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Author Archives: John Swinburn
Sixty-Seven
It’s good to see a smile when you look in the mirror early in the morning. It doesn’t take much effort and it improves the day immeasurably for people around you.
Posted in Ruminations
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Agrarians
One day, in the distant future, a young woman named Phaedra will accelerate. She will move faster than any of her friends and family, far faster than her father, who will have been a professor of agrarian culture, even more rapidly than … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
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Sixty-Six
Yesterday afternoon, I went for a fairly long walk. Much of the snow and ice on the roads (except for one) near our house had melted. What was left was slippery only in a few spots. Though I slipped a … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
1 Comment
Fifteen Degrees
That’s what my computer claims the outdoor temperature is at the moment. Fifteen degrees. That is cold. Down right frigid. No matter where you are, fifteen degrees is more than moderately brisk. Even if my computer is wrong and, instead, … Continue reading
Posted in Weather
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Breathing Fire
I want a lightweight, but heavy-duty, snow shovel. I do not want to use it, but I want it close by in case I need it. Yesterday, if I had that shovel in my garage, I would have used it. … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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Sixty-Five
Goals are overrated. Achieving them, we believe, will make our lives better. Success in reaching objectives we set for ourselves brings happiness. Contentment. Joy. Fulfillment. Nonsense. Contentment comes with satisfaction. Satisfaction comes with appreciation of one’s lot in life. I firmly … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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Putting My Head in the Oven
Earlier, when I finished my first set of posts for the morning, I intended to go explore what my brain had in mind (pardon the pun) for me today. But reality sometimes falls short of expectations. Instead of exploring intellectual … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Just Thinking
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So Many Things to Think About
Thirty-four minutes ago, when I woke up at 2:57 a.m., I was younger and the ice outside my windows was just as cold as it is now. A lot of thoughts can happen in thirty-four minutes. Impossibly large numbers of … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Just Thinking
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Sixty-Four
I have learned that one can, indeed, plan for days of snow and ice. I have learned, as well, that one does not have to like it.
Posted in Ruminations
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Snowerism and Icyness
Weather people are telling us to expect craziness. Wild, unchecked, massively bizarre weirdness. Snow and sleet and freezing rain and sprays of icy woofka. Every single county in Arkansas is under a winter storm warning. We’ve seen a lot of … Continue reading
Posted in Weather
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An Infusion of Knowledge
Though I didn’t learn a lot about birds during yesterday’s birding workshop (and we didn’t go out bird watching, thanks to the weather), I learned a lot. So, in lieu of an attempt at writing a creative post, I’ll record here … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Technology
2 Comments
Sixty-Three
I just viewed my couchsurfing.org profile, something I wrote quite awhile ago and updated with our new location not long ago. Interesting what one thinks might be important to couch surfers. Here’s what I say about us, just in case … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
2 Comments
For the Birds
In just a short while, we’re heading out to the first of four 2.5-hour birding workshops that we’ll attend over the next four weeks. Initially, I was very interested in it; the workshop purports to introduce participants to birds one can … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
2 Comments
Sixty-Two
Every morning, someone sets off to do work better suited to someone else. And that is a shame.
Posted in Ruminations
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Fascination with Flânerie
In my position as a professional flâneur, I sometimes stumble across interesting stuff. A life of loafing can be informative, illuminating, instructive, and entertaining. For example, I watched a YouTube video a few days ago (more than one, actually, but one … Continue reading
Posted in Food
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Sixty-One
If I had absolute control over everything—living and dead and inanimate—I would be dining on fresh abalone this morning. Instead, I am laying out plans for an upcoming meal that will not quell my appetite for abalone. If that is my biggest concern … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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Just Soupy
Last night, I made Moshhorda (the Uzbek soup I posted about a couple of weeks ago). It was excellent, in spite of the fact that we had only half the amount of mung beans called for in the recipe (which … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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Stormy Dream
Sometime between four o’clock, the last time I looked at the clock before getting up, and five o’clock, when I got up, I had a strange dream. I was with someone, I don’t know who,looking out a huge plate-glass window … Continue reading
Posted in Dreams
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Sixty
Every morning, something new is waiting. New cup of coffee, new thoughts, new opportunities to consider how colors change as the sun rises. It’s as if there’s a new world out there, or the same world through new eyes.
Posted in Ruminations
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My Friends
I got an unexpected and unpleasant phone call tonight. A friend called to say her husband is back in the hospital and, depending on the outcome of tests and evaluations and assessments, may not come home. He may have to … Continue reading
Posted in Friendship, Health
1 Comment
Tart Cherries
One does not speak of tart cherries (and let me be clear, I’m not referring to cherry tarts) unless one is serious about the subject. It’s just not done in polite company. So, I have to assume I am serious … Continue reading
Posted in Food
2 Comments
Fifty-Nine
A glass of cool water can brighten a room. Take a sip and the grayness that’s smudging the walls and the windows and the world around you leaks away. That sip begins the process, leaving a cleaner, clearer view for … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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Woozy
Have you ever felt a little woozy, like your head and face and arms are melting? Oh, you thought I meant “felt a little woozy” as in put my hands on a woozy, didn’t you? It would be unseemly for … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
1 Comment
Stepping Back
I’m journaling a bit this morning. Nothing much here but random thoughts spilling from my brain, though my fingers, onto the keyboard and, miraculously, onto the screens of millions and millions of people worldwide (well, the potential is there). Yesterday … Continue reading
Posted in Just Thinking
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Fifty-Eight
If you allow it, an ugly passion will grow in you, a passion striving to suffocate the goodness in people around you, people you know and people you don’t. If you allow it, this ugly passion will consume you and … Continue reading
Posted in Ruminations
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