Duly (and sometimes Dually) Noted

I carry a small notebook with me for those ideas, suggestions, names, and figures which pass by in fleeting discussion or observation. I have a similar list of random items in my iPhone however these words that are captured with varied penmanship seem to be more permanent. My book has no lines and I do not write in sequential page order but rather items are grouped in sections like my bookshelf...a system of nothingness that perhaps even will not make sense to me in ten years. For now, I remember the "when" of each note and where I was when writing. The book contains the practicality of my father's hat size and the vision of my next two year's goals captured after consumption of a small carafe of wine in Florence.

Items that rarely appear in the book are drawings. Sketching is a skill that I have not yet quite mastered. [See also: recent attempt to draw road reflectors on a receipt at lunch.] I admire those who with a few strokes of lines can illustrate a point, emotion, or map path. No surprise then that this NYT review caught my attention. The author describes Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger. The book is a collection of Berger's drawings, musings, experiences with a few significant omissions intertwined in helical fashion. Between Cole's review and Amazon's preview, I'm hooked.

The opening line: "This autumn the quetsch plum trees are overburdened with fruit." Though this selection is offered electronically, I think this is a book which requires a physical copy which is likely to be shelved near The Faraway One.