Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Three clarks.
This is the virtual place that Lizzi created. Having created it, (and nurturing it into a bloghop for all sorts of people of good intent), she passed the reins, (or tiara (or scepter)) to Josie.
Kristi now maintains the home fires. Each week she prepares the place for those who would contribute their experiences with the world that has engendered a feeling of gratitude. And, since we’ve been with the TToT from the beginning time, the Wakefield Doctrine gets to participate too! )
These are the things I am grateful for this week.
1) Una
A dog guarding the spiral corn.
2) Phyllis
Phyllis, work, treehouse. The essentials.
3) weeds
Thistle just before flowering. Still dangerous.
Green stuff and weeds, flourishing.
4) flowers
Rose supplanted by a dog.
5) oh, man! no way I’ll succeed in relating the feeling I had this morning when a favorite science fiction book stepped (almost) into reality. I was on google street view… wait, the book first. That way, if you want to have the same experience I did, you can read the book first and duplicate the steps that lead to my own… (cool word…come on, clark! find a cool word)…. frisson. (Sure, I’ll go with that.) …moment of frisson.
Where was I? The book! Roadmarks by Roger Zelazny (1979).
Spoiler Alert! (in case you want to attempt the aforementioned ‘replicate clark’s moment of frisson’.) The ‘hook’ in the story echoed for me today in a way that was… well, here I am writing a TToT Item of Gratitude because of it. Very cool. (yeah, no way that made any sense. but rather than waste time and electrons, if you’re still curious, ask me in a comment to explain what the hell Item 5 was supposed to mean. Ed.)
6) Speaking of Writing and such, ‘the Writers Club‘ is..coming along fine, thank you for asking. Actually it is. I’m grateful for the responses of the people I’ve been talking to about it.
Speaking of pirates, has anyone posed the ‘qualifying membership question’ to zoe yet? What?! OK, I got this. Zoe: In the world of people, associates, rogers and clarks, there are Groups and there are clubs. Is there a difference? (A simple yes or no will suffice. DSM-5 citations optional but will count towards score. You may pick up your No. 2 pencils and begin….now.)
7) Friend of the Doctrine Cynthia as she follows the most remarkable of paths. In part remarkable because of her dedication and determination and plain, old hard work in discerning where the path might be found. As students of the Doctrine will attest to, the most difficult part of self-improving oneself is not in ‘the effort to do what is necessary’. Rather, the difficulty is in allowing oneself to see what really needs to be changed. And, then the path appears. If you’re looking for it. Cynthia is way good at that shit.
8) THIS SPACE AVAILABLE. (Presented as a public service). This space on the Doctrine’s List is reserved and available to any Reader who might be toying with the notion of participating in what clearly is a muy coolito bloghop. However, speaking for my people, sometimes we know something might be fun but the risk of doing things wrong (and thereby inviting excessive scrutiny) totally outweighs the benefit …so we sit it out. Here is the place you can try it out. Send in your Grat Item as a comment and I’ll place it right here. With full attribution as you would have it. Come on! You know you want to.
9)Sunday Supplement
Talk about your ‘set up’ photos! Here’s a photo from a ride to the pet store today.
Una is my co-pilot.
Yeah, I know! I’ve got about six semi-amusing captions for this here photo here.
10) Secret Rule 1.3 (from the Book of Secret Rules, aka the Secret Book of Rules) which states, in part: “[t]he act and fact of completing a list (of Ten Things) comprises, constitutes, manifests and, ‘my-god-I-did-it’ for inclusion as an Item on (said) List. Convention holds that it (the Item alluding to the completion, et. al.) is placed in the last position. Unless, there are more and then (that) realization may create an infinitely recurring loop of gratitude. Watch it.”)
Music video this week: good song, decent singing, incredible guitar playing.
About clarkscottroger
Your dog and your yard, your sweetheart and group, even your frisson — everything conspires to make your lists a fun read.
thanks M
(hey, did the invite to the Writers Club come through ok? I’ll send a direct email make sure you have my correct email and such.) It (a club) could be fun!
You do have the wonderful ability to make our life almost magical – thank you.
my pleasure
Most excellent post. Smiles from the first :)
As to #5. I am so very jealous!
Writers Club. Yay!
Love Jeff. He tears my heart out. In the best of ways.
yeah, thanks
re-reading Roadmarks. Amazing writing (reminder: Zelazny had two chapters… Chapter One and Chapter Two and this indicated one of two perspectives… economical prose…damn!)
Hey, do you have orange butterflies (or moths, not quite sure which) that love the purple thistle blossoms? When hiking yesterday, there were tons of the winged creatures on those flowers!
Will check, once they bloom. Everything in our gardens (and lawn) grows slower… flowers probably within the week. Good looking flowers for a spiny weed! lol
Haha! Thank you for the shout out! A couple days of workin’ at the school ahead of me and then I head out to the high desert for two weeks. Sans technology. 😳 I’m a little leery as to what’s going to happen to my email inbox, but you know…whatcha gonna do? lol. I’m breaking out the ol’ DSLR (we’re allowed to use those) to take pics of Sedona while I’m gone. I can’t wait for this trip and I can’t wait to share. Been gettin’ ready for the last few days: rigging up the car, packing bags, buying food, getting camp stuff ready…
Cue up the song…An-ti-ci-pation.
Hooray for the writer’s club. And I love #2 up there: The Essentials. Haha. Phyllis is so awesome. Talk to you soon!
Totally welcome, yo.
You will do fine and totally flourish at the event (“Ladies and Gentlemen Start your samadhi”)
Love to have you become a Writers Club member.. when your schedule reconfigures enough to allow the time for recreational wordation. I’m thinking, with the first Y/A story to invite people to write a character, adapting as the plot progresses… like playing in a band…’cept with computers.
Have a good trip.
That is a healthy looking thistle, but unless you want more, don’t let it go to seed or you are likely to have all sorts of spirals on your lawn.
Roadmarks sounds like a book that is of the genre some people I know might enjoy. However I like the idea of the two different perspectives that are presented, so I may have to read it for the experience. Who knows, I may become a science fantasy ready.
I need to check out Cynthia’s youtube channel.
Your Sunday Supplement photo does bring to mind some possible captions, mostly about speed and hunger. LOL
I like the words to People Get Ready!
Great #2 .
Meaning they will return? Last year our thistle (only one) was in the back yard. This year its about 20 feet over on the side yard. Kinda nasty, painful leaves!
I recommend Roadmarks to everyone, even if not necessarily a fan of science fiction/fantasy.
Cynthia is quite the person.
The supplement does beg for a caption.
My first TToT, and my first visit here (I think — my memory is often not the best!)
Thoroughly enjoyed your list, and I have read Zelazny so will have to explore no. 5 more closely!
And thistles, well some places they are the national flower or symbol, so there is some goodness in them, and yes the pollinators (bees and butterflies) do like them, even if I rout them out of my garden.
Very cool
(btw, I’ve heard from others that comments sometimes takes a couple of tries, gotta find out what the hell is going on. I’m in the habit now of copying my own comments before I hit ‘Publish’ anywhere I am…cuts down on the throw-the-computer-out-the-window factor)
Roadmarks is one of my favorite. If you read it let me know, the explanation of #5 is nearly impossible without a person having read the book, but totally worthwhile, the book, not the #5… well, maybe the #5 too lol