The shadows this morning are making a face on the awning across the street. It looks oddly like it’s frowning but I can’t imagine what an awning has to frown about. Especially not early on a Tuesday morning, when the air is crisp and the streets are busy with pedestrians and vehicles. Doesn’t an awning spend its life watching over a doorstep? What could be better than activity to help pass the mundanity, the tedium of hanging over a door all day, every day?
An older woman arrived at the coffee shop a few minutes ago. She chose a table by the big bay door and sat, looking between her phone and the life passing by outside. A bit later, another woman arrived and they smiled the way people do when they have a level of familiarity that bypasses traditional greetings. Do you know what I mean? No need for hellos. They move right into conversation with a laugh about parking and then walk in unison to the counter to order drinks.
The artist is drawing a woman silhouetted against the bay door. Her hair is that ‘riot of curls’ that one reads about. It’s secured back from her face with a small silver clip. As with most of the people here, she is facing a laptop. The artist is focused on his notebook, his pencil making strokes on the page as she sits so still she could already be a work of art hanging on a wall.
Someone asked me today where I was going to end up. Honestly, the question – maybe the wording – confused me. Thinking more long term than he was, apparently, I answered, “hell, probably.” It turns out that he was, in fact, thinking more immediately than my eventual death. As he told me, he was trying to give me directions. I guess I looked lost – sometimes I am but aren’t we all?
There are so many lantern flies swarming around today that I am a little repulsed. Usually, I’m not a bug hater – bugs are just bugs. But the entire side of a building in PIttsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood was moving this morning, so covered in lantern flies that the wall itself seemed alive. Since our community isn’t home to any lantern fly predators, we have some work to do. I’m envisioning a chicken release in the hardest hit areas, in the way that we have goats remove invasive vines. Will the cure – thousands of chickens – end up being worse than the illness – hundreds of thousands of lantern flies? I guess we’ll find out if we take my suggestion.
College kids are back – yesterday, I saw a young person wearing a white designer tshirt with inflatable nipples. Today, I spotted a pink shirt with, I don’t know, maybe 10 or 12 small white teddy bears attached to it. What do we think? Would it be uncomfortable to sit with teddy bears all over your back?
The sound of snoring occasionally interrupts the Reggae music playing through the speakers. It’s – the snoring, not the music – coming from a middle-aged man sitting in the conversation circle. His head is propped on his arm, which is propped on the sofa behind his chair. At some point, he’s going to wake and look around, wondering if anyone noticed that he was asleep. Sir, we noticed. We don’t care. Sleep all you want. I’m glad you’re comfortable.
Much love.
