Ideas that Spread and Creatively Build on Each Other

Today’s thoughts are about how ideas pass through and around community and are built and creatively expanded upon.

A friend  seems to have figured me out and has exceptional taste in the books she recommends I read. One of those has been On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz who takes walks with experts and has conversations about what they notice.

One of the walks was with a wildlife expert in New York City. Rats came up. They’re not my most favorite of animals. I’m really not a fan. But an interesting behavioral quirk was mentioned. Rats are the type of animal that groom themselves from top to tail in order, so if you were to ever catch a rat in the midst of grooming, you could guesstimate fairly well how far along in their grooming process they are.

I mentioned this interesting bit of trivia to my kids who thought it was hilarious. The next morning when I came downstairs, this info graphic from my daughter was sitting on the kitchen counter:

K. Toomre’s coloring and note enhancement regarding rat hygiene on a drawing of a rat.

I love how ideas and information can pass from one person to the next and how the idea can be built upon and creatively enhanced. Being really funny doesn’t hurt either!

Noticing and Looking

I love looking at things and spotting patterns and the various bit of beauty and oddness in unusual places. A friend who knows I have this interest suggested I read On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz. What a treat it is!

The author takes 11 walks through neighborhoods, mostly in Manhattan, with 11 different guides who are all experts in their areas. Seeing and hearing what they notice on their walks is so interesting. There are worm tracks through stone, trash cans at the eye level of toddlers, lettering with unfortunate spacing, animal wild life and their tracks in the city, people’s behavior in crowds and while walking, non-verbal communication, scents and sounds and so much more. It is a delight to read and re-read.

Thinking about noticing, I took my dog for a walk today. I left my phone behind so that I too could go out looking. My dog was a great companion in demonstrating how interesting the walk was to her with things I just couldn’t really appreciate. Having so many olfactory nerves or sensors would really change one’s life. I wonder how a perfumer senses the world. Much of my walk was along the lines of, “Hurry up, let’s go!” shifting quickly to, “Ooh! Wait! Let me check this tree out” to “Let me try this grass. Not that grass, this grass.” Munch, munch munch. Then “Hurry up, let’s move on!” and “Oooh! People!!”

It was nice to take some time out and just notice and look. I might take some of what I saw and put it in a drawing, but I also may just file my observations away to add to my next noticing session. Have you noticed anything new around you recently?