Verby Pick-Up Duck: Desist
Flannery O’Connor’s works are a good place to play verby pick-up duck (see the August post “Hunting for Verbs” for pick-up duck clarification, if need be).
Anyway, I like this from “The King of the Birds”…
The peacock does most of his serious strutting in the spring and summer when he has a full tail to do it with. Usually he begins shortly after breakfast, struts for several hours, desists in the heat of the day, and begins again in the late afternoon.
Desists. Stops, quits, throws in the towel for a while… with great resolve. This is no simple pause; it is a determined about-face from the task at hand.
I wonder if anyone would be too upset if I desisted from the housework and meal-making routine…you know, took up the life of a peacock’s afternoon… with nothing to do but nap in the shade…well, until I got bored and decided to desist from a life of leisure.
Anyway, I like this from “The King of the Birds”…
The peacock does most of his serious strutting in the spring and summer when he has a full tail to do it with. Usually he begins shortly after breakfast, struts for several hours, desists in the heat of the day, and begins again in the late afternoon.
Desists. Stops, quits, throws in the towel for a while… with great resolve. This is no simple pause; it is a determined about-face from the task at hand.
I wonder if anyone would be too upset if I desisted from the housework and meal-making routine…you know, took up the life of a peacock’s afternoon… with nothing to do but nap in the shade…well, until I got bored and decided to desist from a life of leisure.
posted by L.L. Barkat at 7:16 AM
12 Comments:
Sounds good to me! :)
Hello!
I will send you the duck photo and I am glad you liked it.
I put a picture of one of our local peacocks on my blog earlier this year
http://combemartin.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_combemartin_archive.html
But this one spoke with an English accent.
Hope you are fine and dandy!
Bye for now
Oh, quite amusing! And did he drink tea at four? :)
Methinks we all need to desist from our daily duties once in a while. It makes us appreciate both our work and the rest more.
Thanks, Inihtar... you don't mind if I quote you when I break the news of my "desistance" to my family, do you?
Well, L.L., you should definitely take some desist time. Really, how do you fit in all the responsibilities with family as well as reading and writing? This is something I still haven't figured out how to do. I'm sure it's an art in itself...
Thanks so much for your kind comment over at mis blog. BTW, I have been desisting too much, hence the no blogging. Honestly though the Holy Spirit has been convicting me to get in the Word over spending so much time on the 'puter. :-)
Blessings! Kat
Kat, glad to hear from you and glad to see you are well and swimming in the Word. I get that little prompting too, about how I spend my time.
To your question about how it all gets done... well, I have a few secrets...
- a mostly raw-food diet that gives me high energy and has reduced my sleep requirements significantly
- sleep (still required, even though reduced)
- multi-tasking... you know, like reading while I brush my teeth and "writing" while I daydream over dishes
- an AMAZING spouse, who is a true companion both for my heart and in countless practical ways!!
I love this post :)...And I found a wonderful new word. I like to learn new English words and you mind find destists soon in my blog somewhere :)...
I would think that you family would regret that you destists your housework and live like a peacock :).
Have a blessed Sunday.
L.L., what are some good resources for raw-food living? I'm so into that idea and have tried to make small changes. Thankfully my husband is on board.
A few years back, someone gave me a book entitled "Back to the Garden" which has great information on juicing veggies and the health benefits of raw foods. I truly think it's one of the keys to wellness. Thanks for that encouragement...need to get back to it. What are your best resources?
Hi, there Eph28... I'm glad you like the new verb... just to make sure, it is spelled d-e-s-i-s-t (and now I will desist from my teacherly correction :) to put on my librarian's hat for Kat...
Kat... I really like Living Cuisine for information-- it's not ultra-radical, though some of the philosophy one might want to do without. For recipes, I actually poke through a variety of regular ethnic cookbooks. Also, Eating Without Heating has some simple ideas and some good basic instruction on how to put together tasty raw food of any kind.
Of course, there's always my old standby... take whatever fresh veg is in the fridge: add olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, pepper, some chopped nuts and raisins or grapes and voila!
ah that helps and sounds great! Thanks! Will check out those resources, oh Librarian. :-)
Oh, my gosh, Kat, you do make me laugh out loud!! :) (And that, of course, is a problem in the library, though it's wonderfully good for the soul!)
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