Here is the portrait of a beautiful woman I have become friends with Ebonni. She is also the self-appointed president of my fan-club which currently has two members; my mom and Ebonni. I consider myself lucky.

I thought I would start this painting for my buddy Dave in last couple of days. Just to let him know how much I love him, and I thought this picture of one of our best times together in Belize was the best way to do that.

Anxious? Yeah…a little.

People go camping all the time, but not every night, not in places that aren’t campgrounds/wilderness. Oh yeah, and they usually bring food with them. I’m not having second thoughts—OK, well maybe I have. But, I’m not entertaining them. It is just that when you are told, if you have faith you can move mountains. How does one know whether or not you have it?

Can you heal the lame, raise the dead, cast out demons, and walk on water? Sure it is said…if? If you have faith. Faith in what? Standing on the edge of the precipice the moment before you leap, how do you know that you can fly if you have faith?

As I stepped out today for my run of 21 miles, I thought I had faith, at least a little. I mean come on, after all I’ve seen and witnessed so far? I took the $10 that my friend Leonard gave me last weekend in case I needed it or if I saw someone else who needed it more than I. I found such a guy and the impression I had was to give it to him, I was reluctant at first, money is more scarce. Feelings of fear and self preservation consumed me, but after I thought about it, I knew it was the right thing to do, and I gave it to him. But why did I have to weigh it out before I was generous? This bugged me.

Now, however, I would have to depend upon what I was given by the Universe. The other day when I was given all that food, it was only to see, today it was in earnest. Would the universe still provide? I ran on feeling confident that it would. Confidence, is that the same as faith? I started getting thirsty, and then when I looked— I found a water spigot right in front of me.

Quantum physics, succinctly speaking, is the science of possibilities. When you are looking life is a particle; in a certain location, with a certain shape. When you are not looking it is waves of possibility. Spigots can be anywhere, but when you choose to see them, they are right where you want them. Can faith be that easy…name it and claim it?

I started getting hungry, and viola-blackberries. As I was foraging, a doe and two fauns came and started to eat blackberries too, I turned to see them, excited by their presence, but they scampered away. Too cool however. Then I found more water and some bathrooms at a park. But, these are more coincidences right? Then a sweet lady and another man with his boys asked me about my tunic, the woman and I talked for a bit, and she bought me a water without me asking.

Finally I reached my destination, and jumped into the Willamette river. The water was cold, but welcomed by my legs that were already feeling the tax derived from them by the miles of asphalt. Leaving there, I began my journey back however, my legs were dying. I tried to load up on some blackberries, but it wasn’t doing the trick. I began to get really hungry, and was scanning the trees for apples, plums, pears, nuts, anything to no avail. Then it donned on me.

If I can’t do one day without food in the middle of summer, in one of the most fertile valleys in the world, what the hell am I thinking going off and planning to go through some of the least inhabited, dry, and unforgiving parts of this country? What the hell??? I realized then and there to just let go. I can’t control it anyway, so why try. Just let go and see what happens.

I then remembered that there is food all around me. I had been so focused on fruit, that I forgot all about other things. So, I started chomping down on dandelion greens, clover, and wild onions. Next thing you know, apples and hazelnuts. Then a hose in a vacant lot, I wasn’t chomping down on it, but rather, well…you know. When I finally gave up and trusted, all the things that I wanted were given. How many times do I have to learn that lesson?

I finally made it back, but I really felt the wear and tear today. Much more than normally. Tonight my foot hurt, and the fears of not being able to start or being injured overwhelmed me. Is it possible to believe that you are healed and it will be so??? People pray for health over sickness all the time, but do they believe, do they have faith that it will be as they have asked. Do I have that kind of faith? Do you?

Help my unbelief is all I could muster. It is easy to give all your stuff away. It is easy to give money to the poor. It is easy to feed the starving and clothe the children. These things we know we can do. We may not want to, but we know we can. To do those things that are deemed impossible; raise the dead, heal the sick and lame, walk on water, and move mountains. These things are a bit different kind of a test.

It is an act of faith.

I’m not sure who I am trying to convince anymore with my query of coincidence vs. providence, you or me? I am convinced, and you more than likely are bored, but none the less I am amazed everyday how my life unfolds before me.

“Cujo, sick balls!” The most remembered line from “Stand By Me”. That movie was filmed 25 years and not 50 miles from here. As a boy of 12/13 my life mirrored it almost perfectly. Where there were deficiencies, my gang of geeks and hoodlums made up for it by adopting phrases and scenes from the movie as our own. Lines from the movie were parroted and said with glee. Each boy always vying for or trying to pick the most opportune time to re-appropriate a certain line into a new classic and hilarious situation. But mostly, we valued the friendship that we had with each other and feeling that with each other we belonged. Most importantly an apology was signified by “skinning it”.

The feeling I get when I talk to the homeless is that they have that same sort of code, maxims, secret language with each other that identifies one as part of the group. Real names are never used, and the talk is shallow but interested, and usually centers on destinations traveled and humorous or fortunate anecdotes regarding one locale or another. Fear and greed are present, but so are generosity and cooperation. Alliances are easily made…and broken.

I met a dog named Cujo today, and thankfully my balls are still attached. He and his owner were in my path while running…literally. Jackal, the owner, seemed to have the same temperament as his dog, calm and serene, but cautious and capable of bearing his teeth in a fight. I thought him a nice young man.

There is an underpass I use frequently on the bike path where many homeless men and women tend to congregate. It provides them shade and easy access to the corner where they all panhandle for change and dollar bills. They take turns on the corner, and make $20-$200 dollars a day, depending upon luck, a funny sign, and the season of the year. Near Christmas they tend to make more. In the heat of the day, there are the occasional runs for beer or cigarettes.

Today a gentleman put up a sign that read, “I need $5 for my bikini wax”. Of course he was nearly six foot, with a 8 inch beard, and no front teeth. He said if you can make people laugh, they tend to be more generous. I found that comment interesting. It seemed to me that he was saying, that when you seek to give others joy, your joy is magnified, and your needs are met. Hmmm…I think that is what Scaughdt has been advocating this whole time, and I’ve been find out in my experiments.

After drawing the dog that wouldn’t sit still, and I thought people moved a lot, I moved on. I meandered down the river, and found myself next to a grove of trees and tried my hand at the raking sunlight dappling through the trees—and failed. Finally, as the sun set, I found myself perched atop a pedestrian bridge over the mighty Willamette.

The night was nice a cool, and mosquitoes weren’t out. The cool air rose up from the river chilling the day’s heat with lapping and gurgling from below. The trees were indigo, and the sky was a blaze of yellow, orange, and magenta. The sun’s rays poked holes in the shadowed mass of the river bank’s arbor, causing what appeared to be an inferno amongst the pine and deciduous.

I thought to only capture it with graphite in the limited time I had. Soon various passersby gave a casual glance or talked awhile. One man stopped and stood right behind my shoulder trying to guess exactly which tree I was looking at. It was rather fun. About half way through the opus, Todd and Barb came and introduced themselves. They were kind and patient enough to hear me tell the reason for my pilgrimage. In their generosity, they wanted to help me out in many ways, but we settled on a free beer and slice of pizza at their restaurant.

Despite all that you and I hear to the contrary, people are good. People are filled with love. People are lovable. Todd and Barb left the bridge with a “peace” of art. I left the bridge with Peace in my heart and two new friends. Life is good. Be Happy.

This first one talks about a global project for everyone to do what they can for the world. It doesn’t demand that they do this or that, but that they merely do what they can. If there is any truth to the 100th Monkey claim, Morphic Resonance, and Limbic Resonance, it seems that perhaps we as a species can change the destiny of the planet.

The next video is the winner of the Possible Futures video contest. 317 submissions by video artist in over 44 countries attempted to produce videos to help change the world. Although it is cute and sweet, it is powerful in its example to us all.

Really? When the Israelites walked around in the desert for 40 years, did they have to worry about eating too much manna??? As I get closer to my departure date, more and more I am being shown to just let go and have faith.

What am I going to eat has been a point of concern, especially for the mommies. They want to load me down with food for the journey. But, that is one of the articles that I am testing. It is said, “Do not store up treasures”, and “Don’t worry about what you will eat or wear”. So…I haven’t been worrying. The thought of bringing a lot of food with me goes against that storing up treasures (of food) idea. The point is trust and have faith. On this point I haven’t had too many concerns.

Today, as I ran, I thought I would try to see how much food was actually available to me out there. If I was just aware of it, how could/would the universe provide? The answer: In abundance! I wasn’t even trying but this is what I collected today at random:

The day started with filling a quart ziplock bag with fresh blackberries. Mmmmmm. I could have filled gallon bags, but this is what I needed/wanted/could eat today.

Here I collected dandelion greens. I have older and younger ones here. I’ve read that the older ones are more bitter, and therefore tougher on the palette. As you can see I only got a little, again not trying to store up. I picked these off the curb as I was running, and as you can see I washed them thoroughly. BTW, the tiny ones do taste a million times better. Also pictured at the top is Queen Anne’s Lace. It is a natural carrot, and it tastes like one. But, you need to be a beaver to eat it. I think I would have to cook or roast those if I were to eat them because they were too hard and stringy to eat raw.

My three favorite foods in the world are plums, rice, and bananas. So these plums called to me. There were about 20 more, but I ate them while running for energy. Thankfully, after eating 20 plums I wasn’t running for the restroom.

All these apples presented themselves to me today. They literally were in my path as I was running. Sure they were bruised a bit, and one had a worm hole, but I washed them and cut out the bad parts. This was the part that was the most “Manna” like. After I found each of them, I looked up to find the tree that they came from. No apple trees around. They weren’t store bought and dropped. They were in my path for me. Absolutely delicious!

This is what I made with them. I hope my friend Bert (a Florida Chef) will put it on his menu! Homemade waffles with a slice of cheddar cheese, a slice of field roast (vegetarian), blackberry compote (yes, made it myself), dandelion greens, apple slices, and finished with a blue cheese yogurt dressing. To some that may sound bad, but I am a big fan of the sweet and sour mixes (pear and gorgonzola, gouda and candied walnuts, etc.), and I found it divine. Others around me were skeptical, but when they tried it, they were impressed with the fixins! The cheeses balanced the extra sweetness of the compote, and the apples tartness cleansed the palette.

At the very least, I impressed myself. What was the bigger lesson; the universe provided half of that meal. Had I only eaten what I gleaned today(no waffles and cheese), I would have been very happy…and regular.

I’ve already had Poison Oak two times this summer. So…I thought I aught to do a painting of it. At least it’ll make me more aware of what I need to look out for.

I met Marty and his wife while they were out for their 4 mile evening walk with their dog. They had seen me working on this piece, and queried as to it’s finish. Marty too had been a victim of poison oak this summer and so it seem right to offer him the painting. I think it made their evening, and it certainly did mine.

Earlier in the day I had run out to a remote fishing hole. While there, I met Wesley a mechanical engineer from Missouri who came up with a brilliant idea to keep a canoe stable. He devised outriggers that adjust to the level of buoyancy of the boat. He made them himself out of PVC pipe, and roped them simply to the rails of his canoe. When the draft is greater, the pontoons splay out farther, when it is just him in the craft, their angle is closer to perpendicular. It was absolute genius, and I promised him should I market his idea, that I will cut him in for at least 50%.

After Wesley left, I began painting this watercolor, it was going well, and I started to congratulate myself on a job well done. Then, a dog came and decided it would be most loving to shake himself out right behind me. All I could do was laugh and try to protect the picture, and realize the universe was trying to keep me humble. Happy.