Monday, May 14, 2007


REST
In America, we hurry--which is well; but when the day's work is done, we go on thinking of losses and gains, we plan for the morrow, we even carry our business cares to bed with us, and toss and worry over them when we ought to be restoring our racked bodies and brains with sleep. We burn up our energies with these excitements, and either die early or drop into a lean and mean old age at a time of life which they call a man's prime in Europe. When an acre of ground has produced long and well, we let it lie fallow and rest for a season; we take no man clear across the continent in the same coach he started in--the coach is stabled somewhere on the plains and its heated machinery allowed to cool for a few days; when a razor has seen long service and refuses to hold an edge, the barber lays it away for a few weeks, and the edge comes back of its own accord. We bestow thoughtful care upon inanimate objects, but none upon ourselves. What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally and renew our edges!
- The Innocents Abroad

~MARK TWAIN

I need to rest. I just don't exactly know how.

16 comments:

weatherchazer said...

Oh so true. I'm so guilty.

Autumn Storm said...

This holiday coming up will rejuvenate you, Italy has a way of doing that.

jillie said...

TERRY!!! Holiday is coming soon for both of us! I can hardly wait. Lots to do yet but I will get it done. So I will see you after we all return from our journeys.

Safe travels to you both!

Luv ya!
Jillie

Doug The Una said...

OK, I'll take a year off. You and Twain are tough taskmasters.

By the way, I'm hoping that getting mean early will easy the transition.

tsduff said...

Weatherchazer - Gotta make some changes... take some time to lay on the shelf. Easier said than done.

Autumn - Either that or wear me out! I am just going to chill out - quit worrying and enjoy the holiday. That is good advice. All my best to you and Jillie when you see her :-) We ought to name you "Autumn's London Way-Station"

Jillie - you're off! Can't believe it's time already! Safe journey - have loads of fun, raise a pint in London with Autumn, and a few more in Ireland! Hugs - xoxo Thar she goes.........

Doug - A year off? Man alive you're easy! Does your edge come back of its own accord? HA HA - when did you get mean? I think it is an imagined attribute.

G said...

I go through restless and rested periods. I too am not always sure how to rest. But your vacation coming up should help to that end. ;) I'd like to take a year off. Where do I sign up?

G-Man said...

Terry, When are you leaving exactly?
Have a great time, and take lots of bird pics!!
Galen xo

Minka said...

I took a rest for the last 4 years, I am coming about and having a hell of the time at the wake. Try it!

javajazz said...

you are getting sleeeeepy...
all you vant to do
is resssssssssssssssssssssst.

The Old Mule said...

Nobody can boil it down like Twain. Wonderful post. In America, we are always after that thing just ahead, right around the corner. How the days fall by in this pursuit. You can hear the wind on the sails.

You will find rest, I know it.

Icarus said...

Hey, pics "unsurpassed"? Kind of you, but have you taken a very close look at this one you've posted? I'd give all my cameras to take that!!!
And "caboodle" LOL, where did that rise up from?
I say BRING BACK MR TWAIN! Definitely the right idea. If he thought living was stressful back then, what would he make of today? I mean, if you had the choice of commuting on a horse-drawn buggy & sitting for hours in a metal box, even with air condit, what would you opt for?
Love to you,
Sxxxxxxx

Icarus said...

PS - On reading it again, I'm now seriously thinking of changing my ID again from Icarus to Aninnocentabroad - it's is SO juicily, wickedly, ironically, à propos!!!!

Miz BoheMia said...

Then we damn well need to change I declare!

So true and sad an observation but there stops the lamenting and I would say that once such things come to one's attention then we simply must tweak away, kill those bad habits and live happily ever after as happiness is of our own making... no?

Hmmm... there was soap box lying around... I swear! Oh how you tempt us amiga! But I am done with it, DONE! ;-P

tsduff said...

G - yes, I am imagining resting on some fabulously beautiful hidden rocky Italian cove, and of course collapsing in exhaustion after traipsing about all the museums, basilicas, hiking paths and streets of Italy...

Actionbell - isn't that what Italian trains are for?

Galen - leaving in one week from tonight (Thursday, May 24). Am I packed yet? Nosiree bob. Will have to pick up an Italian bird book. Do Italian Crows speak in Italics?

Minka - sheesh - if that is you whilst on a rest, you must be amazing on a wake!

JJ - took your advice last night... got sleepy and missed the entire evening! (Stay away from those little orange pills...)

Always waxing poetic you are Old Mule - love your lines. Say, whose pelts are those? Thought I recognized my cousin the coyote. Or are they wolves?

Icarus - Caboodle was a word my mother used frequently - guess it's just stuck in my birdbrain forever. You know, Mark Twain is one person I'd love to have lunch with. He and I share a birthday, and I thoroughly enjoy his sense of humor. What a smart man he was. Are you an innocent dear?

tsduff said...

Miz Bohemia - your name alone suggests a non-restive scene... but you always swoop in and provide brilliant jaunts out of the mundane and into the refreshing. I love your visits - bring that soapbox right over here anytime :-D

Doug The Una said...

Terry, mom says age 7. Apparently I was sweet until then.