Happy Halloween!

My Pumpkin '06

Spooky . . .

"BOO!" I say, while haunting the grounds of Bishop's Orchards

Has it really been two months in New Haven already? Spooky how time flies, isn't it?

I'm in a good groove here. Classes are going well, people have good stories, and there is always something going on: Rockin' the snowboard and trashing the covenant. Much yogging and other such athletic nonsense. Good music, great food, and the occasional frivolity.

All of that, plus the much fabled Autumn in New England is starting to reach its peak intensity. With sleeping giants to climb and pumpkins to pick 'tis a wonderous place indeed. This is the good life . . .

Lookout Tower on Sleeping Giant

The view from the top, with New Haven & The Sound in the distance.

Does it get any more Autumnal-New-England-y than this? I think not.

Gainfully Employed

The Boss-Man (also known as torosaurus)

I'm pretty pumped. Sitting on my table, not even two feet away from my computer is my very first paycheck since I bid adieu to the 'bucks last May. I've moved on from the world of high quality coffee drinks and now sell plastic dinosaurs to children and exotic artifacts (reproductions of course) to adults. While it is a whole new world of retail and cash or credit transactions (no checks!) I'm still going to try and enact the mantra I learned while swabbing the decks at the 'bucks by "making an enthusiastically satisfied customer everytime."

Some things never go out of style. The way a pie tastes when it comes out of the oven. Your old dog Red barking to come inside. And good old fashioned enthusiastically satisfied customers.

Anyway, if you are ever in the area be sure to check out the Peabody, a beloved part of every true Nutmegger's life. I'd be happy to exchange your money for goods and/or services.

Mystic

Could there possibly be a better way of celebrating Columbus Day, the start of Reading Week, and 75 degrees with sunshine in October than spending the day near the Connecticut coast?

Clearly the answer is, "No. There could not possibly be a better way of celebrating the convergence of those three ingredients. Toss in some good company and you'd be a fool to think of doing anything else."

Not wanting to be a fool then, yesterday was spent an hour down the coast from here in Mystic, CT and, more specifically, at Mystic Seaport:

The result? A near perfect day.

When Worlds Melt Away

New Orleans Cemetery, January 2004

i'm falling for ritual. unseen voices reverberating through ancient halls. words from before . . . from beyond . . . given voice in the now.

song and scent surround.
the Pleiades hang in their silent sanctuary.

all is still.

the turnings of your mind cease.

traffic without, calm within.

no sermon. no statement of faith. no questions asked.

come as you are

and be

changed

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Compline at Christ Church. i want to be clever. i want to pick it apart, to analyze it, to figure it out. but i can't. the words escape me. to know it, you must step into it. if the road ever brings you to new haven, i encourage you to stay for a sunday night and see for yourself.