Simple Joys

Encouraged by my September 2006 trip to Portland, I made another visit in January 2007.

While standing in the bar line at Hive, I began conversing with Eshin (those of you 'in the know' will understand the pseudonym). I thought he was a dear, so I willingly parted with my e-mail - the real address, not my "Well, you're SPAM" address.

Digital correspondence and blog-sharing have, delightfully, revealed harmonious demeanors and sense of humor.

I lifted this from Eshin's web journal, and I dedicate it to Jewels, with whom I have spent years watching Muppets and other television intended for children:




Thanks, you two, for giving me reasons to smile.
Yip Yip-ee-I yo mama!

Before Sunrise

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

At once terrifying and exquisite, it is surrender to the unknown, releasing our inhibitions and dismantling well-developed defenses, pushing past all self-repression to embrace a new piece of knowledge and the possibility of hope renewed and faith restored.

Those individuals who inspire and invoke such radical action beyond our comfort zone with sincere kindness and absence of ulterior motive or passive-aggressive dominance, all for the purpose of gently pressing us into a new world of brighter possibilities, are the muses of modern times.

They're our blood. They're our friends. They have their needs and problems, but they're our family of choice, blood or no.

We love them and stand by them, even when they fail us...
Even when they fail themselves.

We cannot imagine our world, our lives, our souls without them.

Life will take many paths, some which cross more frequently than others.

To all my pretties:
When the shit hits the fan and you feel pressed beyond bearing, you can always come home.

This door is always open; here, you will never be forgotten.

Welcome to our newest addition from Bellevue, WA. Another brilliant inspiration in the dark heart of American apathy. Head high, Starshine: you're more important than you know.