Where You At?
Trace the water you drink from precipitation to tap.
How many days till the moon is full?…
From what direction do winter storms generally come in your region?
Name five grasses in your area.
Name five resident and five migratory birds…
Were the stars out last night?
From where you are reading this, point north.
~ Jenny Offill, Weather: A Novel (Knopf, February 11, 2020)
Notes:
- Inspired by: “As it is, we are merely bolting our lives—gulping down undigested experiences as fast as we can stuff them in—because awareness of our own existence is so superficial and so narrow that nothing seems to use more simple than simple being. If I ask you what you did, saw, heard, smelled, touched, and tasted yesterday, I am likely to get nothing more than the thin, sketchy outline of the few things that you noticed, and of those only what you thought worth remembering. Is it surprising that an existence so experienced seems so empty and bare that its hunger for an infinite future is insatiable?” ~ Alan Watts, The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (Published August 28th 1989 by Vintage, first published 1966) (via noosphe.re)
- Illustration by Ariduka55 (via Your Eyes Blaze Out)
Live & Learn 
I’d fail dismally on replying to those questions but I’m married to the uncrowned King of Questions, so I guess I should get away lightly this time 😉
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Laughing!
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All you need to do is to ask the great Oracle, Google…
I’m stuck on the “five grass” question and stumped after “ green” and “ brown”
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Laughing!
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LOVE this…
You’ll be surprised how many don’t know the answers to these questions from where they’re at!
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sadly, I would be one of those…
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Oh I get it. Looking in mirror now.
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The upside to being slow, and INFP-A.
I don’t know the names of the grasses though, not even one. BUT, I’m trying to read Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. After reading his letters with Anne Gilchrist, I want to know what it is that started it all. This book started their correspondence.
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Can’t get into Whitman.
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He’s not easy to read. But I’m digging.
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As it is, we are merely bolting our lives—gulping down undigested experiences as fast as we can stuff them in—because awareness of our own existence is so superficial and so narrow that nothing seems to use more simple than simple being. If I ask you what you did, saw, heard, smelled, touched, and tasted yesterday, I am likely to get nothing more than the thin, sketchy outline of the few things that you noticed, and of those only what you thought worth remembering. Is it surprising that an existence so experienced seems so empty and bare that its hunger for an infinite future is insatiable?
~ Alan Watts, The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (Published August 28th 1989 by Vintage, first published 1966)
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Sounds about right!
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Count me in ….
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They all know you by name, Kiki. This much I know is true ❤
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Sawsan, I know YOU too – you’re a sweetheart with a sharp mind and always the right words…. 😉 (can’t do hearts on my computer)
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Oh Brother. Mutual admiration society.
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Is it different when we do brotherly admiration, Dave? 😉
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So different!
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an excellent point made here.
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sure is!
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We are so isolated and lost in our respective ‘bubbles of information.’
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Oh, we are.
As it is, we are merely bolting our lives—gulping down undigested experiences as fast as we can stuff them in—because awareness of our own existence is so superficial and so narrow that nothing seems to use more simple than simple being. If I ask you what you did, saw, heard, smelled, touched, and tasted yesterday, I am likely to get nothing more than the thin, sketchy outline of the few things that you noticed, and of those only what you thought worth remembering. Is it surprising that an existence so experienced seems so empty and bare that its hunger for an infinite future is insatiable?
~ Alan Watts, The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (Published August 28th 1989 by Vintage, first published 1966)
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I do know where the closest dunkin’ donuts is though…
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Laughing. Good one!
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Our 5 grasses are Don’tParkThere, Don’tTrampleThat, WeHaveMoles?, MossyWonder, and OhLookItCameBack! Good questions, though.
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OMG. SO GOOD!
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Terrific grass sorts growing everywhere.
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Ahhh… but is it knowing the grasses by their names that matters or by their feel, their scent, their colour in summerlight or moonlit darkness? How they wave and bend in the warmth of the Chinook wind that blows in from the mountains to the west or how each frond curls in icy isolation of an Arctic wind storming down from the north?
Just askin’. 🙂
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I was thinking the same thing, Louise. Some people can be so wrapped up in the names of things that they fail to experience them fully. Someone may not know the names of grasses, birds, flowers, reptiles, or whatever, but actualy “know” these things with their heart and soul. There’s so much knowledge out there that I believe humankind is losing its basic survival instincts and intuition.
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Agree with you Sarah!
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Yes! So true Sarah. Intuition takes a backseat to scientific discourse and we lose the beauty and the mystery at the heart and soul of what makes life so very rich and awe-inspiring.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
‘Where are you at?’ … Jenny Offill, Weather: A Novel (Knopf, February 11, 2020) …
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I know when full moon is! Does that count??ha!! 😎
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Ha! No!
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🤪
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This is taking the time to smell the roses to a whole ‘nother level…
I can’t name a damn blade of grass and am limited to birds like robins, blue jays, cardinals, swallows and sparrows. The crows are probably blackbirds but I couldn’t say… However. I can say that I love to stop and listen: when all is silent, when one bird sings, when a cricket chirps… or watch a dragonfly sway, a butterfly flit…
Does that count?
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Smiling. It all counts Dale, all of it.
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Glad I have you smiling…
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