author...illustrator...guerilla artist
author...illustrator...guerilla artist
-a dog in a car strains to keep his head out the window
-a pile of huge pink blossoms (a variety I've never seen before) on the street
-girls in matching rose ponchos doing cartwheels on the green while I sit eating a veggie dog
-i sit in a tshirt, the sun is so warm today, like summer (except it is actually winter). I smell the grass and remember spring in Toronto, beer on patios.
-3:20 the Arboretum, looking for the last of the sun. Moving positions to meet it. Sometimes it is good to be homeless for a day.
-an old man with a bald head sits watching the ducks. I wonder what his story is. Only with age do we have the time to sit and just watch. He pulls out a pen and begins jotting things down on a small notepad, (just as I am doing), pausing for a moment to formulate a thought. a writer? A grey sunhat rests on the bend of his knee, his legs crossed. He rubs his earlobe.
-two small children run up to the ducks and yell "boo!"
-the dampness of the ground seeps into the elbows of my jacket, the sun moves behind the clouds and I feel a temporary chill. I think about what I would like for dinner.
-a nap. I drift off to the distant sounds of walkers and couples conversing, as if in a tunnel. when I wake I am chilly. the sun is setting over the redwood trees. A girl sitting on a blanket talks on the phone and nurses a sucker. She is wearing sunglasses. This is her office, where she does all her business apparently. Time to put on a certain green sweater, the one with the holes in the elbows. I set off in search of tea.
-Morroccan mint. Immersed in a book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I wander around the damp streets of Barcelona for a few hours.
-6pm Noodle City, which has the best Kim Chee I've ever had. I slurp mustard greens & chicken noodle soup.
-walking past Chipotle I spot the Lone Ranger & Tonto eating burritos. Their horses (of the hobby variety) are leaned up against the window, resting from a long day of fighting masked mauraders. Their dad sits next to them and notices my attempt to conceal a smile.
-in a dark theatre I sit through too many commercials before the fim starts. Capote. I feel like i already know the characters intimately having just finished the book. All except Truman himself, the missing piece of the story. The film completes the experience.
-I ride home with my super powerful light illuminating the bumps in the road, pulling the sleeves of my sweater over my hands to keep them from freezing. Looking forward to my warm bed and a few more pages of my book.
Posted by kerismith at February 07, 2006 11:55 AMthank you for taking me along on these adventures you had on the journey of your day. beautiful.
Posted by: liz elayne on February 9, 2006 10:35 PMsome months ago i came across your blog, and read 10 ways to infuse your work with your personality. i printed it and kept it in my agenda knowing it will come across again and again. now, eight months later, i already have my own blog and keep on trying to do my best. i live in argentina but i feel you are so near. thank you for sharing your thoughts in such a beautiful way!!
Posted by: paula on February 8, 2006 01:52 PM"and lo, the chicken noodle soup proclaimeth: be yee satisfied in all my chickeny goodness."
i want to be more insightful, but i'm fixated on your chicken soup.
cheers to a good week!
bs
You have an infectious joy for life Keri! Sometimes I come to your site just to remember to remember the quiet, subtle, and beautiful details of my day that would otherwise scurry right over the surface.
Posted by: Alexandra on February 8, 2006 12:05 PMthe greatest thing about this post is that you remind us that the most "ordinary" day can hold these surprises if we just look. That there's no such thing as an "ordinary" day.
Posted by: frida on February 8, 2006 09:36 AMYou're reading Shadow of the Wind? I just finished it a couple of days ago. Wonderful book.
Posted by: Lil on February 8, 2006 09:14 AMWhile reading, I felt like as if I was there by your side.
PS: "La sombra del viento" by Carlos Luis Zafon, great book!! :)
Posted by: Woodstock on February 8, 2006 09:04 AMAbout half-way through reading this post, I burst into tears. I'm longing for days like these in a big, deep way, and moving towards the reality of such sweet freedom. I think that my tears are welling up from various, connected springs~ the tiredness, the longing, the closeness, and the fear. Fear of not making it real, close as I am. Fear of doing it incompletely, doing it "wrong"...
Anyhow, thank you so much for sharing this~ it's just what I needed!
Posted by: Anna on February 7, 2006 09:27 PMoh, so many beautiful little (and BIG) details!
i especially love the cartwheels and the "boo!"
let's play.
Posted by: christine on February 7, 2006 07:50 PMThe sudden longing for a small park with malard ducks overwhelmes me. I truly feel as if I'm there... Must read Capote, since everybody keeps telling me how great it is. My next book on the list, after Jane Eyre. Thanks for the post! You are such an excellent writer.
Posted by: Sabine S. on February 7, 2006 07:47 PMUsing such beautifully simple words you always manage to transport me to another place - your place - having read your blog for over two years now this is the first time I've left a comment. Having only just started my own blog I am beginning to realise how difficult it is to express yourself in the words on a page and having anyone read them. Thank goodness for my drawings else the page would be very bare! You make it look so easy Keri. So whilst I'm here I want to thank you for your wonderful words and illustrations which over the years have been such a treasure ...
Posted by: Ali on February 7, 2006 07:03 PMI am so dying to come play with you.
Posted by: Swirly on February 7, 2006 07:02 PMThankyou for a lovely afternoon in your company.
Posted by: herhimnbryn on February 7, 2006 06:43 PMI love these posts of yours keri, where you invite us along for an afternoon. Reminds me of the scene in Amalie where she escorts the blind man. My eyes are always more attuned to my own surroundings after an afternoon spent in yours :-)
Posted by: nadine on February 7, 2006 05:37 PMI had to smile when I read the part about spring in Toronto and beer on patios! I live in Montreal and that completely applies here... After the deep freeze of winter we all we all go loopy when spring finally arrives! Can't wait (although I must say it has been a beautiful winter).
Posted by: Rachael on February 7, 2006 04:41 PMthanks for the lovely day!
Posted by: marci lambert on February 7, 2006 03:25 PMI love how aware you are of the beauty surrounding you. Amazing observations.
Posted by: Kelsi on February 7, 2006 02:39 PMWhen spring comes I'll go out walking in the city with my book too. Going on my bicycle without a jacket.
Posted by: Anja on February 7, 2006 01:18 PMWonderful. I am transported.
Posted by: courtney on February 7, 2006 12:55 PM