I dropped a can of sliced peaches on my bare foot, the 15 oz. size. Sitting is what I do outside now in lieu of walking. Who knew fruit was a health hazard?
The can didn’t land squarely, either, but at an angle. The reinforced rim was the irresistible force meeting the immovable objects of my teeny-weeny toes. More specifically, the metatarsal bones took the hit, those long, delicate, bird-like things atop the foot. My second toe is probably broken and it makes me walk funny, which throws everything else out of line — ankle to spine.
So I sit outside in the sunshine. And I watch. And I think. The sitting is nice, the watching is entertaining,
the thinking is very unrewarding. You know the musty smell of an unused furnace firing up for the winter? Well, that’s what I get from thinking, a smelly belch of smoke. However, yesterday I stumbled on a happy discovery: I’m not as scatterbrained as I believed.
What I’d considered random and disjointed may, in fact, be somewhat linear. I just didn’t recognize the connections. Is that possible? The links aren’t obvious, others might not notice them, but I did — and, eventually, after much stretching and reaching, I connected the dots. It was a proud moment.
I have stacks and stacks of stray thoughts scattered everywhere. On receipts and envelopes and torn scraps of paper, stuffed in drawers and backpacks and pants pockets. They’re glimmers, mostly, germs of an idea and some are better than others. Sadly, I tend to lose my trains of thought, so gibberish is all they’ll ever be. But I keep them around, anyway — just in case. Here, look:
» The dish ran away with the spoon
» Letters I’d like to send
» Antarctica vs. the Arctic
» Performance Reviews = Grown-up Report Card Day
» Insider stock tips
» 3M (the Post-It Note people)
» Furniture upholstered in dog fur
The last three were in my cellphone and, believe it or not, constitute the beginning, middle, and end of a possible post. Seriously, they’re all related and comprise the bare bones of a draft I may or may not ever flesh out. My guess is, I won’t. The fun part, the decryption, is over and I’ve lost interest. The rest are single, freestanding notions. But I bet that first one, the dish ran away with the spoon, would’ve been a doozy. I sure wish I knew where I planned to go with it.
Well, until next time, boys and girls, happy thoughts.
copyright © 2018 the whirly girl
the whirly girl 
10 responses to “: watching the world go by :”
Ouch!!! I feel so bad for you and your toes. I actually cringed as you were describing it. There’s not much they can do for a broken toe either. Just sit it out. It’s good to know I’m not alone with writing down random thought like this and not knowing where you were going with it when you rediscover them. Maybe some day I will follow your lead and figure them out.
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I’ll only admit this to you: I almost cried. That’s how much it smarted. I hopped around the kitchen, yipping and swearing, for what felt like hours. It’s slowly improving, though.
About the deciphering: I was bored and didn’t have anything better to do. Unfortunately, all my work revealed a snoozer. So typical.
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It could be that all these scattered things are waiting for the right moment to cohere. Cometh the hour, cometh the … er, coherence? I’m just the same, bet many more are. The world takes some watching. And, ooh, watch out for any more heavy objects …
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You’re smart, though, and undoubtedly accustomed to logical thinking. Me? I’m used to heavy things falling on various body parts 🤦🏻♀️
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Ah, the dangers of fruit. This reminds me of a little verse …
An accident happened to my brother Jim
When somebody threw a tomato at him.
Now, tomatoes are juicy and don’t hurt the skin
But this one was specially packed in a tin!
Hope your toe is not too painful and you’re back on your feet soon. 🏃♀️
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I love that❗️ And now you’ve reminded me of a joke:
My friend, who is a know-it-all, said onions are the only vegetables that make you cry. So I threw a coconut at his face.
Yours is better, but so is my foot. Thanks, you’re the best 🙃
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I hope your foot’s doing better now.
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I think I’m on the mend; the swelling has gone down a little. Yay and thank you❣️
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I have scraps of notes, too. There are some I come across at the bottom of in-boxes or various baskets of papers that are so ancient I have no clue. It’s sort of unnerving…like, what was I thinking?! But I take comfort in knowing that it takes a lot of so-so ideas and drafts to create something worthwhile. By the way, I love your bird on the swing :)
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I don’t know why I keep them around. I’ll never use them. If an idea sits, it gets stale and I have no enthusiasm to pursue it any farther. I either jump on it or, apparently, abandon it. About the inage, thanks. I was stuck between the bird and a bored fish in a fish bowl. The bird won 🙃
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