Have you ever set out to clean your closet, then ended up with all the clothes (and other odd items that always seem to end up in closets like broken fans, Nordstrom bags, and books on HTML) strewn all over your floor in your attempt to make things better? At this point I'm really hoping you have, or not only will this whole analogy fail but I'll have to reexamine my life if I'm the only one to have ever done this.
Assuming I'm not.. I'll continue and share that this is pretty much what's happened to my book this summer. I thought the middle needed tweaking. Then I thought I'd just take it out and rework a few things. Then I rewrote certain chapters again and again, with all sorts of different directions until I had a big tangled mess all over my bedroom floor, er, computer screen. (though my floor could actually use some work, too.)
Fortunately, I went to the zoo this week, with the kids, and they rode the historic carousel and I started to see a way through the mire. Did you know some carousels, wooden carousels no less, were steam powered? I won't detail too much here, but suffice it to say the carousel is my equivalent of going to Storeables and loading up on plastic bins.
The photo above is from a new favorite place on the web called Curious Expeditions and details this still operating steam powered carousel in the Netherlands with horses that face perpendicular to the circle, and are mounted on springs, so you're constantly rocking out toward the edge as the ride goes in circle - and puffs steam. Yes, the Netherlands has just sky-rocketed on my list of places I must visit!
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On The Nightstand: Wayfarers
5 weeks ago
4 comments:
I lived in The Netherlands for four years but I've never heard of a steam powered carousel before. How interesting.
August 8, 2010 at 1:22 AMAugust 8, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Oh, this made me laugh. I just tore the closet apart in the den last month! The Hubster came home to a total mess on the floor. But it was an ORGANIZED mess: this pile for the garage (storage), this pile for Goodwill Donation, this box for the trash and the rest to go back in the way I wanted to organize. I'm embarrassed to admit the broken fan went into the garage - I don't know WHO I think is actually going to fix it. DH never will. I certainly can't and it's likely cheaper to just buy a new one because I think I got it at Target on sale for $10. The HTML book actually went back into the closet on the high shelf with other books I think we might need someday? Ooooh, was that an overshare? I'm sorry. I do that! But I love your analogy. It hit home - both with the closet and my current rewrite. I'm glad the steam helped you. That's a very beautiful carousel. Much better than the plastic one I used to ride as a kid. There I go again. More about Jenn than you ever wanted to know. :-)
August 8, 2010 at 8:15 PMAugust 8, 2010 at 9:08 PM
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