Issue #8 More Baking, Bryson And Rabbit Holes
Trying To Read Bill Bryson
If pressed to describe the processes of my brain in visual terms, I would suggest that you envision a cat chasing the beam of light from a laser pointer. Make sure that the person holding said laser pointer is moving the light as rapidly as possible in a bewildering pattern. And that the cat is making a series of small jumps and pounces to each exciting new location.
What I’m saying is that, at the best of times, I’m interested in a thousand things at once.
I don’t think I was always like this - I have a vague memory of a mind that was fairly orderly. Boring even.
If this version of my brain is new, there could be sensible causes. It could be the normal ravages of time quietly wandering through my cranium unhooking connections, unwinding basal ganglia, and causally rearranging the furniture.
Or perhaps I could blame the rise of the internet and the abundance of technology conspiring to fill my days with one hundred times the informational input of my pre “screen-gazing” self.
Or I could blame Bill Bryson.
Bill Bryson also seems to have a rabbit-hole sort of a brain and he commits his thousands of musings, observations, questions and answers to print.
To quote from one of his books: “…while playing idly with the salt and pepper shakers, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea why, out of all the spices in the world, we have such an abiding attachment to those two. Why not pepper and cardamom, say, or salt and cinnamon? And why do forks have four tines and not three or five? There must be reasons for these things.”
As soon as I encounter a passage like that, I wonder about those things too.
And, while Bryson goes to the trouble of giving answers to the questions he poses, often his chronicling of historical minutia leads me to put down the book, pick up the google and take off on journeys of my own.
A LOT.
Maybe not after every paragraph.
Well, yes, after every paragraph…
So, the above poem is, sadly, and as usual, completely true.
Copyright© 2023 Anne Morse Hambrock All rights reserved.
From My Kitchen
I’m giving the garden a break this week and moving to my kitchen. Around our house, the month of May is filled with birthdays and the honorees decided years ago that they preferred pie and tarts to cake. So this weekend found me baking the family favorite blueberry tart. My pie secrets are posted on my Overbooked and Underpaid blog.
Keep The Messages Coming!
A big “thank you” to all of you who have messaged me commented or hit “like” after reading my poems and commentary!
I appreciate the feedback and knowing how often I have struck a chord with your lives.
Archives
Remember, you can always hit the “archives” tab to see more or catch up on posts you may have missed.
