie sawdust, an outdoor shower might be just what the doctor ordered.



the deer also like shane's pad. and shane's tomatoes. and shane's zuchini. and shane's grass. and shane's shrubbery. unfortunately, shane does not like the deer. "you stay away, you little cockroaches," he yelled to the pair watching him work from 20 feet away. they stared at him blankly.