Miscellany
WORDPLAY
Obliviass - This is the person
talking loudly and inanely on their cell-phone at a funeral viewing, in a
cancer specialist's waiting room, or soon to be sitting next to you
at 30,000 feet.
Indecisionitis - An painful inflammation of
your decision gland.
Weirdities - Like oddities only stranger
To-ing and fro-ing - the process of taking a
roundtrip from here to there
And why do we call it a Pride of lions or a
Gaggle of geese? Such sayings originated often with a word game
in which someone suggested a plural subject (lions) and everyone
competed to pair it with a second descriptive noun. Here
are some personal examples:
a decantate of winos
a verisimilitude of twins
a torrent of trees
an obfuscation of politicians
Musings
ON CHOOSING LOVE
What's the best way to pick a life partner? There
are those who would say, given all the choices available today,
a checklist is the way to go.
I didn't use a checklist to pick my husband, but
I learned the concept had its limitations after using one to buy
a house... or actually to not buy a house. My husband and I were
living in New England at the time, so there were only three
kinds of houses available: colonials, raised ranches, and Cape
Cods. After looking at a Cape Cod, we eliminated them from our
list. Then we spent months looking at raised ranches and
colonials, always finding some requirement on our checklist they
failed to meet. Finally, our realtor, in desperation, begged us
to at least look at another Cape Cod. Yep, you guessed it... we
walked into the first one, fell in love, threw away our
checklist, and bought the sucker.
That's the problem with checklists. They're great
for organizing and they may even help to narrow the search for
something like a car or a house. But applying a checklist to a
relationship may lead to a dull, workmanlike checking off of
personal traits instead of allowing for the surprise of
possibility. The discovery that the whole may, in fact, be
greater than the sum of the parts.
The problem remains. With so many choices, how
does one choose a life partner? And isn't it a good thing to
have choices?
Well, yes. And no.
Consider this. During the Cold War, a group of
Russians was visiting the U.S. and expressed a desire to
purchase sausages. Their guide took them to a supermarket,
gratified that he had this opportunity to show off the wonders
of life in America. The Russians, however, picked up the first
package of sausages they encountered and indicated they were
satisfied and ready to leave. The guide, horrified, told them
they couldn't possibly make a selection until they had seen all
the choices. Then with great anticipation of their delighted
reaction, he led them around the store pointing out sausages:
frozen and fresh, cocktailed and canned, large and small, red,
brown, and white;
a banquet of choices, a plethora, a
superfluity, a surfeit.
But the Russians, dazed rather than dazzled,
disoriented rather than delighted, walked sadly from the store
shaking their heads, their hands empty of sausages.
The same may be true for today's singles. With
so many choices a click away in cyberspace or at the next speed
dating event, they are so fearful of missing The Right One, they
refuse to choose at all. Or if they choose, they hold back from
total commitment, just in case they've chosen wrong.
But that holding back is the surest formula for
eventual disillusionment.
In this amazing century with all its
technological marvels, it turns out that lasting love still
boils down to two people closing their minds to all other
possibilities and opening their whole hearts to each another.
The ultimate formula for romance, in novels as
well as real life.
This essay appeared in the February 2009 issue
of
Samhellion, my publisher's newsletter.
TRAVELS
My husband and I have had the
great good fortune to be able to travel extensively, and I'll be sharing
descriptions of some of our experiences.
AUSTRALIA - East Coast - Hervey Bay
Hervey Bay is a pleasant day's
journey north of Brisbane on Australia's east coast. It has a lovely accessible
beach with an accompanying esplanade that features a range of accommodations and
restaurants. On this trip, we choose to stay a few blocks off the esplanade at
the Kundari Resort. I'm a bit disappointed with my first view of the resort,
but once we reach our quarters, my disappointment changes to delight. Our small
cabin, complete with kitchen and living room, has a porch overlooking a small
lake teeming with birds, including a black swan with three cygnets.
We
settle in and book the whale watch we came for. Humpback whales stop off in
Hervey from the end of July until the last week in October. We've arrived in
mid-August, a perfect time. We choose
QuickCatII for our tour
because we had an outstanding experience with the company four years earlier.
QuickCat II is specifically designed for whale-watching, with tiered seating on
the bow that provides everyone on board a clear view.
After an hour of fast travel to the north end of the bay,
with the mainland receding on our left and Fraser Island, the world's largest
sand dune, on the right, the captain quickly spots a pod of four whales.
He slows, and as we reach the minimum allowable distance
from the whales, shuts down the engines. We start to rock and roll. Dramamine
is recommended for uncertain sailors and warm clothing is also an excellent
idea.
It's
a happy fact that while boats can't approach too closely to whales, nobody's
informed the whales they can't get as close as they want to the boats. For over
an hour, the four in our pod cavort off our bow, sometimes coming as close as
fifty feet, treating us to views of flippers and flukes, and a special treat, a
spectacular breech. All of it comes accompanied by the gusty sound of
whalebreath, although luckily without the smells, which we've been told are
nasty.
After two experiences with the Hervey Bay whales, we're
convinced they enjoy being watched. They remind us of oversized toddlers,
Look at me breech, Ma. Scientists have no explanation for why the whales
stop off at Hervey during their annual migration to Arctic waters, but perhaps
in addition to enjoying the attention, they are simply enjoying the opportunity
to do a little human-watching.
_______________________________________________
Australia - The West Coast from Broome to Perth
We're flying from Cairns on the east coast
of Australia to Broome
on the northwest coast. Below us, the red center of Australia is living up to
its name as it spools out its bright colors--reds, maroons, and oranges
with occasional touches of tan and chocolate. It's enough to make an artist's
mouth water and the fingers of even a non-artist itch to be holding a paint
brush.
We hadn't counted on the
flight to Broome being one of the most remarkable aspects of the trip. And
that's before we descend for the landing in Ayers Rock and see Uluru rising from
the flat plain. Even from a distance and looking down on it, it is amazing, and
we are pleased that our schedule forced us to take this particular flight
(Cairns to Ayers Rock to Alice Springs to Broome). Only available twice a week,
it makes for a long day, but we find this eagle view of Uluru and the outback
more than compensates for our fatigue at the end.
Broome to Perth Read More
