“Woke up this morning with a terrific urge to lie in bed all day and read.”
Raymond Carver
Oh yes. Today like quite a few others of late, dawned late. Light emerged gradually, slowly as if it was tired and heavy. It was raining, the mist swirled all around the mountain and the wind had begun.
A day that begged to have one lie in bed all day and read.
My response was less positive than Carter's - I didn't want to get out and join the day as it was presenting itself to me. The notion of bed and warmth and books and quiet was much more attractive. I sense from this quote however, that he almost burst awake with the positive intent that staying in bed reading was a perfectly exciting and active option to choose; rather than my kind of fallback position.
I wonder what sort of life one would lead where the active choice of staying in bed all day reading was actually a reality? It's a dream for many of us I think - the idea of being able to indulge ourselves like that is almost one of those perfect wishes. Spending a day with just books, disappearing for hours into their world, rather than the daily bibs and bobs that demand attention.
I know I've never done it, doesn't necessary mean I never will, but it does seem like a far-away idea. One day perhaps.
Raymond Carver
Oh yes. Today like quite a few others of late, dawned late. Light emerged gradually, slowly as if it was tired and heavy. It was raining, the mist swirled all around the mountain and the wind had begun.
A day that begged to have one lie in bed all day and read.
My response was less positive than Carter's - I didn't want to get out and join the day as it was presenting itself to me. The notion of bed and warmth and books and quiet was much more attractive. I sense from this quote however, that he almost burst awake with the positive intent that staying in bed reading was a perfectly exciting and active option to choose; rather than my kind of fallback position.
I wonder what sort of life one would lead where the active choice of staying in bed all day reading was actually a reality? It's a dream for many of us I think - the idea of being able to indulge ourselves like that is almost one of those perfect wishes. Spending a day with just books, disappearing for hours into their world, rather than the daily bibs and bobs that demand attention.
I know I've never done it, doesn't necessary mean I never will, but it does seem like a far-away idea. One day perhaps.
ahhhhh yes....... I could sooooo do that right now!
ReplyDeleteSounds lovely! I remember weekend days, pre-little urchins of course, when laying on one end of the couch, with my husband at the other end, all day just reading, getting up to eat and maybe dozing a bit was a possibility. Oh! To have one of those days again.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a wonderful indulgence but I know I couldn't do it.... not in bed anyway. For me it would have to be in a comfortable chair in a shady part of the garden on a warm day.... but our weather here Fiona looks remarkably similar to your photo so it's a wish that will have to go 'on hold' for a while.
ReplyDeleteA whole day, no, but you can steal away for a few hours sometimes, try it, it is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI love your work.
:-) I do it on my birthday - I take the day off work, pack the wee one off to daycare andthe hubby to work and then do nothing but lounge in bed and read. It's the best day of the year!
ReplyDeletenot a luxury, but necessity.
ReplyDeletei believe even god recommends
a day like that every week.
Looks like the weather you described would have made a perfect day for staying in to read. I'm a little envious as we are going through the longest, hottest, driest days of the year. Temps in the high 90's maybe 100 (F). I'm grateful for the mountain breeze :-).
ReplyDeleteJUST DO IT Fiona... let the rest of the world go hang. It's perfect weather for it.
ReplyDeleteI think only men ever get to do that kind of thing. Unless it is your birthday or you are really really sick which just isn't the same at all. x te
ReplyDeleteI read this post earlier this morning and loved it. I thought of it alot throughout my day, while I created. You are quite the poet Ms Fiona. It's funny, isn't it, how the idea of something is not really quite the same as the thing itself. Try half a day or a quarter of a day, and then have a half day of stuff. Then you might, one day - graduate to the full mileage. But what happens at the end of the day in bed, when one has to go to bed?
ReplyDeleteAs I read your post, images of lying among books for hours floated through my head...it sounds like such a delicious way to spend a day, especially when it's cold and damp outside. It's turned so hot in Florence that the idea of retreating to bed with stacks of books sounds equally appealing...shame about those 'daily bibs & bobs'. Part of me wonders if one reason it's so hard to set aside a entire day devoted to reading is because we know that just one day wouldn't be enough? How wonderful it would be as part of one's weekly routine...
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Raymond Carver did lie in bed reading all day?!
Hi Ronnie - I really felt like it this morning have to say...but didn't do it.
ReplyDeleteHi J - Great days those ones! It's easier for me to lie on the couch thru the day and read than contemplate staying in bed all day I must admit.
Hi Lesley - I agree - there is something overwhelmingly odd about all day long! I'm not averse to curling up and reading a book for quite some part of a day - but wow, a whole day in bed!?! Sorry to hear your summer is like our dreary winter...
Hello Annie - thanks! I definitely think I can do hours away - the whole day thing is a bit daunting somehow.
Lee that sounds brilliant! You've got it nailed. I think a birthday is a good day for indulgence and why not?
Oh Jane - hot summer days can be very draining - but a week of mist and rain is also a bit dreary. Much easier to contemplate a day reading when it's cooler tho - too tired to concentrate when it's that hot. I hope your hot patch passes...
Now there's a challenge Jo! But you know, I'd have to plan for it or schedule it in! Laugh.
Hi Trace I agree that being sick doesn't really count - altho nonetheless bed and books are very comforting then. I might think about it for a birthday one year...
Hi Louise - I smiled. Yes what does happen at night when you need to ...go to bed? I think it was the notion versus the reality thing that I struggled with and I wonder why a bit. Perhaps the staged approach would be best...might just set my mind to it and give it a go! Go well.
Hello Lisa - I imagine the heat of Florence would make me beat a retreat as well. But those bibs and bobs - they are constant companions. I wonder if you could schedule in a half day for starters and see what happens? I don't know about Raymond Carver, but I can almost imagine that he did!
ReplyDeletethere really is no longing in that quote - it sounds as much of something to do as the bibs and bobs, yes? one thing i do know - that there has to be time to wind down without guilt... i know that happens to me... if i sit down, i feel that there are things i should be doing elsewhere, or i am 'doing' while i sit... we need to just let our minds wander restfully occasionally, while the well never runs dry, it can be hard to pull up inspiration if we are feeling overtaxed (but i seem to have gone to the opposite extreme here)
ReplyDeletesounds like a nice friday was had... enjoy the weekend!
Hi MJ - it does sound as tho he felt it was on par with bibs and bobs doesn't it? Whereas you are right...mine was all about longing and guilt! I think I am getting better at just stopping and taking timeout - but the stretch of a whole day feels like a long time...
DeleteIt's that kind of day here today....thunderstorms moving in, enveloping everything in a blue gray light. I've just finished such a delicious book, I'm now caught in that in between state....not quite ready to break the bond with the old one to enter another world....but a day of reading is quite the dream, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteQuite the dream indeed. Sometimes it's hard to leave a book isn't it? And it does feel a bit like being unfaithful to head straight off into another one in a way! Days like that are made for reading tho - whatever we choose. Go well!
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