• coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  haiku,  journal,  writing/reading

    Daily Practice

    Starting my day with morning sunlight, a mocha and blank pages

    words from a deep reservoir
    fill pages in a blank journal
    a daily practice

    ms

    I have been making it a practice to open my journal after my prayer and meditation time to write from that deep reservoir. I find my days seem to move along smoother when I practice this prior to reading email or any type of social media. The journaling in this quiet time seems to nurture a rich spirituality, a solid foundation for the day, and set my attitude in a good direction for the day.

  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  journal,  Mary Oliver,  quotes,  writing/reading

    The Beginning of Devotion

    Upstream by Mary Oliver

    “Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones–inkberry, lamb’s quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones–rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. Attention is the beginning of devotion.” 

    Mary Oliver

    I bought a new used book which arrived on Saturday. It’s title is Upstream by Mary Oliver and a series of essays. So far I’m liking it and relate to her spiritual connectedness to nature. So, fair warning you may see a few quotes from the book.

  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  haiku,  journal,  writing/reading

    Coffeehouse Writing

    Morning sunlight, journal, fountain pen and new ink

    half blank pages
    find new words in brown ink
    coffeehouse writing

    ms

    Had a friend give me a new bottle of ink yesterday appropriately named, Coffee Break. 😃 It is a soft subtle brown that shades well, one of my favorite traits in inks, and works well with my cream colored journal pages. Using it in my white Pelikan M205 fountain pen. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  Fujifilm X-T3,  Fujifilm XF16-80mm f4.0,  journal,  lifestyles,  writing/reading

    New Fountain Pen

    A new TWSBI Diamond 580 in Prussian Blue

    This morning I sat in my reserved chair and had a mocha inside Mugs, the first time since March 15th, according to my journal. That’s almost six months. Hard to get my mind  wrapped around how fast time has moved on. And, I still fit in the chair. 😊 

    From my journal during the pandemic:  I wish I’d read more when I was younger but my soul is fertile at this stage of my life for the words I now read. 

  • coffee shops,  fountain pens,  journal,  lifestyles,  writing/reading

    A Restless Soul

    First mocha at the Bean Cycle in about 5 months

    A few years ago I found myself with my camera bag over my shoulder, my hand on my doorknob, heading out the door, realizing I had no clue where I was headed. My mind was blank and a recurring experience. I can’t even count how many times I’ve laughed at myself. I’ve wondered if I was crazy. Of course there are times I had a clear indication of where I was heading but not always. Should I be making a therapy appointment?

    Over the years I’ve come to the awareness that I am not a homebody but a restless soul of some sort. Home for me is not just a manmade structure with a mortgage payment of 30 years, which is how much of our culture defines home. For me, a home is where we lay our head to sleep, find shelter from harsh weather, a place of safety, and a sanctuary, a place of quiet and solitude. So home can be anywhere and everywhere. Some will disagree.

    I feel at home when I’m at one of the local natural areas, camping trip, a road trip, a nearby park, in a bookstore or library, at a coffee shop, in a sacred place, or a bicycle ride, my Adirondack chair on my porch, anywhere and everywhere. I am a restless soul. I suppose this could indicate some psychological problems but we’ll dismiss that for now because I do not want to spend money on therapy sessions.

    A closing thought as I want to keep this short. I have daydreamed of traveling most of my life. Play time was always outside, bicycling, sports, fishing, camping. As a young teenager I thought I wanted to be a truck driver. I’ve constantly dreamed of living an RV lifestyle for the past 15 years. Which I write about next. I’m a restless soul.