Imagination

   Yesterday I was conversing with a catbird. She was being a bit shy, until her mother swept out of the bushes and cuffed her smartly, muttering something about talking to strangers. How did Mumsy know I was strange?
   Stranger things have happened. While I was basking in the warm sunlight, book in hand (THE BOOK OF MISCHIEF, by Stern, a collection of short stories--zany!) a complete stranger came up to me. Asking what I was reading, he riposted with not one but two books he'd recently devoured. How strangely delightful, to talk about books with someone whose name I don't even know! We wished one another good day, and as he toddled off with his curiously silent companion, I wondered if she was not a reader, or was she simply aware that there was no dishonor in surrendering to silence in the presence of two lads with the gift of the blarney?

   I love this graphic...almost as much as I love the punchy intent of the caption. Turn off that clamoring small screen and step onto this bookstrewn path--let your own imagination paint pictures for you rather than being force-fed pablum by the writers/producers/directors and advertisers.

   I typo-ed the above ppg to read, "I live this graphic..." Hmmm, I hope so!

   What are you reading now? I just started ESSAYS OF E. B. WHITE, 1977. These are delightful glimpses of a gone-by world whose echoes yet linger...but are fading with my generation. The writing seems effortless and fluid, which of course means that he polished his phrases in loving labor. The topics are whimsical and homey. Get your hands on this book if you like reminiscences that are both personal yet universal, drawing on life from NYC to small-town Maine.

   I'm also reading the afore-mentioned BOOK OF MISCHIEF, where dreams come true and whimsy turns to tragedy. Plus, I'm plugging through THE FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS AND WILDFLOWERS OF CASCO BAY AND PEAKS ISLAND...which describes the view out my front window! I'm also plugging away at the Great Books, which is a topic to be revisited anon.

   Elizabeth thinks I'm nutso to read two or three books at once, but I like to have something whimsical or fluffy to counter-balance a "chew-thoroughly-before-swallowing" book like the ESSAYS. (I think she's nutso to read the last page of a book before its turn, so, we're even!)