Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Walking towards home on a Misty September morning.
Phyllis wearing her pink, ‘Meteor Crater’ hoodie walks with Una towards the house.
Not yet autumn brown, the leaves of the low bushes in the foreground are becoming increasingly transparent with the loss of the chlorophyl in their leaves.
This is the 789th installment of the Ten Things of Thankful. Please, lets hear it for Josie Two Shoes (and her predecessor and founder of this here bloghop here, Lizzi St. John-Lewis) without who’s (or whose or whos’) vision for a virtual playground of spirit-building equipment and toys and such, we would all be typing an entirely different set of words.
(And, you would, too, you know. Typing different words. If Josie (and Lizzi) were not a feature of your ‘virtual’ reality.)
There! see how simple this exercise can be? Two… or one Things of Thankful and I haven’t even inserted a single photo or superscripted number.
Continue? Thank you, I will.
(Well, yes. That would qualify. There are limits to the …solidity of Items that might be cited, but sure, to note an inferred permission…no, make that an encouragement to continue along a certain path towards the completion of a list of Ten Items, would be an un-contested entry of this week’s List.)
Is anyone keeping count? I imagine there are three. Thank god there is not a tribunal or agency that has final say over the number or the content of (any participant’s) Ten Things of Thankful post. That would surely transform a self-directed exercise into a duty or worse, something that ‘is really good for you to do’. Now this may be my Y Chromosome talking, but having a person tell me exactly how something must be done, in order for it to have merit or be deserving of the acceptance of others is a non-starter. (Not that there’s anything wrong with lacking a Y Chromosome… some of my best friends are Y Chrome deficient (YCdef… yo)).
So, in keeping with my Joyce homage. (yeah, as if). I will express explicit and unconditional gratitude to the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules). Writing weekly posts in this Etch-a-Sketch world of blogs and bloghops since it’s inception leaves me with a sense of appreciation (yeah, cha….ching!) of the creativity-empowering setting in which we are fortunate to interact with one and other each week. The BoSR/SBoR is, for me, the manifestation of this attitude, promulgated by ‘2J-Shoes’ and nurtured and supported by all participants. It is a most excellent demonstration of (an) ‘attitude of gratitude’.
I should (and, rather than leave it as a ‘conditional promissory verb’*, I will restate that), I will dar las gracias (and a shoutout to Kerry, who I associate with the SOC (both the blohop and, more importantly, the attitude of writing what is in the mind at the moment, trusting that the reader will, through the thaumaturgy of blog writing and reading, will find elements here that encourage and support their own efforts along the same lines.)
(Yeah, there are the standard Items in this, (as in all of our TToT posts), that form the context and foundation of our personal expression of gratitude. This being a ‘weekend’ ‘hop, I will continue it tomorrow, when I might be in a more explicit mood. (Or would that be, more properly a, ‘more literal mood’?… well, since you asked, I’ll go with ‘a more explicitly literal mood’.)
As the simplest of demonstrations of the ‘user friendly-ness’ of the TToT, I will mention that I intend to return to these pages tomorrow with additional Items of Grat, possible photos of interest and, given the nature of life (and to borrow a meme from Denise (at Girlie on the Edge)…ie if I awaken tomorrow, (the implied uncertainty being the most city-block-wide-red-spray-paint graffiti of gratitude in its most fundamental form) I might even have some additional photos. ten four
(New Readers? math and the unfair restrictions it would impose upon us is an optional quality here at the Doctrine. So, that ‘789th Post’ thing, at the top? It might be true!*)
*one of the simplest ‘tests’ that are available to help determine the predominant worldview of a person, (aka personality type), here at the Doctrine? Go up to the person you’re not sure of and ask: “How much is 2 + 2?” If they answer immediately with not the slightest of hesitation, you’re safe with roger… if they look at you and laugh (good-naturedly) you can rest east that they be a scott. If, however, they take their time, look down to their left, start to answer, look around to see if there’s anyone else around and then say, “In what context?” you’re safe going with a probable clark.
…oh yeah, that reminds me!
Here is a somewhat impromptu Item… (actually it represents a form of hypo-grat of the most extenuating sort** I was talking to Val (on the Facebook regarding a link that I put in the morning’s Gravity Challenge reminder. ( I send them each morning to Joy and Val and Kristi, except for Sunday morning)… in any event, it was a clip from ‘The Princess Bride’, the joke about the use of the word ‘inconceivable’.) In any event, I went back to the youtube and looked up ‘Princess Bride’ and came across one of my favorite scenes and, to use a true rogerian expression, as I thought about my developing writing skill, as I watched the scene, ‘my head swelled up and my face fell’. To be able to write a scene like this… ayiiee!
(the scene:
10) SR 1.3
* not a ‘real’ grammatical or rhetorical term
** if you recognized a faux rogerian expression, I tip my hat.
(The rabbit hole)
About clarkscottroger
Ah, ha, ha, ha, Ah, ha, ha, ha, Ah, ha, ha, ha – KAPUT. Good one, Clark.
I (knew) you’d enjoy that scene (the rest of the movie is, of course, a classic)
Thanks for the reference:) and thank you for the vid. Dare I say, lest I be cajoled, that I have not ever seen the Princess Bride. Heard of it but never watched it. Kind of like having never seen the Godfather…until this past summer!
Morning links. Sounds like it could be fun. But then, I’d have to join the Gravity Challenge which would require me to buy a scale and then I would….why maybe I will!
A very good movie
Your lists are fun to read, even if i have to read some sentences over again in order to not be confused. And two plus two is four, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
lol that is suggestive of a clarklike worldview
I can’t read “inconceivable” without hearing it as said in Princess Bride.
It was such a great movie.
For Denise who actually has not seen the movie:
Such a lovely early Autumn photo to begin your post with, Clark! And I learned something about leaves and chlorophyll I didn’t know that was a transparency factor! :-) The 789th installment made me smile, and I’m just betting if you counted up all your expressions of thankful since you joined it with Lizzi, you would reach that number and maybe even more! That’s the wonderful thing about the TToT, the effect multiplies! And I get as much benefit from reading everyone else’s posts as I do when I sit down to compile my own list (likely Monday morning at this point).
I totally agree with you that the freedom of format and enumeration is part of what makes this not only successful but enjoyable rather than a rote exercise. I liken it to prayers by rote in churches, as children we could rattle them off at top speed, but true meaning might have escaped us. I join you in chaffing when being told exactly how something must be done, it feels confining and stifles creativity. The Book of Rules was/is the best invention ever. I think we need to adopt the concept for more facets of life. It’s now how we do it, but that we do, that matters most!
I also agree that the attitude of writing, and feeling good about the process enables further development of writing skills and draws us into the process, it is no longer a chore but an adventure, and good things come from that!
I smiled at your 2+2 example, and of course my Clarklike perspective has to ponder and complicate such questions, nothing is ever as simple as it might appear. :-) Loved the Princess Bride movie clip… perfect!
I shall return in a day or two to see IF you have returned with more items to share for this week. For me IF holds infinite possibilities, many of them good. I love things that are open-ended ratehr than absolutes! Thank you for faithfully joining us and prompting us to think a bit (and sometimes scratch our heads a little) each week, I appreciate you! XO
Interesting insight into the word ‘IF’. (There is so much of the world around us locked up in very common and simple words, no?) …’specially, of course, for those of us not only possessed of an agile imagination but with the willingness to suspend disbelief.
That is so easily accepted when encountered in classes and courses on writing and rhetoric, but I wonder is many people really consider how empowering that hint of a capability that we all are born with, i.e. to experience the world as a place not limited by the definition of those in power, be they parents as they raise us or those who would influence the interpretation of the goings on of the world everyday.
(you write good comments… they always lead off into the woods where new and interesting things are often hiding..)
Walking towards home on a misty September morning is the perfect line but there are many in your posts Clark.
As for The Princess Bride…there is no part of this film that is not epic.
Battle of wits.
Thanks for the shoutout.
Thanks Kerry
very cool that getting published thing that you’ve done.
I LOVE THE PRINCESS BRIDE! Haha. I think I have every line from that movie memorized. :D Fun TToT as always. I’m always grateful for the Doctrine and all the awesomeness that it is. I’m also thankful for Denise and Girlie on the Edge. <– Cool names y'all have come up with for the names of your sites. :)
In any case, meant to make it over here earlier; I did visit, but didn't have a chance to comment. So here I am now. I hope you have a fabulous week, friend!
Ten four, Eleanor*
* a line from a comedy album that was a hit before your… well, not that old, but c. 1967, Firesign Theatre wait, I’ll go get the clip**1
** I fear that as Mammon consumes the good parts of the internet, there will soon come a time when clips are not available to use without rendering unto google the things that are google’s***
*** but… but think that biblical mashup through! google and especially the youtube are creatures of our own creations… make in the early days it was individuals uploading stuff to have friends watch and such and share (legally and otherwise) but the sins of the past become the virtues of the future and so we have the increasingly pervasive social media… a golden calf made from what we all sacrificed come to life…****
**** one of my favorite lines from my favorite Woody Allen movie
1) wrong Firesign Theatre record but still great