By: Blonde One
I was lucky enough to have some new Icebreaker clothing for Christmas and on the tag was the quote “Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better” said by Albert Einstein. What a clever man he was! On my recent solo walk I did stop and ‘look deep into nature’. When there is no-one to share a conversation with it is easier to get absorbed by the beauty around you. Every sight was a source of amazement. From the sheep drinking from the partially iced up pool to the piles of haphazard granite rocks. From the multi-coloured lichen to the variety of cloud colours. I’m not sure that Einstein was right in my case about ‘understanding everything better’ but I sure do feel that I appreciate things better. Sometimes I forget to stop and look closely at the things I am surrounded by. I easily become complacent about what is familiar and it’s days like these that remind me to slow down, breathe deeply and take in the beauty around me. Whatever 2014 brings, I will try to make this part of my New Year’s Resolution.
Happy New Year!
Thank you for this peaceful and insightful post. What a gentle way to start the new year!
You’re welcome. The Two Blondes (and especially me) are in need of some peace and gentleness!
AE: Clever, yes, but he had his limits. Faced with the non-intuitiveness of quantum mechanics he is supposed to have rejected the idea with the grumpy assertion that God doesn’t play dice with the world. Now every fool and his oxen (especially literary types who enjoy saying they can’t get on with mathematics) inserts misguided statements about randomness and mass/direction into their wiffles. Look at me! I left school at 15 and I’m doing it myself!
You have touched on a key issue about complacency and the familiar. Given the number of occasions The Blondish Duo go forth looking for truth and beauty (occasionally forgetting that these qualities can be found by glancing a mere meter away over their respective shoulders) it is inevitable that parts of the route – usually at the beginning or at the end – are being repeated. It is thus a test of your commitment to Dartmoor (Your present score: 100 out of a 100) that you are able to be stimulated by the “previously seen”. You are in this for the long haul and that is reassuring for your devoted blog followers.
Does a “wiffle” contain piffle? Can a piffle contain “wiffle”?
More or less a hole in one. A wiffle typically contains piffle, but the situation is complicated in that wiffle is also a verb. Many people (perhaps most) “wiffle on”. A wiffle lacks style and/or worthwhile information, offers lackadaisical opinion and is defensive from the word go. Unlike this comment which is full of hard facts and is in-yer-face. If you listen carefully you’ll hear my teeth grinding.