He said: "For a while now, I have been encouraged to believe that I am some kind of artist or something. What foolishness! I just make things, that's all. I make things out of dirt and sometimes out of metal, other times out of wood, whatever I can put my hands on. But I catagorically disagree that I am any kind of artist. I'm not an artist anymore than I am a Boiler Maker or a Nuclear Physisist, or a Mechanical Engineer or a Fortune Teller or a Bank Teller or a Fortune Reader or The President of These United States. I'm just a guy. I'm just a guy who is waiting to catch a bus."

Stumble It!

She said: "These are the words I will give to you: Patience so that you can know the gentle passing of time; Understanding, so that you can trust what you hear and be strong enough to say so; Faith, so that you can know where you came from and where you will eventually stay; Strength to get you through every day, no matter how difficult; Love, so that you can give back what has been so generously given you; Mercy, so that you will always know that anything can happen at any time, to anyone. The last word I give you is Hope, which is the strongest word and the one you must guard by pressing it to your heart. Without Hope you have nothing that will stay with you. Hope is the strongest of all. Be certain to keep Hope with you always."

Stumble It!

He said: "The Spring always makes me dizzy. I guess it must be the pollen or something like that. I just get this "stoned" feeling when the weather begins to warm up and all of the flowers start to bloom, and the birds appear out of nowhere and start tweeting all over the place. I guess, also, that it could be the antihistamines that I take to keep myself from drowning when I go outside. I kinda feel like a person being held for ransom money. I don't feel that it's safe to go outside much because I'm drowning in snot and I'm stoned on meds to keep me from drowning in snot. I can't think clearly, so I try not to drive because I'm sure that I can't be legal behind the wheel of a car because I can't see out the window because of the sneezing. But, here's the funny part. I wait for this misery each year because it means that Spring in here and Summer is coming. I forget about the side effects. They're always a surprise somehow."

Stumble It!

She said: "It's Thursday! I hate Thursday! Thursday is not Wednesday, which is the halfway mark to and from the weekend; and Thursday is not Friday which is the last day I have to crawl through before the rockin' weekend of Saturday, when I sleep late, and Sunday, when I sleep really late and try to recover from whatever happened over the weekend. Mondays aren't so hot either, come to think of it. I could do without Monday. I think that the "Powers that Be" should put their respective heads together and get a law passed (HA!) that would make Monday a part of a three day weekend where everyone would really be much more productive having had Monday to recover for the now 4-day work week. I think this is only common sense."

Stumble It!

He said: "It seems a long time ago, now. I don't know why I never missed it all of those years. Busy, I guess. Just never took the time to go back and revisit where I came from. I guess I didn't have that many good memories to draw me back there. The "Old Man" drank a lot and when he drank he got mean. Everybody just tried to stay away from him. Course, with Mom, she didn't have a lot of options. She just hung on. In spite of all of that stuff, I have to say that the place was beautiful in it's way. I forgot how grand it could be to watch the light set into the water, and how the tides made music by themselves and how peaceful it could be at dusk and how sacred it was as the sun just began to rise in the early morning. I forgot that there were places that beautiful and serene where there wasn't any hint of office towers and safety drills."

Stumble It!

She said: "Now, aint that cute? Now that's something a body isn't likely to see everyday. I wish I had a camera with me so's I could take a snap for my nephew. He loves unusual animals. I hope he grows up to become an animal doctor or something. Goodness, his neck is so long. You'd think that by the time any food got down there, a body 'd be hungry all over again. He's sure cute, tho. I don't think I'd want something like that in my house, though. Well, thanks for the educational talk. It was right interesting. Maybe I'll come back some day with my nephew. He'd for sure be interested in them creatures."

Stumble It!

He said: "We have become a culture of relentless consumption where everything is always on sale. There is always a need for more; more of everything, always. Things have now no limits. Money has no limits. Look at the bonus salaries for clever bankers; violence has no limits (turn on your flat screen). Money and violence have no limits and are undone. They are undone; they have no measure now and are uprooted and have no measure or value. We are all undone and can not see where the horizon is now or what is the norm, the proper, the recognized. We are in shock."

Stumble It!

She said: "I was never satisfied when I was a girl and asked 'why'? The answer to 'why' was never helpful to me in finding answers to any of life's questions. Answers from parents generally resulted in the "Because I said so, that's why" or the "Hurry up and turn the light out. It's late!" collection of answers that grown ups give to children. I never understood why the answers to my questions couldn't be better; more thoughtful and more helpful. So I would just try to find different ways of asking the same old questions, and that didn't work either. You see, I wanted to make things change; to be better and more fun. I wanted to know why Mother was crying alone in her room and where Dad went all the time, and how come I never got what I really wanted for Christmas. I wanted to know where people went when they died. I wanted to know why I was here. I wanted things in my life to change for the better; to not just change the rules, but to change the whole game, to make it understandable and fair and truthful. I wanted to change the game."

Stumble It!

He said: "Oh, I knew them. They lived just down the street, on 30th. I also saw them at Max's where they came almost every night. They were regulars in all of the "hip" places to be. I talked with her a bit once, about her sketches which were in some ways very disturbing, but I couldn't really look away. They were, for what they were, very good. He was a painter and a photographer. His images were all very blurry and dark, and he spent a lot of time in the darkroom getting them just right. They were mostly prints of young people. Later he did a lot of strange nudes that, for a time, caused a stir. They were a couple, I guess. You never saw one without the other. They were ahead of their time. It's too bad that they didn't live long enough to see the the time that they were so ahead of. It was a crazy time then. Things are calmer now."

Stumble It!

She said: I tried to write you a letter so that you could understand what I said to you. I must have stayed up half the night trying to find the right words, but I couldn't. They wouldn't come out right. I couldn't put down on paper what I felt in my heart. The longer I struggled with it, the less it felt like what I felt. You had been a good thing in my life when I needed a good thing. You never made me feel stupid and you never make me feel alone. I know I wasn't fair to you; I know that I was wrong in saying what I said. I shouldn't have done what I did. But, it's too late now to go back to where we were, even if I could find the words. I'm lost, now, in my own head."

Stumble It!

He said: "I didn't have a quarter, not even a quarter to call you back. I stood in the station and I asked people passing by if they could spare me a quarter, or a nickle even, so that I could call you back. I didn't know if you hung up or if we just lost the call somehow, but I wanted you to know that if wasn't me that hung up, and that I was so sorry, so very sorry, to hear the news. If I had a quarter for the call, that's what I would have told you. I loved her too. She was like family to me and I was so sorry for you. You have to believe me when I tell you that I tried, I really tried to get back to you, but I didn't have a quarter for the call."

Stumble It!

She said: "It happens to everyone, as far as I know. Some people got to wait a long time; some don't. Some folk get it right away. I think I was one of the lucky ones that it happened to fast. I didn't need to mess around for a long time. I just "got" it, you know. I couldn't really see how it could have been any different than what it was. It was like one morning I just woke up, but I mean in a big way, 'Woke Up'. It was like a door had opened for me and I just walked through, like a door opened and everything changed."

Stumble It!

She said: "There are some people who are just "there". They are present for everything and experience every sight, every smell, every voice. There are always fully there. When you meet someone like that, it can be difficult to deal with because, I think, that it is so rare to meet someone like that. They are always fully there; never withdrawn or "spaced out". They don't fade away in mid- conversation. They listen to you and respond in a way that lets you know that they have heard you and understand and have something positive to contribute. These people, wherever they are, are the grace among the ruins."

Stumble It!