Walden

To be fair and upfront I'm going to tell you all that this post is... well... probably very dull. I've put in some pictures to help pass the time (polite smile).

I borrowed a copy of Mr. Thoreau's Walden from the county library. I have my own copy. A pretty cloth covered edition with gold letters on the cover and a burgundy ribbon. I'm not certain where that copy is just now. I might have sold it. Or it could be in Laurany's basement. I thought it such a pretty thing at the time, I couldn't resist the purchase, an impulse that seems naive now. It was only because I hadn't yet read Walden that I could purchase such a copy of that book. No, indeed. Walden is a book to be bought second hand if it must be purchased at all.

Mr. Thoreau says, "If you are a seer, whenever you meet a man you will see all that he owns, ay, and much that he pretends to disown, behind him, even to his kitchen furniture and the trumpery which he saves and will not burn, and he will appear to be harnessed to it and making what headway he can. I think that a man is at a dead set who has got through a knot hole or a gateway where his sledge load of furniture cannot follow him. I cannot but feel compassion when I hear some trig, compact-looking man, seemingly free, all girded and ready speak of his 'furniture,' as whether it is insured or not... Even those who seem for a long while not to have any, if you inquire more narrowly, will have some stored in somebody's barn... It would surpass the powers of a well man nowadays to take up his bed and walk, and I should certainly advise a sick one to lay down his bed and run."

Ah, I am the sort who has furniture laid up in my neighbor's "barn". And so you can see why owning a copy, a pretty copy at that, of Walden seems all the more absurd.

And then there's this bit, "It is by mathematical point only that we are wise, as the sailor or the fugitive slave keeps the polestar in his eye; but that is sufficient guidance for all our life. We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course."

Welp, that pretty much sums it up for me. Where am I going? Well, I know I'm going north, but I couldn't tell you which "country" I'm in. I haven't reported in to certain ports, according to the calculable period, but I believe that I am preserving my true course and will get there all the same. My mom gave me a card once that showed a girl in gloves and mittens looking down at a flower brightly blooming up through the snow. Late Bloomer.

Yes, yes. (waives hand dismissively)