Tuesday, August 28, 2007

i went to vegas...




...because my friend robby was having a bachelor party, for boys only.

it was a trip of less than 72 hours. and it was more than i needed but i went for my friend robby.

i overheard 17 year old girls talking about whether or not they should get even bigger plastic boobies. i watched a woman point to the paris hotel/casino and the brasserie outside- "Look, it's exactly like over there!" I was inside living a mad, absurd american dream, without natural light, exits, clocks and stops.

I spent 20 dollars a day on blackjack and craps, hoping to live the America Dream.

I don't think i've lost money quicker in my entire life.

los photos- "Outside the Tropicana," "Cranes and boobie cards," "Looking down at my feet on The Strip."

love and health to all...

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

cycling at 2 am with two sammys...




Ever since my brother Sam passed away, he's been sending me, my brother David and my poppa reminders that he's still with us, stuff to keep us on our toes. Now I don't know if you all believe in this kind of stuff, but I got a story to tell...

Two weeks ago I was bicycling on Gerard Drive with one of my dear friends, Sammy O, the Lion. This road happens to be one of the most beautiful in the world and there is a beach on this road where my brother's ashes were spread, taken by the tides, he finds his way to new countries, different seas and tranquil beaches everyday and moment till the seas dry up...

As the Lion and I were bicycling that night, round 2 in the am, I said to the lion "Sammy, this is the beach where we spread Sam's ashes..."

At that moment, the Lion's bicycle (brand new, by the way), ceased to work. You know how when you peddle backwards the gears and pedals move but the wheels don't catch and move? Well, the same thing was happening but when he peddled forward?!?! The back wheel wasn't catching...

I'd never seen that before. Nearby, two fisherman happened to be casting their rods by the light of their headlamps. All four of us took a look, the chain was on and all looked good but no dice....

The Lion and I were perplexed and we walked home that night. The next morning we took a look at the bike and it was still broken.

Ten days went by and I finally brought the bike into a bike shop in East Hampton. The owner started taking it apart and looked at me with his mouth agape.

"You know," he said, perplexed and confused, "I've owned this bike shop for 30 years and this is a first. The threads that attach the pedal's gears to the back wheel are all stripped?!? The only way this could really happen is if the bike was being spun by a car motor and even then these threads shouldn't strip, the threads on the wheel should strip cause they are weaker. Hmm, not so sure what happened..."

And so it goes with life. It's a perplexing world we live on. The universe is strange in all the right ways and all the tough, difficult, wrong ways too... But we all keep on living and breathing and smiling and laughing and hoping and dreaming and bicycling and living...

Sammy keeps on reminding me to smile every single day...

love and health to all...

Monday, August 20, 2007

listening to the ground


recently i've found myself close to the ground and happy. my bare feet touching the soft wet warm early morning farm earth, my cabeza on its side listening to the sand, napping on the beach, my body immersed in sea water submerged in the bay.

there is something about being close to the earth that's warming and calming and near.

yesterday i went for a swim in the sea and last night i slept with those ocean's sea salts still fresh from the day, on my skin, healing...

i have a wonderfully beautiful and remarkable bicycle story from the heavens and the seas for you all soon, maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. it's a good one with a little help from my brother sam...

love and health to all...

Friday, August 17, 2007

no wire less


i've been neglecting my email and my computer for the past two weeks. it's been a magnificient blessing, to be free from these wires and screens and wire less. cause i have been recently.

so here i am sitting outside the public library checking my email with my wire less connect and thinking i got to add a gem or a photo.

so here are some bricks from northwest argentina. they are beautiful too.

love and health....

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

cooling off




it's hot here in nyc.

i spent my morning trying to sort out a "reckless operation of a bicycle" summons i received last week. got to court at 9 am but found out i was two months too early.

after bicycling downtown and back on uptown this is the thought that came to mind.

lake champlain, vermont. july 2007.

love and health to all...

Thursday, August 02, 2007

neustra labirinto...



we watched the journey of the young princessa in the forest with the faun, living and searching. we were on top of a big apple, on a warm summer's night, outside with the backside of a painting as our screen. a bowl of fresh melon, a lost thai delivery order that finally arrived and still, the young princessa continued on in the forest, traversing the labirinto of life. vino flowed down gullets and over a roof, braiding apart, a yukon river of red...

love and health to all...