snapshots: part three

A moment from some morning April 2013:

“I catch the 7 o'clock bus where everyone is feeling a bit lethargic and keeping to themseleves and their earphone and books. Me included.

I notice a few rows in front of me a man with curly white hear, a beret balanced on his head. He is holding a Kindle mere inches from his nose and his head bobs left to right like a typewriter. The font on the device is set very large, I can almost read it from where I sit 10 feet behind him. I could see what he was doing and it was not strange.

But a few seats in front of him was a man who boarded the bus at my same stop. He had been pacing and wiggling his hand while he waited. He sat in a half-hunch half scowling around the bus.

When he notices the whote haired head bobbing while reading the Kindle, his scowl turns from a half-scowl to a three-quarter scowl. And then he yawns.

Slowly his three-quarter scowl turns to a Braveheart yawn. You know that face Mel Gibson makes while playing William Wallave in Braveheart? That face that just happens when he yells about freedom?

“They can take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!”

That face. As I sit upon this 7 a.m. bus, watching a white haired man bob his head from left to right, and William Wallace yawn in my direction, I wonder how many other senedipitous moments I missed while keeping my head down and minding my own business.”

edited for tense and clarity

snapshots: part one

inspirations

While perusing my notes I found a few bits I had written down while riding the buses around Salt Lake City. It all seems a long time ago now, even though it was barely a month ago.

I have a habit of taking time to write things down when I experience someting that feels vivid. Whatever comes to mind ends up on the paper and I try not to edit very much as it mutes the experience, though I have now edited for continuity of tense. While this is old, I felt it was still worth sharing, since the memory of the experience brought a smile to my face.

“I sit near a middle aged man who speaks in a halting poerty with the voice of an old woman while he colors in a connect-the-dots picture of an apatosaurus. Enjoying the sunshine and the new blooms I wait patiently for the next bus, having inconveniently missed the previous while being engrossed in my phone. Evil device.

'Why did they invent helicopters?' the old-woman-man asks next to me, to no one in particular. 'To catch the bad guys,' he answers. His chatter continues.

Finally his bus comes and I am relieved of his company and again left alone with my thoughts and spring flowers while watching diligently for my bus to wisk me home.”

~April 25, 2013

There are more. I'll probably share them every so often.

a camel coat

inspirations, wear

I remember from my childhood my mom having a camel colored wool coat. It was long, to her knees, but not a trench coat. A swing coat maybe with a lapel collar and maybe four big buttons down the front.

At least, that's how I remember it.

I remember it because she only wore it on special occasions. It was her fancy coat. I only recall seeing it a few times, on Christmas Sundays I think. but I do remember thinking it was fancy and lovely when I did see it. I always though she looked so classy when she wore it and I wished she wore it more often.

She doesn't have that coat anymore, hasn't for a long time. I don't quite remember when she got rid of it, but it was years ago. For the longest time I've thought about that coat and wanted something just like it.

A few years ago I found a bloack wool swing coast with big brown buttons and a super cute collar. I had to have it then and there and it became mine. It continues to be one of my better purchases over the years.

And tru to my life philosophy, I don't save it for special occasions. I war it frequesntly, with jeans, skirts, heels and sneakers. I love it. Though it is about half a size too small and the sleeves are a smidge short, it's nothing a pair of gloves can't fix.

The coat I have is black, and while it's wonderfully versatile, I still won't have a complete wardrobe until I get my hands of a camel colored coat.

J.Crew

Artizia

unknown

thoughts from a saturday

children, creativity, I went outside, imagination, inspirations, kids, life, parenting, parents

A couple Saturdays ago I went with a few friends to The Leonardo, a new museum downtown. It’s a pretty cool place. It’s super interactive and the exhibits are about civil rights, clean air, stop animation, DNA, prosthetics and more. We spent 3 hours there and could have spent more.

Then we went to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Unbeknownst to us, they were having an event that day, a circus themed party for families. There was an exhibit of circus paintings and the party was to advertise and celebrate the exhibit. I’ve never seen so many children in an arts museum.

Upon leaving the arts museum, I saw two women talking in the parking lot, three kids gathered around them. The two little boys were playing with each other and the little girl was squatting near the woman, busying herself with a pile of sticks and rocks on the ground. It appeared she had collected them and was arranging them in the pile, talking to them, breaking the sticks into smaller pieces.

As the two women finished talking, the woman near the girl reached down and grabbed her arm and pulled her away to the car. The woman didn’t talk to the girl, or even look at her, as she did this, she continued her conversation with the other woman.

I realized I had been seeing this all day with the children at The Leonardo and again at the art museum, parents pulling, tugging and forcing their children one way or another. It really bothered me.

I felt like maybe a better (different?) way would have been to finish the adult conversation, look down at the little girl, and tell her it was time to go. Or even get down to her level and talk to her about what she was doing.

As I talked about my observation with my friend, we wondered what kind of effect actions like that have on children as they grow up. Will she feel as though her parents pushed her around all the time? Or will she feel like the activities she finds interesting are never good enough for their attention?

And at the same time, is there a certain number of children that would be the threshold for the parent’s attention and patience? Can the parents have 2 or 3 but when #4 comes along, there is no longer enough time, energy and patience for them all? Or maybe the number is closer to 1 or 2. Or maybe it matters how many years are between the kids.

Understanding though, that I don’t know this woman, I don’t know the little girl and I don’t know what their day was like. And really, I don’t know if this woman was the little girl’s mother or the nanny or the aunt.

I guess it just makes me hope that when I’m lucky enough to have kids, I am interested in their pile of sticks and rocks, that I ask them questions, talk to them about what they are doing and encourage their creativity. Not tug and pull them around without talking to them.

http://www.theleonardo.org

http://www.umfa.utah.edu

colors + photo challenge

challenge, color, creative, creativity, happiness, inspirations, photo, photo challenge, photography

I was re-introduced to Color Me Katie the other day. I forgot how colorful and fun it is. If you need a pick me up of sunshing and rainbows, this blog will do the trick.

A few of my favorite posts from Color Me Katie:

Mr. Blue

Organized Mess

Cleaning Day

My friend Lauren shared a photo challenge the other day. I've decided to participate. The challenge comes from Fat Mum Slim and is only 31 days long. I think that's something I can handle.

Day 1: Me

Day 2: Breakfast

Day 3: Something I Adore

Whew, only 28 more to go…

ps – add #janphotoaday to your tweets to play along with everyone else! (if you want to play along of course. if you're more of a play alone-er then no pressure.)

Marjorie Clark

Mountains are Life