Good morning on what looks like will be a cool and overcast but mostly dry day. Good day to get some work in the gardens done. Herbs to dry, herbs to cut, and plants that need trimming and watering.

Nimue Brown has a short post on the value of boredom. She is right on the issue of our eternally plugged in society. Everywhere we go we see people looking at their screens of whatever size. When I used my nook I sometimes carried it especially when we went for a medical appointment or to have the car serviced. Now my library is on an iPad and I don't take it along. Too expensive to replace if something happened. But I have noticed something and I don't know if it is simply me or or if the phenomenon is more general. The eternal stimulation is somewhat boring. We subscribe to Netflix and I haven't found much over the last few months I wanted to see or to see through to the end. The plots are pale derivatives of better movies I have seen before. Often the books are much the same. Every now and then I find something that puts an interesting quirk on an old theme. I find myself revisiting old favorites (Nero Wolfe, Ellery Queen, Miss Marple, Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, Heinlein's Time Enough For Love, Frank Herbert's Dune, Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede--you get the idea). It is amazing how well they stand up over time. They all take the time to tell a thought provoking story that we have to expend some time and energy to enjoy. It isn't a passive experience which is what most of the modern media gives us on our so very portable screens.