Apples and oranges

The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused, while nature heals the disease.

~ Voltaire

There are positives to what many think of as the negative of being ill.  You’d be surprised at how many positives there are once you get past the misery of coughing, sneezing, aching, and the sudden inability to sleep well at night because you can’t breathe (and maybe because you’ve been taking far too many naps).  This is sounding a lot like a NyQuil commercial.  Something I don’t use, by the way.  No shotgun medicines for me, thank you very much.

One of the wonderful things about having been ill over the past almost a week is that it gave me time to read.  Books.  Magazines.  Books.  And a few blog posts.  But mostly books.

The photos are not all the same. Similar, but different. Like apples and oranges are similar (fruits), but different.

I used to be a fast reader.  I’d go through one or two or sometimes three books a week.  That was prior to the invention of the internet.  (Insert Al Gore joke here if you like.)  It is not just a matter of time consumption (books vs. internet), but my reading speed has slowed.  I’m not sure why but if I had to guess, I’d go with age and wisdom.  I savor books rather than try to wolf them down as quickly as possible.  Given all the great books I’d like to read before I die, and given that I was gifted with the book 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die for my 50th birthday a couple of years ago and I still have a long way to go before I complete that hefty list, I really should once again start gulping down books like they’re fast food.

Slight digression…  Did you learn speed reading while you were in school?   When I was in the 5th grade they would turn down the lights and flash sentences up on a screen, starting at a reasonable rate and gradually speeding up.  The sentences added up to a story, and at the end of the story we were tested to see if we picked up the story and some of the details of the story.

I am currently reading The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession.  The book is about birding, and a competition that is well known among birders called The Big Year wherein one abandons their regular life to spend a year tracking down as many birds as possible within a certain geographic area (in this case, within the continental U.S. and Canada).  I am enjoying it a lot while learning a little about birding, life lists, and The Big Year (something I’d never heard of until someone recommended this book).  I’m learning a little something about birds too, although I expect I’ll retain that knowledge about as well as I do when I look up the identification of a bird online or in a field guide, which is to say, not much.  My brain is so stuffed with song lyrics that there seems to be little memory space left for retaining other bits and pieces of information.

I have also managed to whittle down the pile of magazines waiting to be read.  I’ve gone through two issues of Yoga Journal and one issue of Popular Photography.  I should be caught up on my magazine reading very soon.  I’m  thinking of not renewing my subscription to Popular Photography.  Until I have a more sophisticated camera, most of the tips and knowledge between the covers of that magazine are lost on me.  Plus it gives me a good case of camera envy, and who needs that?

Today, tired of reading and napping, I broke out the camera and tripod for a little playtime with fruit.  The basket of fruit has been begging to be used in a still life.  How could I say no?

And on that crazy note (what, your fruit doesn’t speak to you?), I’m going to wrap this post up.  Thank you for visiting the Bogs today.  Help yourself to some fruit.  We stocked up on apples just before the local orchard closed, and we have an order of citrus fruit (our way of helping to support the local high school band) coming soon.  Enjoy.  🙂

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