I have just finished reading Chris Arthur, - his
latest book of essays "Hummingbirds Between the Pages". I am very taken with
books of essays - they give you something fairly short to read, and then to
ponder. The last chapter of his Hummingbird book is entitled "Thirty-six Ways of
Looking at an Essay" and he presents this list as a defense of the Essay which
he feels is a victim of the misconceptions that "too many people dismiss the
essay as "something of little interest, a relic occupying a literary dead-end or
a chore that belongs in the academic backwaters of student assessment,"
This is
surely not the case in the group of essays that Arthur has put together. which
covers a wide range of subjects including (from the back of the book) "Charles
Darwin's killing of a South American fox to the carnal music sounding in the
statue of the Buddha" - whether he's looking at sea shell, skipping stones, old
photographs or butterflies, the book is just pure pleasure!!!
I was taken back
to holidays at the lake, when I was a child, and the underhanded skill of
skipping stones into the water to the point where I would really like to go out
and determine if I still have that movement that comes so naturally when I think
of "skipping" stones, and how many times you can make the stone graze the water,
and what shape the very best stones are, for doing this!! Ah well, all this is
probably many years behind me and I don't envision the opportunity to see if I
can still make stones skip - not any time soon!!!!
If nothing else keeps any
elderly lady home this current pandemic surely does!! Luckily there is lots to
do here.... I am in the midst of threading the LeClerc with a cheery towel warp
- orange and apricot with a few brown stripes to make the colours glow. And
besides that I still have boucle towels to hem, and a new Cello DVD to watch and
listen to. Nevertheless, it has been a long time since I've even toodled down
the street, or around the block, and each night, as darkness falls, I think
about the 'morrow and the plans I keep making to run over town on the Scooter
that sits in the garage, ready for adventure.
The day is bright and the sun is
shining, after a little bout with thunder that really put the wind up poor
Bruce, who came looking for reassurance. Blogger has introduced a new and
unfamiliar way to draft a post, and I am not much into new ways, but appreciate
the familiar that doesn't tax my brain too much. However, I will see if I can
publish this, and maybe I might even be able to add a snapshot or two!!! If I can find where you click to add photos!! Or even where you click to "post"!!!!!
Oh dear oh dear, - change is inevitable, but often not welcome as the years go by and you cherish the old and familiar!!!
If I find the POST icon hopefully you can read this!
And more good reading!!!!!
4 comments:
Oh Hildred you voice my feelings exactly on the changes to blogging. There is a facility to stay with the old if one feels like it but I too feel I must try to keep the old brain working and move with the times. I enjoy esssays - short and then with much food for thought. We must keep our old brains going.
I've meant to wrestle with the new blogger form prior to it becoming a necessity, but as things go, I've not even managed a post for over a month.
I appreciate the essay format of writing--it seems to me an exercise in editing thoughts and impressions down to their essence.
As long as one can enjoy the garden, read, putter at projects, staying home is never a hardship--its merely rather odd, and the greater implications of the current situation are worrying.
Kudos to all you dear ladies for your courage in blogging! I'm still in the last century, don't even have a cell phone, but truly enjoy reading all your wonderful posts. I thank you from the bottom of my old heart!! You make me happy♥♥♥
I enjoyed your memories of skipping stones. We always did that when we were on vacation near water - a competition of course between siblings to see who could have the most skips. I must try it again when I am able to be near water and can find the perfect rocks! Thanks for the happy memory!
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