Today is the first day of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Even though the temperature starts to cool Sydney is never known for its autumn colours. We have to drive 2 hours west to the Blue Mountains or 2 hours south to Canberra to enjoy Mother Nature's autumn painting. We normally prefer the crisp, clean mountain air of the Blue Mountains and enjoy the wilderness walk in autumn.
I can remember clearly, it was during one of these trips many seasons ago, I saw a squirrel scavenging for acorns hiddened under the carpet of leaves beneath an old oak tree. It paused for a moment when an acorn was found and scrambled away hurriedly with its find. Did it pause to think where to hoard the acorn for the approaching winter?. Now that I think of it, I am just like the squirrel. I am a hoarder too. Books are my weakness now. You may say having a lot of books is good, just so long as you don't have them spread across the floor and overtake all the storage spaces in the house. We have collected to much stuff over the years! The sad fact was that we had way too much stuff and meant too much for us to discard them. We have a long way from learning to live simply and get by with the least material stuff, mostly because I'm a hoarder by nature, but we are making small progress.
My Dad used to collect many books till the house looks like a library. I too tend to collect many books and seldom read them.
ReplyDeleteNow I think it is best to live near a library. This way, there is no need to collect books but can benefit from reading them. This saves storage at the same time saves costs at the same time avail us to the latest and as many books as we can read.
Retireed
Hi Retireed,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.Compared to our parents,we are indeed lucky to be living in a generation where books can be accessed electronically without visiting the library.( http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/index.aspx )But I still have a lot to learn how to use them.
Nah, the photo posted did not show the piles of books and other clutter on the floor. It was taken carefully so as to not reveal the disturbing reality of the whole area around it.
Although books can be read electronically but somehow I find it straining to the eyes, especially aged eyes, to be reading from the screen. There is this flicker, though it has improved with technology and we do not notice it, but it is there because electronic screens work on refresh rates. That means the image is not there all the time but is refreshed repeatedly, to make it appear as constant. Somehow this is straining to our eyes. Reading a few pages is still alright but reading an entire book will make our eyes water and blur vision sets in. It is not doing our eyes any good with such constant use.
ReplyDeleteClutter is also my big problem. Especially when I do not want to throw things away because of sentimental reasons. Logic tells me I have to throw it away but the heart says no.
Retireed
Yes,I can relate to what you have written. My wife often wondered why the printer always run out of ink when I went back to school. You know who's the culprit, don't you? Beside drying up the ink, I am also guilty of contributing to the carbon footprint by using reams and reams of papers while doing my research on elibrary.
ReplyDelete