LaughAloud

Resolved

I always find myself buying beautiful note cards. They're so tempting, with their captivating pictures, and blank insides - ready for whatever one might have to say. The problem is, I hardly ever use them. I mean to, and I plan to, and I occasionally actually do, but almost never through the mail. I think about writing people letters, about what I have to say, but I rarely sit down and write. Often, because it seems like so much to say, and then the next time I think about it, there's that much more to say. So much to say, it paralyzes me into not saying anything at all. 

I read an article a few weeks ago that made think about the magic of the mail, and how we don't need to say everything we ever wanted to say, just to send a letter. The article was actually about a Twitter by Post experiment - the author spent a month writing postcards of everything he usually would have posted to Twitter. He described the experiment, included pictures of his postcard "tweets" and then about halfway through the author wrote:

"Back when people wrote letters, they didn’t have to be the long catch-ups that people tend to write today. We write long letters now because we hardly write letters at all, so we feel obliged to make them something special, to pad them out with lots of news. This makes them long and tedious to write, which means we’re disinclined to write letters; so we don’t write any at all..."

That made me stop and think. Already I had felt inspired to send people things in the mail. There is something so special about opening your mailbox and finding something in there someone sent just for you...not a catalog or a bill or junk. But a card or note. Usually I only find those in mail box around Christmas, my birthday and the occiaionsal wedding invitation. How nice would it be to make other people mailboxes sparkle at random? And it wouldn't to be anthing long, or insightful or news worthy, just a card, a brief hello.

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but this year I am. By the end of 2012, this box of cards will be gone. Sent to friends and relatives, hopefully bringing a smile to their face as they open their mailbox and find an unexpected surprise. I'm planning to work my way through my address book, what is left of an address book (maybe I need a new one?). If you think I don't have your real world address, and you'd like to receive a note from me, please email, Direct Message me, send me a message on Facebook, whatever medium is easiest for you. In the spirit of things, you don't ned to say anything, just write out your address.

This evening after work, I stopped by the post office and got my first book of stamps. I will certainly need more, but it is a good place to start.

Archery by the Ocean

The evening air is cool & quiet. I stand in stillness, contemplating my shot. When I look up I see the soft green lawns of Torrey Pines, dotted with twisted trees. On misty, “marine layer” days, it looks like something out of a movie, how I imagine a Scottish landscape on the cliffs above the sea might appear.

I can’t hear the ocean behind me, below the cliffs, but I can sense it there. Feel the winds blowing off of it, and smell the difference in the air. And when I walk up to the hay bales and pull out my arrows, I turn around and see the wide open expanse and the ocean, shining with evening light. The colorful sails of the paragliders dot the sky, floating up and down below the cliffs.

As I drive home, I can feel the sand between my toes, where it has managed to work its way into my shoes. Yes, my bow is dusty. Yes, my clothes have streaks of what one might call dirt. But I prefer to think of this fine powdery stuff all over the ground as sand.  And since we’re practically shooting on the beach, it’s not much of a stretch.

My hands still smell of grass and hay and leather as they did after shooting at the old range, but the smell is mixed with the sea. Leaving the range in the evening light, muscles sore and tired, I always feel a sense of peacefulness, but the serenity and beauty of this new, temporary, range take it to a whole new level.

Television Reflections

 

View out a hotel window in Ann Arbor...reflected in a TV.

Bean Reflections

Down

Reflect

Stopped in traffic on my way to work. 

Reflections

Standing
on the verge
of the precipice
looking down into
the subterranean
murky blue of the sky

Clouds
hazy white blurred images
                    of dreams adrift

Falling
Falling into the alter-sky
but the depth shrinks and becomes
only reflection of the vastness
not the vastness itself

it wavers and

r    i    p   p l e s  a w    a     y

My soul
yearns for that other sky
to break through
into that other world
to create life again
                this time
       with more happiness

          
             -- RCH, 2001

 

Up Side Down

Olupus Reflections

I just got back from seeing half of Olupus (Chris & Tim) at the Red Line Tap.  It was a really fun show, some great songs I knew, and some great ones I didn't.  My favorite song was the one about being an evil pirate, which is really hard to explain having just heard it once, but if you heard, I'm sure you would agree its super fun!  I took some pictures, and I thought this one was cool.  I set my camera on the table to steady it while taking pictures, and this shot is actually the reflection from the table.  Pretty cool, and kind of ghostly. 

My Eyeball

I was bored in the car.  I took this picture of my eyeball.

Looking Back

Cool Puddle

I like this puddle.  It looks like a little pond with a tree in the middle and always appears after heavy rains and snow melts.