—I KNOW YOU, AND YOU KNOW ME, IT’S ALWAYS HALF AND HALF

…I love that photo above, how it captures so much and so simply.  It’s courtesy of one of my best friends. (Thanks, B.)

…I spent yesterday writing about getting older and dealing with it, trying to make sense of things, trying to find the relevance of life, but really, if I’m being honest, all that did was make me feel older.

…There’s still nothing better I like in this world than a child’s belly laughter.

…Okay, maybe a cute puppy licking my face is better.

…It’s always interesting to me how subjective art is.  Some of my favorite creations get a Meh reception, then some I think are Meh get accolades.  This is an example of the latter:

http://www.ekphrastic.net/ekphrastic/ekphrastic-challenge-responses-viktor-gontarov

…This could well be one of the greatest songs of all time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvxxeY36mhw

…This is kinda close: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ2uXwR4fMA

…And, well, perhaps also this:

…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmTr-gMjgus

…Porque no?  That’s something to say often. That’s how you find unexpected adventure.

…It’s sunny where I am. Paradiso. The trick is, other times, making it paradise when paradise is far away, when even the flowers look bleak.

…Here are some things I like midweek:

"For a writer to do their job, you not only get naked, you skin yourself and use the loose tissue for a sail." - Kate Braverman

"There's an enormous risk in the writing life, to be in such intimate proximity to the most treacherous impulses within. Most people avoid even the thought of examining what is within. I seek it, identify it, mine it, bathe in it, sleep with it, eat it, and dream it." -- Kate Braverman.

“They will say I smoked cigarettes and marijuana, cursed hoarse as a crow in all my languages, and loved morphine and Demerol and tequila and pulque, women and men. I will shrug my illusion of shoulders and answer that I am a water woman, not a vessel, not something you can sail or charter. I am instead the tributary, the river, the fluid source, and the sea itself. I am all her rainy implications. And what do you, with your rusted compass, know of love?” -Kate Braverman

“She felt mediocrity was evil and should be stamped out ... it was as if she was defending the fortress from bad writing.” Janet Finch on Kate Braverman

“Writers are a little below clowns, and a little above trained seals.” ~John Steinbeck

“My beautiful, sweet boy. I miss your face and your little self. In my mind I carry you like this wherever I go. I feel your weight, your softness, your helplessness, and your light. It's not "baggage" or "damage," it's love, which we can carry in so many forms, and all at once, in every moment, all the time.” -Emily Black

“But couldn’t everyone’s life become a work of art?” -Michel Foucault

“An artist is the one who recaptures that child-like fascination with the world.” -Rick Rubin

“I always said when my times came I’d want to go fast. But where’s the fun in that?” Peter Schjeldahl

"To love, and to be hurt often, and to love again - this is the brave and happy life."  J.E. Buckrose

“Loneliness comes with life.” -Whitney Houston

“Tara always get annoyed with me when we go out to eat cuz she wanna split a salad but I just don’t wanna pay anybody to sprinkle cold leaves on my plate.” Steven Dunn