Gotta Love Sendak

“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters  – sometimes very hastily – but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, ‘Dear Jim: I loved your card.’

Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, ‘Jim loved your card so much he ate it.’

That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

– Maurice Sendak

Wanderlust

“…there was nowhere to go but everywhere.”

– Jack Kerouac, On the Road

The Most Beautiful…

Image via Wikipedia

I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own. –Andy Warhol

A nice idea, in part. Makes me wonder if there’s a way to not own it, but still keep it pristine (without hammering up “No Trespassing” signs).

Re: the pic

A magical, tucked away place that hasn’t changed too terribly much thanks to the savvy of a small but dedicated band of locals. Stumbled across Montezuma one cold, snowy evening while thumbing through–was picked up by a transplanted Californian by the name of **** (well, I won’t say; he may still live there. That night he pulled over, promptly jumped out of his van, took a leak in the snow, and invited me to crash near his wood stove for the night)–I ended up staying nearby that winter. Used to live right outside of this little burg, camped out at 10,100 ft. (’bout a hundred feet lower elevation than the town itself).

I got the idea they weren’t real keen on touristy types, but I think they figured I was harmless when I trekked into town to visit a friend or two. (“Ah, camped out,” someone would inevitably say. Was it the campfire smell in my hair and clothes that gave me away? Or the burnt rag wool socks…?)

That was thirty years ago. Want inspiration? Try a winter in the Rockies in a makeshift tent with no electricity or running water. Or phones. Cold, but heavenly.