Our life is frittered away by detail. … Simplify, simplify.
—-Henry David Thoreau
Do you agree with that quote? I partially do. I’ve always kept my wants simple so I wouldn’t be trapped in a job I didn’t like. And for all of my adult life I’ve lived in apartments because as a friend once said, “If you have a house, you have a hobby.” Houses just don’t turn me on. There are other things I’d rather do with my time.
On the other hand, there are a lot of details that enrich my life. For instance a few years ago I was curious how the powers that be decided when Easter was. For our Western calendars it’s the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox (the first day of spring). So for fun every year I check my calendar (that shows the phases of the moon) and sure enough, Easter is right where it’s supposed to be. Important? No. Frittering my time away? Nope. I’m sure I have little or no company in this interest, but I care about it, so it’s not a waste of my time.
Last Sunday — Easter — I learned something else that enriches my life. It’s the story behind the Easter bunny. In pre-Christian Germany Eostre was the pagan goddess of spring and fertility. She was associated with rabbits for obvious reasons, and according to legend she took pity on a cold and starving bird one winter. She turned it into a rabbit so it could keep warm and have an easier time finding food. It did survive, and it also kept its ability to lay eggs. So in gratitude it decorated eggs in the spring and left them in honor of her. Who would have guessed?
Could I have lived happily without that tidbit? Sure, but it still enriches my life. What about you? What details enrich your life?
Right now, I am chasing details on diets and permissible exercises so that I can shed some weight without going back to smoking. I have just written a blog post about it. There are other details of general knowledge that always interest me which I pick up from various sources like the newspapers and the internet. They sure enrich our lives and I am with you that trivia is not something to be trifled with!
I grew up in a beautiful house by itself on a hilltop with a panoramic view. (Towels monogramed Hilltop. Here Los Alamos is called The Hilltop.) Now I have a beautiful house with a spectacular view of mountains & mesas. I had/have a family. Exactly what I wanted. In college I was asked what profession I wanted to pursue & I told them mother/housewife. In a course I was to design my house. Prof. said it was too big but I didn’t agree.
My mountain climbing friend (with beautiful house in Santa Fe) has: Our life is frittered away by detail. … Simplify, simplify.
—-Henry David Thoreau, a poster on her frig.
My niece was not finding as many Easter eggs hidden around the lawn, as a younger kid. She complained “He’s closer to the ground.”
I don’t think simplicity is about the number of details really.
I think we fritter our lives away when we spend them on things that don’t matter. And sometimes working on what matters to us will mean dealing with lots of details. But this won’t be frittering.
Details come and go here…
Tidbits make life interesting, even if they have no value at the time. Some can be taken up as need be or put away never to return.
Never is not a great word because as soon as you say it – you are enticed to do whatever it was linked to; even if it is years down the track…
One of items I have recently adopted is “ambling v fast walking” and I find that mostly I’m happier with it. I often just stop – look around, I might stop and lean on a fence and just view the world around me or I see a tree and stop and hold the branch/leaf to look at it.
This arvo, I got on bus going my way, but suddenly looked up (still in City) and noted we were on a different route & I thought, “gee is it going to my suburb; I wasn’t sure then if I had read the destination right” but it arrived where I needed to be.
You might say, well did you ask the driver for ticket to suburb! Well no because if you have a swipe card, you get on and the machine beeps and you sit down, and went you get off you swipe card and it automatically removes your fare! Sometimes it tells you “check your balance” which means you are below $11 left! I loaded my card this morning as it had only 45c left on it!
I think that might be a “tidbit” 🙂
Rummuser,
Congratulations for giving up smoking. Good for you!
bikehikebabe,
We’ve both been incredibly lucky to have the chance to live our dreams. We have a lot to be grateful for.
Evan,
I agree!
Cathy,
I’m glad the bus ride turned out all right.
Taking time out to observe is essential for the artist in you. One of the books I’m reading at the moment is How to Be an Explorer of the World. The author says artists and scientists deal with the world in similar ways — they observe, collect, document, analyze and compare. The book has a slew of activities for the readers to increase their creativity. The book was worth its price just for pointing out that the Indo-European root of the word “art” is “to arrange” or “fit together”. I’m not sure I’ll try her suggestions, but I’ve been spending a lot of time looking for and collecting images for some of the graphics for my posts. I spend hours playing with different parts of those images and arranging them into a draft picture, then noticing what details I like and which I don’t like and changing the picture until it looks nothing like the original pieces but looks right to me. That’s how I’ve been spending most of my time lately. If that isn’t heaven I don’t know what is.
i would be happy if you merely used your own artwork for each post! i love their simplicity and their heart.
i’m not a detail person. alas.
so don’t fritter much! lol.
i like cathy’s walking style. ever noticed that people in this country who “walk” only seem to be doing it “to get their heart rate up”? they have this mad look on their faces like they are hating it but doing it anyway.
i just don’t get that. there’s so much beauty. if you want to get your heart rate up do it in a way that pleases you!
the rest of us will simply walk and enjoy the trees . . . like cathy and me. xo
Such an interesting post… and I’m glad you shared it. There’s also the ‘added benefit’ when I arrive here late, and see others’ comments.
As a ‘detail freak,’ I’ve had to take steps to curb my own fritter of time. “Old habits die hard,” as I lose the ‘fritter critter’ attitude. Now that’s enriching to me!
Thanks Jean, on book title…found library service has it, ordered it and a couple of her other ones…not sure when they will arrive, they go on a “journey” just to get to the request shelf at my local library! We have around 60 libraries that we can access nowadays; very convenient!
I occasionally take a book from local library shelves but I really enjoy now the freedom to have other books to pickup…
tammy,
Thanks for the encouragement. I had to put learning to draw on hold while we were designing and building the cabin and dealing with insurance forms. It’s fun to be back to it. It’s always an adventure to watch the picture develop.
Some people who walk fast love the feel of their body as they do it — and the exhilaration afterwards. To each his own. I used to love to walk but I have a problem foot so had to switch to other things.
Dixie,
How do you decide which details are frittering and which are enriching? Is it how much enjoy spending time on them? How you feel afterwards?
I’m glad you liked the topic. It does explain how the Easter bunny got associated with the religious holiday.
Cathy,
I think your library system is great!
Oops! How much you enjoy….