Musings #1: Leaves , Lovers

I am brooding. Well, perhaps. Perhaps this is only one of ?those? moments. You know, one of those moments spent lost somewhere beyond the concerns of the day and still not quite fully abandoned in fantasy or forgetfulness.

But maybe you know what I mean. For me at least, it seems that there are times that seem detached. When I can sit back and think of the things happening around me. These are the times when I feel most aware, and when I think most deeply, and ? if truth be admitted ? when I most enjoy myself. Not being quite as caught up in the excitement of doing I have some perspective by which to reflect on a situation, to savor the experience rather than to be consumed by its passion.

Surely you must have these experiences also?

There are places I associate with each of these moments. Everyone has such places I suppose.

Wait. Don?t tell me just yet. Instead let me guess! ?.hmmm. I would have to say that you, ?for you, it is in the bath. And not just any bath. You would have an oversized bathtub, filled deeply with piping hot water. Probably one of those old cast iron baths with a white porcelain finish, the high back, and the claw feet. The room would be warm, misty, ?dimly lit by late afternoon sunlight coming through a small leaded window near the ceiling. Perhaps a wrap around lace curtain has been hung in place of the shower drapery. Of course it would be silent and would have absolutely nothing that would cause you to think of anything outside those walls. Ah, one last item ? I think you would have a candle or two burning. You would soak in the warmth, stare past the idle flicker, dimly note the faint smoky fragrance and begin to recollect some earlier time. And just maybe, it seems clearer to you. That is when your moments begin?

It is cliché, but am I right?

Even if I am not, perhaps this helps you to better understand what I mean.

Anyway, ?No.? My place is not the bath. There is a little gathering place near the campus that serves my purposes well enough. It is just a little restaurant that provides coffee, tea, bottled beer and small tables where all sorts of people stop to sit and talk. Perhaps just as important, it also provides a wall of small paned windows that look out over the courtyard and onto the street. I can?t forget those. Without those it could easily be lost among the hundred or so other little coffee shop-cum-watering holes that seem to multiply when we aren?t looking. But this place has been there long enough to have its own history - and the requisite hanger-ons to retell the stories. It is just far enough from the university that somehow it serves as much as neighborhood café as student hangout and a little bit as clubroom for the professionals that work in the area.

The crowd depends on the time and the day. Each time it brings different stories to mind -

- - - - - - - -

Leaves