{Once Upon a Time}

"Longing is not a mind game and that is why I’ve always trusted it. Longing is raw, longing is real; it makes one listen and be attentive to what’s inside. There is mad honesty in longing. So mad that it feels suitable. It is very suitable for me, I’m telling you – I don’t even want to write it or write about it, I want to be it."-Anne Sexton

Oh there are just some days, weeks or years I don't want to be an adult. I'd prefer to float down the river, Huck Finn style, no responsibilities. Getting rid of it all. Just roam. In ourselves we are all our ages at once, so I suppose the last few weeks I've had the maturity of a 12 year old. Where, I recall, you have this world in front of you, oozing with possibility. But you got these lame parents holding you back. And now, I'm not too sure what I'm trying to say. Maybe I need a vacation, or to buy a floatie and lay in a pool. It's summer, it does it to me. This nice weather with it's open air.

{Streetside}

“I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” ― Henry David Thoreau

{Garnishes}

“I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; Garlands from window to window; Golden chains from star to star ... And I dance.” ― Arthur Rimbaud, Complete Works

{How I Go to the Woods}

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable. 
I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of praying, as you no doubt have yours.
Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing. 
If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.” 
 ― Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems

{Bright, Beautiful}

“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

This picture, and this spot actually, just make me happy. The colors. The texture. It all combines into such a simple joy.

{Seeing things in color}

“My soul is a hidden orchestra; I know not what instruments, what fiddlestrings and harps, drums and tamboura I sound and clash inside myself. All I hear is the symphony.” ― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

Amen to afternoons spent in quiet forest filled with splendor. It is always an instant re-calibrator for clashing symphony that hangs out inside my busy head:)

{Haiku}

cold morning in the city 
deciding what is me 
and what is everything else
 -Michael McClintock

May mindfulness moments and I appreciate and grateful as I look around at the smallest details that make up the day...