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

    A Restless Soul

    July 29, 2020
    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.

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  • coffee shops,  fountain pens,  Fujifilm X-T3,  journal,  quotes,  writing/reading

    Put it in your calendar

    July 19, 2020
    Journal time and a mocha at Mugs in Old Town this morning

    “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”― Henri Nouwen

    And, for those who need to know it’s National Ice Cream Day, which happens the third Sunday of every July. Put it in calendar! 

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  • coffee shops,  rants,  Software,  writing/reading

    Looking for something I like

    September 4, 2019
    Starting my morning with a mocha latte at the Bean Cycle

    Well, I’m not sure what happened with my WordPress website. I upgraded to the latest WordPress and things immediately fell apart. I could not log on or access my website. I started a chat with my hosting service who got me back to a starting place. None of my themes would work. My dashboard looked like it did over a year ago. Right now you are seeing a simple free theme from WordPress. Actually I may just stick with something like this. Anyway, as you can see I started this morning with a mocha. Please give me feedback on anything that’s not working.

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  • coffee shops,  lifestyles

    The act of creating …

    July 31, 2019

    I am a man of solitude who enjoys and relishes the silence I find away from the crowds. Yet, I’m aware the journey through life is not to be traveled alone. There are times in life we will need to walk alone while at other times we will travel with others. Some of those travelers will be family, friends and some will be strangers. Some will share similar visions and dreams. Some will support us in times of need while at other times we will support them. My hope in this time of unrest that is we do not see one another as “other than” and erect walls. For when we’re free from the shackles of our fear of others we will not need to build walls.

    “May we believe that as we create relationships with all of creation we are also in the act of creating our world.”

    This is Annette’s latte art. Not too shabby!

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  • coffee shops

    I made a mess…

    July 24, 2019

    “It is not from raw talent, nor is it from privileged lives that art comes, but from a willingness to splash that humanity, however messy and uncertain, onto the canvas, write it into the story, or put it into the photograph.” David DuChemin

    A couple days ago I was carrying a mocha latte, much like this one, to my table when I stubbed my foot against the table’s legs and splashed the latte over the table. Made quite a mess but, thankfully, did not get any on the journal, pen or phone. Just a reminder that I’m not as perfect as you may have assumed. 😀 Thay have given us the rest of the day off so I decided to post this image.

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  • coffee shops,  lifestyles

    She made it look beautiful

    July 10, 2019

    Well, I have a few minutes to write something up. This is the mocha latte from a small coffee shop called Rosco’s Coffee that’s a mere 4 minutes away. Love the large sofas and lounge chairs and am pleased with their music choice. It’s my kind of music to read and write with. I’ll make a few more visits. I noticed they have been given a 4.5 rating by yelp and tripadvisor.

    My laptop decided to bite the dust last week and refuse to boot up. I finally was able to take it to an authorized apple service repair center yesterday afternoon. The tech pushed a couple of buttons and magically it all worked. I have also upgraded to Mojave OS and all seems fine. Keeping my fingers crossed.

    The training has been good for me. Learning more about myself, creating a connection with the other seven students and instructors, getting in some good reading and eating way too much good food. They are giving me some tools that I’ve wanted for quite some time. I now have to learn more about them and then practice. They offer short and precise lectures then let us put the tools in to practice by role playing, also through art and class sharing.

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

    Wounded, Broken and Cracked

    June 11, 2019
    Starting my day with a mocha, journal and fountain pen

    As humans we are wounded, broken and cracked, sometimes deeply. Many of us may not be whole or as perfect as we wished, yet we are whatever wholeness we have at this moment in time. It’s taken time to accept my wounded, broken and cracked life as the gift of wholeness it is rather than wanting to be perfect. I’ve found tools to help work on the broken parts, and asked others for help when it’s needed. For many this is a new way of thinking and seeing ourselves, others and all of creation. I pray that even through the brokenness we can see the wholeness of who we are, our true-self.

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  • coffee shops,  lifestyles

    Two Projects

    April 9, 2019

    Awoke early, which is becoming way to common, 3:00 is just too early. Now at Bindles with one of their mochas that had my name on it. Sunrise was beautiful on my drive over here. Expecting to reach 70 degrees again today then back to cold and wet days. Could even see below freezing night temperatures.

    Have been working on a couple of projects with my photography and my writing. One is a new photo book with a theme on Colorado horizons. I believe I’ve mentioned how many of my images are taken east of the mountains rather than in the mountains. I seem more attracted to wide open scenes of the eastern plains. So, I’ve begun a book with just horizons and will add some verbiage about my thoughts on horizons. This book is personal project for myself so one copy may be all I have printed.

    The second project is also a book. This one is my recollection of the stories and experiences in my life to pass along to my children and grandchildren. The first page will have facts about me, dates and names and places. But, the rest of the book will be the facts and my fading memories of events blended into their own story. I want my children and grandchildren to read these stories of what I remember of my youth, how my parents raised me, those events that have made me who I am, how those events affected how I see and think of this world. I’m also including a few old photos of the past. I guess you can call it a legacy, an autobiography. Finding working on both of them fun and thus why I’m waking up throughout the might to write stuff down.

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