Socrates and Elsie the Cow, Perfect Together

Bust of Socrates in the Louvre,

Hanging out with Socrates last evening.  I went to the first meeting of our local Socrates Cafe, and had a great time.  Nine people showed up, which is about eight more than I expected, and we had a very civilized discussion of, on this occasion, color blindness as it works in everyday life.  The kind that relates to people of different races and ethnicities.  Very lively, energetic conversation, and I think this is a keeper.  Once a month. These discussion groups, with ideas decided by the members, operate all over the country, maybe elsewhere, too. Volunteer run and attended.

I just felt like dealing a bit more with ideas and not always with materials, of art and stitching and food and renovation. I'd like a bit more diversity in the group, but maybe that will come.  I know I learn a ton from talking with Indian friends, for one example, and would like that sort of different cultural outlook.  

And of course, the group consisted of people free to come out at 7 p.m. on a weeknight, not of the commuter crowd who are not even halfway home at that time, nor parents of young kids who are in the midst of evening madness.

We adopted the talking stick concept, where the person holding the stick has the floor until another person's turn. In our case, since Walker Gordon farm, and Elsie, the Borden cow, are local icons, we had a bookmark with a cow's head on it as the talking stick.  So "Wait, I've got the cow!" became the evening's mantra. 

And "You'll do, Lobelia!" was explained to township newcomers who were asking why all the references to cows in the library!  see here for more about that.  Elsie was just her stage name.

The Rotolactor in the article is where we used to take little kids, including Handsome Son, to watch the cows being milked on the giant turntable milker, from a glassed in warm balcony, perfect for cold miserable Sunday afternoons with kids. 

So once a month, the stitchers have to somehow manage without me, because Socrates beckons.  They are likely to have no trouble at all with that.