Thanksgiving 2008

Happiness is... warm, sock monkey slippers!!

Be thankful for all things, big & small.

The Annoyance

I was doing some Christmas shopping recently at the Mall, and within a few minutes of arriving there, I was reminded of my one, singular annoyance of Mall shopping.

It's not the crowds.

It's not the prices.

It's those Scent/Nails vendors, who have booths set up in the middle of the walkways, and who try to coax you aside to sample their goods.

"Excuse me, do you have a minute?? Sir? Sir???..."

At least most of them are polite. But, still... it annoys me. If I wanted to be sprayed with cologne or body spray, or wanted to have my nails buffed, I'd go to the booth on my own. If I'm obviously not heading there -- and in fact, I'm purposely doing as wide a loop around the booth as I can, to avoid being pulled aside & interrupted from my shopping -- then don't follow me down the walkway with insistant invitations to try your stuff.

Yes, I'm fully aware that they are just trying to make a living.

Yes, I'm fully aware that it's their job to do this.

Yes, I'm fully aware that a certain percentage of them probably realize that they may annoy some shoppers, but they have to do it anyway, to get the paycheck.

But, still... please let me go about my business & my shopping. If I want to partake in your product, however fine and fragrant it may be, I'll go over there. Otherwise, just let me walk by in peace.

the loss...


i can’t remember,
just now,
the curve of your face, or
the bend of your smile.
And, holding these shadows
gives me
no comfort at all.

Ghosts In The Night

At some point in the summer, I had my curtains & windows open, to let in the brilliant sunshine and a nice cross breeze. As a rain storm began to gather later in the day, I closed the windows, but kept the curtains open.

Later that evening, I was walking down the hallway, and was a bit startled to see these two, HUGE, ghostly shapes, casting ominous shadows on my windows. The earlier rain had cooled things down from the mid-day heat, and the resulting condensation between the seperate window panes had made the eery shapes seem even more other-worldly.

It took me a minute to figure out that I wasn't being visited by Aliens from Mars... A powerful, outdoor flood light on a building across the way, was causing these spooky shapes to peer into my window, by silhouetting electrical power transformers which were positioned between that building, and my window...

The moral of the story: Things are usually not as dire as they may seem. Never take counsel of your fears.

WICKED COOL FROST --
11-09-08















I thought that this windshield frost made for a far-out, other-worldly type of planetary sky...

Sunrise .. All Souls Day, 2008

The promise of a new day... Enjoy! Click the pics to enlarge...