Paul Lemperly: Correspondence (1896)

Right Enough With This World
A numbing sameness settles in for the second, the downhill half of any season. What was heartily welcomed becomes merely moribund, done yet continuing, a walking finish. I revel in open windows to sit at my desk with a morning breeze blowing over, around, and almost through me while I write, yet I warmly anticipate an overnight low, rendering it too cold some days. The Muse and I flee indoors during the hottest part of the day, hiding until the fierce sun slips further West to leave the back deck in shadows while a sprinkler whispers beneath us. As context goes, so goes content. My writing week mirrored this context. I felt over-stretched, reaching as if I was reduced to leaching out the final inches from an over-used well. The water bill will astound us. The stink bugs have been assaulting The Muse's tomatoes. The composter groans beneath its belly, full of cull apricots. The driveway features leathery patches where the sun dried some apricots before I could clean them up. The yard smells like apricot jam. All's right enough with this world.

Weekly Writing Summary

I began my writing week daydreaming about Vacationing. "The line halfway around the block says to The Muse and me that we need to keep walking until we stumble upon a place that has yet to be so well discovered."

Paul Cezanne:
The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L’Estaque (c. 1885)

" … impatiently waiting for my body to catch on …"
—
I next considered presence and absence and came down strongly supporting my being AlreadyGone. "I store my days in stories, most of which I produced in my absence, for I need to access a particular sort of unconsciousness to write anything worth reading later. I do not always succeed."

Giovanni Boldini:
Paul-César Helleu, Asleep (c. 1897)

"Time will come when time returns."
—
I next explored the differences I find between reading from paper and electronic screens in pRead. "It might be that every story was written to be forgotten, a mere distraction, never substance. It might also be that our technology is destined to replicate that one imperative."

Paul César Helleu: Lezende vrouw in een stoel
[Woman reading in a chair] (late 19th Century)

" … destined to replicate that one imperative."
—
The Muse and I managed a one-day vacation, which, of course, turned into another *AnotherEpic adventure. This posting proved most popular this period. "Easing back into the bowl in the encroaching evening with the setting sun almost blinding us, we reentered the bowl from which we'd escaped a few short infinite hours before."

Paul Cezanne: Auvers, Panoramic View (1873-75)

" … surrounded by easily investigated difference …"
—

I next reported on my half-vast experience feeling Incompetenced. "I have usually regarded my incompetences as features, but even for me, they seem to be secrets I want to keep hidden. Of course, it's in the nature of Incompetences that the incompetence renders the incompetent incapable of hiding their shortcoming. Everyone surrounding them already knows and might be on their own tip-toes, not wanting to disclose what everyone already knows or suspects. A key to dealing with Incompetence might be just to spill the beans."

Paul Cezanne:
Madame Cezanne in a Yellow Chair (1888-90)

" … how to compensate for my obvious shortcomings."
—
I next celebrated the indictment of our disgraced and disgraceful former president on conspiracy charges in Harmony. "Indicting a disgraceful former President helps us continue forming an ever-more perfect union. The pathway there never travels through its destination; it’s just headed in that general direction. We have not yet achieved the Harmony we seek and might never achieve it. Still, we're better off when we're actively heading in that direction."

Paul Signac:
In the Time of Harmony:
the Golden Age is not in the Past,
it is in the Future (1893-95)

"The road to wherever we're going …"
—
I ended my writing week reporting on The Muse's current political campaign in Politicking. "Too much of our self-governance has been run in the dark by somebody else. We all might benefit from some deeper involvement."

Paul Cezanne: Bathers (1890/94)

"I'm learning to believe."
—

This writing week's postings included four Cezannes, a Paul Signac with the most remarkable history—he knew everybody!—and a Paul César Helleu, who designed the starry ceiling in Grand Central Station, among many other extraordinary phenomena. Read those artist biographies I thoughtfully include in almost every illustration's caption. This was a Vacationing week featuring only one day physically gone. I was AlreadyGone and transported by reading paper again. I showed off one of my more prominent superpowers, Incompetenced while spilling my beans. I reminded myself that Harmony's the destination rather than the daily reality or asperation and that Politicking can induce a kind of mastery by simply describing alluring possibilities. Thank you for following my Honing Stories this week!

©2023 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Honing, #PureSchmaltz