Today

Today I did not see or hear anything exceptional, nor did I think of anything extraordinary. I was at work and thinking only about what I had to do there and not about thinking or seeing or hearing of anything exceptional or extraordinary. Work does that to you. I do recall seeing a woman who had exceptionally experienced looking hands. All I could think of was how her hands came to be so experienced. They looked strong yet old, you know, experienced. I tend to look at people's hands a lot. It's just me.

I did think at some point today, maybe it was after work, that I should begin a study of words. I wonder how one does that effectively. How does someone increase the size of their vocabulary. I could look up words I don't know every time I read one in a book. I would never finish reading a lot of books doing it that way.

I finished "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway today. I also learned a new word. Puttee or puttees. A strip of cloth wound spirally around the lower leg. Ernest uses that word many times in "Farewell" so I looked it up. From its context everywhere in the book I knew it was at least a sock or something so I waited till I finished reading the book to look it up.

There were many words in his book I did not know and I do not know now. I didn't look them up. I suppose I should have. Oh well, a lost opportunity; I'm not going to re-read the book to find those words now. Most were Italian anyway.

At a book store today I saw some notebooks that claimed some fame as being the brand made famous by Hemingway. I can't remember the name now but they were $10 if they were $9. A small, pocket sized, notebook for $10. For $10 I can get a lot of less costly notebooks. I outlined this post in one. I did not buy one. I guess I better go get one.

Tomorrow, I would like to go to a coffee shop and sit and watch, pretending to be busy but really I'll be watching the people as they come and go jotting down interesting observations in my new Hemingway notebook that I will inevitably use in a story someday. Now that is what I call fun. What do you call it?