Justifying the title

I write about "this 'n that" quite a lot.

Years ago, when i was in college, i popped up with some trivia that was apropos to the class but extremely . . . trivial.

My instructor looked at me with astonishment & said something like, "You have a greater wealth of peculiar details & incidental information than anyone i've ever known."

I didn't state, but inwardly i was rather bitter, thinking, "Yep, that's me, an encyclopedia of useless trivia & weird, detailed, unimportant information."

I'm not as bitter about it now as when in college. I've kind of come to the point that i recognize that is how my mind works. Also, in my current illness, i've lost much of my capacity to remember stuff, & so i honor that i did once have the ability to remember, even if it wasn't very important.
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I'm re-posting this pic:


The reason is the sky. Normally i am very aware of the view around me. I LOVE that our sky rarely has clouds & is deep, deep, deep blue. A camera just simply cannot capture that beauty or depth of color, i think. However, when i saw this pic i realized that i just had not noticed as much during that ride.

Of course, the horse i was on needed some attention & i'd not ridden for some time (so i probably spent more attention on him than if i rode regularly). They gave me their youngest & biggest horse who had been trail leader most of the summer. That horse wanted to MOVE & we were stuck at the back of the line at a slow, plodding pace. Also, because of the slow pace the flies were bothering him a lot. He would stop to turn his head to shake the flies & several times he kicked at them.

The reason i said that i wouldn't go trail riding again was just because of that. I had some issues, my rear-end was sore for a couple of days (but it always will be, when you've not ridden consistently). My right leg has some problems because of an injury (thrown from a horse) when i was 11, & it was much more apparent in pain when i was riding. But it was bearable. And i was so very tired when i was done. But those things aside, i didn't like trail riding. We never got beyond walking. To me the point of riding a horse is having the wind in my face & feeling "one" with the horse, which doesn't happen when you are plodding along. I'm very practical. Trail riding for a purpose - looking for cattle or sheep, headed out to camp, etc. - that is why you ride a trail. For pleasure you do not do this. For pleasure you find a place where the horse can run.

I need to find someone here with horses that they might want exercised occasionally.

But my point was how lovely the sky in this particular pic turned out. And when i was riding i missed it completely. I'm so glad i caught it in the pic! Oh, by the way, that is Sugarloaf Mountain in the background. It certainly looks different from this angle which is quite a bit east from where i usually view it.
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I could have used the word "digress." There are a few blogs that use the word when they take the kind of turns i did in that last bit. I always thought the word meant something like regression, reverse, go back, return, backtrack, retrace. But in looking it up i find that it is used correctly. It means to get off the subject or go off on a tangent.

Maybe i should call this blog "digression"!
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Before i met Duane i had a roommate who was rather difficult. (NOT Lina my roommate when i met him!) This girl was from East Asia & was the daughter of a diplomat & had been given everything she had ever wanted. I think she had some issues with authority which is part of the reason we had problems because i think she labeled me as "authority" (well, it was my house, she rented a room!) when i didn't necessarily want to be labeled so. I could digress on this for quite a long time for she was rude, spoilt, & did just as she wanted (including smoking in her room, which eventually got her kicked out). She treated her boyfriend with great insolence & i was surprised he stayed around as long as he did.

I was quite unprepared for her as she had just graduated from a local Christian University & so i had some expectations of her behavior. Part of her problem, i think, was that she had been given everything she had ever wanted & she was quite intelligent. But part of her problem with her intelligence was that she thought the rest of us were stupid.

She had a TV in her room (i didn't have one) & she rented the movie "Monster's Inc." & she liked it so much she wanted me to watch it. So we did. When we were 20 or 30 minutes into the movie she turned to me & said, "Are you getting this?"

A children's movie. She did think i was stupid. I'm sure she had a lot of reasons for considering the population (& me in particular) dim. But one, i'm sure, was that she was 23 years old. Now, i'm not putting down youth. But it does seem to be that part of the excitement of youth & in discovering new things is that we believe that no one else has ever quite seen this wonderful thing!

Mrs. Mike is one of my favorite books, tho i've not read it for many years. When she is coming out of dealing with grief she states that she is like a baby that has just learned to walk & has been unaware, ignorant that all the world around her is walking. It is new to her & so she assumes it is new to everyone else as well.

And this is on my mind because of the things i wrote when i was that age. I have a full novel nearly completed. Fantasy-type. I've not read it for years, i'm not sure where it is tho i know i still have it. I put my "life's blood" into those pages. But what made me give it up was to gain some perspective on the world & realize that what i had written was condescending, patronizing. I was walking & trying to explain how to walk to the rest of the world!

I try hard not to do that, these days.
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I think i'm going to give up the baking soda stuff for washing my hair. I know, from what i've read, that you go thru a phase that is uncomfortable because your scalp is adjusting to a new Ph. But i'm tired of my hair feeling oily & heavy & rough. It wasn't like this the whole time. Early on i really liked the results. And it seemed to help with some of the itching i was assuming to be allergies to shampoos (which i develop easily). I may still do it on occasion to give myself a break from shampoos. Maybe 3 weeks shampoos, 1 week baking soda.

And, i still plan to use the baking soda/aloe juice/soap nut paste as a body wash with a small amount of soap. I like that quite a lot. My skin feels smoother & softer with it.
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The breeze is blowing & it is quite cool outside. It is currently 60F with a 10 MPH wind. Last night the low was 34F. It is sunny & beautiful, but quite cool.

This time of year always reminds me of my first visit to Big Bear. It was October. Outside the skies were blue, blue, blue, but the trees were yellow, gold, & red. At nighttime the temp seemed so cold, especially coming from Long Beach where the days were still in the 80s. It was a cute little house in a nice neighborhood. It had a lovely view & the first afternoon a school bus came by to drop off the kids. It seemed to be just out of a storybook of a tranquil, homey feeling. I've never forgotten that first visit to Big Bear, even tho it was only 3 or 4 days.

I've also never found that little house again. I know quite clearly the area it was in, but i have never found the street to go by it. It probably doesn't really matter. Finding the house would not change my memories.

But the lovely thing is that now that we live here i often have that feeling of being in a storybook that is tranquil, homey. I get to wake up to it nearly every day. When i'm away there is always such a joyous feeling that i soon will return home to my life in Sugarbear. :)
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I'm sure there is plenty more trivia in my head to express. (Regurgitate came to mind. Which, in a digression, makes me think of the little animals - cows are most common - that pour milk/cream out of their mouths. I've told Duane that i WILL NOT have an animal regurgitating into my tea! My BIL, knowing i like cats, gave me a creamer & sugar bowl of cats. At least the cream comes from the cat's paw!)

With that lovely thought (i may lose all my readers!) i'm off to do something productive today!

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