Imperfect Attention - And Where That Leads!

Photo by Simon Howden

I'm sure that I've mentioned that my attention can be diverted easily sometimes.  And that happened today.   What started as a bit of online research into what 'Barkeeper's Friend', a rather effective cleaning product is made of, ended up leading me to a thoughtful snippet that I thought I'd share with you from an  American clergyman, lecturer and author Henry Van Dyke who was around on this earth from the mid nineteenth century to 1930.  As usual I've provided a link to Wikipedia so that you can advance your knowledge about this interesting chap if you so desire.  While you there please don't forget to make a donation to Jimmy Wales so that his website can continue.  This is a fount of incredible amounts of  knowledge that I'd never dreamed of being possible  when I was a senior school, where hours were spent in vain scouring musty volumes for obscure homework facts in our local libraries.

The wise words that were  incongruously embedded within a discussion on that thrifty website Moneysupermarket.com about the rather effective cleaning powder which  I've since learnt contains oxalic acid,  that naturally occurs in amongst other things, black tea  Barkeeper's Friend is widely available in many stores and restores the whiteness to my grout a treat although  I  suppose that I must stress that other more fizzy, whizzy and spectacularly dangerous cleaning products are available!   Black tea can also be found in lots of shops too.  My preference is for Yorkshire Tea from Taylors of Harrogate or the more local Miles Original Blend from Somerset, both of which make a good no-nonsense brew.

Anyway I've rattled on enough about tea, tiles and  my teenage years.  Here, for your spiritual and personal nourishment,  is the quote that caught my eye. It's a sentiment is not dissimilar to that expressed in the words of my musical hero Leonard Cohen which appear in the header of my blog and, like these, celebrate the expansive power of spurning the need to be perfect.

'The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.'