ground control to major tom...

seven

seven turns a corner, as morning wakes again
"time to get up and earn your keep" says the watcher of all men
so seven splits the alley and turns to head uptown
he moves with quick precision, though the world sees him a clown
past civic center, curving market, seven walks his path with ease
he moves on by the castro as the flags wave in the breeze
he walks now through the mission, and knows he's nearly there
then passes 19th avenue, moving without care
he breezes through a doorway, and takes his place in line
then moves up as the people disperse and then recline
at last he's at the counter, the man says "yes, señor?"
he smiles and holds his hand up "i'll have the number four"
the man he nods at seven, and then begins to work
and then two minutes later he serves him without irk
he slides a warm plate over, across the counter top
and seven takes it from him as he pays the man called "pop"
and now he finds a table, near the window looks outside
and seven is in heaven as he now completes his ride.

the weight of all days
measured out in small units
hangs above our heads

once again the fan-
tasy slips away replaced
by the losing streak

mr. new year

first day of 2012 and what will we all find in it? the door to the answer remains locked for the present. the future is now. a very happy new year from the toastrobot!

ends and beginnings

although the calendar says the new year is still over a week away i think we should actually mark it tomorrow. tomorrow marks the shortest day of the year, or solstice. it is the day in ancient times when people actually observed the sun standing still. it happens twice a year, and after tomorrow we begin the slow crawl back toward summer. it is a time of natural transition. endings and beginnings.
outside my front door most of the trees have already stripped themselves of their leaves, and moved into a kind of hibernation period for winter. and in traditional fashion many of us too are wrapping up seasonal activities as we prepare for the end of one year and the beginning of another. i don't often make new year resolutions, but if i did i'd start tomorrow.

the shot clock resets

our minds forget another

round of twenty four

favorite things 16

one of my favorite things on a saturday morning without commitments is cooking breakfast. now breakfast itself is my favorite meal, and saturday is the pinnacle breakfast day. today was the first time i'd done one in the new place and as i stood here putting it all together it occurred to me. although i have my routines and have whipped it all up in many locales this one felt different. the new kitchen, the light coming through the windows. i was re-orienting myself. i immediately wondered how many breakfasts lay ahead here.
one of my most favorite parts of this whole ritual is the quiet time i spend here preparing the food. sometimes i'll rise before everyone else and start stirring quietly. i prepare the coffee first. and once everything is on the stove i like to pull out my old church hymnal. in between flipping the sausages and french toast i'll work my way through a few of the old familiar numbers. and this is very good. it reinforces all that is good in serving and creating, drawing me closer to the Master Creator and Servant. time spent here compared to the rest is very short. but sweet, like the french toast. today we don the beret.

thirteen-an explanation

"3 days back and a day off again? what's with this toastrobot?" actually it has been a time honored observance since this all started, if you take a look back you'll see. it began as an accident, and before i discovered you can actually go back and post supplemental entries, it became a thing. not that i'm superstitious about it. i did however like the fact that much like many of the old high rise buildings which are missing a 13th floor, my little bloggie skipped over that one as well. although, for all the really superstitious people out there who did work on the 14th floor all those years, don't you think they knew?

the deck re-shuffles
itself again as we all
search out a new home

think of a number
and close your eyes then wish it
was between today

don't worry, she knows you'll call. just not today...

the first taste leaves you
wanting, waiting while you see
it with your eyes closed

switch it up now from
weekend to work week start the
countdown new again

fifteen

tied the knot 15 years ago today. this year the traditional gift suggestion is crystal which neither of us is really crazy about anyway. we'll probably end up shaking the magic 8 ball and looking down the road of the next 15. people sometimes ask if it gets easier as time rolls on. i wouldn't say easier. life has a way of throwing new curve balls your way. but hopefully by this time we're a little better prepared for them. don't take any marriage advice from me. i'm quite blessed to share this ride with someone who's figured out my act and still enjoys being around me anyway.

your life laid bare here
under scrupulous young eyes
have watched all and cheered

lincoln highway part 001

i've gone on before about old roads. i love 'em. my advice to all the young people is to go find them and get lost. i've waxed on before about old hwy 40, but i think now it's worth mentioning the lincoln. for roads scholars it must begin here. route 66 gets all the buzz. it helps when they write a song and make a tv show about you. and i'm sure it's pretty too. some call it the mother road. but i honestly think this is a misnomer. the real mother road is the lincoln highway.
conceived in 1912 by industrialists keen on affording the public better roads and formally open for travel in 1913, it was the first continuous coast to coast road across the united states. it was not so much a purpose built road, but rather a route linking together existing roads and improving conditions on the worst sections along the way. in this sense it was a patchwork of so many of the local roads sewn together to cover the country. and in the spirit of the time, maintained and promoted through local municipalities rather than a single agency.
at this time serious road travel was not for the faint of heart. the auto and motorcycle were still in relative infancy and often unpredictable. and the road infrastructure hadn't yet caught up with the ambition of driving for extended periods. so often you read advice from veteran travelers in guidebooks advising would be adventurers to "gas up at every opportunity" and carry extra fuel for the long gaps between services. the surfaces could vary between newly paved sections to gravel depending on where you were, and it was never advisable to travel after dark. the lincoln, though primitive would be the impetus for so many of the road projects that followed, including 66.
in the 1920's the states began numbering highways and the original lincoln route was re-designated us 40 from san francisco to utah. it basically runs along us 30 from there to the east coast. as roads will it has undergone significant and constant realignments in the years that followed. but for the more serious road geeks like myself, it is the original route that is most interesting. here you travel back in time and sometimes see the ghosts of the old highway as you travel.
for the most dedicated of enthusiasts there is the lincoln highway association, a group dedicated to promoting and preserving this national relic. each year their members hold a conference in one of 12 states along the original route. and this year they're meeting in my home state just up the road in lake tahoe. included in this year's list of activities is a drive from the original western terminus in lincoln park, san francisco to lake tahoe along the original alignment. sounds like a lot of fun. and maybe i might just find myself tagging along behind the caravan of runabouts and straw boaters going all the way --- on the lincoln highway.

the heart is a wheel
a spinning fire from eight sides
the heart is crazy