I do not have any artistic abilities. That’s just the simple straight up fact of the matter. I had art class while in high school and passed the grade. I passed because I showed up and turned in my assignments. Fortunately I wasn’t graded on talent. Still over the years I have made attempts to be artistic in other ways, poetry and very crude sculpture. I’ve thought about just dropping several cans of paint on a canvas, thinking up a name for that and declaring it art. I’m just not sure how you go about convincing others that it is. I figure it must be some kind of black magic but I’m immune to its’ spells, doesn’t work on me.
I do enjoy working with different mediums. Doesn’t that sound professional? I’m smiling as I write it. A fancy way of saying using different stuff. I can weld, braze and solder and have made a few pieces using those skills. Yes, they are skills sticking with the professional jargon. One day I picked up this stone that I thought interesting. Not sure what was interesting about it as it is really just a flat stone. I decided to do something with it. I got out my rotary tool and fitted a diamond grinding wheel to that. Grinding out a hollow the size of a tea candle. I then surrounded that hollow with other stones, took two other stones and made “people” sitting by the fire. I’m calling that , the stoners. Yes, they have that look on their face. It’s for sale, but Christies hasn’t called me yet. Guess I need to display it in a gallery.
This morning I lit a candle in that and have it sitting on my desk. You know, it is just something that makes me smile. The thought came to me, sometimes it is just the littlest things. It’s an expression we have heard and been told repeatedly. It’s the little things in life. I heard that a lot when Mom wouldn’t buy me something I needed! I never asked for anything I didn’t need. Sometimes, after sulking in my room, the littlest thing would make me smile again. An old toy, or a poster, something from years ago. Yes, sometimes it is the littlest thing. And, I have discovered that it works both ways. It can make you happy or bring about sadness. It depends upon what memory is attached to that.
Sad songs have always made me happy. Isn’t that a strange thing? I mean those old cry in your beer tunes, or the classic blues songs. Phrases that express deep sentiments touch me in that way. Lines like, “you know she came to see him one last time, we all wondered if she would, it kept running through my mind, this time, he’s over her for good” Yes, I smile every time I hear it. In the corner of my living room I have a small shelf with a few things that belonged to my sister. She’s been gone eight years now. When I see those things I smile, with the memory of her. Just little things sitting on a shelf.
Sentiment and sadness. Two totally different emotions. At least to me they are but many seem to confuse the two somehow. Sentiments are warm things, sadness is cold. Sentiments are something we create for ourselves. Sadness is just thrust upon us. Sadness is something you just have to learn to deal with, to cope, to control. Sentiment however, that is true freedom. You create that. Sentiment is the wellspring of happiness. It is just the little things.
The Stoners. For historical context, a stoner is 20th century slang for those that smoked Marijuana frequently. Long before it was a legal thing.
An aging man living in a confusing world. I was born and raised in East Hampton, yes “the Hamptons” but not rich, not famous and definitely not woke. These are my thoughts, my memories and my opinions. Just the stuff of the regular Joe.
I do not have any artistic abilities. That’s just the simple straight up fact of the matter. I had art class while in high school and passed the grade. I passed because I showed up and turned in my assignments. Fortunately I wasn’t graded on talent. Still over the years I have made attempts to be artistic in other ways, poetry and very crude sculpture. I’ve thought about just dropping several cans of paint on a canvas, thinking up a name for that and declaring it art. I’m just not sure how you go about convincing others that it is. I figure it must be some kind of black magic but I’m immune to its’ spells, doesn’t work on me.
I do enjoy working with different mediums. Doesn’t that sound professional? I’m smiling as I write it. A fancy way of saying using different stuff. I can weld, braze and solder and have made a few pieces using those skills. Yes, they are skills sticking with the professional jargon. One day I picked up this stone that I thought interesting. Not sure what was interesting about it as it is really just a flat stone. I decided to do something with it. I got out my rotary tool and fitted a diamond grinding wheel to that. Grinding out a hollow the size of a tea candle. I then surrounded that hollow with other stones, took two other stones and made “people” sitting by the fire. I’m calling that , the stoners. Yes, they have that look on their face. It’s for sale, but Christies hasn’t called me yet. Guess I need to display it in a gallery.
This morning I lit a candle in that and have it sitting on my desk. You know, it is just something that makes me smile. The thought came to me, sometimes it is just the littlest things. It’s an expression we have heard and been told repeatedly. It’s the little things in life. I heard that a lot when Mom wouldn’t buy me something I needed! I never asked for anything I didn’t need. Sometimes, after sulking in my room, the littlest thing would make me smile again. An old toy, or a poster, something from years ago. Yes, sometimes it is the littlest thing. And, I have discovered that it works both ways. It can make you happy or bring about sadness. It depends upon what memory is attached to that.
Sad songs have always made me happy. Isn’t that a strange thing? I mean those old cry in your beer tunes, or the classic blues songs. Phrases that express deep sentiments touch me in that way. Lines like, “you know she came to see him one last time, we all wondered if she would, it kept running through my mind, this time, he’s over her for good” Yes, I smile every time I hear it. In the corner of my living room I have a small shelf with a few things that belonged to my sister. She’s been gone eight years now. When I see those things I smile, with the memory of her. Just little things sitting on a shelf.
Sentiment and sadness. Two totally different emotions. At least to me they are but many seem to confuse the two somehow. Sentiments are warm things, sadness is cold. Sentiments are something we create for ourselves. Sadness is just thrust upon us. Sadness is something you just have to learn to deal with, to cope, to control. Sentiment however, that is true freedom. You create that. Sentiment is the wellspring of happiness. It is just the little things.
The Stoners. For historical context, a stoner is 20th century slang for those that smoked Marijuana frequently. Long before it was a legal thing.
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I do not have any artistic abilities. That’s just the simple straight up fact of the matter. I had art class while in high school and passed the grade. I passed because I showed up and turned in my assignments. Fortunately I wasn’t graded on talent. Still over the years I have made attempts to be artistic in other ways, poetry and very crude sculpture. I’ve thought about just dropping several cans of paint on a canvas, thinking up a name for that and declaring it art. I’m just not sure how you go about convincing others that it is. I figure it must be some kind of black magic but I’m immune to its’ spells, doesn’t work on me.
I do enjoy working with different mediums. Doesn’t that sound professional? I’m smiling as I write it. A fancy way of saying using different stuff. I can weld, braze and solder and have made a few pieces using those skills. Yes, they are skills sticking with the professional jargon. One day I picked up this stone that I thought interesting. Not sure what was interesting about it as it is really just a flat stone. I decided to do something with it. I got out my rotary tool and fitted a diamond grinding wheel to that. Grinding out a hollow the size of a tea candle. I then surrounded that hollow with other stones, took two other stones and made “people” sitting by the fire. I’m calling that , the stoners. Yes, they have that look on their face. It’s for sale, but Christies hasn’t called me yet. Guess I need to display it in a gallery.
This morning I lit a candle in that and have it sitting on my desk. You know, it is just something that makes me smile. The thought came to me, sometimes it is just the littlest things. It’s an expression we have heard and been told repeatedly. It’s the little things in life. I heard that a lot when Mom wouldn’t buy me something I needed! I never asked for anything I didn’t need. Sometimes, after sulking in my room, the littlest thing would make me smile again. An old toy, or a poster, something from years ago. Yes, sometimes it is the littlest thing. And, I have discovered that it works both ways. It can make you happy or bring about sadness. It depends upon what memory is attached to that.
Sad songs have always made me happy. Isn’t that a strange thing? I mean those old cry in your beer tunes, or the classic blues songs. Phrases that express deep sentiments touch me in that way. Lines like, “you know she came to see him one last time, we all wondered if she would, it kept running through my mind, this time, he’s over her for good” Yes, I smile every time I hear it. In the corner of my living room I have a small shelf with a few things that belonged to my sister. She’s been gone eight years now. When I see those things I smile, with the memory of her. Just little things sitting on a shelf.
Sentiment and sadness. Two totally different emotions. At least to me they are but many seem to confuse the two somehow. Sentiments are warm things, sadness is cold. Sentiments are something we create for ourselves. Sadness is just thrust upon us. Sadness is something you just have to learn to deal with, to cope, to control. Sentiment however, that is true freedom. You create that. Sentiment is the wellspring of happiness. It is just the little things.
The Stoners. For historical context, a stoner is 20th century slang for those that smoked Marijuana frequently. Long before it was a legal thing.
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