A return to the yellow wood.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood."  That's the first line of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. Here it is, just to refresh your memories.  

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

I referred to this poem quite some time ago in a post when I talked about how satisfied I was

that Jeanne and I had taken the path through life that we did.  

I think that most people who read that poem think of it in those terms. That the road taken was

the better of the two for the traveler. However, it could also mean that along the road not taken

there were opportunities that were lost because the traveler went the other way. Just the

opposite of what is usually supposed. Is there possibly a little regret in the tone of the poem? I

don't know. I think that poem is open to lots of conjecture. 

Well, I've continued thinking about this 'bit of forest' that I now inhabit and my recent

wanderings through it.    

I'm no longer in the same yellow wood that we explored originally, of course. I think there

have been innumerable yellow woods that Jeanne and I have traversed during the last 50

years together. (I think that 50 years qualifies 'now', as ages and ages hence.)  In each, we've

made a decision, and the new roads we've chosen led us into yet further woods; with each of

them containing even more diverging choices for us. I think that retirement might be a time

when we can return to some of the paths not taken in the past and explore what we were

unable to explore originally. It also allows us, based on hindsight, to decide against continuing

along certain roads.  

Case in point. I have made a conscious decision to avoid any path that leads me to politics. I am hugely disappointed and disgusted in what has been done to our country, by politicians in their quest for power, and the media for their unconscionable bias. It infuriates me. I know that I can do nothing about it and therefore I now limit my exposure to it. Rightly or wrongly, I have decided to withdraw from participation in it as much as is realistic.  

I have found it hard to avoid talking politics here in NZ.  It seems that most Kiwis I meet ask me what I thought of Obama, or think of Trump or Biden.  Logical questions certainly. And good ice breakers. Kiwis follow American politics closely. 

When we arrived at the Gardens, I let it be known to those first folks who asked me such questions, that I hated talking politics and credit be to them, those questions stopped immediately. I did however tell  them succinctly, exactly what I thought of each of those people mentioned. I think some of them said, 'Whoa,' and mentally stepped back a pace or two from me.

I saw a very interesting cartoon in the newspaper here about two of NZ's many political parties. The cartoon said that the voter's choices were not good. One party showed incredible stupidity while the other party was pure evil.  Wow, I thought, they could be talking about the U.S. I leave it to you to decide which of our parties is which. I'm sure discussion could be generated about that too, but that's another discussion I want nothing to do with. I know what I know.   

So, where am I going with this topic, and this mild diatribe of mine?  (Wait, can a diatribe be mild?)

I guess that I am once again thinking about retirement and my place within this time of life. 

I took the following picture, which I call, Cactus, with Primates, up on the third floor of the Atrium, here at Waitakere Gardens. 

I think I was once very like them. Climbing my way up the career tree and sometimes finding the going somewhat prickly. 

With retirement, I have now jumped clear of that part of my life. I can scamper (Or more accurately, shuffle) around freely now and look back with pleasure that I successfully completed my stint in the workaday world.   

I mentioned earlier that in retirement, I might be able to explore some paths that I didn't take originally.  I'm doing that.  

I found two series of physics lectures on YouTube, given by an MIT professor named Walter Lewin. I am enjoying them immensely.  In total, there are about 70 lectures, numbered 801 and 802, each lasting about 50 minutes. They are perfect for me.  The topic is interesting, but I can skip ahead when he gets too deeply into equations. (The math is well beyond my current abilities.) I don't have to take any of his exams either.  What a good thing that is. 

(I never thought I'd be auditing courses at MIT.)  

I started watching him when I happened across one of his lectures on magnetism, something I've been interested in since I was a kid.  I used this picture in a previous post I know, but I include it here again because it's one of my favorites.  

Generally, we think of magnets as attracting one another, but I enjoy looking at the results of their like-poles repelling each other another even more.  

I should mention to those seeing this for the first time that what I'm showing you is a 3 mm brass, non-magnetic rod and N45, cylindrical neodymium magnets, each with a 4 mm hole through them vertically, which can slide freely along the rod, supported by the magnetic fields extending out from their like-facing poles.  There are three more of those cylinders joined together inside the stainless steel container. They provide the field that repels the three that you see hovering above.    

I guess that that is enough philosophizing for today.  Take it for what it's worth.  

I'll be back next week with another post of some sort. I haven't yet decided what it will contain, although I do promise that it'll have no further rants about politics.      -djf