Beijing / China

It’s a drizzly morning here in Hamilton Heights on this tiny over-populated island in the Northeast. Bryan John Appleby is the quiet morning soundtrack.

If you’re like me, and busyness is an instinctive state of being, quiet seasons are what you long for – and at the same time what you dread. For five years I’ve worked myself ragged to get my business to more or less thrive. And now I sit in the aftermath – in limbo, still and anticipatory. Stillness is necessary for the human soul to thrive. But sometimes, especially when I’m out of practice, tranquility can be restless and even terrifying. It takes practice, and believe me I’m practicing hard these days, to find a balance in the quiet. To not collapse on your inward thoughts or your forward ambitions.

I’m certainly not complaining. I’m loving it. Coffee, t-shirts, paint on my hands. Music, laundry, rain. Contemplation, fiction-reading, and conversation. I love it. I’m up for the challenge. So much has happened. This year alone… Uganda, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Yemen, Uruguay, Colombia, Samoa, India, China, Italy. Much of that time spent alone, wandering but not lost (as my cousin Melena says), filming and absorbing. Sometimes the feast of life stuffs me full and puts me into a Thanksgiving-like food-coma. It’s hard for me to slow down enough to peer over my shoulder and process it all.

But here I sit in quiet. Still but moved. Staring forward, peering through the curtain if only for a hint of what’s next but working with every muscle in my inner being to sit tight so I don’t miss one second of this gift of silence.

Oh yeah… here’s some stuff from China with my dear friend Nate. We were there for a shoot but had a few days of the travel. Hope you enjoy. The great olive/leather bag you see Nate & I with is my new favorite piece of luggage. Ernest Alexander. Get some