Sitting in Café Lemont on their first day of business, — writing, eavesdropping on conversations, and enjoying a bacon, zucchini and bacon frittata with my Earl Grey tea. Life is moving slowly and slowing down is part of my plan.
I subscribe to Zen Habits, a blog promoting simplicity, something I’ve been chasing for decades and I am happy to report it remains as elusive now as it did when I was writing in my journals back in 1972. I’m still in the hunt.
A recent post on Zen Habits titled a brief guide to life distilled the chase into a short list, one I have looked at a lot lately. I’m reminded again how the simple things seem to be the hardest for me.
Café Lemont is a nice place. Quiet, relaxed, no music. Yet. The sort of environment where I can think. Rare in a noisy world. You meet people in places like this. Karen and Richard (apologies for my decaying memory if it’s really Robert). Karen follows Scooter in the Sticks and recognized the yellow and black jacket. Richard is a Vespa rider, or was until his scooter had an unfortunate meeting with a deer just down the road. A road where I’ve come close to meeting deer on several occasions.
MEMO TO SELF: Slow down on that road.
We talked about the accident, about scooters, and Karen’s desire to possess one of the new Espresso/Bronze-colored Vespa LX150ie scooters.
I’m glad the list doesn’t say “less riding”. It does say less driving so I’m ok on that point. I know how to rationalize.
A Vespa suits my personal strategic initiative of going slowly and keeping things simple. And it yields dividends of solitude, play, and smiles. In a car I probably wouldn’t notice the blue, portable toilets and probably never would stop to make a picture. I’d just miss the odd juxtaposition of form and color. Does it matter? For me noticing little details, stopping, and making pictures charges my internal batteries. It lets me chew on the moment. And it only costs a few minutes time on the way home from work. The scooter has managed to help me pry open one door on the way towards simplicity.
At the café I talk with a Distinguished Professor at Penn State who I’ve known for over 35 years. I see an entomologist I photographed a few weeks ago while he managed honey bee hives situated on a green roof on campus. And I overheard stories of avalanches and helicopter rides home from school from a mathematician and teacher who grew up in Alaska.
A fine morning.
Almost home I stop to admire the sky and the light at the end of the day. Another picture. And I think about the list. There is more work ahead.
I take a deep breath and smile.
Cafe Lemont does have Sunday hours, btw – or so their website says. 😉
Hello, Steve.
I follow your blog for quite some time. I admire and agree with this approach to simple things, and the way you face the scooter world. I drive a Vespa 300 Super and a Honda Helix, and I look very close to these sensations.
Scooter in the Sticks is a wonderful photo blog too.
Congratulations on that.
Cheers,
Vasco
(Lisbon, Portugal)
Dear Steve:
The devil is in me this morning. Here it is you are waxing philosphical, and the only thing I can think of is your scooter up against a wall of latrines, with the penultimate point of that paragraph being, the machine lets you pry open open one door…
All of the doors in the Porto-Sans leads to the same thing. And so much of life is just like that.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
hrw115: Thanks for the heads up on the Sunday hours at Cafe Lemont. I went this morning and asked the owner about it and she said they had a lot of people who want to come on Sunday so they changed their hours.
VCS: Thanks for the kind words about Scooter in the Sticks. I appreciate them.
Simple things are powerful. Sometimes difficult to get to them though.
Mr. Riepe: I was wondering if someone would point out what you have. I figured someone with keen insight and razor edge thinking would. I am not surprised it’s you.
On the day I made the image the door was a metaphor. It would have been a good time though to use those things. They were new and unused at that point.
Steve:
try as hard as we might, simpler things are just not within my grasp but I forsee a simpler time in my future as soon as I get my mind into it.
Last weekend, for the first time in a long time, I went riding with the sole purpose of capturing images trying to look at our urban landscape with different eyes.
bob
Wet Coast Scootin
The simplicity thing will remain elusive if it requires one set of wheels over another to achieve.
Simplicity comes from the manner of viewing not from the platform from which the landscape is viewed.
Finding the line between simplicity and deprivation may come more easily with the loss of internal combustiuon.
Steve,
There are those of us who are restless. Perhaps Seers, but not in the sense of being a clairvoyant, prophet, oracle, or diviner. Rather Seer as one who seeks to see that which will happen just as the moment hatches into the present.
I enjoy watching you engage in look and see. Thanks for sharing word and image.
~Keith
Thanks for posting the links. I plan to spend some more time at the site.
Great porta-potty picture. Oh yeah, the Vespa, too.
Jim
bobskoot: Getting the mind into simpler things is the big challenge for me. Riding clears my head enough to see the simple horizon but I always get lost in the details…
conchscooter: I agree that simplicity is about choices but not sure which ones. So many things to choose from.
Steve,
Glad to hear your quieter moments includes total reflection on the surrounding, owns one purpose, and future. I’m with you in a good way. I continue to enjoy my far and in between scooter rides but as we all get our priorities in order. Keep up with the great pictures…I can’t wait to get my 4-3rds to try out.
Ride safe and enjoy..
CircleBlue: You describe the process well. I like the notion of things hatching into the moment.
Jim: Zen Habits has an interesting mix of material. It’s not all relevant for me but a lot is thought provoking.