The woman walks Along in a crowded street Surrounded by people Yet so alone A scarf like a noose Wrapped around her frail neck Hands shoved deep Into her pockets She only looks At the ground The rhythmic step of her feet Her wide hat Shields her from the world She ignores them Is afraid of them She wraps herself tighter In what is safe and comforting And is content in isolation So she walks along In a crowd of people Without faces The wind picks up For a moment it whispers A soft secret in her ear A riddle told to fast As the wind Carried her hat away The woman let out A short little gasp As her barrier was removed She reached forward Fingertips grazing it Just out of reach As it bounces and rolls Along the dirty street She chases in vain And no one will help Finally out of breath And out of heart She gives up Standing in the crowd Puffs of winter breath Clouding before her as she watches Her hat dance away Her hair billowing about her Watching with sad longing eyes She stands still among thousands As she turns to leave A tap on her shoulder She turns in surprise A man stands before her Her hat in hand Holding it out towards her A smile but no words She takes it and offers A shy little smile in return As she starts to pull it Back into place He reaches out to stop her Why He asks her You have such a pretty face He smiles and lets go Giving an impartial shrug You don’t need to hide You are beautiful you know He leaves her with His few soft words And a knowing smile She stands there Hat in hand Filled with his offerings Her eyes are wide And her hands slightly quake She lifts the hat Looking at it now And tosses it away She watches it Flit and dance in the sky Gone forever She smiles slightly The stranger’s knowing smile She doesn’t need it anymore

Charlotte is heading down to San Luis Obispo to bring Nick back home from Cal Poly for Thanksgiving. This time she’s heading south down the Big Sur coast with her dad. The view always blows you away. A nice stop at Nepenthe for some coffee, while soaking in some of the soothing statues and views. A beautiful sunset ends the day in Cambria for our intrepid travelers. Tomorrow it’s down to San Simeon and then picking up Nick. ...

Sandpiper in Morro Bay.

This little sculpture reminds me of the Greek myth of Sisyphus who was a crafty king seeking to elude death. His punishment was to push a giant boulder up a steep hill for eternity. I really love this sculpture and they way it is done. Congrats artist!

Every second Youth wasted On planning Adulthood How your Life will End up And should Every second Of life Washed away Never to get back My house My career My husband And family Set in stone Finally I Reach my planned Life and happiness The perfect Husband Sits, reads the newspaper Drinks coffee He says He loves me The perfect Baby A little girl Sits in her high chair Angel with black hair Pale face Blue eyes The perfect Dog Never barks Nor bites The perfect House Just as I Had dreamed High ceilings In the rainy woods The perfect Job Writing and teaching Always published Students love me I am perfect My life complete Except I Had no childhood I wish I Had a perfect Childhood I am not Perfect My life is incomplete To live A perfect life I must Sacrifice Who I am I think to myself “This isn’t What I wanted” I don’t want To be Perfect “This isn’t What I wanted” I can’t Be perfect Because I am Unhappy I look At everything Just as I wanted Just as I planned Everything Planned out Perfect But now that I have it I don’t want it “This isn’t What I wanted” I planned So I could Be happy But now I have Lost everything That was really important Perfection Is a joke You can’t be Perfect Because to get Something You must give Something else up To be perfect Or happy You choose

The boy without a pet, how sad. Every kid needs a little animal to love and cherish for however short amount of time that creature is destined to spend with them. This picture makes me sad yet happy in a way. The poor kid just looks like he wants that little hamster so badly. He has the look of a kid who comes here everyday just to stare at that hamster. Not any hamster mind you, but that hamster in particular. I bet he named it too. I hope one day he gets his hamster and it is all he hoped it would be.

You seemed really alone, maybe I should have sat down with you. Maybe you were just on a break. Maybe you are just unhappy with the direction your life has taken. You wouldn’t look at me, what where you looking at? You looked so far away.

“I love you today, I love you tomorrow and forever my little Pandora.” She whispered shutting the door behind her with a soft but audible click as it sealed off all the light except for my little dancing light next to my bed on a bedpost. My eyes where slowly closing as I watched the little princess emit different colors casting shadows on my walls. I sighed sleepily shutting out the world as I slipped into sweet dreams of my four year old life. A click woke me up. I curled up not wishing to be disturbed but my eyes watched as the door opened slowly. I looked away and tried to go back to sleep. Footsteps approaching across my carpet floors towards my bed. ...