The Romantic Way

Hiatus. An interruption in the continuity of a work or project. Or, you could say an interval between two notes or vowels in a word — like in “hiatus”. Isn’t Wikipedia great? As I was working on the website and looked up the word hiatus on Wikipedia, I found this awesome sense of satisfaction as I realized how important an interval is in order to make sense of a word, a tune or a life. [Read more →]

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Outsider artist and eBay entrepreneur, Andrew and his Bashkir bride Gulnara are living inspiration of what it really means to live the romantic life. We met Gulnara almost the first day we moved to Bashkortostan back in 1999. A few years later, Gulnara met Andrew on a matchmaking website. Soon they married, moved to LA and the rest is… well… romance! [Read more →]

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I am not a professional photographer. I’m an amateur. I like to think that my photography isn’t lacking skill, however, in the usual way we use the word amateur. My photography is as Atkinson used the term in Recollections of the Tartar Steppes and their Inhabitants, amateur in the sense of being a “enthusiastic pursuer of an objective”. It’s an art, a passion, a window on my world. [Read more →]

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If you can’t find a metaphor in the amazing once-in-seventeen year visit of the cicadas, then you just need more work at your romantic living skills. Last week we arrived in Northern Illinois to be greeted by the nearly deafening whine of the millions cicadas (si - kay’ -da) from every grove of trees. Naturally, being the romantic that I am, I’m amazed by these creatures and I see a life lesson. If you’re not familiar with the 17-year life of a cicada, hold on to your seat and watch the following video! [Read more →]

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I’d never fix a whole roast funky chicken. Cooking isn’t funky, I’m sorry. Some months ago, I noticed at our local grocery store that five-pound whole chickens were selling for 67 cents per pound. That’s cheap meat. Even now at 73 cents, it’s still a mighty good deal. I discovered that roasting a chicken is incredibly easy and versatile. You can decide how you’re going to roast your chicken according to the mood you’re in. That ought to hook all the melancholics out there! Get the whole roast chicken recipe here. [Read more →]

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I love state parks. They come in great variety, offer all kinds of opportunities and experiences and are really educational. They’re incredibly well maintained, clean and considerate of the environment. There is, however, one thing that kind of needles me about state parks. [Read more →]

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For those of you artistic, creative and writerly types, I’ve found something that really gets my creative fluids gushing. Holly and I recently watched the film Chocolat with Johnny Depp a few nights ago. It’s like the thousandth time, but it never gets old. Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp and Judi Dench are absolute genius. While watching the “behind the scents” extra, I noticed what a profound influence the French village had on the artistic aspect of the film. The same was true of the film Benny and Joon also with Johnny Depp as they filmed in Spokane, Washington.

So, Why?, I thought, shouldn’t we writers also write on location? [Read more →]

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The blog is cool. Very very cool because blogging is personal. The blog has brought such a freedom of expression in writing that the website didn’t quite allow. We found that the website lends itself to informational articles, recipes and poetry while the blog lends itself to dynamic sharing of information as well as experience and perception with more emotion and romance. [Read more →]

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Three pages, longhand, stream of thought, every morning, religiously. That’s what morning pages is. It’s not hard, but it’s nearly magical. Most things in life that have the most profound effect on fulfillment and joy are simple, free, and require consistency. I’ll show you a little of my journey with morning pages. [Read more →]

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