Kenny Pt II

Michi

♫ Mitski - First Love / Late Spring ♫

Japanese Wedding Attire

 Formal pre-wedding portraits for a wonderful couple

 

Kenny Pt I

Takako Minekawa - Cat House

We are who we are based on the choices we make. And those choices are the basic structure that we need to adapt to and live by. But nothing is without consequence. I revel in the hectic and manic world that is mine but I also feel the sacrifice that I make as I go along. Work can only take up a certain amount of your life and is best to keep it simple. The simplicity of regulating one's life is a chore and also a workout for the brain and the heart. I somehow seem to have lost total control of it.

To distract myself on this chaotic ride, start paying attention to other things - fingers of coolness running through my hair as we glide into the downhill slope, cutting into the still air, gravity taking hold of the chest's interiors and bringing them up to my throat with every loop. Drifting in, drifting out.

"It's one of those unpleasant opoid feverish half-sleep states, more a fugue-state than a sleep-state, less a floating than like being cast adrift on rough seas, tossed mightily in and out of this half-sleep where your mind's still working and you can ask yourself whether you're asleep even as you dream. And any dreams you do have seem ragged at the edges, gnawed on, incomplete."- David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, 1996

October 2013

This bowl of noodles speaks of love. We were doing something at the restaurant, I can't recall why but it was on the day we were closed all day. It was early in the morning. This memory stuck out because Mom doesn't cook often, we usually associated Dad with all things kitchen, and it was a pleasant surprise seeing her bringing out the bowl and telling me to eat. She is more businesswoman than mother and this was a rare moment of warmth I'll hold on to.

Chewy and thick udon noodles in a simple dashi, adorned with inari and fishcake, a splash of bright green scallions. Something about this simple gesture made me smile inside and I remember staring at it for a long time before tucking in. She shows love in different ways, I know them, but wanted to take in and hold onto this for as long as I could. Mom, thank you.

Maudsley Park

♫ Martin Courtney - Northern Highway ♫

Photo above by Mike Lee

Kind of like a secret but not really.

♫ Ducktails - Letter of Intent ♫

It was pouring rain, but that meant clouds, and that meant soft diffused light into the courtyard. It was so serene. There were others, but it felt like finding a secret. But first, lunch. We check our wet coats and umbrella, and after a brief wait and wandering about on the first floor, we are led into the light.

The Isabella Gardner Museum's Cafe G doesn't have a website, it's own Facebook page, and even its highly-praised yet sparse Yelp reviews can only tell us so much, except for some base dishes, their menu changes seasonally, and have daily specials like the Warm Asparagus Salad w/ Morel Mushrooms. The cafe sits gorgeous but unpretentious, bustling and serving it's patrons who are in abundance. There is no need to advertise. Perhaps best not to overwhelm the airy glass structure of the new wing it is housed in.

Cafe G's current featured ingredient is the Nasturtium flower, one you'll see bloomed in abundance during the warmer months, hanging over the balconies of the courtyard. Pictured is the Strawberry Creme de Pot with meringue, cookie "soil" and the petals of the aforementioned floral.

Though most of the seats are for looking not sitting, there are cozy leather chairs scattered along some of the dark corridors, with blank sheets of paper and golf pencils. Are they encouraging us to sketch/write about our experiences, inviting us for a moment of intent observations and see what we would otherwise miss? I sat for a moment and gave it a shot.

I would love to go back on another day like this - cold, dark, quiet, intimate. Walking close, shoulder-to-shoulder, hushed whispers.