Summary: A gentle thunderstorm rolled through our area. It was my first opportunity to see how the lake responded to a gentle rain.
Pattering summer rains upon poplar leaves;
Rattling sky announcing ferocity unleashed;
Battering rain flattens and halts lake waves;
Caressing gentle breeze bares cooling comfort
Chasing away the late afternoon heat;
Pattering and battering slackens;
Sojourning thunderbirds travel further east
But not before one last thunderous burst.
Summary: A reflection on stiff hands and the lake shore calm.
Over the last month I’ve been spending my evenings moving or unpacking…or both. My hands feel tight, as though they are still wrapping around one of the many boxes I’ve been hauling.
As a software engineer and blogger, I use my hands for tapping out words. I’m still tapping away, but am now pairing the familiar—typing—with the novel—hauling—brings about a sense of fullness and also fatigue.
Yesterday, I woke up early to the sound of Lacey, our border collie, demanding to go outside. I shambled out of bed led by both dogs outside. Morning birds chirping and singing as I glanced upon the lake, low hanging fog drifted across the smooth surface.
I attended to Lacey and Ollie’s business and on returning to the house, I considered brewing some coffee and simply sitting and watching the fog. Yet my tired body led me back to bed as my brain said, “Another day you can see the fog…you live here now.”
As I drifted back to sleep, I thought about the sensation of “an urgency to witness something beautiful and ephemeral.” My mind wrestled with the fleeting fog and wanting to bear witness. Knowing that yesterday will never come again, but accepting that in each moment beauty can and does emerge.
Today, much like yesterday, Lacey demanded that I attend to her. But this time, after the dogs completed their business, I fought back the fatigue and went to look at the serene lake.
I watched as small ripples, from a fish or frog surfacing, slightly changed the surface. And as the wind found its whispering breath, the smooth sheen changed further to one of minute and subtle waves.
In my ten or so days on the lake, I’ve learned that each morning there will be a few folk out early to fish for a bit. Most bring their boats to the public access point, from which they quietly glide across the surface dutifully avoiding casting a wake.
As I write, one of these fisher folk glides up near the shore closest to our house. He sits in the bow and his companion, a white and brown spotted dog, sits in the stern. Together silent and seemingly adrift. (Sidenote: Propelled by an electric trolling motor. )
Catch and release; the rhythm of a fisher seeking spiritual serenity over bodily nourishment.
As I look upon the water, I practice a few finger stretching exercises to help chase away the tightness and make space for my day’s work. I hope to catch a bit of inspiration as I wrestle to grasp ever more of a still new to me programming language.
Summary: A quick bit of review of a blog post on reading; one to help reinforce how to be a better reader.
This morning I rolled out of bed and filled out an extensive software developer survey. I grabbed my coffee and went to the porch to watch the morning fog drift across the lake. (Sidenote: I’ve previously written An In/Aspiring Morning Ritual. )
I read two articles that rolled into my RSS 📖 feed:
I’m curious about His Majesty the Worm, as I love reading systems that synthesize the gaming blogosphere with play and constraints.
But that’s not why I’m writing this morning. Instead I’m processing Active reading: how to become a better reader. A few years ago, I read How to Take Smart Notes, which set me on a path of exploring Emacs 📖 and Org-Roam 📖 .
And I find Active reading: how to become a better reader to be a distilled complement to How to Take Smart Notes.
I don’t recall, in my formal education, guidance on how to read. And feel that I’m only recently establishing strategies and approaches that help improve my reading.
What I appreciate about Active reading: how to become a better reader is the succinct lists as well as the introduction to the Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, and Review (SQ3R 📖) method succinctly:
We start with the goal of answering the following question: What might this contain? Then we work through the thinking/reading. And then explain what we found the material to contain.