Apple & Peanut Butter
Just finished my lunch, which was a large Macintosh apple sliced and a generous dollop of peanut butter on a paper plate. I have reason to believe this is a well loved menu option for older guys. My friend Mike, at Starbucks this morning conveyed to me his satisfaction with making peanut butter the main course of a meal; simple and gratifying.
The weather outside is unsettled. Rain last night and now a stiff wind is gusting. Several hours of work in the yard with a rake in hand yesterday have been undone. More leaves have fallen and if I were not mindful of the grass, I’d leave them where they fall. They must be removed though, and a goodly amount of the fallen leaves will become mulch, nourishment for the anticipated garden vegetables for the coming year.
I am reminded over and over that my best efforts to achieve a manicured, aesthetically pleasing back yard are often vetoed by Nature. Everything is changing constantly even if I happen not to notice: a tree dies and must be removed, a smaller crab apple tree has to be pruned back to a symmetrical shape, and the weeds are always growing willy-nilly. If this is to be our backyard the only way to feel ownership is to dedicate the time, put in the work.
I could contract out the work. I don’t think the emotional component would be present, I doubt that I’d look forward to planting the vegetables in spring if I had not invested my time and labor mulching the leaves.
We were invited to attend a holiday lightscape presentation at the Chicago Botanical Garden last night. We were guests of several good friends, and shared an immersive visual and sound experience of the integration of programmed LED lights with the trees, and grounds of the Botanical garden. I’d utterly fail to describe for you the experience. I have several photos to give you an idea. It is the kind of thing that you must experience
yourself to understand the sensory experience potential with computer
programming of LED light sources, integrated with holiday themed music. The experience was superlative — but I do not know what it meant, or if any meaning in particular was intended. Perhaps I am just not in the requisite place to “get it” and be satisfied. Maybe if I were in my late twenties instead of embarking upon my 70s I’d be “pleased as punch.” It’s just that so much of life nowadays is composed of vacuous spectacle.
If you’d like to have a delightful, mind-bending experience you can CLICK HERE for additional info.
Continuing to read Slavoj Zizek. My instinct tells me that the Europeans are somewhat ahead of us dealing with the throes and fault lines of the 21st century. With the globalization of trade and of communication, every action taken can affect everything else at warp speed, within minutes. An ill advised comment by the right person can send markets into a death spiral. Words are deeds. They always have been, but now, it is painfully obvious how that insight inscribes our fate.
I found these observational comments by Zizek applicable to our society here in America.
One can argue that atheism is truly thinkable only within monotheism: it is this reduction of many (gods) to one (god) that enables us to confront directly 1 and 0, i.e. to erase 1 and thus obtain 0.
Zizek credits Stathis Gourgouris with this insight.
