January 16, 2006

• Conceptual Whiplash

  Doug was in here, standing by the woodstove a few moments ago,
  warming up before climbing back to the roof to continue shoveling
  snow. We were listening to NPR, a discussion on Talk of the
  Nation of Martin Luther King’s life, work, and its impact on people
  today. I wasn’t giving the discussion my full attention, and
  barely noticed the segue when the program broke for a rundown of news
  headlines.

  The talk about civil rights gently gave way to the news of the election
  of Michelle Bachelet in Chile and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia, the
  first female heads of state for each of their nations. My mind was
  still exploring the implications and ramifications of that story when
  the newsreader’s next words broke in on my thoughts. I jumped and
  yipped, “Ouch!”

  Doug asked, “What?”

  “Abrupt topic shift,” I replied. Apparently without even taking a
  breath, the man had gone from reporting on these historic events to a
  brief story about the Golden Globe Awards.

  My reaction drew a laugh out of Doug. He tagged it: “conceptual whiplash.”

  ---

  I am not only drawing a breath, but a line, before my topic shift here.

  The two kittens we call the Darnits, Alice and her brother Bobo, were
  interested in the new snow yesterday. I followed them out there
  with the camera.

  

  Short-legged, fluffy Alice plowed along through the snow, picking up a lot of it in her fur.

  

  Bobo followed her only as far as the outhouse, where he found a dry
  spot and perched on it, out of the wet cold white stuff. Alice
  jumped around, scattering the light powdery stuff. She pawed at
  the fluffy snow, nosed it, explored it.

  

  Bobo seemed more interested in just getting out of it.

  

  After Bobo came in, Alice was still out there, communing with the white stuff.

  • 4:38 pm
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