Sunday, September 6, 2009

Galileo's Latte

There is a saying, "Don't forget to show kindness to strangers, you may find out that they are angels in disguise..". Or maybe it was, don't be rude to the guy in line with you, he may be Galileo. Or Mother Theresa. Now celebs get plenty of air time, you know, like Jack Black. Don't get me wrong, he cracks me up. But down in the dust where we all live, how do we treat the shmuck next to us. What if we knew he/she had infinite potential? Do we regard one another as treasures?

Those that survived the chaos of life had help. Sometimes a kind word turns history. Joan Osborne sang, "What if God were one of us? Just a slob like one of us/ Just a stranger on the bus/Trying to make his way home..."

In Leo Tolstoy's short story, What Men Live By, a shoemaker facing starvation is confronted by someone worse off than himself.

These photos were taken by a friend of mine, Mark Chidester. He is an Earthwalker, poet, story teller, song writer, singer, writer, photographer, artist, giver. I've known him for almost twenty years, and he is a dear friend. Among his many mysterious talents, he can fix any car. In the dark, blindfolded.
He hates doing it, but he is a car whisperer.

I won't tell you how he took these stunning photos. But here is a hint: they are pictures of the moon.


Mark has traveled the world, fished for salmon in Alaska, worked with the Amish, sang on street corners, worked as a barista, saved my arse on many occasions, and his story will one day be a best seller.



Great spirits often have disguises. Let's give each other the benefit of the doubt. What would Galileo order? Double tall latte, organic milk, and some of those sprinkles, the ones that look like the moons of Jupiter..







Thanks Mark, for these remarkable images.

12 comments:

Ruthie Redden said...

A thought provoking post richard, especially as i am just finishing a painting included the words, "entertaining angels unaware". stunning images that have a wonderful other worldish feel to them, & the words in the song by alanis - we would all do well to carry them in our thoughts always!

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Thanks so much, Ruthie. I look forward to seeing your painting.

jesse joshua watson said...

amazing pics!!!

Martha Brockenbrough said...

This is a really great post. Definitely words to live by.

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Thanks J.

I appreciate that, Martha. Thanks for becoming a follower. What an honor.

Julia Kelly said...

Thanks for visiting my blog- via "the rookery", I love her postings because it is so different a place to live then the red field and mountains outside my window, now I can read your blog, about life up north where it also seems to be green most of the time!
My guess is your friend took these through the colored glass of a bottle?

Richard Jesse Watson said...

You're right Julia. My friend was living in his car at the time and was rather intertwined with nature, the night, the stars, moon etc.. He took these pics of the moon through various bottles. Thanks for visiting. It so fascinating to chat with people in such different environments. I used to live in the Mojave desert so I appreciate your dry landscape.

Winter Hansen said...

Lovely post Richard. The golden rule never loses its shine. It was great to run into you again at the meeting this week.

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Hi Winter. It was great to see you in Seattle. I am enjoying your blog. Thanks for visiting, and yeah, can you imagine if the hot spots of the world (conflict wise) applied the G.R.,it would de-escalate the ramping up of retaliation. An eye for an eye is a dangerous loop to be stuck in.

tlchang said...

Lovely post Richard. I figured the visuals must be from the insides of bottles, but how cool that it is the moon illunimating them. They are really beautiful and wonderfully mysterious.

I love that song, and couldn't agree more re: the golden rule approach to life!

Mary said...

Hi Richard,

Thanks so much for speaking to SCBWI in Spokane this weekend. I enjoyed your talk very much, and also meeting your lovely wife Susi. I am not an artist, but your sharing was very inspiring to me.

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Thanks for visiting, Mary. I enjoyed meeting you as well and visiting your blogs. I like the egg timer suggestion. What a fabulous idea to remind us to chill and meditate every day even if just for three minutes.