MEDLEY OF REFLECTIONS

What a wonderful night of dreaming!  Man, you oughta see the 5# pail of fish I caught with just a stick, line, hook and worms.  Found what we call a "honey hole," which is an area in the body of water where the fish are biting like crazy.  Yup, my dream took me to the water where I was putting worms on the hook, removing hooks from the fish's mouths.  I was catching blue gill, rock bass and bass and couldn't wait to get home and show my brother what I caught.  This morning I was telling the boyfriend about my dream, and naturally he had to remind me that the only way I can catch fish is in a dream.  Such a putz he is.

Woke up this morning just as the sun was coming up.  My brain was awake enough to grab my phone and capture a picture of it.  Went back to sleep, of course, but now am happy to share the beauty of my world.

Once again it's Monday.  A whole new week before us.  Got a message last night from Buffy asking if she could stay with us the weekend of the 23-25th.  I wrote her back saying that we have the Special Sweet Suite available those two nights, and she reserved them.  Yippee!

How did we function as a society before messaging?  before smart phones?  before computers?  

Voicemail is a feature that I like and dislike.  It's a polite excuse for not wanting to talk with people.  I'm waiting for my call to be returned from the hospital, but nothing.  I placed a second call this morning and got voicemail, and no call back.  This is what happens when the patient knows that the hospital screwed up.  Won't prolong that, but, yes, the battle goes on.

The 2024 Olympics are officially over.  We'll miss having the competitions on the telly.....cannot fathom the strength and physical and mental disciplines that these athletes have achieved.  From my perspective, it's a whole lot easier being a nobody.  There are those of us who prefer to be hummingbirds among the eagles.  

Today's bit of wisdom from my birthday book is "To drink in the spirit of a place you should be not only alone but not hurried."  Words of George Santayana (1863-1952), poet, philosopher and novelist.  Next to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Santayana is arguably one of the best writers in the Classical American tradition.   

Another Santayana quotation is...."There are books in which the footnotes, or the comments scrawled by some reader's hand in the margin, are more interesting than the text.  The world is one of those books."

When I read a book, my reactive thoughts are jotted down in the margins of the pages.  Underlining and highlighting are the only ways for me to return to certain passages.  When one buys a book that's previously been read, it's great fun for me to read the thoughts of the previous reader.  Sometimes their thoughts will light a light in the darkness and make me aware of something I hadn't thought of before.  That's what I love about used books.  A brand-spanking-expensive hard cover book is too pristine for me.  I like knowing that other eyes have read the words, other hands have held the book, and each page has been turned by another reader.  The book may have felt tears and heard laughter.  The used book is like a friend of a friend.  

I have a couple of my grandmother's books, and she marked where she leaves off by pressing her fingernail onto the page.  I put my finger on that tiny fingernail indent on the page and can touch her in a surreal way.

This is why I love quotations.  Profound thoughts of another person often jar my memories loose or give birth to new thoughts.  The mind is like a rubber band.  What good is it if it's never stretched and never used?  We don't need an Oxford or Yale education to learn.  In this techy age, we can be the student and teacher, we can be free-thinkers.  Maybe it's because my life ruler is getting shorter......I can't seem to learn enough about what's within my grasp.  

Best close.  I can feel my brain wanting to do a high dive here.    Ta-ta for today.