Wind in the willows

Mr. Toad and Badger

It has happened again. It has happened before, a number of times. I was lying in bed, thinking about getting up and going to Giverny, waiting for other signs of life around the house, and Wind in the Willows floated into my thoughts.

That's not so unusual. I think often of Mr. Toad and Badger, especially with frogs croaking in our fish pond in the old fountain and toads in the grass at my feet, from time to time, but this morning, I was missing them and their adventures in the English countryside. Maybe it was also our visit to Le Village du Hameau of Marie-Antoinette at Versailles yesterday that brought my old friends to mind.

Shadow moved a little closer to my shoulder, and I nearly drifted back to sleep before my brain decided it was time to get up out of bed. I pulled on my old terry robe and headed downstairs for the second time today -- I had already taken the dogs out and made myself breakfast to take back up to bed -- to turn on my email, looking for one in particular, a reply that wasn't there. But among the other three or four emails since earlier in the morning, there was one from Amazon.co.uk. The subject line read, "Save 20% on 'The Annotated Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame."

I need to learn how to consciously use that other 90% of my brain, although it's doing pretty well on its own.

It makes me want my original book, from when I was little and sat in my hanging wicker chair, listening to Mr. Toad and Badger bicker, rowing up the river and picnicking in the tall grass, or racing in roadsters, and crashing inconsiderately into everyone.

Jude's take on this, having read it:

"My preferred guess: your brain has achieved some kind of attunement with the digital signals being sent to your computer, even when the system is not open to the screen, which is just a representation of those already-sent signals anyhow.

My frightened guess: your brain was playing with information that Amazon had already discerned algorithmically via their perusal of your browsing habits--in other words, they tuned into the unconscious via marketing technology before or as you did via your dream. Finding he email verified the effectiveness of their tailored marketing algorithms."

I don't like scaring myself. Let's go for the preferred guess, along with Jude.
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