Night Magic— Now at West End Gallery
One cannot fix one’s eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy.
—Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (1814)
This line from Jane Austen really speaks to me, both in the inspirational quality of nature and in the way the mind takes off in any direction at the slightest breeze of thought. Mine certainly does. Even more than normal recently. Reading has become a chore because every sentence from an author often sends my mind racing away from it to some other path of thought. It sometimes takes me half an hour to read a page, most of that time spent following my rambling fancy.
I don’t mind, outside of not getting things read that I feel the need or desire to read. I know that this is just how I am and that it is part of how I process things. How I keep things straight in my mind and find some clarity or order in it. I kind of think I need to do things this way now in order to be to write or paint.
Need to follow that rambling fancy.
My mornings in the studio are most always a ramble of some type. If I don’t have something in mind for the blog when I sit down–which is quite often–I begin a quest of a sort. I listen to music, watch videos, check out the news, look at some sites that I follow, all in an effort to find that food for a rambling fancy, as Austen put it.
This morning, for example, I’ve watched a number of music videos, looked up some musicians of which I was not aware, read several short articles, and did several searches for a variety of things. I try to gauge my rambling fancy on how much my emotions are triggered by whatever catches my attention at the moment. If it moves me, I follow it.
This hasn’t been as accurate a gauge recently because my emotions are already on high alert as a result of the hormone therapy I am undergoing. I have always been highly reactive as far as my emotions are concerned. They have always been right under the surface of my skin ready to burst out at any moment.
Just the way I am designed.
Unfortunately, the new hormone broth running through me has supercharged some of my emotions. They are throbbing on the surface of my skin now. I can’t get through a day now without something I hear or see or read moving me to tears. Hell, this morning I have cried several times already.
I’m crying right now. Not really. Just threw that in for dramatic effect.
Another effect of this is that my writing tends to ramble on, and my personal filters seem ineffective. You probably noticed that if you’re a regular reader. Today is good example of this.
I thought there was a point to be made but now I am not so sure. I’ve rambled off whatever path I began down when this began and now I am in No Man’s Land.
But that’s okay. Well, okay for me. I apologize for wasting your time with my hormone-driven babble.
Here’s a song. Maybe that will make up for my transgression. It’s a wonderful performance of the Led Zep classic Ramble On from Robert Plant and Saving Grace from the other night on the Colbert show. I featured Plant and Saving Grace is an earlier post. Good stuff all the way around.
Got to ramble on now. I have another rambling fancy beckoning to me…
Redtree Times 