Wednesday, January 9, 2019

I know nothing of Emily Dickinson

But while watching a comedian on Netflix this evening I heard him recite the following poem:

I dwell in Possibility 



I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –


Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –


Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –

The show is entitled "The Bill Murray Stories" and I recommend it. I'll try avoid spoilers, but it is more about philosophy, living and being than comedy. He read that poem to some workers who were working on a poetry place - I have no idea what that place is, but it was being built and Bill showed up and read that poem to them while they were on break. Mr. Murray leads an interesting life. He took the lessons he learned studying improv and applied them to his life. That made me reflect that perhaps that's what life is - we are all doing improv, some days we hit our marks and carry it off, some days we miss our mark and are carried off, but the show does go on.

We have had some very pleasant weather but since winter will be back soon I have been being productive while I can. First up, a walnut bowl:


The wood for that one came from a tree that blew over here in town due to a microburst in the year 2000. I sawed the tree up and that wood has been drying ever since. Now is the time to make something out of it. That is thing one.

Next, a bowl I turned out of a piece of SpectraPly I was given recently. I hear it is very colorful:


Here is what the chip pile looked like:


It got so cold today I burned all that, plus a bunch of other scrap. It was briefly tolerable out in the yard.

Yesterday afternoon I set about finishing this bowl:


I rough turned it nearly 2 years ago to the day. The wood is red maple with some ambrosia going on. It is a live edge bowl, that is, the bark is still on it. Stop by sometime and I will explain how that is done.


That tree, and another similar one were given to me by a nice woman who lives over in the big city. I gave her two bowls from those trees - she will keep one and leave the other with the house when she sells it. She lives in a house that was part of a historic homestead (read plantation) with a name you would recognize from the news. Anyway, she is a lovely woman who was lookin' out for ol' 60.

Here is the sunrise the other day:


I almost missed it - the sun is rising earlier every day and I was tired, wanted to sleep in, but peeked out the window and then hustled out to snap that picture. No telling what it looked like a bit earlier, but I will say this - in another minute or two it was gone. The sun had moved and the light had gone off that lower cloud. Sometimes they stick around, other days, bam, you snooze you lose.

16 comments:

ricpic said...

SOLID!

It's nice to have a lovely woman looking out for you. In fact it's more than nice.
A whole lot more substantial it is than Emily's etherial spread armed paradise.

Tank said...

I caught Musselwhite in a small club (The Turning Point) in New York (not city) about ten years ago. He had the thickest, most amazing, tone, a truly great musician.

The Dude said...

ricpic - she is a real sweetheart. Easy on the eyes, too. I am twice her age, alas, so it goes.

I met Charlie at the San Jose flea market back in '75 or so. I bought some used Rolling Stones from him. The woman with him said "You know who you buyin' those from?" "Why no, ma'am, I don't." "That's Charlie Musselwhite!" "Pleased to meet you sir."

I later sold the entire collection of RSs at a tidy profit, as I had the ones from when Hendrix and Joplin died, those fetched a pretty penny. Plus I much prefer money to old mildewed papers.

Chip Ahoy said...

Noice.

chickelit said...

The purple/yellow one looks groovy and a little trippy if I stare at it. Reminds me of the "Time Tunnel."

chickelit said...

She is lithe to your lathe.

Chip Ahoy said...

But he's loathe to take advantage.

The Dude said...

She is superfine, I am superannuated. And coarse.

windbag said...

I'm terrible at poetry. It's been said that Emily Dickinson's poetry can be sung to various tunes. One such claim is the theme song from Gilligan's Island.

Evidence, although sadly it isn't this poem.

Other versions of this poem from a more serious perspective:

An ASL version.

Girls' choir version.

The Dude said...

Thanks for posting the ASL version, windbag, class has started up again and I need to get back on track - I got a tiny bit of what she was signing, even knowing the poem. I am deaf and about half blind, I guess.

But I have to say, her fingerspelling is very limber. My old arthritic fingers are jealous.

The Dude said...

The singing was nice, and based on the eucalyptus in the background I didn't need to read the credits to know that was filmed in California.

Now you have me doing it!

Filmed in old See Ay!

Amartel said...

You do such amazing creative work.

The Dude said...

Thanks, Amartel, I appreciate it. Just an ol' country boy tryin' to make a livin'...

MamaM said...

Liking the sound but not tuned in to what a gambrel was, I had to look. Which led me to this:

In 1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote:

Know old Cambridge? Hope you do.—
Born there? Don't say so! I was, too.
(Born in a house with a gambrel-roof,—
Standing still, if you must have proof.—
"Gambrel?—Gambrel?"—Let me beg
You'll look at a horse's hinder leg,—
First great angle above the hoof,—
That's the gambrel; hence gambrel-roof.)

As for helping nature take one more step toward loveliness, the bowls are once again outstanding!

chickelit said...

I hear it is very colorful

And I see that it is very loud.

The Dude said...

I am back in ASL class and one of the movies assigned as homework is "Through Deaf Eyes". Your comment reminds me of that title. I also recommend that movie to anyone who wants to learn more about the deaf community.

Wasn't there an old song that had some lyrics involving seeing what someone heard? I will remember it eventually.