Another Turning Point

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it," said Yogi Berra, famed Yankee catcher of last century.  Berra is probably as well known for his unusual turns of phrase as his baseball.

The fork in "fork in the road" may be taken to be a place where the road splits and points in multiple directions, like a snake's tongue or the tines on the dining utensil of the same name.  One in a while, the fork in the road is the actual dining utensil.  The road is not always literal.  Sometimes we talk about a fork in the road that describes a course of events that is ending - maybe education, a relationship, or a job - and calls for a change in direction.

Berra's quote is unexpected because it sounds like he is giving directions, but the direction is ambiguous.  Do we veer to the left or to the right?  I find it helpful anyway.  Carry on.  Forge ahead.  It doesn't always matter so much which way you go, but that you keep going.

Another fork related idiom is "stick a fork in it," meaning put an end to something.  It definitely derives from cooking, but I'm not sure whether it suggests you poke an exploratory fork to see if your meat or potato is cooked, or rather that you remove it from the heat and take a bite.  Another sports legend, Laker announcer Chick Hearn, coined the much less ambiguous, "in the refrigerator,"  to describe a game that is over -- beyond turning.

Why We Blog

Perhaps "why we don't blog" would be more apt.  But that's another post.  As I told my son recently, I think the golden age of blogging has passed.  And yet, here, after all these years, I want to come back to it.  There is a lot to be said for self-sourced news and opinion.  I blog, when I blog, to share my pictures and my words - to passively search for an audience.  But there have been other entirely unintended and happy consequences.

A woman who was tasked with dealing with the possessions of her late family members Googled the name of my great aunt Gertrude Evans who had signed two paintings that the family members displayed.  She found my blog, and sent me the paintings.  A nephew of Pio Rimando, our former veterinarian who I mentioned in a post, contacted me from the Philippines because his uncle was ill and he wanted to get in touch.  I provided names of local hospitals, and I hope he located Dr. Rimando.  I know he was happy to read my memories of his aunt and uncle.  I shared a brief email correspondence, some grief and memories, with an old friend of Claire Crowley.  I made a friend, with whom I attended high school, but hadn't befriended back then.  She is another former blogger, who I hope blogs again.  We paint together sometimes now.

I started this blog post last June, and I'm finishing it tonight, 4/19/17.  I don't know which date will post.  I've done a bunch of paintings since last June, I've grown ever so slightly wiser, and gained some free time.  I hope to blog more.