See this coffee table...It should inspire you.

How exactly does one find early morning inspiration in a table? I dunno, but I'll tell you what this cool lookin' tableau from Actus did to me (don't bother with why I was hangin' 'round the Actus site either 'cause even I don't know how I landed there). It made me think about how important it is to think things that other people aren't thinking. It's really the only way this table happens.

Here's some more randomness for you, just 'cause that's mostly what Wednesday mornings need. There is an old and often overlooked antebellum tradition of hanging quilts out of the window as a sign to escaping slaves. The quilts themselves were signs of safe haven, warnings of danger, even maps to guide them on their desperate journey, but the coolest part about the phenomenon was that only the messages that they conveyed were secret, the quilts themselves hung out in plain sight, and were often used as quilts might be used, for warmth, decoration, etc...Yes, they were important tools in the pursuit of freedom for thousands of runaway slaves but they also kept away the December cold. The genius of these patchwork patterns of old cloth and thread was that they hung there, on window ledges, from clothes lines, hidden in plain sight...overlooked by everyone who wasn't looking for something different in them.

Odd connection, I know, between this table and that story, but not really. When we find ourselves overlooking what's in plain sight we often don't see things for what they really are, or perhaps, could be.

How many thousands of years have there been tables? Too many to count. Strangely, how many people have thought to take what is traditionally a pretty popular children's play area...the coffee table...and make it more kid friendly? Very few. maybe only this guy...or girl. Whoever decided upon slanting one end of the table to make it more accessible to children was seeing the world just a little differently huh?

I like that. I like it a lot.

I try to wrap my head around the randomness of my ideas sometimes and I can't. they just come, without context often, and without any kind of anchor to help them stay put and be of some use. More times than not they just float away, or find the back of some sketchbook page. They should be watered and planted in a spot with some sun. That is what this table reminds me of. That's what the quilt story inspires in me.

See things differently, and then do something about it. Oddly enough, there wouldn't have ever been oddly angled coffee tables or men and women who found freedom if that weren't the case. See the world differently, and then do something.

I suppose you could always go out and earn a paycheck and buy a really big TV too...whatever suits you.