Pierre-Paul Prud'hon: Dr. Thomas Dagoumer (1819)

The Fussing Seems Eternal
I often wonder what benefit my writing provides. I engage in the sometimes requited belief that engaging might eventually accomplish something, though the progress most often seems slow and almost begrudging. Some weeks, I could swear nothing happened. Other weeks seem filled with insights and other visitations. This writing week represented a transition from a period where it might have still been possible to deny the encroaching winter into when that would no longer seem plausible. Denial or acceptance seem the stark choices. I usually tend toward choosing both, investing without going all in and denying without constructing much of a believable argument against. I often feel in suspense, between, impending. This week, I seem to have successfully transitioned from before into now, from past into my next future. I have a scant month remaining before this GoodNuff Series will be finished. I suspect that this series has been progressing normally. Once I've cleaned up the leaves, I move on to other fussing. The fussing, though, seems eternal.

Weekly Writing Summary

I began my writing week taking leave, raking leaves in Leavfing. "One can only expect to decently hibernate after tuckering themselves out good."

Karl Gustav von Amling: Autumn (1698)

" … really looking like home."
—
I continued preparing for threatening changes in TheRains "I sometimes construct phony deadlines to goose myself into action. I suppose everyone does."

Helen Hyde: In the Rain (1898)

"I might just as well be hibernating."
—
I reported on our search for rare seasonal essentials in Giblets. "The more difficult the search, the more significant the find."

Harry Annas:
Untitled [two men holding turkeys] (c. 1950)

"We're willing to go through Hell to receive that blessing."
—
I recognized that I'd set myself up for disappointment in Hexpectations. "Be careful what you insist upon experiencing. You might not ever be the master of your fate, but you might always be the author of your reaction to it."

Jean-Baptiste Oudry:
Quizzical Bird; verso: blank (18th century)

"You might not ever be the master of your fate …"
—
I immersed myself in an annual nemisis, deciding that this year I might just as well revel in the inescapable seasonal Fogging. "I pity those who never experience snow, but I pity more those who somehow manage to sidestep the Fogging experience. It comes to remind us what we cannot see and probably never really needed to see for ourselves."

Winslow Homer: The Fog Warning (1905 - 1915)

" … remind us what we cannot see …"
—
I ended my writing week in preparation for our Thanksgiving celebration, Prep perhaps being the heart of how we celebrate more than the resulting dinner. "I might take a break from the steam and smells to sit out in my cold garage, let the glow evaporate off me, and reflect on what fate has dealt me."

Attributed to Paolo Antonio Barbieri:
Kitchen Still Life (c. 1640)

"Bless all those less fortunate than us."
—

Another week spent describing my manner of living. This week seemed especially vivid since it included significant sensory experiences. Leavfing marked an ending as well as a beginning of something different. TheRains came and will continue until they accomplish their necessary mission. This world seems always to limit access to necessities like Giblets, perhaps to teach us to do without or to provide opportunities to appreciate our good fortunes when we find them. I might have always been, if not my worst enemy, at least my primary encumbrance if only due to how I phrase my objectives and set my Hexpectations. I might more often find reason to revel in the inevitables like Fog, Fogging rather than complaining. I think it useful to think of the Prep as perhaps the heart and soul of a celebration. Including the setup steps allows the party to start earlier and thereby last longer! Thank you for following along through my leavings, TheRains, my successful search for Giblets, my self-inflicted disappointments, the living fog, and the Prep: maybe life’s 100% preparation and no performance.


©2023 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #GoodNuff, #PureSchmaltz