Wrapping the fresh flowers in paper, he is reluctant to let me walk away. “They will last ten days if you clip them and change the water,” he says. “If there is stem left, you can dry them. Upside-down, near the shower.” I nod. “If they were a color, you would hang them in a dark room. Like these. Do you want some of these?”
One bouquet is enough I tell him for my dinner party tonight. He seems pleased. “Tell your friends to cut the stems too when they buy these. And we will have dried ones soon here at the market.”
I guess we all have a hard time letting things we have grown go into the world without us. He was still calling out instructions as I cradled his flowers and walked away.
Espressoing
A few more days
A final Hi meeting
The local neighborhood bar has a quiet time between six and nine. It is a place that specializes in coffee, beer and seasonal menus. There is just enough of each for a satisfying snack and effective buzz. After the time when the laptop lids close and before the social gatherings start -- there is a sort of twilight*. Often this time is a fugitive ground rife with creative inspiration and meditative work -- of the kind that results in personal reward.*twilight may refer to civil, nautical or astronomical variety depending on your social or terrestrial condition
A man positions his mouse on the edge of his browser window. He clicks, holds and drags the viewport first left then right. The content of a video game promo micro site responds and adapts to the available space. To the man, this is more delightful than the game itself.
A man laboriously moves his piano down three levels onto the subway platform. Classic vocals and strided chords -- he played so well I swore he was blind. Oblivious to the heat on that August stage, he was most in touch with his audience -- whom he elevated with his music.
A woman should do exactly as she pleases no matter what a man may think.
As the Dalai Lama once said, "It is a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room."
"No one understands me," she said. Her grandmother was silent for a minute. It seemed she was searching for an answer in the star speckled sky. "But no one understands anyone in this world, darling. We are all unique. It is what gives us a sense of wonder."