Crumbs From the Corner: Adventures in Woolgathering

Friday, April 11, 2008

Through a Glass Darkly

-Jean de La Fontaine



Pappy said...

Morning The,
I'm just getting around to my regulars. Wonderful story (as usual) and so true. Clean glasses can be misleading also. My wife and I sat on the balcony eating area of a costal restaurant and watched a young man cleaning the glasses at the tables in an adjoining restaurant. He was using a white dish towel to polish the glasses to a high sheen. The sun was hot and when his brow became covered in sweat, he took the towel and wiped his face and calmly continued with his chore. There you have it - the antithesis to your story. See you later.

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

That's a great story- the lucky word for you, I think, is 'adjoining.'
"Clean glasses can be misleading also."- absolutely. Really just what I was trying to say :)

Barb said...

Thank you for the comment on my bog. I just spent an hour reading through yours. Lovely writing which I enjoyed thoroughly as I sipped my green tea. I'm adding you to my regular blogs and will check in often. Barb (

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Thank you for coming by, it's great to see you here. I appreciate it, and will be reading your blog too.

julochka said...

wow. such melancholy you captured. it worries me a bit that the economic downturn is manifesting in such a seemed like an abstract newspaper story kind of thing with a bunch of blah-blah about sub-prime mortgages and such, but this somehow makes it seem real!

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

It's palpable, at least where I live. Barnes and Noble was quiet, too. Our favourite breakfast cereal jumped a dollar and a half in price in the last year; a 20 lb bag of flour went from 6.99 to 18.99 in one month.

I saw cars on the road yesterday with more than one person in them. That's when I knew.

julochka said...

ok, it's not really a funny situation, but the thing about the cars is a bit amusing...i remember when i lived in arizona and there were carpool lanes on the freeway, there was actually a company selling a DUMMY you could set in the seat next to you so you wouldn't get a ticket for being in the carpool lane without a passenger. and this item sold like hotcakes!

i love all the other great blogs i'm finding through yours. you've definitely upgraded the time i spend in the blogosphere. :-) thanks for that!

Elderwoman said...

That's such a nice story about judgements and how we so often have to revise them. (Oh if only I could stop myself from making them in the first place; that seems to be my greatest lifetime challenge!) Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Beth said...

another beautiful story, you have a wonderful way of noticing small things and finding their significance. I always enjoy your posts and hope that you are trying things out on your blog and actually writing a book.

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Julie, I never heard of that! Can't imagine how gullible people are, buying such idiotic things and making such companies rich.
I have found a number of wonderful sites through blogging and it's made my own life better!
Elderwoman, I'm sure we're all a bit guilty of being judgmental at times, nobody's perfect. The main thing is to try and improve and learn, which is what I'm working on.
Beth, your compliments do always inspire me :) I have always wanted to write a book- sometimes a novel, sometimes a collection of poems/essays, so maybe one day I'll put it together and it would be partly because of comments like yours. Thank you.
I'm not at all as observant as my mother- she misses absolutely NOTHING- but I do like to find the stories in seemingly insignificant things.

Please look around, explore my writing, leave a crumb:
I welcome comments and thoughts.