tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post5333862622840963229..comments2023-12-18T07:59:16.525-05:00Comments on Hats and Rabbits: Redecorating the HeadChris Matarazzohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-57776794413002553352012-07-03T10:20:15.004-04:002012-07-03T10:20:15.004-04:00Jeff -- yikes! I just read the poem. I think that ...Jeff -- yikes! I just read the poem. I think that is a little darker than I was shooting for... haha. See my response to Stephen above, though. I do believe in travel and changes of atmosphere as good ways to enrich life; I'm just wary of "escapes". <br /><br />"Sometimes we do need to be somewhere else, but we may not know where until we find ourselves there by accident." Cool -- go with the flow, externally and do the planning on the inside. I like that.Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-26357553871426494042012-07-03T01:47:53.292-04:002012-07-03T01:47:53.292-04:00Chris, are you familiar with the Cavafy poem "...Chris, are you familiar with the Cavafy poem "The City"? I think he'd agree with you here. (I have a bit more faith in the power of travel, though. Sometimes we do need to be somewhere else, but we may not know <i>where</i> until we find ourselves there by accident.)Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-91810937670970700082012-07-02T21:46:02.855-04:002012-07-02T21:46:02.855-04:00Thanks,Stephen. I have softened a little on this s...Thanks,Stephen. I have softened a little on this since I wrote it yesterday, though. I do wonder about the possible imperceptible psychological impact of place. For instance, I love snow and grey weather and beach-scapes and I have always theorized that I feel this way because the simplicity of the images -- the muted colors and even the nearly complete obliteration of color in a snow storm -- quiets my particular mind, which is in a constant state of fireworks and chatter. I wonder if living in, say, Grasmere, would bring me ongoing inner peace even after the Wordsworthian trance fades. (I was there once and I agree with the poet: it does feel like the center of the entire world...) That's it -- I'm getting out of here!Chris Matarazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17885109959459471509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6693471143220681808.post-77081456385764576892012-07-02T19:49:20.496-04:002012-07-02T19:49:20.496-04:00Very well put, Chris. You are no doubt aware of t...Very well put, Chris. You are no doubt aware of this, but here is Montaigne on this subject: "Ambition, avarice, irresolution, fear, and lust do not leave us when we change our country. . . . Someone said to Socrates that a certain man had grown no better by his travels. 'I should think not,' he said, he took himself along with him.'" ("Of Solitude.") (I wonder if the observation by Socrates is the original source for the old saw: "Wherever you go, there you are.")<br /><br />By the way, I claim no exemption from this malady, having spent countless hours in the Never Never Land of the Ideal Place. LIke you say, better to "redecorate the head."Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.com