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TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- “Boom boom acka-lacka lacka boom”

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

This is the weekend. There is a little blue rectangle at Josie Two Shoes‘s blog where you can add your own TToT post. Go ahead. That way, when you have a minute in the course of the weekend you can click on one (or the other) and read a list of Ten Things of Thankful (or two or five) created by another person from somewhere on the planet. It’s enjoyable and it’s useful and, for those among us who make the effort to cultivate the gratitudinous view of life, it pretty darn beneficial.

Josie provides the common ground, everyone contributes to the attitude. Pretty simple, isn’t it?

1) Phyllis and her ancient friend (See Item 8)

 

‘Phyllis and the reptile’
Phyllis in blue tee shirt and black shorts crouches behind the turtle, forearms on bended knees. Like an origami, ‘motion-in-still-life’
The turtle is all about pointing to the place he (or she) is not and dragging his ungainly body behind.
To offset any hint of species chauvinism, his people been here for 220 million years. Probably will have the last laugh.

2) Reptilian Cam (“ruunn Forest…Runn!”)

Set free, transported by heavenly two-legged gods to a place like home.
(Shouldn’t require ingesting any hallucinogens to shift the perspective in this photo from: brown-with-rounded-square-patches-on-domed-shell turtle stepping into a shallow pond to: turtle walking over narrow bridge suspended across abyss.) 
what hallucinogens?!! lol

3) Youtube still is such a wonderful resource. (video at bottom of post)

4)Home and Heart‘ it’s on jukepop and it’s a fun diversion as we enter the ‘do you really want to go outside’ season.

5) Life, death and defiance. Specifically as demonstrated (or would that be illustrated?) by the lone sunflower that survived the ravages of the ‘Appetites of the Deers!’. A single plant lived long enough to make adulthood, only to be brought down by a weakness that was in part inherent and, at the same time, a lack in a sufficiently nurturing and supportive environment. It grew too tall, too thin. And as a result, the combination of wind and rain caused it to fall to the earth.

 

6) Grat Item Five (slight reprise) …and though we were saddened by the demise of the “Tallest flower in this whole damn yard”, what do we see, a day or two later, than…. (hey! here’s a cultural reference that is, hold on to your hats, less than 20 years old)… baby Groot.

7) Una. Because, well..duh.

8) So, Phyllis is in the house minding her own business and Una starts yelling, (aka barking like crazy). Loosely translated she was saying, “Hey!! Hey!!! There’s something really strange in the yard. Don’t you smell it??!! No?!?! Then come here and look!” So Phyllis looked and, from my post in the woods, I hear, “Hey Clark! Come here.” I forward-fell up the path and through the woods and there, in the driveway, was an upside-down, painted tree stump. I stared. It ignored me. It moved. I smiled. The pieces of light and texture reassembled themselves, like in a cartoon where Wile E Coyote gets blown up by that fricken roadrunner and then all the parts draw together and the cartoon continues. So we did what any modern Jim Fowler and Marlin Perkins would do. (Cultural reference more than 10 years old. The universe does not suffer deviance.) We wrestled it to the ground, (which wasn’t difficult) and threw it in the air (aka carried it, while wearing welder’s gloves) down to the pond and lectured it on the advisability of staying doing what it knows, as opposed to exploring strange new worlds and driveways and roads. (Boy, have we turned old).

9) Sunday Supplement  Well, from a species point of view (or a rogerian point of view) Phyllis’s visitor is kinda pre-historic.

10) Secret Rule 1.3 (From the Book of Secret Rules, aka the Secret Book of Rules. Considered by many to be the Solomon Stone for the most anemic of Lists of Ten things or any other endeavor, here in the land of consensual make-believe. The internet is, of course, full of advice. And, not surprisingly, a very common topic is writer’s block. The BoSR/SBoR is both proof of the cause and surefire cure for ‘I-can’t-think-of-anything-to-write’/ ‘I’m out of ideas-itis’. In fact, it’s rumored that the preface of the original Secret Book, (in -6.66 font), it was written: “You have every word you had before being gripped by writer’s block, therefore, barring any significant blow to the head, they are all still available. Stop writing ‘to a standard’ and go back to writing for yourself.”

Hey! Come on, why don’cha join us! You know you want to! Nervous about what might be expected of you? Don’t worry ’bout nothin Tell ’em the Doctrine sent ya.

 

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clarkscottroger About clarkscottroger
Well, what exactly do you want to know? Whether I am a clark or a scott or roger? If you have to ask, then you need to keep reading the Posts for two reasons: a)to get a clear enough understanding to be able to make the determination of which type I am and 2) to realize that by definition I am all three.* *which is true for you as well, all three...but mostly one

Comments

  1. #5 and #6 – both ends of the emotional spectrum :D Thanks!
    Nice post :)

  2. phyllis says:

    There is definitely something “Groot”-like about a sunflower. I have been enjoying listening to the one that sits in the vase on the dining room table.

  3. This was a great TToT post, Clark, and I liked the final sentence of #10 best of all! Yes, just be yourself and see what happens! You might note that some weeks I rigidly count out my ten thankfuls in great detail and across a bad spectrum, and then some weeks I am more conceptual, focusing on one or two things or a loosely connected (or not) theme. I don’t plan a format or a topic anymore, I just sit down and start writing and see what happens. To me, the gratitude always comes through no matter how it is presented, and that’s the whole point of this here weekly gathering. :-)

    I was delighted to see the “baby Groot” after the sad demise of the lone sunflower, life presents us such simple gifts to make us smile, and surely it did!

    I love the ancient creature which was duly returned to proper quarters. I am amazed at how old they often live to be considering that evasive techniques are somewhat lacking. It was kind of you to help it on it’s way home, and hopefully it won’t go on walkabout again anytime soon!

    YouTube is indeed a wonderful resource for every remembered recording and also for every conceivable tutorial! It delights me when an oldie comes to mind and I can find it so easily and listen once again to something I first heard years and years ago!

    You amaze me with your continued success in writing Home and Heart and finding your way with it. Kudos to you, I have the stories, but not the skills to bring them to fruition.

    And Una, well I would worry if she didn’t appear somewhere in the listing. There is truly not a day that we aren’t grateful for the unconditional love and companionship of our furkids, and I know they feel the same.

    Have a good week ahead, hoping it will calm prevails on all fronts!

    • clarkscottroger clarkscottroger says:

      Thanks Josie.
      The issue of writers block (for those who would write) is a transparent metaphor (imo) of most of what happens when we go out into the world.*

      It was disappointing as the sole surviving sunflower did manage to bloom before doom. The other one, ‘baby Groot’ was as much a surprise as I indicated, which is the part of my reality that is kinda fun.

      Impressive animal the turtle. Phyllis makes a point of walking down to the pond to see if the turtle is hanging out.

      Home and Heart is quite the exercise. I’m thinking that when I’ve completed it I really should be trying to write short stories, or even novellas. The thing is, learning by writing a novel and a short story involves the same elements but the cycle is longer. For some reason I think that maybe I can speed up the process of learning to write good if I go for shorter and quicker exercises.

      Una is rather excellent.

      *students of the Wakefield Doctrine will immediately identify me as a ‘probable clark, probably’ due to my expressing the view that the world is ‘out there’ inferring that I am somewhere slightly different. as must be the case of those of us living in the world of the Outsider

      • I would have to agree that the world is somewhere “out there”, it both fascinates me and puzzles me depending on the moment!

        I found writing short stories to be surprisingly fun as it wasn’t a chore that had to be continued and plotted out, allowing for more free flowing spontaneity. I hope to be back with it for SSS either this coming week or the following one, depending on how this week plays out here.

  4. Kristi says:

    What?! No Wild Kingdom video? I can only imagine the harrowing ordeal, and the personal risk taken in relocating the wanderer to the safety of his pond.

    Seriously, though, how cool to see wildlife in your own backyard. While I used to chase coyotes out of my backyard in CA, now I get to see deer in UT! Just yesterday I looked out the window and saw a buck bedded down in the shrubbery.

    • clarkscottroger clarkscottroger says:

      Ayyiee! How is it I could have forgotten (or not thought of doing a video)! I We tried to sound like angels or any other celestial beings as the turtle flew through the air down the path and to the pond. (Don’t know if he/she was all that impressed. Turtles do the laid back ‘tude even better than Labradors!)
      Coyotes would be somewhat vexing but deer are pretty non-aggressive. They also seem to get used to humans pretty quickly. When they first show up in the woods, waving my arms standing in the window would be enough to get them to bound into the woods. But after not that long they look up and go back to eating whatever tree or bush is on their menu. Even Una barking at the window doesn’t seem to impress them all that much.

  5. herheadache says:

    Common ground and the attitude make for the right ingredients.

  6. Ellen Pilch says:

    Nice list of thankfuls. That was kind of you to help the turtle get to a better location.