Words connect us to others. If we weren’t around others, we would have no need to converse and would not have a common language. I do think it’s amazing that even though I live in a country, and we all speak the same language, I often suspect that others don’t hear what we want them to here. They take in what their experiences and insights allow them to take in. In other words, ideas, which embody themselves in the form of words, are filtered through individual terministic screens.

Lately I’ve gotten in the habit of asking Pete to tell me what I just said. Sometimes he says something different than what I expect.

The above is fairly simplistic because there are so many differing languages. Gertrude Stein once said that she enjoyed living in France because she had gotten tired of speaking/listening to English. I do not know how good her French may have been.

I didn’t do any bicycle touring in any foreign countries when I was young because the prospect of having to deal with a language barrier scared me. Now I’d welcome the opportunity because I suspect that I, perhaps like Gertrude, would discover that there are non-language ways of communicating with one another.

Simple things would become difficult and non-simple things would become easy.

I want to go to Scotland for the same reason I wanted to go to New Zealand – I want to spend time on a working border collie farm. You’d think that because I have Icelandic horses that I’d want to go to Iceland. I do, and in particular Landsmott, where they have the Icelandic horse competitions. However, Iceland is #2 on my list. Go figure.

Wouldn’t it be something if I went to both places and came back with a Scottish border collie and an Icelandic horse? If I’d had a consistent paying job (which I haven’t had in twenty years) I could do this.

My job doesn’t pay, but I do like it. The former banquet room of the Historic Eagle Hotel has become somewhat of a social center. I enjoy the time that I have working alone, but inevitably, people show up, wanting to talk. Mostly this is those who are either BLBP board members or have some involvement with the project.

Today, Pam and Robert, both board members, were on hand, as were my friend Timothy and as well, Pam’s young friend Katie. We sat around my desk and talked for over an hour. I was surprised by the fact that they listened to me and actually seemed to respect what I was saying. This is not usually the case. Today I was free to speak. I was also surprised by the fact that those present seemed to respect me. Maybe I earned it by making the space habitable.

Dunno. I do wonder, is it possible for me to get paid for a job that I like doing?

Next: 245. 9/7/23: My Lucky Month, My Lucky Day