An acoustic album, spinning on the record player
Bottomless hot coffee
Steady drumming on the roof
Play-doh all over on the floor
An armful of stuffed toy frogs, coloring books
Wet dog, drying out on his bed
A new sprout on the avocado sapling
A wet shine on the deck, splatters
A dim shine on the wood floor, cloudy sunlight
A few words rattling around my head
But mostly quiet

I'm sitting on the docks tonight at the lake and there's a kid, a bit south of 20, I'd guess, wandering up and down the pier, snapping photo after photo on his phone. it's a beautiful, early-spring evening, a little chilly, but there's golden sunset light bouncing all around and the surface of the lake is lit up by the turquoise sky. A great evening to take pictures, in fact.

I've been watching the kid out of the corner of my eye, remembering how at his age I used to wander for hours around the old parts of Staunton, and the even-older parts of Baltimore, taking pictures with my old film camera.

It's inspiring to see him here, admiring the evening with his brilliant little networked pocket supercomputer. I wonder what stories he's putting together.

Last week I was working on some new ink drawings (using brush and pen) and started running low on paper. I made a run to the art store down the street to re-up, figuring on a 20-minute errand: walk in, pick up the usual, then be on my way. But they didn't have my usual paper, and I realized I had no idea, really, what I should be looking for in an alternative. I found myself standing there in the paper aisle, wandering back and forth, staring at the shelf labels; 20 minutes came and went, and then another.

My brother Andy went to Germany last summer as part of a research project for the engineering degree he's working on. My brother is a gearhead, talented mechanic, and a fan of stout-style beer; Germany is essentially paradise for him. This three-month trip would be his first experience living abroad, in a place where he didn't know anyone, and where he would be immersed in a language that he didn't speak natively (though he had a few years of German classes under his belt).

I found a specialty pen shop nearby, where I picked up this great Pilot Namiki fountain pen. Super smooth, and allows just a bit of modulation in the line, nice heft to it.