You are right, Sahara.  There are no mists, or veils, or distances.  But the mist is surrounded by a mist; and the veil is hidden behind a veil; and the distance continually draws away from the distance.  That is why there are no mists, or veils, or distances.  That is why it is called The Great Distance of Mist and Veils.  It is here that The Traveler becomes The Wanderer, and The Wanderer becomes The One Who Is Lost, and The One Who Is Lost becomes The Seeker, and The Seeker becomes The Passionate Lover, and The Passionate Lover becomes The Beggar, and The Beggar becomes The Wretch, and The Wretch becomes The One Who Must Be Sacrificed, and The One Who Must Be Sacrificed becomes The Resurrected One, and The Resurrected One becomes The One Who has Transcended The Great Distance of Mist and Veils.  Then for a thousand years, or the rest of the afternoon, such a One spins in The Blazing Fire of Changes, embodying all the transformations, one after the other, and then beginning again, and then ending again, 86,000 times a second.  Then such a one, if he is a man, is ready to love the woman Sahara; and such a One, if she is a woman, is ready to love the man who can put into song The Great Distance of Mist and Veils.  Is it you who is waiting, Sahara, or is it me?

Book of Longing. Leonard Cohen. 

Hanging out in an abandoned school, downtown Birmingham Alabama.  Photo courtesy of (& Copyright) my dearest friend Kyle M. Brown.

The mass post editor is a dangerous thing and I definitely just deleted pretty much all of the pictures I’ve ever posted of myself so here’s a bunch all at once from 2011 to 2013.

Spent a wet hot summer Sunday in some magnificent caves with equally magnificent people. 

Nice day for an adventure in the Alabama mountains (yes we have them too). 

A brief stop on the family farm in Montevallo, Alabama to make challah with my aunt.  

Baby Cousin & Grandma, or, The Layman Family Face.

If I must trust that trouble is an opportunity for strengthening & intimacy this week has proven it. Owls are ever present & life is (quite clearly) beautiful.

New Orleans roundtwo

1. Brian’s fantastic hair on fiddle; 2. super stellar fire starter Monet; 3. good-morning; 4. the road to breakfast biscuits; 5. getting closer; 6. impromptu six am street show by the masterful brett & his gypsy magic; 7. biscuit mission complete - a better tomorrow indeed; 8. with my new lover. 

Our glorious week in Savannah, Georgia

1. Florence’s ‘Trying Face’; 2. Brian pausing for a sip on the riverwalk; 3. Windy & Warm; 4. Nik as a French Canadian Redneck; 5. Echo echoing; 6. Tillulah who makes the best pancakes ever; 7. Flo & I at the Hopscotch Festival; 8. Lo-quat pickin’ time in Georgia; 9. Fever Trampin on the road again.

Thank you to our sweet & wonderful savannah hosts Lexi & Rocco, these guys are the best!

Sweating from busking & so so happy (in Savannah, Georgia)

Slept on the beach last night, squatting in a life guard stand watching the meteor shower & sharing a bottle of whiskey with my companions. Woke up to this sunrise over the Atlantic, it doesn’t get much better.

Thank you thank you love you

Trex is ready.

Let us stay at your house, we make gourmet breakf(e)asts

Where I slept last night (Athens), onto Augusta!

Brian’s birthday celebration in the home of the lovely Aurora, Gabe, & Joey. Mars Hill, North Carolina.