Play
Years ago, I read Ray Bradbury’s book Zen in the Art of Writing and nothing else by him. The other day, by chance, I listened to a speech of his from 2001, and then contrasted it with one he gave in 1968. I tried listening to The Martian Chronicles, but relaxed a little better when I switched to Dandelion Wine. In a way, this latter book is like the drink - bottled up thoughts from faraway.
Bradbury in 2001 has strong opinions: “don’t live on your computers” he says. And “don’t let them flim flam you into buying all these devices.” In 1968, to a graduating class, he says: “We all know when we’re getting sick. Don’t you? I think we do. And when we ignore the signals over a period of years, we wind up with a sick individual, or a sick society.” It’s a speech in which he talks about loving what you do and protecting it from the twin temptations of money and academic pretension. There’s a glimpse of idealism. But it gives way to Bradbury’s emphasis on fun. He has a lot of fun writing, he says. “I had plenty of memories and sense impressions to play with, not work with, no, play with” he writes in the introduction to Dandelion Wine.
I think it’s his idea of “play” that is infectious… it sounds wholesome, his prescription for reading and writing… And sure, a writer shouldn’t take themselves too seriously. But play becomes a bit of an escape in its own way, when old ladies die full of dignity and grace for example. It’s riddles and fantasy as off ramps from whatever is irresolute in life. That’s what I feel, anyways, listening to Dandelion Wine.
Collage
If writing is work, hobbies are play, and even more fun than drawing (for me), is collage. I started earlier this year and have continued to pursue the practice over weekend evenings. I bought tools for greater precision in cutting, glueing, and placing images and I’ve been having fun catching magazines and flyers for a quick look-through before they go into the recycling bin. The other day I rescued an abandoned children’s book from the ground where it had settled over a few days, its pages blown about and spattered with a few rain drops. In it was a perfectly useful drawing of a seagull! Here’s a handful of tiny “artworks”:
Baking
This week I made Chewy Earl Grey Cookies. Here’s a picture:
Here’s the dog under the plate, wishing one would fall…
Dust
Thursday was an especially windy day… Driving, you could see a haze of dust.
In the evening it was worse.
Walking the dog
These waves are deceiving… they don’t look like much but for the Red River they are impressive.
This is the forest of fallen-down trees. They’ve been fallen-down for a number of seasons already. They are the regular, mundane, part of our walks.
These are the trees still trying to push out their leaves. It’s been very slow this year.
To end, a picture of the green grass coming through amidst the gold… The sunlight is lovely.
Wishing you… a Happy Sunday!