These are a few of my Favorite Somethings
To answer the pressing question, some of my favorite words all seem to have dealings with nature: sycamore, willow, sumac, wistful, and macintosh. I really don’t care for any word which I cannot easily pronounce or for which the pronounciation confuses me (Greenwhich is one, Worcester is another.) I don’t know why I like words having to do with nature, it’s not like I spend all day every day out hiking; like I’ve got a beard down to me knee, hiking boots, and a walking stick and I spend my hours traversing the globe with a map and compass. No, I actually sit in an office and type all day. But I do like the sound of some words. Some, like sycamore, just seem to roll off the tongue. They just sound pretty. I suppose it’s the same reason I dislike a lot of nature photography. If it’s too pretty, and it’s a nature photograph, I hate it. But, if it’s a word, I love it. I love the lyrical sound of words like sycamore. I suppose it’s why they name a lot of street names after trees. They’re just names that sound pretty without being semantically offensive.
As an aside, I discovered sometime this week that, this year anyway, Valentine’s day falls on a Saturday. This makes it entirely more appealing to me. It will be a day during which I may actually get some work done or, worst case, sleep. If there’s a horrible day out on the horizon, I like it all that much more if there’s a possibility that I can sleep through it. In this way, I suppose this makes Valentine’s day a bit like a tornado. Ok if you can hold onto somebody you love, better taken asleep. It’s always best to be the guy who wakes up on Sunday morning, looks around, and says, “Dude, what happened to my house?” than the guy who holds onto the roof joists and preys through the storm. And that, my friend, is my philosophical statement for the week. “Avoid roof joists at all costs and instead enjoy good naps when you can.” Confucious would be proud.
On the photographic front, I happened upon a oddity of a camera. Calmut Photo is now offering a Holga camera with a Polaroid back. Strange but true, it’s kind of like dressing Spam with Cheese Whiz and calling it what happens when “two gourmet worlds collide.” Yes, my friends, they have coupled a plastic camera complete with a plastic lens alongside a film type that doesn’t offer true color and escapes any kind of quality in resolution imaginable. I have decided I want one of these if, for nothing else, to support insanity around the world. Hey, somebody’s gotta do it, right?
Until next time, this is Carol, the Carol in “Carol’s Little World” signing off.
