Life is a luxurious theater for people paying attention.

At Eeyore's Birthday Party this past year. 


 I just finished William B. Irving's book, The Stoic Challenge. A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer and More Resilient. It was a great and easy read. Lots of good ideas. The "ancient" philosophers seemed to have so much free time to sit around and just think about stuff. Still perfectly prescriptive for today's odd times. 

If we spent time appreciating the beauty and energy around us instead of trying to figure out who to blame we might be much, much happier. Just a thought.

I finished the book while having a mid-afternoon coffee and a blueberry muffin in the incredibly cool air conditioning at the Whole Foods Flagship store on S. Lamar Blvd. Listening the Billie Elish's latest album via my iPhone. Penned in by a large German family on one side and Austin hippies on the other side. All good. 

I've just started reading Pulitzer Prize winner, Annie Dillard's 1989 book, The Writing Life. So far so fun. What a nice Summer to spend mostly swimming and reading. And having Chinese food with friends. And frequenting a lovely bookstore in Hyde Park. It's called, The First Light Bookstore, and I think I'm in love with it. They always seem to have exactly what I wanted but didn't know I wanted until I saw it. New Josef Koudelka books arriving in a seemingly endless stream....

Hope you are staying cool, calm and curious. I'm having fun looking at a beautiful young woman in fishnet stockings. Makes for a good screen saver. 

Comments

Dick Barbour said…
I thought she was a mermaid. (8-)
Glad you're having a good summer. I hope all the ways you take good care of yourself pay off. I'm at the age where there's always one thing or another going wrong. So far the list includes hearing going bad, cataracts forming, knees hurting, sinuses draining, old crowns falling off, heart doing weird things sometimes. I'm supplying a number of the doctors of central Texas with nice houses, boats, and cameras.
Oh, and thanks for the book suggestions; always welcome.
Bob said…
Thanks for the positive waves! Beautiful and righteous!
Crown stuff? Check. Heart stuff? Occasionally, mystifying. Aches and pains? Not so much. Digestion though has become more of an art and less of a science.... Oh the indignities of growing older.
Thanks Dick and Bob for taking the time to write. It's always, always appreciated. Perhaps more than you know.
Edward Richards said…
Ah, bookstores. A true pleasure from my youth. After several moves in the last years, I had to pare down my books to just my photobook library, i.e., the books that are art objects on their own and not just content delivery systems. I still read/listen to a lot of books, but not on paper. I may read more because I always have a book with me on my phone. Do you still read predominantly on paper?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hi Edward Richards, I mostly borrow "content" books from our local library or actually buy interesting books for my Kindle. That covers a lot of my reading but I still find it nice to have a meaty book in the car in case I decide to have a solo lunch or coffee break and want something entertaining to read. I share the same division between book types as you. I collect photo books like dogs collect fleas. The bookstore I referenced seems to have a buyer who has tapped into Josef Koudelka's books and I can't help but buy those when I see them. I haven't moved in 28 years, the kid grew up and moved out to his own place and between my wife and I we have enough space to horde the complete contents of a local library. We tend to be minimalists though so the clutter is kept to a minimum. Kind of a "something comes in? something must go out!!!" mentality. I have a few favorite books (content) that will go to the grave with me. A signed copy of a first edition "Lolita" by Nabokov and my kid's favorite compendium of "Winnie the Pooh Stories." Along with "To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street" Dr. Suess. Every other content book that comes into the house generally gets passed along to friends, donated to the library or otherwise moved along. I love reading on paper. But I also don't mind the "Kindle White" technology which comes very close to the paper experience. The exception being I can carry around hundreds of books in a package the size of a James Bond paperback thriller.