Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

A blank page has nothing, no nothing at all, but it makes itself over with letters and scrawl, nevertheless it remains quite pristine on the edges and margins and spaces between all those letters and such that don’t matter much so if I recall it at all then one word in twenty is plenty. Early (really early) Magnolia buds in Conservancy Garden I've sped read through more books than I can count, and I am really and truly great at it. I have become so proficient that I need only drive by a bookstore to read a book, much like ConEd reads meters. (You may not be aware of the special radio-frequency chips inserted in the spines of most best sellers.) So of course I think you should try it! Here's How: Open your eyes wide, and focus on your smart phone (how do you think that phone got so smart? Downloads!) Anyway, focus, focus. Concomitantly, Flick the pages past with a suitable finger; I prefer the two middle finger method. Now, work hard at remembering a few

Walking along on the wrong side of the sunny street, I took it upon myself to wonder, why does the world seem a little bit shallow; flat maybe, not up to my usual standards? It seemed as though I'd been on this very block before, once upon a time in the early autumn. So as last resort I took a walk. A walk! Oh, how I have missed my walks! Look! See that sunlit sky as blue as starch, edging over that limb? It’s pushing away the grey underbelly of the day. Is that a sparrow resting a minute on a colden rail? Wait! My Gosh, it’s Ounce! Our little Ounce, fluffed up and balanced as a ball. Ounce is off now, to sip from the edges of a late fountain fall. Oh dear, I was so excited I forgot to take a picture!  Don’t worry though, we made an appointment.

Sink down inside the hidden places, wait next to the heart of the matter, sense the sharded rainbow nesting there

This dog walker could not possibly be ignoring beauty in order to stare at a barely decipherable iPhone screen.  No, even his dog is fully aware.  Therefore, our Insightful Photographer has concluded that this individual dog walker is actually capturing a selfie with the beautiful tree in order to highlight not only the synchronicity of co-location, but also the inherent one-ness of all. Fortunately, the canine remains super-aware of a more tangible reality. phone-gazing dog walker Mission for the Day, 1. Find a beautiful element in your nearby environment. 2. Capture yourself near the element 3. Imagine what it would be like to share some of the elemental essence. 4. Report back to headquarters; send a photo.

This Blessing Rainbow has momentarily stopped to rest in the fountain mists of the Conservancy Italian Garden. Notice the collection of Innocent  Bystanders-- or bysitters, if you will --totally unaware of their blessings!  They are being showered with rainbow spirit-blessings that will  travel with them forever, as they make their way along their worldly paths. Mystical Blessing Rainbow Watching Over Resting Cyclist Blessing Rainbow Creating Happiness in Fountain Sitters Mission for the Day (note: this mission may take a little longer than a day, since sometimes it's not that easy to find the proper spot where a Blessing Rainbow is staying) Go outside when the sun is up and shining. Locate a source of running or spraying water. You may locate sprinklers, fountains, (include drinking fountains), droplets on the edge of a leaf.... Position yourself between the water and the sun. You may have to move near, back up, go slightly left or right. When you ca

Elegant upper East Side Travelers  Enjoy Whipped Cream and Espresso at Café Sabarsky - Neue Galerie Neue Museum, Fifth Avenue and 86th Street, Manhattan

Tree limb bending in the morning, Winter grasses stiff and waiting, cold, ice-flow afternoon. Or maybe it’s a new day dawning as they do, sucking chi up into the core of the bones. I was a cut out,  filled with stuffing, a matched up crazy quilted scarecrow living a see-through life. So, I grab a 10 pound pack and a forty dollar bike and head off towards the Adriatic. Hills of scrunched-up fruit trees in pink and white, so happy you can taste the almond blossoms. Stradas Provinciales tunneled with poplars. There's a cotton-candy Ferris Wheel the first night out, a calliope singing Verdi in the popcorn wings. And it wasn’t that long ago either.

Amazing!!!  For many, many years, the Authorities have been searching in vain for this unidentified Urban Volunteer.  She is wanted in several cities across the Northeast for unauthorized vigilante feeding of native Flora and an occasional Fauna.  Notice the furtive posture and the heavy dark glasses-- both known markers of an Urban Vigilante Volunteer.    Although --call her Madam UVV-- has attempted at the last moment to hide behind a branchlet, it isn't a really successful choice. I hesitate to publish this photo, But it is clearly in our best interests to allow these Urban Vigilante Volunteers to retain their freedom.  After all, somebody has to see that the appropriate things are getting done.  Therefore, be on the lookout.  If you chance upon Madam UVV or another Vigilante Volunteer, please provide them a quiet, unobtrusive warning. Urban Vigilante Volunteer --incognito

Stalking the waters of life, I tromped across the sea grass. Stickers everywhere! Foot by foot, squishing indentations into the wet sea-weeded sand. My soul is hurting for a kindred spirit, I am seeking for a shimmer through my heart, I am seeking an annuity of memories, I am catching at life with a pole and a lure. How do I trust these flutter things? this glimpse without a substance, these unborn wishes riding in, pulsing, panting, pulling at the reins. And there it is! The surf at last, pounding, pushing into the grass-riddled dunes. From the Southern Pump Station Block House, Central Park Reservoir ps: MISSION FOR THE DAY: SEARCH UP AND DOWN FOR AN ICE-FLOW (Iced over puddles count!) DISCOVER WHETHER OR NOT IT IS SUPPORTING ANY WILDLIFE (flora or fauna) IF SO, PONDER THE MATTER FOR AWHILE IF NOT, WELL, ADD SOMETHING! (a leaf, a stem, a pebble, a small pet). Finally, REPORT BACK TO HEADQUARTERS.

Amazing rail-walker survives jogging path trek without a single spot of mud on new shoes.  Eastside Reservoir jogging path

Tiptoeing through my fiberglass life, fearing a dent at every corner, training wheels wobbling, tattered and torn, the day wears on to a tricycle close. Well, I didn't change on purpose you know, I would happily have remained the same, hoping for a happy, homespun solution!

I find you in my mind again, not unexpectedly, but nonetheless I flee the shock of it. Ambivalent. We meet again In that very same synaptic gap And you are entirely different.

A traveling thought billowed into my mind (I had a sad little broken-bottle life, till then) Long beaches full of empty shells with six-foot rattlers, so I hear Water moccasins down there somewhere, too Spiders and roaches. Which is worse? Not a sidewalk at all in the county Photos stick together in the mildew sun Thirty-six story spacecraft under Climate Control. No looking further than the front way out No window washing, locking doors Bouncing about like a shot without a sling, My soul was on vacation, so maybe that was it. Something took a nip and a tuck out from my life So, I trimmed up for the season, and I sailed back home. I know I should have taken up a life of crime but, the threat seemed just too hollow. I see the animations on the edge of time The orbiters are swimming too close to the light. We are all of us moths, when the flight seems right.

Day filled with crystal windows, Double sided shadows, Bark wet from melting snow, Ready. Sap sneaking up the roots, waiting for a headstart incidental chance, Blossoms barely aware of themselves. It was the sunniest day. Dark travels, rolling across the empty highways, Sidling up to the day, Muddling up the after effects, Settling up the score.

Central Park Reservoir: January 16, 2014

It was just yesterday the skies were coddled grey, clotting in their pre-snow situation, waiting, waiting, maybe for dawn, with a new messenger at the gate.

The world is frought but I am not. Two Central Park Trees Falling in Love

Sept 21, 2013:  Eat 90s New York City

Conservancy Water Lily, August 2013

I heard about it a time or two, This particular path is big taboo, But what else is a person supposed to do? The entire garden is calling for you! There are blossoms! and Sunlight! and Forks to explore! and the Birds! and the Bees! It's too much to ignore! The leaves are so green and the scents are so nice, Sometimes the answer is, Don't Think Twice.