Bon Voyage, Sun King.

Weather: 87 degrees, 50% percipitation, 66% humidity.

Listening to: Kings of Convenience


*I actually wrote this a couple months ago, but I just wanted to share it.


I woke up early this morning, wrote a few letters to my family and walked out to the mailbox, cup of coffee in hand. It’s a beautiful day, clear blue sky, a gentle breeze, and sunlight grazing each palm leaf. Enjoying my short stroll, I am stopped dead in my tracks when I notice a newly planted baby key lime tree in the yard.

A few weeks ago Alex & I were invited downstairs to a cocktail hour by our neighbor Brian. He is a peculiar man, an advertising photographer and artist for most of his life; refers to himself as the “Sun King” (Not kidding, here is his website: http://www.sunkingstudio.com/).Short in stature and gray haired, but not lacking in composure, there is a mysterious aura that encircles him. A type of calmness I can’t quite understand at this age, but surely admire nonetheless.

We arrive at 5:00PM on the dot with a bottle of Chardonnay from Santa Barbara County. He answers the door with a smile and graciously accepts the wine.  As I make my way inside and sit down in the first chair I spot, I notice a worn Woodstock T-shirt framed and hanging near the door. Beneath the shirt a portrait of a woman in cowboy boots, hat, shorty shorts, and a vest with nothing underneath but a pair of beautifully tanned and perky breasts is neatly framed above a handcrafted tool bench.

He cracks open the bottle of wine and pours us a glass, then puts the bottle we brought to the side and opens a different bottle of his own wine and pours him a glass.

“I only drink this type of wine and nothing else. Once I find something I like I stick to it. I used to prefer red wine but it became too heavy for hot days.”

As I sip, I continue to look around his apartment. There are several statuettes of a woman’s silhouette placed on different surfaces; one on top of the fridge, another on a shelf next to the dining table.We spoke about the man who lived in our apartment before we did, and the others who live in the house on the front of the property. Brian pulls out a huge chunk of white horseradish cheddar, which I had never tried before, and of course, it paired perfectly with the wine. As each minute passed, my admiration for this simple yet extremely complex man kept growing. He keeps his front door open, as an invitation for nature and company.

“Do you like it here, Brian?”

“Oh yeah, I like it here. I usually stay in one place for a year or so, and I’ve been here for about a year and a half. Permanently living temporarily, that is kind of like my motto. I’ve been happy here though; once I decide to leave I’ll plant a key lime tree in the yard. So if you see a key lime tree pop up out of nowhere one day, know that I’ll be out of here within a few weeks.”

So it’s a Saturday, weeks after our cocktail hour, and the key lime tree sits delicately in the yard surrounded by a circle of coconuts.

Ciao Sun King, we'll miss you.