Still, Life

I always presumed that Van Gogh adopted his color scheme from the bright light of Provence. But perhaps the seed was always there, in glimpses of the canals of Amsterdam on a clear winter’s morn.

On the turntable:  Jimmy Smith, "Dot Com Blues"

(untitled)

Thinking of Uruguayan rugby teams,
As large rocks drift by
Just off our wingtips.

On the turntable:  John Scofield, "Steady Groovin'"
 

Sunday Papers: Isabel Allende

"There's a certain freshness and innocence in people who have always lived in one place and can count on witnesses to their passage through the world. In contrast, those of us who have moved on many times develop a tough skin out of necessity. Since we lack roots or corroboration of who we are, we must put our trust in memory to give continuity to our lives... but memory is always cloudy, we can't trust it. Things that happened in the past have fuzzy outlines, they're pale, it's as if my life has been nothing but a series of illusions, of fleeting images, of events I don't understand, or only half understand."

On the turntable:  Jimmy Smith, "Standards"

Remembering Jordan, One Year On

I think of those early days in Japan, those places, the people we knew.  All of them changed, finished, gone.  Most of all, you.  

And with you gone, I am alone in being the caretaker of memories. 

On the turntable:  James Brown, "Grits & Soul"

From Bike Pound to Buddha on Rokkaku-dō Dōri

The next installment of the Kyoto Streets series, at Deep Kyoto:

http://www.deepkyoto.com/from-bike-pound-to-buddha-on-rokkaku-do-dori/


On the turntable: J. Geils Band, "eXtras"

(untitled)

The dual nature of stone:

To help shape a life

Or to take one.

On the turntable:  John Coltrane, "The Complete Atlantic Recordings"

Sunday Papers: Bruce Chatwin

"Patagonia is the farthest place to which man walked from his place of origins.  It is therefore a symbol of his restlessness."


On the turntable:  Jimmy Smith, "Fourmost"

Imbibing Bibliophile #64

In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin

Roja IPA, Cerveza Hernando de Magallanes

On the turntable:  Jah Wobble, " I Could Have Been a Contender"

Imbibing Bibliophile #63

The Old Patagonia Express by Paul Theroux

(flight), Beagle Brewery

 

 On the turntable:  Jimmy Smith, "Damn!"

Sunday Papers: William T. Brigham

"Old travellers know how soon the individuality of a country is lost when once the tide of foreign travel is turned through its town or its by-ways."

On the turntable: John Coltrane:  The Complete Prestige Recordings" 

Imbibing Bibliophile #62

      Patagonia, Moon Guides

Cape Pembroke Pale Ale, Falkland Beerworks

On the turntable: Jaco Pastorius, "Invitation"

A Great Wall

May 2005 

It was on a trip to Beijing.  Walking across one of the big open courtyards of the Forbidden City, my girlfriend at the time said something, and I knew at that moment that we could no longer be together.  We visited the Great Wall the following day, and none of my memories of that day seem to include her.  She had already begun to recede from my life. 



On the turntable:  Joni Mitchell, "Wembley Arena, 08-24-1984"

Sunday Papers: Jorge Luis Borges

"Joseph Conrad could write that he excluded the supernatural from his work because to include it would seem a denial that the everyday was marvelous"

On the turntable: Joni Mitchell, "Night Ride Home"

Looking for the Lost on Kyoto’s Higashi-no-toin

Looking for the Lost on Kyoto’s Higashi-no-toin - the first Kyoto walk of the new year with Edward J. Taylor.  

http://www.deepkyoto.com/looking-for-the-lost-on-kyotos-higashi-no-toin/?fbclid=IwAR1DDOisBeMKOHvE6koRf8ToGY2E-DY_yIitLH7wbwBr5rlFHe8MOU_mx2U


On the turntable:  Joni Mitchell, "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter"