There are times when I look at all that is before me, and I am struck by the notion that I do not know anything.   At all.

It is then my assertion, that the unknown could be anywhere.
Yet at the same time…. in fact…. it is everywhere.

And I am simply amazed.

“Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known?” – Charles de Lint

“The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.” – Oscar Wilde

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.” – Albert Einstein

Who Writes This…. UPDATED…

with root vegetables.

In the United States, we have a history filled with a LOT of law making.

Sometimes, these laws are created for reasons we may never quite know.  Yet.  They remain on the books.  All 50 states have a really big barrel filled with stupid rules.

Let us look at just one state out the many.  Say…. how about… Missouri?

A milk man may not run while on duty.

Minors can buy rolling paper and tobacco but not lighters.

Four women may not rent an apartment together.

Installation of bathtubs with four legs resembling animal paws is prohibited.

One may not honk another’s horn.

It is illegal to request for someone to “watch over” your parked boxcar.

Apparently…. that is not the only dumb thing in Missouri.  Some of their lawmakers are still saying some pretty idiotic things.

Stupidity.  It is akin to ….  Brainlessness.   Dumb and Dumber.

As of late, Gilford simply felt like he was always between a rock and a hard place.

Someone said to him one day… .. “Well.  Life is just hard.”
And Gilford replied, “Compared to what?”

Oh.  The trouble with all of it.

Damned if he did.  Damned if he didn’t.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.

Always on the horns of a dilemma.

So he pulled up a stretch of grass, and imagined the ocean…. and somehow, this made him feel better.

“Life is like art. You have to work hard to keep it simple and still have meaning.” – Charles deLint

One day, at a fairly young age, I was thrusting the basketball toward the hoop in our back yard.  Quite unsuccessfully, I might add.  The ten foot high rim may as well have been the moon.  I was lucky to hit the bottom of the net, let alone make a basket.

But on that day, one of my brothers, or my Dad, was working on something in the garage.  There was a level in the toolbox.  I thought it looked very Neat-o Guido.  I mean.  It had those bubbles in the lime green liquid and all.

I asked. They explained.  And then I knew what a level was.  A device which tells you when a surface is level or…plumb.

What I wouldn’t give to have such a device in the day-to-day surface of things.

Theoretically, it would go like this.  I would approach a situation… pull out my level… and it would tell me immediately if the people were on an even keel, or if they were all misaligned.  And then I would know.

I would not try to fix the situation. Not at all.

But if something started to slide in my direction…  you know…. sliding off that slanted surface right toward me… I’d be ready.  I’d be on the lookout.

I could duck and dodge.

Yet.  Without my level… I would not know.  And I’d probably get thunked on the head.

Much like today.  Blindsided.  Meteor shower… right out of nowhere.   Thunked.

Tomorrow,  I am going to the Home Depot and buying one of those levels, with the lime green juice.  And hope beyond all hope….. that the bubble always stay right between the lines.

“True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.” – Tom Robbins

First and foremost.  This is not a Project.  Nope.  Not a daily thing either.

All this is…. well… it is just a DAM PHOTO.  And that is it.

Here is the thing though.  From the time I woke this morning, until now… things to write about have been raining from the sky like gumdrops.

So… tonight I simply couldn’t help myself.  And the truth of the matter is…. I am going to need a gosh darn 12-Step Program to stop doing this thing I have come to know so well.  This whole writing business.

Very early this morning.  While walking down the stairwell at the Drury Inn, a maid was following behind me.  I turned and said hello.  She smiled really large and said…. “You favor my high school gym teacher.”  I chuckled, and smiled really large right back at her.  That’s not the first time I’ve been mistaken for a Gym Teacher.  I’ll tell you that right now.

But even a goofy-pseudo-gym-teacher can feel dapper, natty, and snazzy.

Sure as can be…., believe it or not, I felt swanky.  Yes.  Swanky.  I was traveling along I-70 today, on my third or fourth swipe between home and Dayton.  Flipping through the radio, I found the 40’s Channel on Satellite….. Sirius FM.  Holy Cow.  I don’t think they make ’em like they used to.  There was Bunny Berigan, Chick Webb, Harry James, and Tommy Dorsey.  I was swinging…..  I was tapping and a-snapping.

Music can make you feel pretty grand at times.  This particular venue catapulted me back 70 years.  Yes, back to a time before I was born.  Yet I felt like I knew every dance, dip and swirl.  I could see the Big Band Leader at the podium on the stage, with the Royal Blue curtains behind the band, and his little baton in hand… leading the way.  It was palatial.

Next.  Opie Taylor… (forever frozen in time… in the way of reruns) … is as cute as can be.

All that was on my brain before 10 a.m.

The rest of the day kept up the same way.

For the past few months, it felt like I struggled for an idea.  I labored for words.  I squeezed the turnip.

And today, when I put it all away… it came knocking at my front door.  Bearing gifts.

And that is how the Universe works sometimes.  It lines up every now and again.  Tomorrow, the planets may all have their underwear in a a bunch.  I don’t know.  But I will accept it when it comes.

Tonight I tap at the keyboard again.  For no good reason.  And.  For every good reason.

“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” – Henry David Thoreau

Just like  there is water in that tower….

…. it appears….  there is still or word or two in me.