Photos and Philosophy

Yesterday divided between abstract political theory and concrete image-making, between refining democracy arguments at Coffee Culture and processing Mika's photos at home, between Zoom conversations with Terril and showing friends my transformed view. The democracy piece continues evolving, the Mika photos turned out pretty classy, and Mary impressively completed a 25K run that morning. My house, unfortunately, wasn't prepared for visitors—a reminder that maintaining guest-ready domestic space requires more attention than I've been giving it. My sister Nancy will visit this week, adding another layer of social navigation to the calendar.

Between Ideas and Images

October 6, 2025

Slept in, which felt earned after the coastal photography expedition. Eventually made my way to Coffee Culture on Kings—partly walking, partly riding the bus—to continue work on the democracy reflection piece. The writing keeps evolving, ideas shifting and refining as I work through the distinction between democratic mechanisms and democratic systems, between stakeholder exclusion and weighted participation. It's making progress, but still needs more development before it's ready.

From yesterday's walk

Coffee Culture was busy, but the background noise didn't interfere with focused work. The baristas were pleasant enough, but somehow my order got incorrectly captured and the mocha tasted off—not terrible, just not good. The disappointing coffee doesn't create much pull to return. I miss having a reliable neighborhood coffee shop that actually knows my preferences.

The walk back home included a phone conversation with my sister Nancy. She'll be visiting this week, which means coordinating schedules and making plans. I haven't seen her in a while—it'll be good to catch up, to reconnect with family after being consumed by travel and projects and daily routines that don't naturally include physically distant relatives.

Home brought the shift from philosophy to photography, from abstract arguments about democracy to concrete work processing images. The afternoon was consumed by working through a couple of sets of Mika from a shoot earlier this year, selecting and processing the strong shots, posting a few to share. They're pretty good—fairly classy work that I'm genuinely pleased with. Sometimes photo sessions produce results that hold up months later when you revisit them with fresh perspective. These did.

Dinner at Tacovore gathered Michael, Mary, Tim, and Cathy together in the early evening. Mary had completed a 25K run that morning and seemed to survive it quite well—no signs of exhaustion, just the satisfaction of accomplishment. Pretty impressive. We celebrated that achievement, marking it with the joy that friends give each other's successes.

After dinner they came up to see my new view—the transformed landscape created by tree removal, the opened sight lines that have become such a significant change to how the house relates to its surroundings. But the house itself wasn't really prepared for guests, which I noticed too late to do anything about. I need to stay on top of domestic maintenance more consistently, need to keep the space in a state where impromptu visitors don't reveal accumulated clutter and neglected cleaning. Note to self for future hosting.

A Zoom call with Terril in the mid-evening provided good conversation. He's an interesting guy with lots of interesting experiences, the kind of person whose life trajectory includes unexpected turns and unusual perspectives. Enjoyed catching up with him, hearing what he's been working on, sharing updates about my own projects and travels.

The late evening brought Minecraft, the warehouse project continuing its gradual expansion. There's something satisfying about these virtual construction efforts—clear progress, visible results, problems that have definite solutions rather than the messy ambiguity of real-world challenges.

Television provided the evening's wind-down: The Late Show's political commentary, an episode of The Greatest Controversies of Early Christian History exploring how doctrinal disputes shaped institutional Christianity, and some Hogan's Heroes for familiar comfort. The usual rotation of intellectual engagement, historical education, and simple entertainment.

That was the day—philosophy and photos, democracy theory and domestic realization, sister coordination and friend celebration. Nothing dramatic, just the accumulation of work and connection and small recognitions about what needs more attention. Some days teach you things about maintaining readiness rather than just responding to immediate demands.