In order to make sense of the events in my life, I write notes to myself over the course of the year. These notes could be about anything I want to remember and think about later. A deft remark I hear in conversation or an epiphany I come to on some subject (aha!) or a fact or a word that intrigues and surprises me. They always seem meaningful at the moment.

I used to come across crumpled paper napkins from the Ausable Inn in my purse or coat pockets. Blotched with wine and inscribed with cryptic messages, they could be difficult to decipher. Notes penned on scraps of lined paper or on the backs of envelopes that appear in desk drawers or the cupholders in my car may or may not make sense to me. Sometimes I can’t make heads or tails even of the carefully typed observations saved in Google Docs on my laptop, although I know that I must have once considered them deeply significant.

Take for example this information on rattlesnake venom: You can eat a rabbit that has been bitten by a rattlesnake.

The note goes on to say, Venom is not dangerous if ingested. Rattlesnake venom is broken down by the acids and enzymes in your digestive system. The venom’s effects are only harmful if it is injected directly into the bloodstream. Rattlesnake venom is not poisonous if you eat it but if the meat is spoiled or contaminated it is best to discard it.

Why, I wonder, did I take note of this? I wasn’t planning on going to visit my friends and relations in Texas at the time, and here in Keene Valley there were other, more pressing, issues to deal with. Ingestion of rattlesnake venom hardly seems relevant.

The rattlesnake information is no less relevant, however, than this tidbit, gleaned from who knows where: The Duke of Sussex and Mat talked candidly about the benefits of drinking ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic from South America.

Some more thoughts hastily dashed off: One of my childhood memories, running into cupboard doors, hitting my head, and punching the cupboard door to retaliate. Take that. Cupboard doors were my enemy. Cupboard doors have not made any advances in physical combat since then. Why are they winning again now?”

I must have been inspired to write that note by the outrage of banging my head on a cupboard door.

Another note: Rabbits are lagomorphs. Squirrels belong to the order Rodentia. Other animals in this order include mice, rats, and beavers. Shrews are not rodents. They belong to the order Insectivora, which also includes moles and hedgehogs.

Certain charismatic people affect their followers the way cordyceps zombie fungus affects ants. Under their influence, even reasonable and predictable people find themselves doing self-destructive things they would never have considered previously.

Warmpth, sumpthing aruther

The year the obedient flower seeds blew into Keene–the flowers showed up everywhere that summer.

Robots: I was thinking they are unlovable, but that’s not true. R2-D2, fembots, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

‘Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried neat’s tongue, you bull’s pizzle, you stock-fish!

(Falstaff, Henry IV)

Falstaff, Shakespeare, Leaphorn

As I was motivating over the hill I saw Maybelline in a Coupe de Ville, Chuck Berry

Definition: Snow devil: Snow raised from the ground in the form of a whirling column with a small diameter and an approximately vertical axis, occurs when surface wind shear acts to generate a vortex over snow cover.

When senior moments turn into years

Note on notes: Going over notes for column–half of them at least are incomprehensible.

“And, despite his assiduous preparation, it had taken him by surprise. You can think something often enough, but you will never be prepared for your heart disintegrating.” Richard Osman, “We Solve Murders,” Viking, 2024.

Good luck with your sorting and organizing, and have a good week!

(Martha Allen, of Keene Valley, has been writing for the News since 1996.)