HOMELESS SNIPPETS LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO ROOST

HOW ABOUT HERE, INSTEAD OF IN THE CYBER-MUSEUM OF HALF-BAKED IDEAS THAT IS THE “NOTES” SECTION OF MY IPHONE ?

I used to think that handwritten stuff on yellow pads was safe from oblivion/extirpation, but now I see that that was my naive, techno-dunce Luddite self, speaking. That self-description hasn't really changed, but having had a lot of those yellow pads go missing over the years, I am starting to see the error of my ways. Even if they do resurface, then what? 

Rather than continue to be haunted by these poor, unanchored bits, I've decided to give them their moment and see what happens. 

In the storied writing course where I am both teacher and student, the course chair tells us that to write is a discipline. No lolling around waiting for the Muse. You're the one who's got to show up!

But to have a limitless-seeming space like a NOTES section on my phone is an irresistible invitation to hoarding and procrastination. In this type of temporary shelter of half-baked ideas, no building permits are needed. Posts can languish indefinitely in a state of potential.  

(Now here comes a loose association that not even I’m sure I can follow. Maybe because it’s from 5 months ago?)

When your right-handed dentist approaches you looking like this, wouldn't you worry? When asked how it happened, he looked a bit sheepish and said he was planning to go on the tv program that features the funniest and stupidest accidents. After hearing his story, I thought he just might win. 

Because I spend so much of my time here in Italy in the hands of a skilled dentist (never mind that he just busted the middle finger of his right hand in a bizarre accident), my mouth often contains a finely wrought provisorio /temporary crown or two--a step before I am permanently "crowned" for the long haul. Maybe there's a metaphor here that relates to all of these unfinished snippets that have been weighing down my iPhone ?

Let's see what I can do to lighten that load.

1.BABY CLOTHES?

We are lucky. Our son writes books, goes on trips to publicize them, and we get to tag along. 

Here's a scene from last month’s book tour. I like taking photos of pretty dresses, and admired all the workmanship in this one, which only comes in 1, 2, 3, and 4-year sizes. Unfortunately, no size for 68-year-olds. J, on the other hand, says no one should inflict a garment like that on any poor child! 

2. RECONNECTING WITH MY TEAS!--

the ones I thought had been eaten by the same little gray visitors that during our absence took GIANT bites out of so many things one wouldn't have imagined to have ranked high on their Favorite Foods list. These include: a hand-woven wool-and-mohair throw we had recklessly left on the couch (I guess it was a cold winter here for them, too.)

3. ON BEING IN THE MOMENT

“The Chianina cows soon to be beef know how to be in the moment. Look and learn!”

4. WRITTEN IN THE WAKE OF AN EARLIER POST, where I said that "reaching down INTO a ditch is better than getting stuck in one”:

“I’ve been busy being a celebrity mom, dog sitter, and having to be extricated from a ditch by my kindly tractor-wielding neighbors.” 

You may have read about the aforementioned mishap in ON DRIVING INTO DITCHES AND MARKETING PLUMS (EXCER...
By the way, what I said in the first line of this snippet #4 is still true.