Ana Mardoll's Ramblings: July 2015

Open Thread: Reflections on a Rail Bridge

For some reason I've always had a fascination with reflections. Mirror perfect ones, warped ones, ones distorted by waves, they all draw my eyes and thus my lens. The bridge above the water isn't much to look at, though I do look at it, the image of the bridge in the water, though, that's a sight to see.

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Friday Recommendations! What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately? Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead, give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Open Thread: Abandoned Keys

Sometimes in the course of human events you come across something you're at a loss to explain. Between the road and the train tracks lies a sidewalk with a chain link fence on the railroad side. Beyond the tracks you can see the giant pile of sand (helpfully covered in black plastic so you wouldn't necessarily know it's a giant pile of sand) and a large oil storage thingy.

From the tracks to the road, inclusive, there is nothing that is simply being. Tracks, sidewalk, road. All things to move from point A to point B. Nothing draws people to this spot, it is instead a place you move through.

If you're in a train you can't throw the keys out the window. If you're in a car you (usually) can't pull the keys out of the ignition and toss them. If you're on foot then it probably means you don't have a car since there's no reason to come here. It is a place to pass through and said passing is best done in a vehicle.

So where did the keys come from? Some of them are car keys. If the owner had a car it is unlikely they walked here. Even if the owner didn't, if they are mere vestigial car keys, what here, not there, could have made the keys remain? There's nothing that makes here a more likely place for keys to fall from one's pocket.

And who put the keys in the fence?

Was it the former owner, telling them that this was their new home? A good Samaritan hoping that when the owner came back looking for lost keys they'd notice them? A conceptual artist hoping to stimulate thought?

We can posit many possible explanations, some are even reasonable, but we can never know.

Open Thread: Bird in the Muck

At a spot between the estuary and the stream, the water pools into a thing that would like to be a swamp but lacks the scale, variation, vegetation, and general swampiness to actually be a swamp. Instead it's just a pool of muck (well, mucky water) that ducks and egrets seem to enjoy. It's almost completely surrounded by trees, with the "almost" being taken up by the foot path I take to get to my pharmacy.

Thus I give you a bright white bird in the muck.

Narnia: There Was A Reward Offered

[Narnia Content Note: Nothing too awful this chapter, I don't think.]

Narnia Recap: The protagonists have found a hole and boosted Jill up.

The Silver Chair, Chapter 15: The Disappearance of Jill

When we last left our protagonists, they had dawdled unnecessarily long and put their lives in danger. They've now made their way through the tunnel that was supposed to be entirely ready for invasion while also being narrow enough to only allow people through single-file and also there is no apparent means of egress. Now they have found a hole in the ceiling and have boosted Jill up, which normally I would be in favor of but I will subtract points here because of inconsistency with chivalry.

THE PATCH OF LIGHT DID NOT SHOW UP anything down in the darkness where they were standing. The others could only hear, not see, Jill’s efforts to get onto the Marsh-wiggle’s back. That is, they heard him saying, “You needn’t put your finger in my eye,” and, “Nor your foot in my mouth either,” and, “That’s more like it,” and, “Now, I’ll hold on to your legs. That’ll leave your arms free to steady yourself against the earth.”