:: the coffee shop

my favorite coffee shop.



i just can't seem to get over:

the old-timey stretch of street it's on.

or their chalkboard menu.

or their delicious veggie sandwiches.

or the designs they put in my latte foam.


i find myself always taking the same seat.

at the counter that faces the window.

sipping slowly from my mug.

sometimes reading a book.

or sometimes gazing out at the world around me.


there are always such engaging people scattered about.

who don't mind at all.

when you break into their conversation.

desperate to know the title of the incredible book they're reading aloud.



i find myself breathing easy here.

unfolded perfectly between--

its peace.

and its vibrancy.

coffee shop medicine

there's something so brilliant.
about a crisp afternoon spent over lattes.
and spritzers.
and egg sandwiches.

something so therapeutic.
about a conversation that flows.
and laughs that multiply.
and encounters with strangers at counter tops.


i am a firm believer that a coffee shop is the very best medicine.

: love letters and leaps :

sometimes.
when the nights start getting cooler.
and the sky turns a few shades darker.

the best and only thing to do.

is meet your friends on the corktown sidewalk.
under a full moon.
for hot barbecue sandwiches.
and fresh peach tea.

the very act of it.
is the final love letter to summer.
and the first leap into fall.

+++

:: detroit + beckett ::

there were not many steps.
i had counted them a thousand times.
both going up.
and coming down.
but the figure has gone from my mind...
memories are killing.
so you must not think of certain things.
of those that are dear to you.
or rather you must think of them.
for if you don’t there is the danger of finding them.
in your mind, little by little.
that is to say.
you must think of them for a while.
a good while.
every day.
several times a day.
until they sink forever in the mud.
that’s an order.


– Samuel Beckett

:: the bookstore

there's an incredible used/rare bookstore in detroit.
the expansive building houses four stories of books--
packed onto shelves.
towered into toppling stacks on the floor.
or resting displayed in glass cases.

your first time there can be a little overwhelming.
they even hand you a map when you walk in.

but i love this place.
the ancient building sags.
the floorboards creak.
and the musty smell of old books lingers in the air.

the aisles are lit by single light bulbs that hang from wires.
and the tattered wooden windows open wide to the city.

there is always a gem to be uncovered there.
whether it be a gorgeous old tome from early 1900's paris.
or a slender volume about the art of writing.
rest assured there is something magical waiting for you.

i've even had some of my best old photo
and vinyl record
finds here.

i wish every bibliophile could spend a day enraptured in this place.


++


on my latest visit.
i looked out one of the open windows.
across the freeway.
and saw a sign that read:

"time to engage".

i smiled.


well said, detroit.

well said.

::: 'round here...

around here.

it's been lots of:

reading mary oliver at cafe counters.

peeking around abandoned houses.

and loving on the cutest little guy on earth.


fall is nearly here.

and the wind is turning cool again.



it's all bliss.

: image + lyric + quote :

just enough dark to see/ how you're the light over me.

- "the dreamer"
the tallest man on earth



write hard and clear about what hurts.

- ernest hemingway



it takes courage to grow up
and turn out to be who you really are.

- e.e. cummings



i want to stand as close to the edge as i can
without going over.
out on the edge you see all the kinds of things
you can't see from the center.

- kurt vonnegut

:: le petit zinc

had an incredible lunch.

at my favorite little restaurant in the city.


paired together with old friends.

and the perfect amount of late summer sun--

the day was extraordinarily good.

::: the coffee shop

astro coffee
favorite menu offering: macchiato.

avalon bakery
favorite menu offering: sea salt chocolate chip cookie.


+++

i have this thing for coffee shops.
for ordering a latte.
and a cookie.
and getting lost at a corner table.
with a book.
or a newspaper.
or a journal.

there's something about the community.
that is formed across cafe tables.
and counters.
the commonality present among each hot cup of joe.
or tea.

there's this electricity in the gathering.
some form of magic in the people watching.
a peace in the knowledge that--
you're never alone in a coffee shop.
even when you enter by yourself.

i love escaping through the doors.
being greeted by the scent of fresh bean.
and, sometimes, fresh bread.
being washed over.
by the sound of a hundred different whispers.


the coffee shop gives me permission.
to do nothing.
and in finding that stillness.
i realize.

i've done everything.


+++


{my two favorite coffee spots in detroit are pictured above.
they are both equal amounts of peace and fabulous.}

::: tour de troit-- part 4: signs & statues

can i just say it?

i am totally in love with my city.

::: random/weekend shots + musings.

...

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?

- Robert Browning

...

Bee - fondness - perfume - cord
crumb- fool's gold - jumping voyeur
soldier ease - solstice strip.
purple quadrant - open gown.
microned matter
martyrdom quince
grapeshot micron.

- from the diary of frida kahlo

...

love this.
how i wish i could have been there in harlem that day.

...

love this, too.
i'll take one of everything, please.

...

i stand like a fool,
seeking a past that vanished ...
but night is wise and mighty
wiser than I, wiser then day.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

...



ps:
that shop in the last photo is my absolute favorite.
please. if you're ever in detroit.
find this gem.
enter.
and fall in love.

::: tour de troit-- part 3: the diana film edition

randoms of detroit.

through the lens of my diana camera.



that old airstream.

is actually a traveling taco hut.

and.

that abandoned house in the third picture.

is my favorite in the city.

i often drive by.

slow down.

and imagine a life there.

+++

::: diana film 1: soup at spaulding court

this morning.
i found my forgotten little diana camera.
along with a long-lost roll of used up lomo film.
i scoured the town.
and found a small place that still developed photos.
in an hour flat--the film was processed.
& the rest of the day has been spent immersed in these images.


so haunting and lovely.


this particular batch was taken last august.
at a fundraising soup dinner.
in the parking lot of an abandoned apartment complex.
all funds went to the renovation of the property.
it was a memorable time.


finding these photos in their little plastic cocoon.
was unearthing a treasure.
hope you enjoy the simplicity of the film.
as much as i do.



another batch of diana pictures coming later this week.