Idyllic images from the height of summer, journaling at a picnic table in the middle of a perfectly-square park.
I did do a lot of journaling this summer, but I can’t say much of it was this picturesque. In fact, this may be the only time I took out a notebook to write anything down outside, and it was only to jot down a few ideas / to-do’s.
But looking at these pictures I can re-imagine that day: perfectly quiet and unpopulated by humans except as vague distant figures passing wordlessly through along the edges of my peripheral field of vision. No barking dogs. No children crying. Nobody ambling by and pausing needlessly close to me to answer a ringtone and entertain a nonsensical phone call.
I can look at these pictures and re-remember everything with a different reason for being in that perfect neighborhood within that weird city.
I can reinvent my state of mind as perfectly attentive: producing page after page of coherent and useful plans, stories and ideas … hours passing by with ease. Pausing efficiently to loll restfully and organize trains of thought, then setting them in refueled hypnotic high-speed motion on perfectly organized tracks of accessible complexity.
Sunlight never wavering noticeably from one elusive location high in the huge, distant sky. Time completely on hold … one afternoon undisturbed by interactions with humans or the passage of time. Everything attuned only to the peaceful flow of my own imagination. Unhurried, confident and completely safe from harm or distraction in the middle of a square park I wouldn’t design this way to be favorite, but is perfect for this one endlessly-patient temperate summer day, any month, anywhere. Sheltered and encircled by big trees unbothered by the gentlest of breezes.
