Boundaries

My husband loved to drive to the end of town in Lawrence, Kansas and look out at the farm fields. It was the notion of being able to access a defined edge. In a similar vein, please enjoy the photographic ramble through some footpaths and very nice wetland areas on the outskirts of London in Peripheral Postcodes by Diamond Geezer. "Trout Lane's lovely at this time of year, a cyclepath bordered by buttercups and butterflies" I don't know about you but I wish I was on Trout Lane right now. The post also includes photos of a bridge over a multi lane highway and the footing of an electrical pylon tower in order to cover the entire 'peripheral postcode' category. I am not one, but I do admire a complete-ist. 

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Sad news that Once Upon a Town is shutting down their tumblr because of changes made to the template which don't play well with their large format b&w photo files. It's a pity.  

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Patricia Lockwood has my number even though I don't always understand her. Article on David Foster Wallace. Her explanation of why DFW's nonfiction pieces are so relaxing to read while his fiction is uphill both ways:

In non-fiction the game is to really think something through. That was his task and he did it with joy, simultaneously obedient to that editor floating with his desk in mid-air, and performatively pushing its limits. The thing about an essay is it’s going to be read now. You’re not so much worrying about it being a touchstone for the future. So he relaxes, plays restful microtennis, lets us read.

And something else, too: it is a break from the book. An assignment comes as a kind of relief: not just you in your own mind. It takes you out into the world, even to the state fair, to see the clog dancers. The book is the thing that will not let you leave the house, because it might let you write it that day.

I haven't and won't read the doorstop novels, IJ and TPK. But I did love the essays. 

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Last week I hit the wall working from home. I felt penned in and deprived of society. I've done a few things intended to rebalance. I feel a little like a cat extending my paw under a door and seeing what I can snag.