I have too many unread books. I'm suffering chronic reader's remorse, book-buyer's remorse. They call to me from the shelves as I walk by.
I have too many unread books. I'm suffering chronic reader's remorse, book-buyer's remorse. They call to me from the shelves as I walk by.
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DAH: What next?
Monkey: What what next?
DAH: I'm just mulling over the future.
Monkey: Mulling?
DAH: Yeah, mulling.
Monkey: Like adding spices to wine?
DAH: No.
Monkey: Like joining two doors or windows together?
DAH: No.
Monkey: Like fermenting tobacco?
DAH: No.
Monkey: Like steaming felt or straw before blocking?
DAH: No.
Monkey: Like a holiday tramp around an island in the Inner Hebrides?
DAH: Uh, no.
Monkey: Like something to do with a layer of non-acidic humus formed in well-drained and aerated soil?
DAH: WHAT!? Really, no.
Monkey: Then what the heck are you talking about?
DAH: The future. When I think about it, there are lots of possibilities, but I have to choose if I want to actualize the possibilities that make sense for me, that have meaning.
Monkey: Oh, you mean like pondering, or studying on an idea or notion.
DAH: Yes.
Monkey: Then why didn't you say so?
DAH: I thought I did.
Monkey: Too many possibilities, buddy. Too many possibilities.
DAH: Yes.
DAH is David Anthony Hance at DAHplaytime
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We lived in
I come from a place I’ve never lived. My parents immigrated
to
Since I’m just visiting, time and place are magical concepts:
Time is the fire in which we all burn. That gives us all an essential commonality: We’re all just visiting, all just fuel for the fire of human time.
Place is a wondrous, complex interplay between nature and people, interacting with nature and each other, over time.
When I think of home it seems for me a journey … from a mythical England where I never lived – an England of kings and queens, of Robin Hood and Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes, of rolling green hills and ancient, magical woods – to California’s North Coast.
I don’t have children of my own. My family’s visit here is soon ended. We burn away in the fire of time and leave behind only the residue of how we acted in this place, how we spent our brief flame of life, with nature here, and people here, all of us, all of you, just visiting.
UPDATE: And now we're in San Luis Obispo, California. Which was not even a glimmer in my imagining when I wrote my story for "Of All Places." And we're making new friends and new experiences, with shadows of the past flitting large and small through my mind. Like black and white photos, some of them beginning to fade, tucked away in an old favorite book, and found again, with surprise, once in a while. Remembering, who I once was, as the journey of this oh-so-brief visit continues.
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Monkey: Hey.
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Know me through five movies.
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Monkey: I love my job. It's the work I can't stand.
DAH: What're you talking about? You don't have a job.
Monkey: Sure I do. I set you up to make jokes.
DAH: And you love that.
Monkey: Yes, I do.
DAH: But you can't stand the work.
Monkey: Listen, my friend. It isn't that easy, making you look good. Or funny.
DAH: Oh, but you sure make it look easy. You never seem to lift a finger. Or move your lips.
Monkey: Don't talk about my lips. I'm particularly self-conscious about how red they are.
DAH: Sorry.
Monkey: Have you always been this way?
DAH: Probably. You'll have to ask my Mom.
Monkey: I won't have to ask her. I'm sure she'll comment on this post.
DAH: Abo ovo, I expect.
Monkey: What's that?
DAH: Latin. It means 'from the egg' - so, 'from the beginning.'
Monkey: You mean you, and being silly?
DAH: Yes, I do. And I also blame that little English history primer parody '1066 And All That,' and I blame Monty Python.
Monkey: Do you really mean 'blame?' Wouldn't 'thank' be a little closer to the truth?
DAH: That depends on how jolly I'm feeling about life on any given day.
Monkey: Excuse me for not setting you up for a joke, but IMMO you do yourself and the world sort of a service feeling happy about smiling and encouraging others to smile.
DAH: I guess. IMMO?
Monkey: Text-speak. Like BTW, FYI, and LOL.
DAH: Do you mean IMHO? 'In My Humble Opinion?'
Monkey. Nothing humble about me, buddy. 'In My Monkey Opinion.'
DAH: Not setting me up for a joke, huh?
Monkey: It was a weak joke.
DAH: And yet, I'm smiling.
Monkey: You're welcome.
DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com
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Monkey: These leaf things are spiky!
DAH: This will only take a minute.
Monkey: I don't know how you get me into these things.
DAH: I pick you up and put you down. That's all.
Monkey: You're always putting me down. Seems like you ought to pick me up more often. I can always use a little lift more than I can use a put down.
DAH: I place you carefully.
Monkey: Fine. But why?
DAH: I'm testing something.
Monkey: Testing what? How sensitive my knitted behind is to poky plants?
DAH: It's a yucca.
Monkey: It certainly is. And an 'oucha!'
DAH: I mean the plant. It's a yucca.
Monkey: Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm. But you never explained what you're testing.
DAH: These two cameras. I'm taking photographs of the same things with each in turn, to compare their output.
Monkey: And you think anyone wants to see a picture of me on yucca leaves?
DAH: Not really, although you are very handsome.
Monkey: Thank you.
DAH: I'm just taking pictures of any old thing, different sorts of things, to see how the photos from these two different cameras turn out, and how they differ from one another.
Monkey: 'Any old thing.' Very flattering, I'm sure. So, you're a experimental camera scientist now?
DAH: Just two old cameras, new to me. Both belonged to my Dad. One's 20 years older than the other. Both use 35mm film. I'm just trying them out, learning about them.
Monkey: So, how come you're taking a picture of me with your Blackberry, too?
DAH: I need a digital shot for this blog post, silly. I still need to take the film to be developed and printed.
Monkey: You want it all. Instant gratification AND old school photography.
DAH: That's right. That's me. That's now.
DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com
Monkey is usually quieter.
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On Sunday Christine and I walked over the Jennifer Street footbridge, through the Railroad District, and into downtown San Luis Obispo. It's a 20 minute walk to the Mission (established before the United States was the United States!).
The annual I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival was in its second day. Sidewalk chalk for adults and artists, with a section for kids to try out their skills, too. The photos here are from the Festival.
I Madonnari was in the Monday newspaper, The Tribune. As were several other things that made me happy to live in San Luis Obispo County. Such as -
It appears that SLO County has 152 avocado growers who farm a total of 4,200 acres. That's an average of about 28 acres per ranch. One of the avocado growers, a former County supervisor, said, 'We're different than the Southern California growers. We're smaller, owner-managed. Most of us walk our trees daily. They're full of fruit.'
The same page of today's paper reported, with photos, on the third annual Dog Splash Days in Templeton. The Templeton Community Pool is opened for dog swimming, with doggie lifeguards, life vests, dog ramps, and dog swim therapists. Apparently, this event marks the end of summer in some way. After Dog Splash Days the pool is shut down, drained and cleaned. Since it was pretty warm last week, I guess these were the dog days of summer.
The 'From the Vault' section of The Tribune showed photos of the (now gone) Southern Pacific Railroad roundhouse in SLO. A road called Roundhouse is all that remains, but the column mentioned the nascent Central Coast Railroad Festival, of which I knew nothing, but about which I'm rather excited.
Finally, it is WOW week at Cal Poly. 3,500 new students are expected to participate in the university's annual 'Week Of Welcome.' It should become obvious, at least downtown, that the students are back.
The SLO days of summer, which I somehow missed by working a lot, must be over.
DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com
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