I am floating on a blue rubber raft. My eyes are closed, face to the sun. Black motes dance around under my eyelids in the opaque red. I drift, listen to the sound of my breath going in and out, let the salt wind carry me to the middle of the pond. There is nothing but me. No one here but me. A perfect moment. I dangle my arm over the edge of the raft, open my fingers, feel the resistance of the water as it passes through them.
— Miranda Cowley Heller, The Paper Palace: A Novel (Riverhead Books, July 6, 2021)
Notes:
- Debut novel. Book, highly recommended.
- NY Times Book Review: Summer After Summer, a Clan Returns to Cape Cod
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”
Live & Learn 
the wonder of floating
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So true.
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NOW YOU’RE TALKING 😉
That’s my dream, exactly THAT. Floating, living in my mind’s world (a rather nice place!). My perfect dream!
THIS might be a book I could put on my skyscraper-high pile.
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Move it up the stack!
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I can still only read REAL books and that’s another American one – so it might be a while (or an aeon….)
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Hmmmmm……
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I just finished The Paper Palace last night. Beautiful writing, clever format, well-developed characters— I loved it.
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Simpatico Sister!
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Yes, it’s uncanny!
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Oh yes… and added to my kindle…
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Hope you enjoy it!
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You’ve not steered me wrong yet!
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That’s right!
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🙂
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Floating on water with your eyes closed would be an ideal practice for you, DK. One cannot binge or even eat in that position. Just bliss of letting go and luxuriating…
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LAUGHING. When there is a will, there is a way!
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Oh Val, you’re a killer…. what a great idea 💡
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“I dangle my arm over the edge of the raft, open my fingers, feel the resistance of the water as it passes through them.”??????? Does she not know what swims around under there? That’s way worse than letting your hands dangle over the edge of your bed at night.
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LAUGHING!
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I wrote it “tongue in cheek” but I think I was more serious than I first thought. I feel perfectly safe at home in my bed, but I NEVER dangle my arm over the edge. Neither would I do that on a rubber raft in the ocean … although, I can’t imagine a little rubber raft would deter a shark. He would probably think of it as a tortilla wrap around his lunch, mistaking my dangling arm for a piece of pulled pork.
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That is *too* funny, Anneli. That was my *first* thought when I read that line. ‘Girl, don’t you know you are just inviting something out of the depths to take a bite out of you?!’ I never like to float in a lake with my feet hanging down below my body…always certain someone or something is going to reach up from the depths and grab me. Give me a gunite pool anyday, thank you very much.
Fretting aside, book has been added to queue, right behind Maynard’s. 🙂
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You’re exactly right, Lori. My husband is a commercial fisherman and I know all about why things get dangled in the water. No way my legs would hang over a raft or a float or anything. That is called a “LURE.” 😉 See you in that gunite pool!
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Oh, I bet….
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I might move this one ahead of Maynard’s.
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Wow, ok, then….
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I shouldn’t have done that. Like that great movie you have to see that comes up short.
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keep you order. 🙂
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Ok
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I want to go to there…
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Me too!
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I’ve not been in warm, open water near the ocean or in the ocean before..though I remember a photo of my Aunt Athalie in her swim suit up to her waist in the warm ocean water off of the coast of The Bahamas or in Bermuda…being a child glancing at the photo with the turquoise water & knowing that it was warm was so foreign to me, I think she said the water was in the mid 80’s degree range…I’ve same in pools, ponds, lakes & rivers… I’ve waded in to the icy cold Pacific to mid-upper leg…and just a half an hour ago my dear hubby and daughter were out in the garden when a neighbor call them over to the fence and said I’ve just returned from the coast would you like some Dungeness crab & Salmon (pretty sure it’s sockeye) The gardener’s came through the house excited saying something about crabs…they came back with 1/2 dozen gorgeous crabs & half a large filleted salmon!!! The colors of the crab shells and the flesh of the salmon- so vivid and fresh…orange shells and deep, deep orange flesh, fresh & firm salmon!! We are having a bountiful dinner, tonight…I think of the blessing of this mornings walk, fresh plums from the right of way and about 25 sweet, soft wild blackberries that grow along the creek…the eggs at breakfast were the deepest, darkest yolks I’ve ever seen …plus we are treated to a day of break from the heat…we’ve had over 30 days since summer’s start in excess of blistering 90 to 112 (mostly in the upper 90″s) (mid 60’s yes!) // Anneli & Lori thoughts of dangling fingers I can relate to that esp for those who live in Lori’s area with all those alligators! I love to float in a pool, pond and lakes! Hopefully, someday I will be immersed in naturally warm water & I will recall the words of Ms. Heller // I found this link to be interesting: https://environment.bm/saltwater-ponds from the government of Bermuda…Bermuda’s Habitats…you Eric with his interest of oceans and travel might find this link , above informative…
PS: sometime I hope to go to the San Juan Islands of Washington state and the Gulf Island of of British Columbia (the water is cold though the photos I’ve seen gorgeous! My daughters friend just returned from a 10 sailing trip in the San Juan’s! Maybe even to Florida where we have friends!
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You’ve never been in warm open water in the Ocean? Ever?
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Never, ever…just visited the rugged, wild, cold, gorgeous!!! Pacific ocean!!! I’d love to wiggle my toes, in white sand!!! & then step into a warm ocean!!!..my father did take a trip to Florida shortly before I was born …he had considered moving us to Florida, he didn’t like the housing situation (at that time)…I’ve wondered how my life would have been different had I grown up in Florida…he came back, I was born & almost immediately we moved to his home state…
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Wow. you must add it to your bucket list
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PS Coincidentally, previous to seeing your post today… I was looking at watercolors & photographs of Hadlock”” Pond”” in Arcadia National Par in Maine -earlier today, beautiful place and I bet that water is cold!!!
https://www.google.com/search?q=hadlock+pond+maine&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjx79eanpvyAhWyIX0KHf7LC8sQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Hadlock+Pond+&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgCMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIECAAQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIECAAQGDIECAAQGFCb3gFY8N8BYLGUAmgAcAB4AIABTogBmgGSAQEymAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=J48MYbHABLLD9AP-l6_YDA&bih=647&biw=1280
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😆
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thank you
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