More foliage pix.

These are a few more bonus pix from our Fall Foliage 2009 Tour, from Jen, that she absolutely wanted to add to the mix since she likes them so much.

NEW HAMPSHIRE!

AMAZING VIEWS!

PICTURESQUE COUNTRYSIDE!

Into uncharted territory. As usual.

When we are lost, we typically look at a map to figure out where we are and how to get to our chosen destination. This works well, assuming that there is a map of the territory in which we find ourselves, and assuming that we know our destination. However, this is not always the case. At this time in human history, we are all venturing into uncharted territory, whether we know it or not. And as individuals, we may find ourselves covering ground that our predecessors never even knew existed. When we look to them for guidance, they often come up short. Not knowing exactly where we are, we find ourselves unsure of which way to go, and eventually the uneasy feeling that we are lost presents itself.

The beauty of being lost is the same thing that makes it scary—it asks us to look within ourselves to find the way. If we have no map, we must go on instinct, relying on our inner compass to show us which way to go. This can be scary because so much seems to be riding on it. We fear we might go too far in the wrong direction, or become paralyzed and make no progress at all. And yet, this is the very challenge we need to develop our ability to trust ourselves. We are also learning to trust that the universe will support and guide us. We may believe this intellectually, but it is only through experience that it becomes knowledge of the heart. Learning to be okay with being lost and trusting that we will be guided, we begin our journey.

We can support ourselves by confirming that we don’t need to know exactly where we are going in order to take our first steps. We are learning to feel our own way, rather than following an established path, and in doing so we learn to trust ourselves. It is this trust that connects us to the universe and reminds us that no matter how lost we feel, and even as we journey, on the inner level we are already home.

***
For more articles like this, visit DailyOm.com, an online spiritual community.

Take a chill pill.

"To everything there is a season."

one thing i've (finally) learned in life is you have to get comfortable with the ebbs and flows of the universe.

just as surely as there will be "down time", there will also be hectic time. when you have faith in this concept, you can really enjoy those moments of peace, when it feels like "nothing" is going on, instead of worrying that we don't have anything to do.

i always tell everyone this at work whenever it slows down. they fret that there's no new business coming, then suddenly there will be a surge of new projects opening and we all end up having to work more and faster.

enjoying the slow periods helps us to better handle the hectic periods, because we'll be well-rested and ready to face whatever challenges are piled on our plates.

***
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven" - Ecc. 3:1, Holy Bible

Boston Book Festival 2009.

Went to Boston on Saturday, 10/24/09 for the first anual book fest. Rode in on the commuter train from Lowell to North Station, which comes out right at the entrance of the TD Bank Garden, home of the Celtics and Bruins. The fall colors were blazing on our ride in, despite the clouds and persistant mist mixed with spitting raindrops. It was an unseasonably warm day as well, with winds coming from the south.

Upon arrival, we jumped on the green line to Copley Square, where the bibliophilic activites were taking place. With a fresh cup of Dunkies coffee pumping its way through our veins, we first entered the sanctuary that is the Boston Public library. Our destination inside was the ublic reading room, where actress-turned-author Alicia Silverstone would be speaking about her new book, "The Kind Life", which is all aboout taking better care of yourself from the inside-out.

Yes, we bought the book, and yes, we hung around for the book signing afterwards. Mostly though, we were excited to tell her about how Jen's sister Cindy inspired us to go veggie, and ask her to write a special dedication to her in her own copy of the book, to which she energetically obliged. Cindy was instrumental in our conversion, and we owe her a HUGE debt of gratitude for her non-invasive techniques of education and letting her actions inspire us.

In her message to Cindy, Alicia wrote: "To Cindy: Thank God for people like you!", which we thought was a very fitting response. We hung around and chatted for a bit - she's very nice and very well-spoken, and she really has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things vegan. She also suggested I become active on her website because "they need more boys on there."

Anyway, after the successful signing, with stars in our eyes we headed across the street to the Old South Church to hear John Hodgman - PC himself - speak on his path to becoming a writer and a "famous minor television personality". The sanctuary of the church was completely packed by the time we arrived - standing room only, unlike on Sundays - but when the Q & A session began at the end I jumped at the opportunity.

My first question was whether he planned out the "John Hodgman Brand" at any length before he became the minor celebrity he is. His response was that while he did indeed put serious thought into how he wanted his career as a writer to turn out, he never really envisioned the TV and movie stuff, so his "brand" sort of morphed out of that, along with a series of very lucky, happy, fortuitous events which he was more than happy to feed along the way. He is, in essence, just being himself, albeit to a slightly more staged version.

My next question was in regards to social media. As everyone who has ever had to create a unique and memorable username knows, finding something that hasn't already been taken is more than half the challenge in venturing into a new media. How often have you went to join an online site, only to have your username already taken?

(As I'm writing this, I can hear a Mac/PC commercial playing in the background on the living room TV.)

As an intelligent, humorous writer and social media superhero, I wanted to see what the great Hodgman would do if he were to find himself in just such a position. My question was phrased as follows: "If the name @Hodgman wouldn't have been available on Twitter, what would you have picked as your username?"

PC's deadpan response was instant: "Probably @Hodgman with an -E-" (@Hodgeman). The genius of it all.

So that was a fun way to spend an otherwise dreary morning in Boston in October. Up next was a walk through the Common for some unbelievable fall colors pictures. We cruised around Swan Pond, and ended up in Beacon Hill for a late lunch at Panificio. Not-so-great service, but great food makes up for it.

After lunch, I wrote out this blog entry, we walked the entire length of Newbury Street (up AND down, stopping at the farthest point West to salute Fenway Park), and then hurried to catch the 8:00 train back to Lowell, where we were meeting a friend for dinner at a new sandwich place downtown, called Dharma Buns. (See my Yelp review here.)

So that was our Saturday. Today, as I'm writing this, it's Sunday, and Jen's cooking a vegan eggplant dish from Alicia's recipe section of her book. We're taking it easy today because tomorrow night we're heading back into Boston for an HP-sponsored event for bloggers and internet writers, which we will definitely be reporting back on later in the week.

Until then, make it a good one and don't forget to take some time out for yourself to have FUN!

J&T

The Old South Church, where we saw the reverend John "PC" Hodgman speak.

Close up of sculpture detail at Trinity Church, which is caddie-corner across Copley Square from Old South.

We loved this shot of a deserted State Street so much, Jen stood behind me and stopped traffic so I could get the shot. It was well worth it! Check out the ghostly outlines of the buildings in the distance.

Top of the Pru not even visible most of the morning due to fog.

The BPL has a gorgeous atrium for chilling with a good book.

Here she is: Alicia Silverstone makes a special guest appearance on our blog - in the process of signing her book for Cindy. If we lived in LA, I'm sure we'd be friends with her and her husband. :) (Photo posted courtesy of Alicia Silverstone.)

Strolling along through Boston Common.

We loved this tree. And look how green the grass is! It's practically glowing.

Make way for Jen!

Urban Hiking.

Heading home - Jen walks down the tunnel at Arlington on Newbury Street to catch the green back to North Station. What a day!

***

Click here to buy the book "The Kind Life" by Alicia Silverstone.
Only $23 to change your life? Come on, how can you pass up a deal like that? ;)

New England Apples

It's our first New England fall together, I had to take Tommy to the place I picked apples as a little girl. Mack's Apples.


I LOVE this place! It's so magical and peaceful in it's own way. We had a great time picking apples. Mack's has so many different apples, but our favorite to eat plain is hands down the Honeycrisp. Favorite to bake with Courtlands.

These are the strongest bags ever! We packed it to the brimm.

MMMMMMMMMM! This is the first of many pies to come!

Stream of consciousness.

photo © Allen Ginsburg, 1953.

For Jack Kerouac, writing was all about creating a mood, feeling or picture in someone else's head. To do this effectively, he developed a technique of writing called "Spontaneous Prose", in which he strived to "write without consciousness" allowing subconscious, uninhibited thought to be expressed. In the manual, Belief and Technique for Modern Prose, Jack provides us with a list of thirty "essentials" for creating yr own stream of consciousness writing samples:

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

Ironically, many of these tips can transcend far beyond simply writing. Try using them in yr every day life and see how much more connected and open you feel to new experiences, places and people, and you'll be able to see the world the way Jack did.

Jack Kerouac memorial walk.

Kerouac: Brooding, but sensitive.

On October 21, 2009, we honored the 40th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's passage into the non-physical reality. Considering he was born and raised right here in Lowell, MA, we figured it would be fitting to join the "Lowell Celebrates Kerouac" committee on their tour of Jack's favorite haunts around town. Joining us on the walk was our good friend and exceptionally talented photographer, Anne Ruthmann, who supplies the photo slideshow you will see at the bottom of this post.

One of the highlights of our time in Lowell was learning more about this mysterious figure known as Kerouac. Part man, part legend, part myth, part ghost, part Canadian but all-American, the "King of the Beats" has left an indelible mark on scores of budding writers all over the globe.

What Jack's doing now, no one knows. But what he did while he was here is a true gift to all of mankind. Kerouac thought of writing as his "duty" while here on Earth, and he performed said duty as well as anyone could in such a brief time. From The Town and the City, his first published novel which loosely describes his growing up in Lowell (and out of it), to the "bible" of the Beats, On the Road, Kerouac not only transcended genres, he created his own.

There are many creative storytellers; however, there are few who create a completely new style of writing. Jack's spontaneous prose, rambling alliterative inner dialogues and prolifically poignant poetry established a writing style so unique, so current, and yet so timeless, it spawned an entire generation of blessed Beatniks who are still reeling from the era known as the 1960s.

For Jack to write was for him to expose his very soul, leaving himself utterly vulnerable to the world at large and no doubt leading to his premature exit at the age of 47 in 1969.

I leave you with a passage from On the Road as a small sample and salute to Jack's style:

The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars, and in the middle, you see the blue center-light pop, and everybody goes ahh...

For more biographical information on Jack Kerouac, including a complete list of his published works, you can link to his Wikipedia entry here.

Support Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, and help keep Jack's memory alive.

Every day a celebration!

We all know someone who keeps plastic covers on his or her couch in order to protect it. The irony is that many of these people may live their lives without ever having actually made contact with their own furniture! This is a poignant and somewhat humorous example of the human tendency to try to save things for special occasions, as if everyday life weren’t special enough to warrant the use of nice things. Many of us have had the experience of never wearing a particular piece of clothing in order to keep it nice, only to have it go out of style in the meanwhile.

It’s interesting to think of what it would mean to us if we let ourselves wear our nicest clothes and eat off the good china on a daily basis. We might be sending ourselves the message that every day we are alive is a special day and a cause for celebration, and that we are worth it. There is something uplifting about treating ourselves to the finest of what we have. It is as if we rise to the occasion when we wear our best clothes and set the table beautifully, as if for a very special guest. We are more mindful of where we place things, what we are eating, and who is with us.

Using the good china, wearing your favorite outfit, and taking the plastic off the sofa might be an invitation to be more conscious of the beauty and grace inherent in our everyday lives.

Want to read more articles like this? Join DailyOm.com, and online spiritual community.

Clear your weeds. (quote)

developing a routine can help make things start happening again.

good things.

transformations.

just look at nature - the seasons represent the "ultimate routine", year in year out, seemingly the same, but always filled with cycles of growth, death, rebirth, change, decay, seeds, colors, surprises, repitition, wonder...

i've noticed that just when things seem to become "normal", soon after that's when everything is shaken up a little bit so we can move on to the next step. so be prepared for the next great opportunity in your life, it may be right around the corner. always moving forward. the destination IS the journey.

today's quote:

"Life is like a garden. Quite naturally, leaves wither and flowers fade. Only if we clear the decay of the past then and there can we really enjoy the beauty of the new leaves and flowers."

(Mata Amritanandamayi)

Are you starting to be able to see and enjoy the beauty of your new garden? Fall is a great time to remember that are all right where we need to be right now, in order to clear out our past weeds and dead leaves, to make room for the new.

Sometimes it's more obvious, but it's happening all the time. We are cleaning house. So take time now to enjoy the changes. Appreciate how far you've come. Notice where you've advanced.



Really see your changes and give yourself a little pat on the back.

Are you a little bolder now? A little more flexible? More easy to accept change? More forgiving? More adventurous? More daring? Nicer, funnier, stronger? More grateful for things in the moment? We all probably have several areas that have grown a great deal recently. Let's notice them this week and appreciate how we've advanced as people. That's the only way we'll be able to continuously move on to whatever's next.

Have a fantastic rest of the week!

***
–Tommy Pesavento is a freelance writer and commercial artist currently living in New England with his wife Jen, who is also an artist and illustrator. You can find Jen on Etsy (shop name: nspire), or explore Tommy's online design studio, Atomic Lime Creative Lab. Feel free to share this information with anyone - just link back here if you please. :)


Image Copyright © 2002 - 2009 Desktop wallpaper Fantom-XP Inc. All rights reserved.

Peak Foliage Weekend in New Hampshire - 2009.

Columbus Day weekend we went up for the proverbial Fall Foliage drive through New Hampshire. Although it was a bit cloudy that day, the colors were in prime form, and the lighting actually creating some interesting effects with the contrast.

We started out in Lowell, headed north on Route 3 into NH, past Manchester, then split off onto 89 at Concord towards Mt. Kearsarge. Once there (after a gorgeous drive) we climbed half the mountain for some awesome valley shots, then continued on to Lake Sunapee region.

On the road around Lake Sunapee, an interesting thing happened. We noticed there was another Audi behind us. No big deal at first, but as we crested a hill we saw there were two. "Wow, three Audis in a row," we thought. Then on a straightaway, the two we had previously se revved up on our left to pass -- then another -- then another -- then another! Five Audis passed us at high speeds, but there were still 3 or 4 behind us! It was like being in a commercial.

The line of matching cars seemed to be in some kind of unofficial race around the lake! We held down 5th place for about 10 minutes, approaching speeds of 80 mph on a twisty, turny lake-hugging road, before the 4 behind us eventually had an opportunity to pass.

Although Jen was cheering me on to stay with the grouping, I pulled over by the Lake Sunapee sign for some photos, knowing they'd soon be long gone.

After this excitement, we wound down in Concord, NH, for tofu-based burritos as Dos Amigos before heading back to Lowell. Fantastic weekend for peak foliage in mid-New Hampshire.











Lake Sunapee.






Stopped off in Concord, capital of New Hampshire, for some late lunch...


This is supposed to be a drawing of Tommy - looks more like Van Gogh!

Home.

Lost in cheap delirium
Searching the neon lights
I move carefully
Sink in the city aquarium
Sing in the key of night
As they're watching me

Take me somewhere we can be alone
Make me somewhere I can call a home
'Cause lately I've been losing on my own

Wrapped in silent elegance
Beautifully broken down
As illusions burst
Too late to learn from experience
Too late to wonder how
To finish first

Take me somewhere we can be alone
Make me somewhere I can call a home
'Cause lately I've been losing on my own

Take me somewhere we can be alone
Make me somewhere I can call a home

Won't you take me home
Won't you take me home
'Cause lately I've been losing on my own
Won't you take me home

~ Lyrics from the song 'Home' by Zero 7.




The HOME LYRICS are the property of the respective authors, artists and labels, the lyrics are provided for educational purposes only , If you like the song, please buy relative CD to support Zero 7.

Buy this album on Amazon for $14.

Buy this album on electronically for $10.

Planning for change.

This post is dedicated to anyone who might be contemplating making a change in your life.

Every day, I receive an email from MorningCoach.com, and since today's email was all about change (something we're fond of) I wanted to share with you the key points of the article:

Change may be something drastic, like changing careers, cities or partners, or it may be as simple as driving home from work on a different route, or parting your hair the opposite way, or ordering a tofu-based dish instead of the fried chicken.

Mike Magdaleno, the author of today's article, suggests that the common thread in all of these is the importance of making a plan.

Sometimes this aspect of making a plan seems like such an uphill battle. Far too often we get caught up in the details of form, substance, etc. Simplification is the secret. When we break it down to simple steps, and perfect those simple steps, then we begin to see the thrill in making these plans. Then, making the plan is more fun than a chore.

I am a huge advocate of writing your plan down. Don’t be scared, this is the fun part. To make it easy, just write it down ANYWHERE. It could be a fancy notebook or simply a cocktail napkin – some of the best plans were hatched there! Magdaleno shares the story of how Wayne Gretzky's first contract was handwritten over dinner on sheets of notebook paper! All of his great accomplishments in the game of hockey began with that very first plan.

Some savvy computer users put their plans on their hard drives, portable devices, iCal, etc. All that is great, but remember that Gretzky started from just plain sheets of paper. I want to stress ever so strongly that it can be written anywhere; the main thing is to just write it. Whatever works for you, then do it. 39-cent spiral notebooks are great, because you aren't afraid to use them. Moleskine-brand and Picadilly are nice if you want something a little more substantial, but whatever you choose, you can't let the price (whether low or high) have an effect on how often you write your plans.

After you have written it down, the thrill comes into play. The plan is written and it is so thrilling that things you are doing are moving in the direction of the changes.

I have personally had this happen to me. For years I struggled with the idea, but then as I wrote things down, my subconscious was able to go to work developing the plan into something real, and the Universe took care of the details.

Some examples for me have included becoming a freelance graphic designer, landing a full-time job at a creative agency, living on the beach, moving to New England, getting paid to write, and so on. Don't underestimate the power of writing down your plan.

I even know someone "personally" who once wrote that they would find their soulmate, and within a few months, she did.

The bottom line is that we will all have change as a constant companion throughout our lives; your choice is whether or not you want to resist it or embrace it. I suggest that if you're going to get wet, you might as well go swimming. So grab your snorkel, dive in, and don't forget to write down what you want so everything can start getting into place.

I love it when a plan comes together. ;)

Sunset bike tour of Lowell.

While Tommy's decided to take a little break from writing so much, we're not taking a break from blogging. As such, here's a little mini-tour around some parts of Lowell that are going to be changing soon...

Since we're definitely moving to Portsmouth at the end of November, we're trying to take in as much of this area as we can while we're still here.


No, that's not an ancient ruin from a lost civilization in South America. It's Tommy standing in front of the ivy wall behind the Masonic Temple in downtown Lowell.





Here's a shot of what Tommy calls "The Warzone", soon to be "resurrected" as part of the Hamilton Canal Project in Lowell.



Close-up of "the wall" (not Pink Floyd's wall, but whatever). They'll try to keep this stuff intact and build all around it and next to it so the old decrepit stuff can stand as a reminder of what was.




This is a fun building to photograph because there's no roof! Apparently, no roof = no taxes so they just took down the roofs (rooves?) and left the rest.



Hope, even in the midst of all this wreckage. I truly felt like I was in Iraq for a moment when I was shooting this, especially since I heard 3 or 4 gunshots just a few minutes prior. Weird, but not really.



Hey, the canals are empty again!

Tommy: "This might be my last chance before we move."
Jen: "Last chance for what?"
Tommy: "To boldly go where no man has gone before."
Jen: "You don't mean..."
Tommy: "Hold my bag. I'm going in!"

Heading into the canal - the NPS boats are "beached".

He'll be comin' round the corner when he comes...

...a little closer...

Got it! "The Shot." The mud in the canal is SO sticky it's like a vacuum with every step, and it's EXTREMELY slippery so that you almost fall off the wall with every step. Don't try this at home kids.

My shoes still stink from this adventure.

There's my bag and trusty steed waiting for me. Jen was off in the field picking flowers when I came back up.

Awesome sunset over our soon-to-be-former building, the American Textile History Museum. Check out the sweet circular rainbow!