Young Man With Bicycle (2006)

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

This is the first appearance of the dangerous looking young man who reminds me of a certain not-so-friendly guide (but then he's a not-so-un-friendly guide, too) who's usually pictured with blood coming out of his mouth - that's after destroying all of your delusions or obstacles or whatever... it just seems a bit disconcerting at the time. And here he comes.

The bicycle is a mystery to me, tho it's provenance might be The Third Policeman, which begins with the question, "Is it something about a bicycle?"

We never find out.

Piano with Elephant

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

There's a physics theory that time doesn't exist (best laid out in The End Of Time by Julian Barbour) which I find very persuasive. It is, in a few words, this: there's a multidimensional space where all possible universes exist. Only a few of those possible universes support life and our (so-called) intelligence. We find ourselves in one now. Consciousness is the mystery here. How it "finds itself" in any particular place. No one knows.

But even if you accept the theory, and the idea that any moment's history is encoded within it (since each moment is separate from all others, and what seems like continuity is mere adjacency,) how does music work? Any particular note means nothing without the context of all the notes that came before it. We anticipate the notes to come, and when they aren't "right" it doesn't sound like music...

Where are we?

Waiting Gently, Thinking of Two Roads

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

One leads to rest and sleep, the other to the front door and "the street all alone."

I think I'm in for rest for a few days.

I dreamed of that dog last night. Where is he this morning?

Don't Eat The Camellias

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

I may be a traveling man after all.
Sagittarius moon and all that.

On the Road Again Again

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

One day you realize that it's never "just one more time."

There's always another. Another road, another entering and another leaving.

I want to stay in this cozy room with the flowers and floor lamp; there's a sense of a nice home behind, where a grandmother or great aunt lives and waits. It's timeless, with a mantel lined with black and white fotos of men in uniforms and women in aprons.

A screened-in back porch, shucking corn and listening to the clothes dry on the line. An old man has puttered contentedly in a warm garage where the smell of old wood and motor oil combine. Jars of screws and nails, saved from other projects, in a row on a workbench. A spider web.

I want to stay, but it's not possible.

On the road again, again.

Askance

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

A dog alone. An old car comes rumbling down the desert road.

Should he chase it?

Or let this one go?

Heading off into the sunset, either way.

The Fortune Teller Is Thinking About Something Else.

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

She looks over the client, at you. Don't make me get the dog, she says. Which road will you take? This fool with his issues. It's all here. Why is the sun like that on the floor? It's frozen there. Wishing we could hear the dog howling at the moon. Everything is a beginning. Why does she get to wear an orange hat? It's her birthday.

Palette #8

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Originally uploaded by douglasstruth

My Goodness. A Russian or Turkish dancer spins about with Chagallian laughter. A Roualt harrumphs, but everyone else is loving the grey-and-green combination of clouds and trees. It's a marvelous combination that Nature is very proud of. When the light from the clouds makes the leaves seem to glow. Mitsubishi or is it IBM is trying as ever to force itself into the fairy tale but with undying lack of success. For which we're all grateful.
Beauty and Beast, that sort of thing. I can smell the nasturtiums and roses in the heat. A lovely sunset far away, but so beckoning to a romantic (but phony) like me. But then not phony, too. A blue mona lisa smile keeps us honest, but adds, "It's your birthday."