A Quiet Friday Night

Saturday. Alrighty then, let's go down to Bromwell School and shoot some hoops. Maybe get in a pick-up game. Full court but no fast breaks. Don't want to give the young guys an edge.

I sat out in the dark last night with my radio and my dog, puffing on a stogie and sipping a Baileys. From the indoors I could hear the sound of both our televisions when I chose to tune them in. RTGFKAR was watching a History Channel offering about big guns in WWII and Woowoo Charly was getting down with American Idol, the weekly vote off show. I had my radio turned up to a moderate level playing Latin ballads and I listened to it whenever one song or another caught my attention. Mostly though, these sounds, music and televisions, were background accompaniment for the insect symphony that performs here on a nightly basis, no charge. I listened to their music until my thoughts drowned all away and my focus turned completely inward. I must have gotten very still then, because Gus stopped his constant perimeter patrol and lay down at my feet.

The smells of the night, earthy and wet played on a lightly moving breeze that blew off my cigar smoke and brought an occasional whiff of one flower or another. I would have preferred the smoke, but the sweet scent of flower wasn't all that bad and probably helped inspire the pleasant thoughts that were drifting through my consciousness. Most of them were along the lines of "how good is this!" but I let them pass waiting for the flash when inspiration replaces contemplation. It is often during these moments of both inner and outer quiet - a state not easy for we monkeymind types to achieve - that I get an idea for a piece of writing or a solution to a current dilemma. When I don't, like last night, and the thoughts drift idly by carrying nothing new, not all is lost. The sense of peace and calm that pervades my stillness lingers awhile after and leaves me feeling light hearted and very content. I can't think of a better mood to be in when heading to the sack and beyond that, to Dreamland.