Sometimes I am shocked by the advice we receive by the "experts." A question like: "Can you give me advice on" seems to me to be a potential exploding bomb in one's face. So much for some of the experts.
But here are phrases that are definitely in the small talk sphere - and the most prevalent is none other than - THE WEATHER:
I’ve Been Keeping Busy with ...
How’s It Going with You?
What Have You Been Up to Lately?
How Was your trip to Portugal, cruise up the Nile …?
How Has Your Week Been?
It’s a Beautiful Day, Isn’t It?
Can You Believe All the Rain We’ve Been Having?
The Weather’s Not Looking Great This Weekend. Do You Have Any Plans?
Have You Got Much Planned for the Weekend?
Have you read any good books, seen good movies, tried new restaurants ... ?
However, won't we be with our family tomorrow, so some of these questions are inappropriate or just plain dumb. Instead, let's look further into the weather. It is like the lilies in the field, so simple, and so easy to observe and appreciate.
We can really "mine" the weather if it is such an easy topic. Head over to the scientific community What questions do they have about the weather? Much more interesting and fun, but not really a small talk starter. Here are a few:
Why does it smell different when it’s raining?
Why are thunderstorms more common in the afternoon and evening?
Can you tell the temperature by counting cricket chirps?
Why do worms show up after rain?
Can wildfires cause tornadoes?
Do frogs forecast rain?
Can you tell how far away lightning is by counting the seconds between thunder and lightning?
So if you want to have fun with the weather conversation tomorrow, here are the answersHERE.
This is to guide us away from the Christmas conversation topics tomorrow that will want to fall into the deep volcano of current political events that are truly remarkable and compelling. They overtake all pleasant conversation in seconds - the sort of seconds between the sound of thunder and the sight of the lightning bolt demolishing the turkey in the kitchen. Ask Stuart McLean's Dave what happened to his turkey in the kitchen. That's the perfect topic for tomorrow's dinner table.
More on Dave and the Turkey tomorrow.
I find this picture fascinating - it looks like dancing figures or ancient calligraphy. It is wet frost on the car windows, if I remember. I've called it The Calligrapher's Story on Fine Art America.
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