This tree experienced typical weather.
[daily log: walking, 3.5km; retailing, 8.5hr]
Month: November 2021
Caveat: Poem #1948 “Not quite true”
ㅁ Eldritch cartographers drafted the world, coastlines and islets took shape and unfurled, demons were crafted to lurk in the holes scattered about like impertinent souls.
– a quatrain in dactylic tetrameter.
Caveat: Tree #1047
This tree is bent under snow.
[daily log: walking, 3km; retailing, 8.5hr]
Caveat: Poem #1947 “Forty-third stanza”
ㅁ Kiamon reached a decision, at last; do what was needed and take on the past; ghosts might object that the time wasn't right; they'd give up soon, and would fade with the night.
– a quatrain in dactylic tetrameter.
Caveat: Tree #1046
This tree caught snowflakes.
[daily log: walking, 2km; shoveling snow, 30min]
Caveat: Poem #1946 “Tag-teamed”
ㅁ Some snow covered the driveway, but then rain overtook it again, and all day snow and rain, switching, at play.
– an englyn penfyr.
Caveat: Tree #1045
This tree was near a house.
[daily log: walking, 1km]
Caveat: Poem #1945 “If you look closely enough”
ㅁ Bored cartographers add improbable places which you can detect.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1044
This tree was still in the mountain’s shadow at almost mid-day.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: can it be fixed?
I spent way too much time this morning trying to fix my coffee maker. I feel like maybe my role at the gift shop, this past year, as “Jared can fix anything,” is spilling over to my home life.
One of two little plastic pegs had broken off inside my coffee maker. The pegs support the hot plate that is at the bottom of the unit.
And the household supply of superglue was superannuated and entirely solidified – not useful.
So I improvised. I made some wooden shims which I attached with well-folded strips of duct tape.
It seems to work.
Caveat: Poem #1944 “And they succeed”
ㅁ Mad cartographers try to make a world in which physicists shudder.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1043
This tree failed to express gratitude.
I went to Wayne and Donna’s (the gift shop owners) for an unconventional thanksgiving dinner of ribs and potatoes. They are in a stressful time – they are leaving for Seattle in the next few days, where Donna is scheduled for tumor-removing surgery. Which is something I can sympathize with.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Poem #1943 “Apathy”
ㅁ Dumb cartographers draw some lines, call it a day. The next guy gets lost.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1042
This tree sheltered a deer by the road (lower left).
[daily log: walking, 3.5km; retailing, 6hr]
Caveat: Time-traveling logistics
Yesterday at work, I got an email notification announcing the delivery of a package to the store (as one does). The thing is, no package had been delivered, and one wasn’t delivered later that day, either. Actually, this isn’t uncommon – when UPS “delivers” a package to our store, they are actually delivering it to a third-party company that covers the last 30 miles from Ketchikan to the island, because UPS doesn’t actually deliver to the island. They let the floatplane company, Taquan Air, handle those last miles. All well and good.
What was disturbing (or interesting?) about the email announcement in this case was, rather, the fact that although the email was delivered at 10:16 AM, the package was allegedly delivered (past tense, was) at 3:42 PM. That means that somehow, the notification had arrived via email from the future! “Wow, if UPS has solved that one, they can’t be stopped,” I mused.
Caveat: Poem #1942 “The map”
ㅁ Lost cartographers are fundamental failures. I mean... got the map?
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1041
This tree had some snow on it.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 8.5hr]
Caveat: Definitely take the tram
I found this story hugely amusing, and thought-provoking too.
There’s a lot of context required to make sense of this story. The author, John Holbo, a philosopher whose bloggings I frequently read on the group-blog Crooked Timber, explains much of that context in a supplemental webpage – so I’ll not make any major duplicative effort here.
The minimal context: the story is a parody of (or extension/sequel to) Ursula Le Guin’s story, “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”. Without knowing that story, you will be hard put to begin to make sense of Holbo’s creation. Unfortunately, as he points out too, there is no freely accessible web version of her story – it’s still under copyright and requires purchasing a version of the text (ebook, paper book, audiobook). Anyway, wikipedia has a good summary.
I am tempted to add a town called Omelas to my fictional maps – and it should definitely be accessible by tram. Actually, my geofictions are full of such “easter eggs” (as they’re called in the realm of modern electronic-domain creative works, such as computer games and websites): references to other works of fiction and tributes to other authors’ geofictions.
Caveat: Poem #1941 “Deception”
ㅁ fake cartographers produce their maplike objects to impress people
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1040
This tree was there as two mice prepared for a burial-at-sea.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 6hr]
Caveat: Poem #1940 “Banalities”
ㅁ dull cartographers reproduce the lived-in world slavishly banal
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1039
This tree is diligently guarding the path up to the greenhouse.
[daily log: walking, 2km]
Caveat: Poem #1939 “Objective”
ㅁ rogue cartographers try to shift reality artistically
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1038
This tree was there as the rain turned to snow turned to rain turned to snow ↻ ↻ ↻ …
This morning I watched Art board a plane on his way to Portland for Thanksgiving. “Bye, Art.”
Then I worked at the giftshop all day. “Buy art.”
[daily log: walking, 3km; retailing, 8hr]
Caveat: Poem #1938 “Neurons”
ㅁ The neurons give up and we steadily forget. Nothing to be done
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1037
This tree is (these trees are?) nefariously blocking an unobstructed view of my treehouse.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]
Caveat: Poem #1937 “Dreams like a whirlwind”
ㅁ several short naps came upon me unawares took my brain by storm
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1036
This tree was all gloomy-doomy in the morning gloaming, up on the hillside.
[daily log: walking, 1km; opportunistic napping, 3hr]
Caveat: Poem #1936 “Yes, all those things”
ㅁ hallucinations of days of nights of forests of my banal life.
– a pseudo-haiku.
Caveat: Tree #1035
This tree gave up on having leaves.
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]
Caveat: Boost or bust
Art and I went to SEARHC (the local clinic in Klawock) this morning and got Moderna boosters (3rd doses) vs Covid. This is partly because Art is traveling down to Portland for Thanksgiving, and Juli (at his destination) requested that he do it if at all possible. But I wanted to do it too. I feel strongly that it’s the right thing to do, having faith in the scientific “establishment” – such as it is. With so much cynicism and anti-vax attitude about (especially up here), I wanted to “vote with my feet” on this issue.
Caveat: Poem #1935 “Platonic ideal”
ㅁ The world offered trees to see. I saw them. They seemed emphatically rather more tree-like to me.
– an englyn penfyr.
Caveat: Tree #1034
This tree is growing out of a snowy stump.
[daily log: walking, 4km; retailing, 7hr]