The Romantic Way

Hiatus. An interruption in the continuity of a work or project. Or, you could say an interval between two notes or vowels in a word — like in “hiatus”. Isn’t Wikipedia great? As I was working on the website and looked up the word hiatus on Wikipedia, I found this awesome sense of satisfaction as […]

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Outsider artist and eBay entrepreneur, Andrew and his Bashkir bride Gulnara are living inspiration of what it really means to live the romantic life. We met Gulnara almost the first day we moved to Bashkortostan back in 1999. A few years later, Gulnara met Andrew on a matchmaking website. Soon they married, moved to LA […]

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I am not a professional photographer. I’m an amateur. I like to think that my photography isn’t lacking skill, however, in the usual way we use the word amateur. My photography is as Atkinson used the term in Recollections of the Tartar Steppes and their Inhabitants, amateur in the sense of being a “enthusiastic pursuer […]

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If you can’t find a metaphor in the amazing once-in-seventeen year visit of the cicadas, then you just need more work at your romantic living skills. Last week we arrived in Northern Illinois to be greeted by the nearly deafening whine of the millions cicadas (si - kay’ -da) from every grove of trees. Naturally, […]

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I love state parks. They come in great variety, offer all kinds of opportunities and experiences and are really educational. They’re incredibly well maintained, clean and considerate of the environment. There is, however, one thing that kind of needles me about state parks.
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For those of you artistic, creative and writerly types, I’ve found something that really gets my creative fluids gushing. Holly and I recently watched the film Chocolat with Johnny Depp a few nights ago. It’s like the thousandth time, but it never gets old. Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp and Judi Dench are absolute genius. While […]

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Three pages, longhand, stream of thought, every morning, religiously. That’s what morning pages is. It’s not hard, but it’s nearly magical. Most things in life that have the most profound effect on fulfillment and joy are simple, free, and require consistency. I’ll show you a little of my journey with morning pages.
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The power of a watch on a wrist always amazes me. While it tracks to the second, the moments of history leaving benchmarks for us to recall achievements, experiences, loves, losses and friends. At the same time a wristwatch grabs our desires, fears, opinions and our very lives by the throat leaving us as mere […]

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Last weekend Holly and I toured studio after studio on the annual Studio Art Tour in our county. It was a thousand times better than a gallery tour because we visited our artist friends in their studios, homes, yards, basements, garden sheds, garages and old school houses. We hung with our companions where they lived […]

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It’s spring and the color of flowers lifts everyone’s spirits. Flowers are God’s way of assuring us that life endures, hope reigns and love is in the air. Sunday, my youngest son and I took a hike along the river north of our town. The forest floor was completely blanketed with these trout lilies. A […]

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