we'd make nice pets

Last weekend, Ruby picked out her first pet, a hamster, longhaired and male. The store had one longhaired left, in the back, not in the usual place for display. Longhaired hamsters are supposed to have a better temperment.
I could not go into the back room because I have allergic asthma; the air was thick with the scent of fur, where they live, isolated.
So when Ruby found me in the aisles, she said, smiling excitedly and skipping along, "Come meet Jeremy."
Ruby, now, is always concerned for Jeremy, wants to make sure he's alright, checking on him and, when he gets to explore his surroundings, especially beyond his cage, treating him as tenderly as we would be treated, if we were in his position and loved.

it's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)

It really hit me when my family went to a theme park, the mass production of things to buy, the means by which they are created, what they are or may be, the foods manufactured to feed us, the labs where the ingredients are concocted, the methods of dealing with over-population, the waste and loss apparent from land-fills and oceans to the air we breathe and the health-related problems of our bodies, how it's connected.
And though it is, in some ways, fun and an escape from how we make a living to enjoy such diversions, it is costly in more ways than just getting a ticket and getting there.
When I ask my daughter if she had a good time and she says yes, the next topic will always be what her favorite part of it was. In that context, there is no worry, only fireworks.

tempus fugit

How things must pass...Ruby graduates from Kindergarten tomorrow and I will try to hold back inevitable tears of pride and joy at seeing my little girl make another step in this world that is the life we share, not caring if we stay dry in a thunderstorm and getting soaked because it's fun, like the other Saturday afternoon by the Delaware River...

food for thought

This philosophical morning, Ruby said squirrels would eat me because I am a nut. I replied birds would eat her because she is a crumb. She answered, "No, birds eat worms."

the theater, the museum and the universe

Last weekend, Ruby, my wife and I went to the movies to see the latest version of Doctor Seuss' "Horton Hears A Who," a poignant story of questioning the dogmas of supposed authority and belief. It had Ruby dancing out of her seat as the credits rolled. We experienced the Please Touch Museum, which was fun to be involved in, art as tangible and transcendent, quite human. Also, we visited The Franklin Institute and witnessed those historical portraits of discovery and invention, the Planitarium showing us our universe, where we might lose ourselves, if not for our part in it. Breath-taking, really, the world as a stage.

Ruby and I Reprise

Culpadirect is my friend Kevin's blog. Recently, he posted a watercolor which is the cover illustration of our new musical collaboration, "hope you're satisfied vol. 1". This drawing was made by Ruby. Recently, Ruby and I talked about Magic. She said it wasn't real. I said it was. Maybe it has to do with what you don't see, which is still there, like the wind in the heart-shaped trees, or the train that whistles distant and lonely outside the window of her bedroom, how we are where we are not, in thoughts, in prayers, in things we make up, like a painting.

Culpa Direct

Culpa Direct