"May Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease*"
*DEFINITELY reduces the risk of a boring breakfast. :-p
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Phillip G.
http://phillipgonzales.com
The World Market food section is a lovely place for the senses.
I am walking through a cornucopia of brightly colored packages of marzipan and imported biscotti, surrounded by the scent of exotic teas and coffees from other lands. All of a sudden, my senses dim and center on a single package, the other trinkets and goodies quickly forgotten as my drifting eyes lock in on a treasure not seen since that little gift shop in Frankfurt.
Bueno.
Yes, “Bueno”, one of the many chocolate delicacies offered by the German candy maker Kinder; this is a happy moment. The Bueno bar is something I’ve not seen Stateside before, so finding it here is an unexpected treat. I stop, take out a package and cradle it in my hands. My mouth waters at the thought of the sensory opportunity before me. I feel the perfect curves of chocolate morsels hidden beneath the wrapper, savor the crinkling sound of the plastic and foil in my hands, and imagine the delicious flavors waiting inside.
Then I put it down and walk away.
Some say the most exciting part of pleasure is the anticipation. Some say getting there is half the fun. I still say the payoff is the best part, but when you have to wait, sometimes the small pleasures leading up to it are just enough to get you by.
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- Phillip G.
http://phillipgonzales.com
Small to mid-sized towns have a certain charm about them. Perhaps it's
the sense of homey community, or the feeling of history behind each
landmark.
With big cities, it's easy to get so focused on the new things and the
energy of mass population that you lose sight of the place itself.
Not so with the small town. It draws you in, whispers stories from the
shadows. The small town not only *has* character, it IS one.
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- Phillip G.
http://phillipgonzales.com
I'm sitting in a straight-back chair with a fastened safety belt, 35,000 feet up on a hot summer day. All around me are clouds; the white, puffy, cotton-ball clouds that give young imaginations the best fodder you could ask for.
I remember clouds like this from summer afternoons as a boy; from long, hot, lazy days filled with lemonade and basketball games. No matter what games we played, though, it seems we almost always found time and a patch of grass to just lie down and watch. Dragons and ships and fish and who knows what else we'd see; anything could happen when the clouds were just right.
Somehow, though, somewhere along the way the clouds became just that: clouds. Cumulus and status and cirrus and nimbus, all just clumped up bunches of water and ice. No more fishes, just ordinary clouds.
Maybe grownups just get so busy with life on the ground that we forget what it was to see life in the sky. Maybe we feel so locked in to the drive to produce and perform that we become heads-down people.
Maybe it's time for a change.
I think that's one reason I love to travel, that I feel it's not just the destination that matters. I find that the string of moments in-between places is often just what I need to get some perspective, to pull my head up.
For me, it's these moments of reflection that make the journey all the more worth taking; moments like this one at 35,000 feet; remembering the fishes in the sky.
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Phillip G.
http://phillipgonzales.com
So I keep breaking strings on my acoustic guitar. Not the flimsy "e"
string, but thick, meaty "G's" and "D's". NOT COOL!
It turns out the problem was that the "saddle" on my guitar had
notches in it. This means that as I play the strings keep getting
worked back and forth, back and forth. Think a twist-tie or paper clip
getting bent back and forth over and over again. Yeah, not good.
Thankfully, the good folks at Takamine took my call, heard my problem
and put free replacement parts in the mail the next day. Excellent!
There it is then: Jesus saved my soul, and Takamine saved my guitar.
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- Phillip G.
http://phillipgonzales.com
It's tough to beat a relaxing evening of live music, and it's tough to think of a better place to find it than Nita's Sweet Bean Café. Join me (Phillip Gonzales) and a few friends as we share some of my original songs on Friday night, August 27th. We'll play for just 45 mins, after which I hope you can hang around for a great time at their Open Mic night. Come on out!
FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE (Including directions):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143968832302130
MORE ABOUT NITA'S:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nitas-Sweet-Bean-Music-Cafe/296354959195?v=info
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- Phillip G.
http://phillipgonzales.com
(Special thanks to Emily Zochling for bringing this treasure back from
Germany, & to her mother Lucy for letting her. :-)
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- Phillip G.
http://phillipgonzales.com
Phillip and Friends is simply what it sounds like; Phillip and some friends. Our desire is to work together, using art and music and culture and anything else to pursue truth, beauty, love, life, and God. Join us!
