collecting small

today I've been noticing how I collect small...small people are my favorite but small ideas, small bites of food and small projects are all good too. small plants, particularly jade plants, succulent and green turn me happy and inspired. why small, i wonder.

look at that collection of tools, spades mostly, on that green wall. how does something so simple bring me such peace and to a place of wish? what a wall of big impression. i bet they belong to a small, wise tiller of the earth. and just look at what those tools can do, small job by small job.

small walks and small naps, small pillows, little notes here and there. nothing small about small. small hands, my sister's in particular enlighten me. her hands amaze me; she's tall and striking while her hands are tender and maternal. they have soothed some of my big tears.

i also collect impressions.....i look at people and wonder what it's like to be who they are. do you do that? i get an impression of someone fast and then most often continue on. but sometimes a light goes on. sometimes a fancy is struck. the chance in a glance, to find myself studying a gesture or a manner. my attraction gene flares. i see someone and find myself glued through the air. i begin staring, steady to the impressions magically noted in me.

recently at my favorite store in asheville, greenlife, i saw a woman uniquely dressed. she was ordinary looking but her style evoked sophistication and style coupled with low country and harmony. she wore brown ankle length twill jeans, pockets at her hips, a white blouse of some former decade, a low slung leather pouch strapped across her back, and a man's vest of small argyle. the sandals she wore on this blustery day made me think she was visiting from greece as her deep tan felt hot as she crossed my path. she was magnetic without flirtation or want of attention, at least as far as I could tell. I suppose we all want attention, but her presence caught mine and i wondered, who is she and how did she become this woman she presents to us?

her hair, blond, had three layers, and she wore no make up. she was pretty, a rouge to her tanned cheeks. dimples featured in her smile. her companion was a man of another race than hers. she was about 5'10'' but her presence was smaller than that. and lasting.

my other collections include:::meals and combinations of flavors:::reasons to be melancholy:::philosophical questions:::books:::fears:::hanging strands:::poems:::mistakes:::risks:::new combinations of pictures, sounds, and feelings with different results!

looking at the gardens around my neighborhood one can see that small is good. in a small space, my neighbors seem to be able to continue to grow. we don't need big if we don't have big. we need what we have. thanks be to small.

ps:
i admit too that i like big:::dogs, beds, pools, spaces and slices of doberge cake.