William Carlos Williams said this. He claimed that the ideas are embedded in the words that describe objects; this rather than abstract concepts. His poem entitled the red wheelbarrow exemplifies this:

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

The orange tractor

The ideas here are in things, the red wheelbarrow, glazed with rainwater, and white chickens. The lines so much depends/upon, give weight to William’s claim that literal objects, the things, are what carry the weight of a poem. This is equally true of the work of Dr. Suess, who came up with Thing 1 and Thing 2. I’ll bet Suess, who went to Dartmouth, was aware of William’s dictate. Suess literally drew two Things.

As I write this, I can picture Thing 1 and Thing 2. If Thing 1 and Thing 2 were abstract concepts, I would not be able to picture them.

Today was yet another idea day. Actually, the ideas surfaced this morning. It started out as a cold, but sunny day. We got the two dogs out, Pete walking, and two horses, Me riding. I doubled up and ponied Tinni because I knew that I wouldn’t have time to get the two dogs out, then each horse. In this respect, Pete was a big help.

Ideas – I’ve said this before, they don’t amount to a hill of beans unless you take action. An idea is ephemeral, it comes and goes unless you make it your own. And so, my first idea had to do with the recycling re-use project. It occurred to me that I should get down on paper what I see as being important in terms of the re-use facility. The phrase that keeps coming to mind is: Build it and they will come. And so, build the re-use facility. Then staff it. Then, rather than go scrounging around for re-use items in the C & D cell of the local landfill, instead encourage dump patrons to bring the materials to the re-use facility. This would follow on the heels of a major ad campaign. And a few weeks before, have the woman or man that works in the booth at the entrance give those going to the dump fliers.

As for staffing, start with three individuals, one who takes care of administrativa (this includes publicizing the efforts and letting people know what’s going on), one who works at the shop and prices and sells materials, and one who gets the goods and prepares them for display.

I like this plan and will run it by Robert, who is the head of the re-use committee.

My second idea concerned next Sunday’s lessons. I didn’t get as far with this one. I am thinking that the class should have a single focus and that each horse and rider should be worked with individually. Of course, the best laid plans go awry when some show up and some do not.

I, in thinking about both projects, decided that I best have a Zen-like attitude about both the book project and lessons. I will remain flexible and do what I can with what I have. Build it and they will come. I can picture this in both instances

Next: 270. 9/30/20: Here it Is