Idle hands are a muse's playground

People are pretty much overbooked these days. Mayberry's Andy Taylor no longer just hangs out on his porch in the evening, picking at his guitar while the neighbors wander by; he's gone inside where there's AC, to watch reality TV and goof around on the internet. And Opie doesn't roam Mayberry unsupervised anymore; now he's got karate, soccer, swim team, piano lessons, and cub scouts to get to, and a Playstation waiting for him when he gets home.

I'm worried about how the fast pace of daily life might suck the idle creativity out of us all. Inspiration can't be scheduled and the muses don't really fancy the distracted.

I had a nice lazy day on Saturday. All the media hysteria leading into the icy morning had me predisposed to a snowday mindset and difficulty sleeping because of my sinus troubles put me into a less-than-productive mood. So, instead of hitting the ground running, I lingered over my morning tea, contemplating the ice-scape outside the window and letting my sleepy mind wander. Eventually I noticed that the light fixture over the table was reflected in the surface of my tea. It took several attempts (and a refill) to capture the image, but I'm pleased with the result. And I wonder how many other interesting images present themselves to me on days when I'm just whizzing by...