Saturday, February 22, 2014

Waves





People are fascinated by the ocean, and make intentional journeys to be by its side, and enter its realm.  Its motion has a strong attraction.  To one standing in the ocean, waves are many faceted.  Waves stir the water, so that no water molecule stays in one place and gets stagnant.  As the waves come in, we are being bombarded by new water molecules at any point in time.  Waves bring loose items; seaweed, rocks, flotilla, debris, etc.  But these items do not stay, they come, can be observed, and they go.  Waves come in a variety of strengths; some as light ripples, some extremely powerful, and the ones in between.  The light ones are less noticeable, and are less apt to have an apparent effect.  The strong ones can be seen from a distance, and can be anticipated and prepared for, so as not to be knocked around.  In deeper water, one can ride out the wave; moving with its smooth motion.  It’s when the wave is at the end of the journey, landing in shallow water that it can be startling, crashing hard, stirring the land underneath, and clouding the water.  Although the smaller waves individually do not stir as violently, there are many more of them, and their combined actions ultimately have as much or more of an affect as the stronger waves.

Am I aware of the waves occurring in my own life?  Am I aware of the many bombardments that come at me on a daily basis?  Do I hang on to the debris that comes to me, or do I observe as it comes and goes?  Do I get strangled in the seaweed, or do I take steps and maneuver so that it goes around me? Am I willing to go deeper into the water of life, where I can experience riding the waves, rather than being blind-sided when they come crashing down as I stand near the shore.

Even more so, what waves am I creating?  Are they loud and noisy?  Are they the ones that send gentle nudges as they move?  Am I sending out smooth waves, or ones with cutting edges?  Every action I take sends out ripples.  These ripples, whether large or small, ultimately have an effect on those around me; spouse, children, co-workers, friends, and anyone else that I come in contact with. Or am I standing still, being dormant, and not transmitting any motion at all?  Dormancy sends a different energy; the dead, filthy smell of stagnation.

At last, am I aware that all of the waves, both the ones created by others, and the ones I create, are part of the larger life sea?  Let me be aware today.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Blicks



Went to Blicks in Santa Monica last night.  Blicks is a large store, carrying art & drafting supplies.  Blicks is a chain with stores all around the country.  In California, they are concentrated in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.  We could use one or two of these stores in Ventura County.  I would apply for a job as a second source of income.  I have been under the impression that computers had pretty much taken over, and that drafting supplies were a thing of the past.  It was refreshing to see such a wide of selection of drafting supplies being sold, including many templates.  

Walking up & down the aisles really took me back to the family store.  I was seeing a lot of the same items that we carried.  In the drafting area, I saw t-squares, triangle rules, templates, compasses, vellum, drafting boards & tables.  I also saw lots of art tablets; drawing, pastel, watercolor, etc.  Tempura paint.  Lettering pens.  And brand names:  Alvin, Pickett, Crayola, Strathmore, Faber-Castell, Sanford, Speedball.  This really took me back to my favorite section of the store.  Remembering those times when it was time to re-arrange and move various sections of products – I enjoyed organizing the art & drafting supplies most of all.

And during our visit, I was surprised by my son, Ken, who wanted to purchase some pastels and paper.  I’ve not heard him express an interest in art before.  As Cathleen was looking at the merchandise, she commented about Faber-Castell being an older company.  This led me to do a Google search on Faber.  What caught my eye from the search results, was a series of articles called American Stationer, written in the early 1900’s about the stationery business.  These are available on GoogleBooks, or archive.org, which is a site I like to use in my genealogy research.  I've got some reading to do!