As a thanksgiving blessing I awoke to count the many events this year that gave an arch of learning curve, the sheer comet like sheen of it all became my writing prompt for today. It’s a small wonder that these things that touch us, make an impression with all of the noise of the world can indeed reach us somehow. It’s no small thing to be able to grasp them emotionally and ponder the wonder of why, honoring that luck was involved.

Friendships that weather the storms of life, the bigger appeal of escape when emotional headwinds deem to great to stand up to, is the inner peace we seek always within us? Do we really need some outside validation that all is right with the world?

Pondering these writing prompts on a day sometimes filled with angst around family dissension and political strife, I like to think back to immortalize moments that still take my breath away.  The thanksgiving day hike near a locally famous rock formation, where once we reached the top of the moon like surface I was given a ring, as symbolic gesture of a grander sweep of emotion that never seemed to gain traction.

Another memory, a San Francisco day of thanksgiving with the table set for 25 guests. I was at the helm cooking, greeting and mothering my toddlers as food and conversation filled the day.

There’s the invite last year to a friends’ table. Her husband an amazing force of creative made a beautiful meal. It was nice to be included in the inner sanctum of another clans’ tradition and to feel included as well as well fed.

Lucky for these memories lingering and reminding me of all that I’m thankful for.

My how time flies when life gets lived and years peel past. I like the idea of lurking into my past as a voyeuristic leap ala George Jetson. It's full throttle 2018, nipping at the heels of December 2019.

So it's a dust off, a pencil eraser to some of the rough spots. I like the bigger globe of where I've been. More delicious? Where I'm headed.. So this leap back into my Urban Firefly persona needs a rounding of the edges and a widening of country exposure and heartland locavore.

Best to see the landscape for what it is- and share so with that... drum roll loop keeps a pace of TahhhDahh.

I'll be using this as my journal, a birds eye of #fabulousfennville and the Great Lakes region as I explore the landscape of who and why. What's not to like?    Stay Tuned......

What's Not To Love: A New Chapter.

Book Shop Santa Cruz                    Blind Date With A Book

This is just about the sweetest promotion I've run across. The concept of buying a book without judging the cover makes me continue to believe in true love accented with leaps of faith.  To see merit in optimism by default isn't a bad fall back position.

Seeking Valentine gift-books gave an excuse to peruse the Book Shop.
Brown Paper.  Falling for the don't judge a book by the cover cause' ya can't see it rational of being non rational. The Blind Date with a book=pure brilliance.  Wrapped in brown paper, selected and wrapped by Book shop Santa Cruz staff. It's gotta be a slam dunk. Thank you, you creative geniuses.. I'm so pleased you are the orbit I travel in.

My old habit of buying books for the valentine's in my life harken to my days spent in Barcelona where April 23rd is celebrated as St.Jordi's Day books and flowers ala a male female exchange with the sentiment of love attached. Street vendors line the Barcelona neighborhoods along Passeig de Gràcia peddling books of poems, Catalan verse, fiction and everything else in between.
 Sadly the Capitola Book Cafe went under this week. Years of mismanaged ineptitude, brought a once great brand to it's knees. The death kneel began as garage sale items hawked next to best sellers- ebooks and kindles aside, true love in the indie anything world seems tough to shake unless you really f*#@ it up. Perhaps the once great brand will renew one day, it's my optimist heart on my sleeve time of year.

Life Tastes Better With A True Compass

Ahh..the winds of change. A welcome and soothing Psyche booster. Almost as good as yoga on the beach. What's the wind and why is it so timely you ask in a soft voice?

 It's the self actualization of a very simple perhaps universally held view- artists and creative types really do have more fun. Duh, certainly circumspect for the ADD crowd (yes, I resemble that finely tuned group of nanoattention span seekers of shiny shiny) and that is part and parcel why the art world offers a more well-versed version of fun.

For those of us in good company- you know who you are. The winds of change that sweep away the stiffy partners, the spouses of a certain socially challenged, chino wearing, spreadsheet evangelist-of sorts who can never seem to fully enjoy the lifestyle so diligently divergent from the norm that they must toll for ungodly hours to drink from the chalice of Sand Hill Road..

The list of you can't do, would'nt look right, falls right onto that UN-holy to drive the BMW laden with subversive messages aimed at a certain axis of evil.  My prattle is that the true axis of evil is the length that it took me to break away from the hydroponically- enhanced koolaid drinking cycle. My panache for Pinot has waned.

To save myself emotionally I needed to throw all that was controlling under the bus. That and the help of the paranoid camera hiding, email peeking -sneaking, cell-phone lurking presence that came along under the pretense of "needing to know."

Technology again comes to the rescue...this time in the form of tracking the dog. Just in time for the holiday shopping season! You too can track your canines' every pee stop to perhaps just the ones' your under surveillance spouse may jog in the a.m.  This is the best gift for the truly paranoid. Or extra loving canine person in your world. I would be remiss to not point out the true marketing opportunity for those that seek to know all, while doing all, for the sake of the color inside the lines folks that we all know and loath.

So as I lie awake breathing in a fresh breath of newly unmonitored breath, I must thank technology. But I also must thank the artistic company of community that has brightened by life. You have shown me how to be true to myself artistically and creatively.  And for that I thank you.

New Venue, Same Vibe

http://artdujour-santacruz.blogspot.com/

A new venture and create vibe for the Santa Cruz set.

Ticket vs Text

My old habit of ignoring parking tickets has made my new year resolution list. Gone are the days of easy breezy ignoring those pesky reminders that you owe $30 dollars to the municipal fairy god mother of fill in the blank city or town. The beauty of technology is that they know where you live and work. The Denver boot is liable to make it's way to a front tire upon which it shall rest until the fines and penalties are paid in full. I've worn out my luck with the parking gods. These days, it's better to be safe and pay the meter vs. karmic kisses from the parking gods lest they feel fickle.

Enter stage left- the ability to pay for a spot on the street voila! via my iPhone. Groovy is as groovy does, and this my friends is the next best thing to 'free' valet parking...yeah ya gotta pay... no digging, scratching around for that elusive quarter that rattles around every where except where ya need it- when it comes time to feed the meter. My sandy-toed little city- Santa Cruz has got to be the unsung hero, at least when it comes to smart government. Parkmobile and a phone is your super power to pay for your street parking sans digging for coins. Thank-you city council members, you made my day today! As I rock star parked next to Jamba on Pac ave for my bright-eyed blueberry with whey protein this morning, I was greeted with a small sticker placed meter-side with the announcement of the ability to pay for parking via my phone. Finally- government making my little life a little bit easier.

Many may sneer, as they contemplate the mundane routine of street parking. For the non-bourgeois (and we know who we are) this new technology makes the day a bit smoother, a tiny bit less frantic. Text messages sent from parkmobile will be the civilized love note alerting me of my status before it runs out.

Remember, it's the little things that make life easier. The app, btw...it's free. Thank-you city of Santa Cruz.

The ole adage from many a sage: If it's not broken.. should be tattooed upon the foreheads of the powers that be at The Gap.

This week the crusty company tried to re invent itself. The A-ha moment came when the company finally realized it could only really change the look of khakis from ugly to uglier, then back to original ugly all with the help of a zillion dollar marketing campaign. The brilliant brains behind the brand this week unveiled something that makes the clothing look event more exciting, a new logo.
No surprise, the re design was met with the same enthusiasm one might experience pawing through the sales rack. Sales have flat lined, send in the khaki and white coated ER staff looks like the paddles are needed to resuscitate.
The stock was once a shining star on the NASDAQ. Sad to say my proxy vote faded along with my appetite for shopping at the ever morgue like environ a long time ago. Maybe it was the irritating way the bright shiny pony tailed followed me around re folding sweaters.  Once a great source for jeans, company sales numbers faded and the stock dropped after that last brilliant re-design: Denim the death rattle for Gap. Forgot to mention it's signature white shirts are still available. Too much excitement for you and your wardrobe?

I've got an idea, sell tea. Why you ask? Parent namesake The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company is currently trading at three bucks and change.  Khakis are no longer the draw perhaps selling Tea could be the much needed breath. Otherwise there's always a way to re invent khaki: adult diapers covers, matching oxygen canister covers, wheel chair and Prius seat covers.

It's gotta be better than what's currently on the sale rack.