When the Rays began climbing the charts with a song about love, misperception and pareidolia, I was just a kid --but understood the pivot-point of their romantic ballad perfectly. The song is about a guy taking an evening walk down a street on which his girlfriend lives. He sees a window shade and silhouette tableau of what he believes is his beloved kissing a stranger. He bangs on the door and is politely informed that he's on the wrong block. Ooops.
Pareidolia needn't always be distressing or embarrassing, as I hope to demonstrate by my own experience and recreation. I too have often seen two silhouettes on the shade in the bedroom --the lampshade (what do you think I meant? --oh how could you?). Observe:
It is caused by two tassels (as things often are) hung from the upper shade-hem. Sometimes, while reading in bed --especially Louisa May Alcott-- I will look up and see two little women in earnest discussion on a stairway, a nudge :
All it takes is a bit of imagination. Then that old song starts doo-wopping in the background and I forget about the waking world and its incessant awful news. I stop thinking about politicians I don't like --and other proofs of rat-human interbreeding. I quit searching, like a hapless horse for hay in a needlestack. Silhouettes are there for a good reason: they help us imagine and dream. Imagine. Dream.
Lost control and rang your bell I was sore. Today a young suitor would be enraged not simply sore. I remember that song well. I also like your tassels.
Dear EC, I still see girls walking along with their heads together, into their grand futures --laughing. True communication is often accompanied by laughter. Yes, they dream as I hope my imagined tassel-ladies do.
They really do look like two little women, don't they?! (That's why tassels make good angel ornaments, like the ones I blogged about recently.) That's a wonderful tune. So many of the songs from that era and genre were so well-written -- the plot and the resolution all within a very few verses and very memorable. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Geo.
O_Jenny, you've nailed it. I remember my sisters playing the top-40 A.M. radio station back then and hearing the most wonderful ballads --Roy Orbison's beautiful stories, then songs like "Running Bear & Little White Dove", Johnny Cash and "Big Bad John". Oh my gosh, it was fun!
Thanks Bruce, I know you heard all those lovely songs too. And --good news-- I spoke with SWM(also)BO and was given the go-ahead on address exchange --forthcoming.
Those tassels on your lamp do indeed look like a couple of ladies who could have stepped out of a Louisa May Alcott novel....
....but I see them more as devious figures in a Rorschach Test. If they were by my bedside, I would be fearful that they were conspiring to kill me after I fall asleep.
Blame it on my extreme paranoia.
By the way - I've never previously heard "Silhouettes" by the Rays but I like it.
Dear dear Jon, I can't imagine you letting anything psychically destructive into your home --except maybe the cats who sometimes leave leave mice as tribute to your kindness. As for my silhouettes, they are only 6 or 7 inches tall and would be greatly overburdened by the assassination of things big as us.
Dear readers: Because of rain and 60 mph winds in this area our power and communication lines have been down for somewhat over 6 hours. About 40,000 customers of Sacramento Municipal Utilities District have been without light or landlines. I'm overjoyed by the prospect of replying to your kind comments to me in sunny California tomorrow. Good night!
Dear Jenny, as of late this p.m. there were still some areas of Sacramento without power. However, happily, our bit is not one of them. I had errands today and was appalled at the number of fallen trees, fallen powerlines, fallen fences --especially at the Buddhist monastery on our road. Happily our power and communication resumed after midnight thanks to SMUD's team of heroes. We don't pay those workers enough.
Loved the whole scene, and the ladies. When we lose the ability to dream and to imagine, we are lost as only the spiritually dead can be lost. Having said that, I now realise why I admire your writings so much, they are so alive as is the writer.
I gotta get me some of those tassels. Anything to get my mind off the rat/human nterbreeding that seems to have generated most of our politicians. these days.
Dear Delores, all I can recommend is, set out traps. Big ones. You don't want anything big as what now presumes directing executorship of our country scampering around in your attic.
This is such a lovely post, Geo, and oh, yes, how I love to dream. It takes away the bad things and many times puts me in places with those I have loved and lost. What a wonderful gift the imagination is.
I do remember that song so well. Every time I hear it on the oldies station my feet want to ‘stroll’ and I imagine the great crush of my teenage years, Andy Stanley, meeting me at the end of the danceline and us taking hands and strolling down the center while everyone looked at us. Unfortunately, Andy liked Toni and not me, but I liked to imagine differently.
Superb tassels! Rat-human interbreeding gave me a classic guffaw, then I felt sorry for the rats. Anyway - imagine, dream, and live accordingly, I say xxx
Dear Lisa, you have made my evening. Thank you. And thanks for sending Dragon round. He watered the new shrubs along our recently enlarged creek but those wings blew our chicken coop over --no worries; it was unoccupied. All's well and trust well with you.
It's good to know old Dragon is loose, even if his wings are a liability :-) I'm tired of course but in a good way - plus I did a word count and found I had 15,000 of them in the new WIP, which is a surprise as jolly as a dragon!
Hi, Geo! Of course there are two little women on your lampshade! LOL I take great delight in all sorts of optical illusions, and those tassels are perfect little women. I loved all the Louisa May Alcott books, and I was particularly fond of Jo. Now "Silhouettes" will be stuck in my head all evening along with an undertone of "Big Bad John." I have found, as the years progressed, that every decade has awesome music. So many great songs! I'm glad that you came through the windstorm in the Sacramento area. Your SMUD heros are another example of the good people in our world just doing their jobs and doing them well. You dishonor rats, sir!
Hi Louise! Thanks for encouraging comment. I always liked "Big Bad John" because it reminded me of Rudyard Kipling's "Gunga Din" --the classic theme of an ordinary worker being called by conscience to do something exceptional. We need to be reminded of the hero in us.
Indeed, in fact we impose order where there doesn't seem to be any. I've helped raise 4 children and was always impressed and enlightened by Norma's ability to do that.
Dear Geo., I haven't read the comments above so maybe someone said it before me: but beside Louisa May Alcott (I adore her!) you could also think of Jane Austen - silhouettes. In Berlin we visited between the years the "Knobloch - Haus" - a museum from the time of Biedermeier - you saw the furnished rooms and the house and how the quite wealthy family lived in that (peaceful) time. The word "pareidolia" is the first of many English ones I have to learn this year.
Dear Brigitta, YES, Jane Austen indeed! And Knobloch's house --its first-floor conservation-- is indeed remarkable. The (200+ year old)furniture and appointments do indeed take us back to a time when craft and art might extend from comfort to general peace and prosperity --a timeless hope, a beautiful dream.
Great post, Geo. One of my favorite songs, takes me way back. Sorry didn't comment before, been a bit under the weather, hoping to be discharged tomorrow. Take care, friend.
Hope you're feeling better. Neither of us need another year of caducity like 2018. My computer, however failed to recognize me when I returned from shopping a half hour ago. I ran 2 scans which assured me nothing harmful had hacked, but laptop remained in an amnestic stupor. All I did was look online for a bathtub unclogger, then returned to blanks and warnings. Have purged the thing and it works now but, if you have trouble reaching this blog --my other two work fine-- let me know. Are computers sensitive to minor plumbing problems?
Very glad you stopped by, Louise! Norma is the strong one now and I'm handled with care. However, I went out and pruned wands off a walnut tree today so I guess I'm getting stronger.
I happen to love that song... and silhouettes, in general. They're dramatic-looking and mysterious to allow our minds to imagine. And imagining is always good. (As long as we don't think about that rat-human connection...)
Susan, I'm sure glad you liked the post. I'm always surprised by how much genetic material we share other species --rodents/humans share over 90%, I think. I'm half-banana myself.
Lost control and rang your bell I was sore. Today a young suitor would be enraged not simply sore. I remember that song well. I also like your tassels.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emma, I hope young suitors have effective social guidelines for calling now --but romantic ballads will suffer.
DeleteImagination and dreams are rapidly becoming a necessity rather than a diversion.
ReplyDeleteLove your earnestly chatting women, and hope that they too dream...
Dear EC, I still see girls walking along with their heads together, into their grand futures --laughing. True communication is often accompanied by laughter. Yes, they dream as I hope my imagined tassel-ladies do.
DeleteThey really do look like two little women, don't they?! (That's why tassels make good angel ornaments, like the ones I blogged about recently.) That's a wonderful tune. So many of the songs from that era and genre were so well-written -- the plot and the resolution all within a very few verses and very memorable. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Geo.
ReplyDeleteO_Jenny, you've nailed it. I remember my sisters playing the top-40 A.M. radio station back then and hearing the most wonderful ballads --Roy Orbison's beautiful stories, then songs like "Running Bear & Little White Dove", Johnny Cash and "Big Bad John". Oh my gosh, it was fun!
DeleteGreat post, Geo.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bruce, I know you heard all those lovely songs too. And --good news-- I spoke with SWM(also)BO and was given the go-ahead on address exchange --forthcoming.
DeleteGeo., I was a disc jockey in North Dakota than and was PLAYING those songs for you love-struck teenagers! :^
DeleteThose tassels on your lamp do indeed look like a couple of ladies who could have stepped out of a Louisa May Alcott novel....
ReplyDelete....but I see them more as devious figures in a Rorschach Test. If they were by my bedside, I would be fearful that they were conspiring to kill me after I fall asleep.
Blame it on my extreme paranoia.
By the way - I've never previously heard "Silhouettes" by the Rays but I like it.
Dear dear Jon, I can't imagine you letting anything psychically destructive into your home --except maybe the cats who sometimes leave leave mice as tribute to your kindness. As for my silhouettes, they are only 6 or 7 inches tall and would be greatly overburdened by the assassination of things big as us.
DeleteDear readers: Because of rain and 60 mph winds in this area our power and communication lines have been down for somewhat over 6 hours. About 40,000 customers of Sacramento Municipal Utilities District have been without light or landlines. I'm overjoyed by the prospect of replying to your kind comments to me in sunny California tomorrow. Good night!
ReplyDeleteI hope your power has been restored or will be restored very quickly, Geo., and that your sunny weather has returned as you anticipated.
DeleteDear Jenny, as of late this p.m. there were still some areas of Sacramento without power. However, happily, our bit is not one of them. I had errands today and was appalled at the number of fallen trees, fallen powerlines, fallen fences --especially at the Buddhist monastery on our road. Happily our power and communication resumed after midnight thanks to SMUD's team of heroes. We don't pay those workers enough.
DeleteLoved the whole scene, and the ladies. When we lose the ability to dream and to imagine, we are lost as only the spiritually dead can be lost. Having said that, I now realise why I admire your writings so much, they are so alive as is the writer.
ReplyDeleteDear Tom, Having long-followed your own pathwork, I'm especially grateful for your comment.
DeleteI gotta get me some of those tassels. Anything to get my mind off the rat/human nterbreeding that seems to have generated most of our politicians. these days.
ReplyDeleteDear Delores, all I can recommend is, set out traps. Big ones. You don't want anything big as what now presumes directing executorship of our country scampering around in your attic.
DeleteGeo-
ReplyDeleteA great feel good tonic you offer up here. A delightful post. So enjoyable to hear the song again and those wonderful tassels are marvelous.
Good Tom, the song was meant for the ages --that we might make fun from mistaken sadness-- nearly haiku in its paucity of lyrics. Thanks.
DeleteThis is such a lovely post, Geo, and oh, yes, how I love to dream. It takes away the bad things and many times puts me in places with those I have loved and lost. What a wonderful gift the imagination is.
ReplyDeleteI do remember that song so well. Every time I hear it on the oldies station my feet want to ‘stroll’ and I imagine the great crush of my teenage years, Andy Stanley, meeting me at the end of the danceline and us taking hands and strolling down the center while everyone looked at us. Unfortunately, Andy liked Toni and not me, but I liked to imagine differently.
My lovely correspondent, I'm not Andy --nor you Toni-- but I hope in imagination, we have a gift -- a dance.
DeleteSuperb tassels! Rat-human interbreeding gave me a classic guffaw, then I felt sorry for the rats. Anyway - imagine, dream, and live accordingly, I say xxx
ReplyDeleteDear Lisa, you have made my evening. Thank you. And thanks for sending Dragon round. He watered the new shrubs along our recently enlarged creek but those wings blew our chicken coop over --no worries; it was unoccupied. All's well and trust well with you.
DeleteIt's good to know old Dragon is loose, even if his wings are a liability :-)
DeleteI'm tired of course but in a good way - plus I did a word count and found I had 15,000 of them in the new WIP, which is a surprise as jolly as a dragon!
Delightful Lisa, I've followed your recent reasons for tiredness and wholeheartedly approve --your fatigue is based in love.
DeleteHi, Geo! Of course there are two little women on your lampshade! LOL I take great delight in all sorts of optical illusions, and those tassels are perfect little women. I loved all the Louisa May Alcott books, and I was particularly fond of Jo. Now "Silhouettes" will be stuck in my head all evening along with an undertone of "Big Bad John." I have found, as the years progressed, that every decade has awesome music. So many great songs! I'm glad that you came through the windstorm in the Sacramento area. Your SMUD heros are another example of the good people in our world just doing their jobs and doing them well. You dishonor rats, sir!
ReplyDeleteHi Louise! Thanks for encouraging comment. I always liked "Big Bad John" because it reminded me of Rudyard Kipling's "Gunga Din" --the classic theme of an ordinary worker being called by conscience to do something exceptional. We need to be reminded of the hero in us.
DeleteP. S. I had to Google "pareidolia" because I was unfamiliar with the term. Our human brains naturally seek patterns, even where they don't exist.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, in fact we impose order where there doesn't seem to be any. I've helped raise 4 children and was always impressed and enlightened by Norma's ability to do that.
DeleteDear Geo., I haven't read the comments above so maybe someone said it before me: but beside Louisa May Alcott (I adore her!) you could also think of Jane Austen - silhouettes.
ReplyDeleteIn Berlin we visited between the years the "Knobloch - Haus" - a museum from the time of Biedermeier - you saw the furnished rooms and the house and how the quite wealthy family lived in that (peaceful) time.
The word "pareidolia" is the first of many English ones I have to learn this year.
Dear Brigitta, YES, Jane Austen indeed! And Knobloch's house --its first-floor conservation-- is indeed remarkable. The (200+ year old)furniture and appointments do indeed take us back to a time when craft and art might extend from comfort to general peace and prosperity --a timeless hope, a beautiful dream.
DeleteGreat post, Geo. One of my favorite songs, takes me way back. Sorry didn't comment before, been a bit under the weather, hoping to be discharged tomorrow. Take care, friend.
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better. Neither of us need another year of caducity like 2018. My computer, however failed to recognize me when I returned from shopping a half hour ago. I ran 2 scans which assured me nothing harmful had hacked, but laptop remained in an amnestic stupor. All I did was look online for a bathtub unclogger, then returned to blanks and warnings. Have purged the thing and it works now but, if you have trouble reaching this blog --my other two work fine-- let me know. Are computers sensitive to minor plumbing problems?
DeleteHey, Geo! Just stopping by, my friend! I hope all is well. Thinking of you and Norma! Take care!
ReplyDeleteVery glad you stopped by, Louise! Norma is the strong one now and I'm handled with care. However, I went out and pruned wands off a walnut tree today so I guess I'm getting stronger.
DeletePruning a walnut tree is a positive sign! I have everything crossed for you, my friend!
DeleteHA! Rat-human breeding. That'd explain a lot...
ReplyDeleteI happen to love that song... and silhouettes, in general. They're dramatic-looking and mysterious to allow our minds to imagine. And imagining is always good. (As long as we don't think about that rat-human connection...)
Susan, I'm sure glad you liked the post. I'm always surprised by how much genetic material we share other species --rodents/humans share over 90%, I think. I'm half-banana myself.
Delete