Hook, Line, and Sinker

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We haven’t had a television for 36 years, but we do enjoy borrowing and watching DVD’s from the library. We’re absolutely hooked on Sherlock, a modern take on the classic Arthur Conan Doyle stories. The often humorous, edgy camaraderie between Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) is priceless. And while I don’t pretend to even come close to Sherlock’s deductive reasoning, I’d like to think my observation skills are fairly well honed.

Walking along the Greenbelt, I spot a fishing bobber among the tree limbs. Serving multiple purposes, it suspends bait; can carry a baited hook to otherwise inaccessible areas of water; and serves as a visual bite indicator. For me the bobber brings to mind my focus word for this year—alliance. One small literary community accomplishing many big things.

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What’s your most recent, could-have-remained-unseen observation?

Oh, and just in case you missed it…

It’s clear that the angler is a flannel-shirt wearing, left-handed male with a sluggish metabolism who parts his hair down the middle, has delayed signing divorce papers that arrived via Express Mail a month ago, ate drive-thru for breakfast this morning, and being tight-fisted, will return for the bobber once his hangover wears off.

© lauriebuchanan.com

60 thoughts on “Hook, Line, and Sinker”

  2. I love “Sherlock,” too. My younger daughter and son-in-law don’t have a TV, but they watch everything on Netflix and Hulu.

    I can’t think of any particular observation. I do like to people watch though, and I was watching and listening to the people around me in the theater the other day during intermission. I try to figure out their “stories.” 🙂

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  3. I have had many moments like you describe – times when I’ve stopped and really closely examined something and been rewarded with some new insight. It’s hard to come up with a specific one right now, but it seems that any time we do take the time to stop and really look, there is a reward.

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  4. I have not seen the show you mentioned, but do like Sherlock Holmes. More, since I’ve been getting to know him through the books of Laurie R. King. She respects the work of Arthur Conan Doyle and the original character, but she brings Holmes in as a companion to her female main character, in some very well-written mysteries.

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  6. Well oberved! My conclusion was that it belonged to a careless and thoughtless fisherman!
    I think I am more of a Mrs Spock than Sherlock, but I love that series too and my logical brain is hard to argue against (just as my husband!!!).
    My observations these days focus mainly on the ground as I try not to step on snails and slugs when I walk my dog. 😀

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  7. But by the time he returned a young boy whose parents could buy him string and a hook to tie on to his stick, but could not afford anything more, had spied the forsaken bobber, climbed into the tree and retrieved it. The boy had a greater appreciation for that find than its previous owner ever did, as he appreciated very little. There is nothing left for the flannel-wearing man but to return to his dreary apartment, make peace with his demons, and sign those divorce papers.

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  8. Loved your “deductions” at the end! And you are definitely one of the most Mindful people I know in Alliance with many.

    Snowflakes are slowly falling now where I live. With snow on the mountains, I can see ridges that are otherwise lost to the naked eye.

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  9. I too like Sherlock Holmes, but the Elementary TV series with the twist of Joan Watson, not the male version. And I do have a TV and watch some regular series – mostly mystery, suspense and drama. Not a fan of what passes for comedy on US TV today. Liked (now defunct) Canadian “Air Force” series and the old British Monty Python.

    My most recent almost hidden observation was a bird – don’t know what kind, but it appeared in a dormant bush in my back garden. In fact my almost dead juniper in front is a big attraction for these birds. Seeing something live in the dead of winter (and yes, we finally got a little snow. I could have lived without snow or even winter. Not a fan here) is uplifting.

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  10. I am also drawn to Sherlock and other critical -thinking based mystery shows or books. Critical thinking is a method which allows one to be fully present and see all possibilities prior to collapsing into choice. I especially enjoy the surprise factor … “oh I see that now.”
    I tend to be very observant in nature. I catch the hawk in the tree out of the corner of my eye. I hear the rustle in the leaves which reveals the cedar waxwing (yesterday) breakfasting on the “berries” in the evergreen tree.
    I find too a sensitivity or awareness to shifts of energy within a person or a group. Cueing in to these shifts enrich the moment.
    The observant person has many joys others may miss.

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    • Audrey — I love your turn of phrase: “…see all possibilities prior to collapsing into choice,” and your keen observation that “the observant person has many joys others may miss.” 🙂

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    • Joan — If you and yours are anything like Len and I, we try to “deduce” right along with Sherlock, hoping that we arrive at the same conclusion. Truth be told, we’re lagging far, far behind the brilliant detective!

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  13. My could-have-remained-unseen observation is not recent, but it’s vivid in memory. I lost a lovely “teardrop” earring once, and found it when a shaft of sunlight spotted it for me in autumn leaves in the backyard, a spectacular right-time, right-place sort of phenomenon. Serendipity!

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  15. Funny you mention observations….I just moved next to my brother…first time in my adult life I have lived by him…the other day I was asking him a question….it was about casinos in Arizona…he stated there are none in Arizona, however there are some on the Indian reservations, I stated, the reservations are in Arizona, no he replied they are reservations, a separate entity in its own…But I stated they are in Arizona, yes…No he said…then what state are they in?? He mulled, hemmed and hawed…finally had to admit the reservations in question were actually located in the State of Arizona but acted under there own government…..I had to laugh….it was me I was talking to….I am an obstinate arguer too!!! big observation for me and an huge eye opener..LOL great post.. Have you seen Doc Martin, great series and its out on CD’s….kat

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  17. Oh the thought of not having a TV to watch our sports on, I don’t think I would be able to do it! During the summer when there is no hockey or football our TV barely gets touched but watch out come fall lol.

    Over the past year there has been a gold mylar balloon stuck in the top branches of a tree on our property. The tree is on one of the main trails we use almost daily and one day it just appeared there. It is now faded to an almost silver color and torn in many places, yet it hangs on. Every time I walk by I can’t help but look up and wonder if it was from a birthday, graduation, over the hill, wedding, or retirement party. Maybe it was just a child who let it go by accident. So many stories to ponder on how it’s come to be a fixture in that tree!

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  18. I like Sherlock too BTW. Nice lead-in there Laurie! And I know you have maintained a TV free environment for a very long time, I envy you for that! We saw five does crossing a street on Super Bowl Sunday near a friend’s house (where we were for the game) in an area where you would never expect them. 🙂

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  19. Well, I had cleaned up for Christmas time and put away my usual mix of stuff that I plan to use one day, stuff like all my painting paraphernalia and the vacuum cleaner. Suddenly, one day inspiration struck, I needed my paints right away! Where were they? I looked up stairs and down, in the recently cleaned closet, in the tack box in the basement, I had run out of hiding places for large boxes and was totally flummoxed. The light bulb went off over my head – one place left…under the bed! Yep, right there, right where I had seen them last. Along with a new crop of dust bunnies that pretended not to see.

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  21. We love Sherlock and haven’t had TV for over 25 years – just internet connection to NetFlix and Prime now. With our new move we are finding new flowers in our yard. I thought the last “see” was forsythia with little yellow blooms but when we went outside to look, we find we have no idea what that wee vine going up the fence it. I fell again last Friday and hubs without cellphone took 2 hours to come home and help me up off the floor. I had a floor level view of one garden bed, a Zip who put his nose right beside my ear and stayed put, and I could see grandly that the tracks in the door frame really needed attention and dirt removal!!! not so exciting but very clearly visible from that angle. I think that the cold floor tiles kept inflammation down to a minimum – my deduction 🙂

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    • Patricia — I love your upbeat, positive perspective on what could have been a negative Nellie experience. I’m so glad Zip was there to keep you company as you got an eye-level view (from the floor) of things you don’t normally get to see. Love your deduction! 🙂

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  22. The man in the van to sort our internet out …we has been de-Internet-ed to three weeks …help😳 I love Sherlock
    too especially Una Stubs …who wouldn’t want her as a housekeeper.
    Cherryx

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  23. Having been an educator for over three decades now, I have uncovered a number of things that “could-have-remained-unseen” had no one ever taken the trouble to lift the veil. Among them are: hidden talent, ability, insight, intuitiveness, personality, love, devotion, sensitivity, and on occasion, genius and I could go on, but that’s my job, and I love my job. It’s kind of like dealing with that tackle entwined in the tree branches. The bait’s still on the hook, but you have to maneuver around the ever present gibes to release it and put in back into the stream.

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  24. My most recent, could have been missed altogether, observation was a boundary stone on a walk in the woods. I was actually looking for the stone but it was so covered in moss and battered I didn’t see it. It was my Sherlock like son who spotted it.

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  25. Nice post!

    Chocolate or vanilla? Between Jeremy Brett and Cumberbatch–if I am sitting in front of a screen and have the choice–8 of 10, I’d take Brett. More my speed.

    And for AC Doyle, I really like his story about the Tragedy of the Korosko–an end of the 19th century Nile cruise boat, its holiday seekers and their encounters with Dervishes. The wheel goes round.

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  27. I love how the “no TV” population is growing. Neither of my sons have one. And my hubs and I use ours only for Netflix and Sunday night PBS 🙂 I’m intrigued by your post today (though I get it at the end of the week for some gremlin-based reason), mostly because I cannot think of an example of visual observation-in-depth BUT I did remember a journaling exercise I was doing for months before I left for Peace Corps (2004, so this was a while ago). I’d be journaling away for the day. Then, somewhat randomly, I’d choose a phrase I’d used and ask, “What did I mean by this?” Which would lead me to go deeper into the sentence. This was something I picked up in one of the many books I was reading at the time. I wish I could remember which one so I could give an attribution. Alas. But I came across those journals not long ago. Fascinating how easily we can merely skim the surface of our world. Thanks for a provocative post, again.

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