Marlow's Musings 5/19/24
Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.
Audio narration by David Marlow
Singers love to sing…writers love to have written, or so the saying goes. At times, I’ve found that to be true with my writing. There is so much energy and drive to put something to paper that it can be uncomfortable, almost painful.
Working on my book this week has been a bit of both ‘singer’ and ‘writer.’ Some parts have been a complete joy, others gut-wrenching agony. I reached a point this week where I felt neither.
There was this disquieting deadness which told me I needed a break. Forcing it would only lead to poorly written chapters. Instead, I ‘worked’ on something else. A new lamp post light.
My home is nearly 50 years old. Putting in new things is always an adventure. Standards change, fittings are different, that sort of thing. There is always something that makes even the simplest upgrade, well, not so simple.
I’ll spare you the various wiring and painting challenges and go straight to the new light itself.
With the new roof and siding we had done after the storm damage, we thought we would also upgrade the lights, which were outdated and wouldn’t match the new decor.
We bought some fabulous new lamps to go on the house and wanted to get a pole light that matched. The first lamps were easy to install and went up without a hitch. While the pole light is the same style, it is anything but simple to put together.
It has to be assembled top down on the ground and then fit over the top of 8 separate screws while simultaneously installing a rubber washer on either side of the screws to protect the glass plates on the sides.
This required 4 pairs of hands, and despite our best efforts, Alicia and I only had two pairs between us. Somehow, we managed to do it while remaining calm and upbeat. I was putting on the final screw cap when it happened.
As I turned the screw cap, it caught on a thread, and when I moved my fingers to give it another turn, it came off, falling into the grass below.
Thirty minutes later, looking in every possible way, including getting the vacuum and running it over the grass, we gave up the search. I took a chance the hardware store might have something similar. These are custom screw caps, and there weren’t any just like it, but I found one that was close. It was silver, so I got out some copper paint and created a layered look of black and copper that resembled the other caps.
To paint the screw cap evenly, I mounted it on a nail protruding from a cardboard box, allowing me to spray paint the entire surface. With the new cap painted, I started to place it on the lamp, but it wasn’t completely dry, so I returned it to the nail on the box.
A short time later, certain the cap was dry, I prepared to finish the installation with the one remaining step.
“Wait, where’s the cap?” There was the box and nail but no cap. In the process of cleaning up, I must have bumped the box, and the cap went flying into the grass, lost like the other one.
Frantically looking for the replacement cap, I shifted my weight and turned to scan the ground. As I did, my left foot landed right next to the original missing cap.
It was several feet from the pole and on the opposite side of where it had first bounced on the ground before disappearing into the grass.
More than a few grateful hallelujahs later, I carefully placed the screw cap on the lamp post and stood admiring my work.
In case you were wondering, I’m ready to get back to writing my book now.
Word of the Week
Pun (noun)
/pən/
An expression in which the use of a word in two different applications, or the use of two different words pronounced alike or nearly alike, presents an odd or ludicrous idea
According to Larwood & Hotten in ‘The History of Signboards from the Earliest Times to the Present Day,’ (London, 1867) “At the revival of learning, and the spread of what we may term the refinement of society, punning was one of the few accomplishments at which the fine ladies and gentlemen aimed. From the twelfth to the sixteenth century, it was at its greatest height. The conversation of the witty gallants, and ladies, and even of the clowns and other inferior characters, in the comedies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, which we may be sure was painted from the life, is full of puns and plays upon words.”
Of course, the authors went on to say that punning, like other diseases, created great havoc during the ‘rain’ (pun intended) of Queen Anne.
In case you missed it…
This week, there were two Ikigai Thoughts for Today. The first explored ancient wisdom that tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made—that is, crafted with great respect, honor, and reverence.
The second generated some of the most conversation of any Ikigai Thought for Today ever. In it, I explored the idea of life being experienced in moments of nuance.
Ikiquest+
This week's Coffee Contemplation: Waiting on the Why. Another Fabulous Friday Five questions to power your reflection this week on perhaps the toughest question of all.
Ikiquest+ subscribers can listen to it in audio narration or read the transcription.
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Comment of the Week:
This week’s comment came from Kat on my silly pun in Notes.
Here’s the pun: I’ve been working on a Scandinavian joke. It would be Swede if I could Finnish it, but right now, there’s just Norway.
Kat: Time to get a Danish and have a break.
Me: Want to join me? We could go Dutch.
Many people joined in the fun and came up with their own, like Kat. In Notes, I have fun and share things like puns and views of my runs. And sometimes, things like the Fun Thing I Saw this week, which you can see below.
Check out the notes section at the top of the page. I share something quick and fun almost every day.
Quote I’m Pondering
This thought is from Louis L'Amour…
"There will come a time when you will think everything is finished. That is the beginning."
Interesting Thing I Saw This Week
My wife sent me to the grocery store for a few things…which was her first mistake.
I was in line for checkout, and the woman ahead of me had a large number of items. Many, many items and all of them took a while to ring up. I decided to embrace the moment and keep my zen when I spied these…
They are so bright and fun, I couldn’t resist…
Buying some. You know, for the grandkids. The Pepperjack Cheese Brats were for me.
Final Thoughts
People often come to me wanting to ‘find’ their Ikigai. Of course, there is nothing to find, as it is already there. The process is more about uncovering.
The other error is they see Ikigai as a singular thing. Writing is central to my Ikigai but it isn’t my Ikigai. It is one expression, albeit an important one. There are many in my life, including putting up lamps post and finding missing screws. We found the substitute screw, by the way, whose purpose, I’m convinced, was to guide us to the original screw cap.
Embrace that there will be many ways you can express who you are and why you are here, all in harmony with whatever you do.
Quest well.
I love your puns! My oldest daughter and her husband attend an outdoor event that has many clever booths to stop by. The name of theirs was /(is?) “Pun Intended Consequences”. And for everyone who stopped by to say hello, they would offer up a pun. I don’t know how she did it, but she could rattle them off for hours😎🤣
Gosh, I haven’t stopped laughing. It makes me feel so good that these things don’t only happen to me!
…and then the duckies!! Hahaha
Thank you so much for the lovely moment. Happy Sunday!