Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Can We Question the Significance of 38 Seconds?

After the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Giants on Sunday, it occurred to me that a mere 38 seconds can be a quite enough time... after all,

in 38 seconds, you can:

Solicit a smile, and maybe even a giggle-response;Sing "Happy Birthday" three times;

Get organized enough to watch a parade;
Walk (at 16 minutes to a mile) 4/100ths of a mile and burn approximately 4 calories;

Ready a couple of flower pots, some dirt and a couple of plants that need re-potting or dividing;

Find a study in contrast and bloom to photograph:

Enjoy the time it takes to get into a pool on a hot day;
Locate and photograph a small creature in the grass;
or on a plant...

Fill three bird feeders;

Ready the camera to photograph a plethera of birds (the photo is dark, but there are house finches, gold finches, juncos, sparrows, a Hairy woodpecker in the distance);
Sweep out a bird bath with a whisk broom (adding water adds a few seconds!);

Grab the camera and photograph the beautiful newly falling snow;
Begin to fill the washing machine and add the laundry detergent;

Have a good start at a telephone conversation;

Open your e-mail box and delete three unwanted items;

Type several words on the computer such as these that I'm typing right now so I can tell how many I can type in 38 seconds so as to make a report to you and here it is this is all I could do. (44 words)

38 seconds can make the difference between nicely browned cookies and having to say, "Honey, I burned the batch and I'll have to throw them out."

or in this case, Danish Apple Bars which will soon be 1/2 gone, if I'm not careful! :-)
A mere 38 seconds, and yet...

What can you add to this list? Or, better yet - Why don't you make your own post? (and let me know!) :-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Change a diaper as long as it's only wet...
Floss my teeth...
Light a fire plus a room full of candles...
Give goodnight hugs, goodnight kisses, and goodnight wishes to both grandsons (as long as there are no interuptions...

Shady Gardener said...

All important, Chris! :-)

Carol Michel said...

Very interesting. I'll have to give this some thought!

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Carol!
It occurred to me that a mere 38 seconds could actually mean so much more.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to think how many 38 seconds we have in a lifetime...
I really think my most important 38 seconds are those in silence, just gazing, smiling, dreaming. What a great question s.g.

Shady Gardener said...

Chris! I sense more reflection! :-) Perhaps you had some very important and significant 38 second segments happen today?