What Do You Know?

/ roughwighting

Mark Twain, writing, bloggingI know this, even though few believe me.

We live in different time warps.

For instance, in front of me I’m writing a quick essay on what I know about time. When I turn toward my left shoulder, though, I’m off for a snowy walk. No matter how badly I’m feeling inside or out, once I start walking, I’m better. I walk on air as I converse with the spirits above me and by my side.

As I place one foot in front of the other, my dad’s advice surrounds me (even though on this time warp he’s not alive). I’m also aware of my California friend’s presence. She and I walked together along the SF Bay regularly. I transport myself now to that path, with the pelicans swooping beside us on the water, the shorebirds racing back and forth. We talk faster than our feet walk as we watch the sun rise over the city and its Golden Gate.

walking, dreaming, blogging, imagination

I’m walking here, in mid-winter, as I warp through time.

By the way, the dictionary describes a time warp as an imaginary spatial distortion that allows fictional time travel. Shows you how little the “experts” know. That’s the spin we’re taught as soon as we’re born – that time is a straight line.

cooking, time warp, bloggingAs I peer past my right shoulder I’m preparing Shepherd’s Pie. I chop up the onions and carrots, add peas and corn, sauté the ground beef, boil the potatoes to mash while sipping on a glass of wine. I wink at my friend Julia who taught me her grandmother’s recipe thirty two years ago. We clink glasses as she fades away.

I glance behind me at another time warp, in which I’m a Queen in the magical land of Ecotarium, which I know like the back of my hand. Currently my pet dragon is racing me toward his favorite banyan tree…

Oh, perhaps I’m warping too fast for you, dear reader. Is this unimaginable to you?

Mary Oliver, imagine, creativity

 

 

Never be fearful of what you know and what you can imagine. 

I’m off the blogosphere for a couple of weeks,  searching for the unimaginable, warping into a warmer land.

 

134 thoughts on “What Do You Know?”

  4. Enjoy your time away from here. Stay warm and please enjoy whichever warp you end up in. No need to fret about whether it’s the right or wrong one, just imagine it to be where you want to be.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I always feel guilty to not blog for a week or two, but I still go over and visit everyone so I don’t miss any stories/wise words/quotes and writing lessons. Like just now – I popped over and you blogged a new post yesterday. In which I held my breath until I got to the end. Wowzie – see? I’ll never stop visiting my blogging buddies.

      Like

  9. Pam, oh, those poor experts who lives are so linear. Only imaginary eh?! I am sure some of my most ‘real’ moments are just in such ‘imaginings’! A beautiful thoughtful post, Pam that leaves me longing to head out for walks, let my mind meander, warping across time.

    Enjoy your holiday in the sun and warmth … have a most special and brilliant time.
    Can’t wait to learn a bit about it – and photos of said warm and beautiful scenery and yourselves are of course expected! 😀❤️

    Liked by 1 person

    • I find that walking leads to excellent warping. (Hmmm, that could be a quote!) 🙂 Yes, we do feel sorry for those who think that lives and living are linear, don’t we? Here’s to mind-blowing unimaginable warping experiences ahead of us. xo

      Liked by 1 person

  17. A great piece of “speculative fiction,” Pam. Ha ha. I told you! Time zones are one way to prove that time is all made up. I am writing this three hours in your past according to the clock, though it is Now to me. My brother can fly back from work and arrive before he left (again, according to the clock). I don’t understand the science, but our human understanding of time is changing, not so linear as we thought! Can our brains open to the possibilities or does it need the linear model to make sense of the world? Apparently, yours is way ahead. 🙂 Fun post, my friend.

    Liked by 1 person

    • For you, I’d warp over a recipe anytime. I’m embarrassed, though, at how easy this is (when Julia first served it to me and gave me the recipe, we were young moms). The “old time” Shepherd’s Pie is supposed to use lamb, but we just sauté a bit of onion with ground beef or turkey, add in some vegetable soup and add peas and carrots for the color and the taste. A quick splash of Worcestershire sauce. Place it in bottom of a casserole. Mash up some potatoes and place on top of the casserole (sprinkle some paprika on top and a small slice of butter). Then bake at 350 for an hour. In my family, we serve this with ketchup, but that’s our kind of Dutch English preference. ;-0

      Liked by 2 people

  32. What a lovely post. I do like the Mary Oliver quote. I don’t know, but I have always thought of time as an illusion. It’s fleeting and moves us forward into the next moment in a blink of the eye, Our memories keep the past alive. I hope you enjoy your time away!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ah, the fleeting time theory. Tis true, and also tis why so many songs exist about time going by too quickly. This is why time warping is so helpful – we can go forward and back, as well as different places and dimensions. A handy little tool. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • I’ve always admired skiers, Sue, who seem to WARP down a mountain into their own thrilling space. Love seeing your photos via your blog and Instagram. You may not realize this, but I’ve warped down that mountain with you a time or two…. ;-0

      Liked by 1 person

  37. Your posts always transport me to another time and place – non-linear and capacious. Thanks for your tribute to one of my idols, Mary Oliver. Enjoy your warm and cozy space, wherever you are, dear Pam!
    ;-D

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you for verifying (in such a beautiful way) what I’m trying to describe about time. Exactly – never linear, and past-present-future always accessible. All we have to do is believe it. And believe what our imagination creates for us.

      Liked by 1 person

    • 5 degrees always sends me warping to warmer thoughts/places/imaginings. Most likely a place that has soft sand and gentle warm breezes. Stay warm, Kate, in heart and mind and soul. ❤

      Like

    • We should do a dual warping, Norah, so you could enjoy some of this cold snowy weather for a beat or two, and I could breathe in your warm (dare I say HOT?) winter weather. The only problem with that is we’d warp right past each other. ;-0

      Liked by 1 person

  43. In this time warp I suddenly decided it was time to look up your latest blog. I “accidentally” signed into Facebook and your blog link appeared like magic at the top of my news feed. Also, can’t remember without scrolling up through a zillion comments what or whose grandma dish you were making over your right shoulder but had just found one of my grandma’s recipes (beef barley soup) to make for Book Club. Love how we interact in the field. However, must now scroll up to see if you mentioned where you’re going on vacation. Could you just whisper the answer into our time loop?

    Liked by 1 person

    • I’m answering this (with a huge smile on my face) as I sit on an airplane during one of my warps, off to places exotic (or not), warmer (or not), far far away (or not) stirring the sauce to my long-ago friend’s Shepherd’s Pie, wondering if I could get your recipe for your grandma’s beef barley soup in a soon-to-come warp ahead. Also, could you whisper in one of the time loops what book your Book Club had selected? ❤

      Like

  44. I’m glad you are off to warmer lands for real. I know how cold it is up in your neck of the woods right now. We are experiencing a little cold here also but nothing like the north. I need a time warp to go back to about 1984. Can you help me with that?? Hope you have had a lovely time in warmer climes! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    • 1984 – ah, yes, I’ve warped there often, and actually, just recently. I wonder, dear one, why you chose that date? It’s quite easy to manage the trip. Close your eyes, intone the warping spell (I’m quite sure you know it), breathe in and out five times….and you’re there!

      Like

  45. All “time” is happening at once. I understand more then you know when so often I step into different time warps. With ease I seem to be transported to so many different worlds all without traveling. Nature is my catalyst in all ways ….. how I seem to melt out of myself and morph into the ethers ….. Wow! Someone else who knows “magic”. Cool!!! 😘

    Liked by 1 person

      • Pam, you are already doing it. Let me ask you a question. When you write, and really become focused with those words, are you aware of anything else around you? Do you slip into another world, an altered state, one in which only your Mind and the words you write, exist? That is what I am referring to. I do it in so many ways in my every day life. I’ve just become aware of it in hindsight. When I step into the forest with my camera, all that exists as my life fades away, is the NOW moment and what I am seeing and feeling and sensing. It’s Magic. Pure Bliss. Nirvana. That is what you are probably sensing in my photography. (smile)

        Yes I also know for a fact that it is possible to travel via “light” to instantaneously be in another place, for I have read books by authors who do not lie or exaggerate who do it. That I have yet to do, but, IF you think about it, when we find ourselves in a world of our own making (your writing, my camera) isn’t that basically the same principal, only on a “smaller” basis? I just wanted to reassure I am not woo-woo …. LOL. Although …. If you speak to some of my bio family, they would tell you otherwise. 😂😂😂

        Liked by 1 person

        • Oh, I am called “woo woo” all the time. I find it a huge compliment. 😍 .
          I know exactly what you are describing here. When I write I am no longer in the room on my computer. I am in some “space” – I guess that’s the best way to describe it. I am definitely warping. Fascinating to know that the same thing happens when you are photographing. Also happens to me when I am in a really good yoga practice or meditation. Or even sometimes when I am kissing my guy ❣️ 🥰

          Liked by 1 person

  46. Loved walking your time line with you dear Pam, and yes, no such thing as a straight linear line, Its good to slip through one level to the next and fit right in.
    Such an enjoyable read as i encounter those whom you met along your walk.
    Snow has that effect as does the beach, sweeping away, clearing and cleansing,
    Hope you are safe and warm if you are any where near the Polar Vortex Pam..
    Take care.. And much love.. ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  48. Such a wonderful, thoughtful post. Thank you! I know exactly what you mean about how walking can inspire our imagination like nothing else. I think of warping as always carrying our different landscapes inside us.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yes, Holly! Time warping changes the landscaping in our mind. Walking and running are a great way to get there. I enjoy following the photos of your outside walks and runs on Instagram. Nice to know that you are warping then. 🤗

      Like

  49. Even Einstein said imagination was more important than intelligence. That’s what makes you such a good writer. Warp away and let go of the guilt. You do what you can when you can. Enough said. Hope you are enjoying whatever it is you are doing. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    • There is a reason that the older we get the wiser we become. We finally learn to let go of time constraints and warp ourselves to the past and future as well as the present and to worlds beyond. 🌎 ✨

      Like

Comments are closed.