THE PURGING OF THE POCKET NOTEBOOKS II

2nd in a series

“WALT LONGMIRE” series author Craig Johnson, in the middle of a presentation for writers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, pulled from his shirt pocket a tiny spiral bound notebook and stated: “Best fifty-nine cents an author can ever invest.”

I was pleased. I’d been carrying these for years and continue to find relics in various places about the house including sock drawers, bookshelves, liquor cabinets and the garden shed. More keep turning up and in them are found strokes of the pen that have, until now, not seen the light of day. They may provide proof that tenth item down is grounded in truth.


THE CHURCH OF THE OPEN ROAD has no idea what prompted many of these thoughts, but if any one of these should evolve into a Country and Western song, the Church expects a cut.

• Not having to answer the bell has turned out to be more difficult than having to answer the bell.
• You’re always halfway to somewhere.
• Internet access does not a learned man make.
• He felt himself slipping into a self-imposed isolation. Self imposed and irreversible.
• Every woman deserves to be some heart-broken guy’s Ilsa Lund.
• My ninth grade English teacher never bothered to tell me I couldn’t write.
• God is not responsible for your bad calls.
• If I had to start my life over, I’d start it over with you.
• Nursileze (n) a language spoken by nurses that no one else can understand. Twins and others in professions likewise have secret languages.
• The “delete” key can be your best friend.
• Never place yourself higher on a pedestal than you’re willing to get knocked off from.
• Don’t draw what you see. Draw what you think you see. It’s the same with history. History is not what happened. It’s what people think happened. History is not written on the front page. It is written on the Letters to the Editor page.
• An alternate route is a countermelody to the Interstate.
• The problem with round tables is that they don’t often square up.
• “A faint night breeze pushes the soft plume of smoke down slope through the stand of firs and off over toward Smith Camp.”
• Yes. There are voices.
• Roadside Forest Service signs are not dangerous, nor are they good eating. Makes me wonder why drunkards, gun nuts and various other innocents shoot them up.
• It’s not “like flying.” It’s like riding a motorcycle.
• The perfect cinnamon roll is elusive; the perfect day is not.
• Up until about a week ago, I thought “Tunisia” had something to do with an inability to recall a melody.

And, perhaps, the best (and truest) of the bunch:

• Everything that happens in life relates, in one way or another, to a scene in Casablanca.

NOTE: To see the previous listing, click on the label “notebooks” below. (Not sure why you’d want to do that, however.)

© 2011
Church of the Open Road Press