Paul Merrill
Life is short. I am happy this time to focus on something fun…
Creativity.
How great to have a soap dish like a little bathtub! The creator simply took something out of context – a soap dish – and made it into something related but entirely different than normal.
May we all be infused with a bit of fun creativity today.
I always feel a tension about how much is appropriate to share. If I lean toward the vulnerable side, my experiences may resonate with some of my readers in a deeper way than otherwise possible. If I lean toward the surface level, I won’t alienate anyone. And how much disclosure is too much?
I’ve been struggling with how to share a significant life event. Last week, my mother-in-law died after a long struggle with many illnesses. Her release from a body that was not working anywhere close to what it did earlier in life was a blessing to her and others. But we greatly miss her – the woman we remember who was funny, loving, nurturing and much more. How can anyone sum up the life of another in a few short words?
I was the first to visit her room at the hospice. I saw her frail form lying with her hands folded, holding a pink rose. I walked to the lobby to wait for her husband to come. Then we went to her room together and cried. I cry, even writing this.
Life is a blessing. Love those around you today.
What’s it like to be blind? Those with sight can never know. Those who lost their sight later in life have different perceptions than those born blind, as they retain memories of what the world looks like.
The perceptions of a blind person must be totally different than the perceptions of a sighted person. Temperature changes and smells are much more important, I would guess. Seeing people can never know what a song is like to a blind person. I imagine that a richer and deeper set of colors accompany the mood of a piece of music.
But we are all blind. Another Paul said this: “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror.” They say humans only use about 5% of their brains (or something like that). Maybe a deaf person uses 10% of the visual part of their brain, and a blind person uses 10% of the auditory part of their brain – and a person with sight and hearing only uses 5% of every part. Everyone uses different levels of each sense. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Our strengths and weaknesses open us up to different vulnerabilities – and abilities.
If you are blind and reading this, I’d love your reflections on the topic.
Our new neighbors moved in. They used a large Penske rental truck that they drove from a distant city.
Somehow I thought of villagers having to move their worldly possessions due to war. Everything they have is carried on their backs or loaded on a cart pulled by a donkey. What a contrast to life in America.
I live such an insulated life here. If I don’t visit websites to read and see what’s going on in other parts of the world, I am blissfully unaware. And even if I do see what’s happening, I become desensitized to the pain and suffering. There’s so much of it.
What can I do? I could give. I could downsize my possessions, so I don’t feel guilty about having so much. I could go overseas to try to help. I can pray for those who are hurting. I’ve done all those things, but it still does not seem to be enough.
Does the family moving their possessions on their backs feel less guilt than I? It’s hard to say. Do they feel more pain? Yes.
Where am I going with this post? I don’t know. Maybe just sharing the pain will help a little.
The photo of the refugees was taken by Julien Harneis and is used under a Creative Commons license. If you click on his name, you can read a little of his story, which took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008.
Footnote: A good friend is going to the middle east to make a difference. You can give to help her efforts. Among other things, she will be teaching zumba classes in the West Bank. Visit her site.
About once a week for about a year, I rode my bicycle past this completely full car lot. All these cars cannot even be seen by the public from the dealership’s already ample lot. This is an overflow lot on a side street.
There are two reasons why this dealership has about $3,000,000 worth of trucks and cars constantly sitting in that lot: 1) They want buyers to be able to buy a purple model with or without a sunroof today and not go to another dealership; and 2) Ford essentially requires them to keep that much inventory through various arcane regulations.
Europe is not that way. You may have to schedule an appointment three days in advance to test drive the car you are considering. But that’s the system, and people are used to it.
One system is built upon instant gratification. The other system is built on high real estate values.
All I know is that this kind of American excess breaks my heart.
I took about 20 photos of this lot under various lighting conditions. Maybe someday I’ll create wallpaper or something with those pictures.
Foursquare was fun, while it lasted. I checked in at interesting places I visited and shared those with some of my social media friends. I enjoyed seeing where they checked in too. It was great to not use Facebook for that, as I never want to overwhelm any social media channel with too much stuff about me.
Then Foursquare switched things up. Now it’s just a platform for advertising. (Google Maps already allows me to look for businesses quite well, thank you.) Foursquare forced anyone who wanted to keep checking in to download a new app called Swarm. Not me.
This is a perfect example of bad friction. Good friction is when something is a challenge and you dive in. Bad friction is when something happens that breaks the camel’s back.
For once, I will come out in favor of hoarding – as long as it’s in someone else’s attic.
The Hill Top General Store in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, is a very humble museum. They have everything from collections of old tools, a room of vinyl records (including the songs of Stevie Wonder, as performed by the Motor City Rollers), a gathering of toy ponies, to a small group of Elvis memorabalia. And there’s much more, held in a fairly small collection of rooms.
You can mouse-over or click on each image to see it larger.
I’m glad this place exists. Many people would enter the door and promptly turn around to leave. But I savored every moment of browsing (and photo-gathering). How wonderful that this room of records exists, even though no one will ever listen to them again. I applaud the creativity of Ms. Hill Top, as she carefully arranged the ponies on a shelf behind a painting that the ponies would love to wander into.
Thirty years from now, all of this may be in a land fill. But I am glad that my daughter and I had the opportunity to visit this eclectic landmark. (The rest of my family also visited, but their enjoyment level was not quite the same.)
(“Part 9” is simply an estimate. I don’t know how many posts I’ve written actually relate to the topic. You can see at least some of those posts here and here.)
TL-DNR = “Too Long; Did Not Read.”
This is a phrase that I wish more people would grasp. Few are able to write a good blog post that is fewer than 100 words. Even more critical than brevity is the ability to capture the reader’s attention. Our world is so fractured into special interests that very few blogs can capture the interest of wide audiences.
Faithful readers of this humble blog are few, because I knowingly write about almost anything and everything. If I wanted to focus, I could grab more readers, but making money from this blog is not my goal. I only desire to connect with a few people at a deeper than surface level: “I totally agree with you!” Or, “You are completely off-base, but I can now understand why you feel that way.”
Shiny Bits of Life are often small things that are insignificant to most people. I love uncovering the obscure and bringing it to life for the few who enjoy the same.
Thanks for joining me on the ride.
Mario’s served my favorite pizza. High school was a long time ago, but that restaurant in Lexington, Massachusetts still lingers in my memory. Their thin crust had a light dusting of flour. The tomato sauce was the perfect blend of spicy and sweet. The cheese must have been real mozzarella. I am not sure if I ever met Mario – he may have even been Greek. But the large Italian population of Boston definitely had their influence on that venue’s offerings.
What restaurant stands out in your memory?
When I was a teenage boy, my peers had posters of the Lamborghini Countach on their bedroom walls. I had a poster of Eddy Merckx winning the Tour de France on a Gitane bicycle.
Lamborghinis and Ferraris have long been the desire of countless men (and fewer women) worldwide. If you want to buy a new Ferrari, there is an 18-month waiting list, even if you have the money!
But such cars are not the objects of my fantasy. They don’t appeal to me as much as the new Honda Fit. Why? The Fit is attainable. In my wildest dreams, I will never have enough funds to own or lease an Italian supercar. Even if my income increased dramatically, it would take a massive shift in my personal worldview to allow spending that kind of money on pure fun.
Like last week’s post, I do appreciate the art of such beautiful machines. And normal cars benefit from the boundary-stretching work that goes into the creators of supercars pushing the edges of automotive performance.
I find beauty in the simple functionality and efficiency of the Honda Fit. “Doing more with less” describes how the Fit goes about its mission. And it’s fun to drive, as well!
I shot this Ferrari 458 at “my” local Ferrari dealer.
