Dorothy, Jerome, Ginger, Fred - and my woodpile

Swing Time [1]. It’s a 1936 US musical comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Its music – written by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields – includes some of my all-time favourites: ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ [2] and ‘A Fine Romance’ [3]. And, of course, ‘Pick Yourself Up’ [4, 5]. I thought I was okay at stacking firewood. How hard can it be? Last weekend I stacked three trailer loads of wood that Dieter [6] had split. And a mighty fine woodpile it was too. Then on Monday night I arrived home to find it mostly collapsed. The wind hadn’t been blowing. So perhaps an errant possum had climbed on it and tipped it over. Self-evidently it hadn’t been as stable as I’d thought. It sure made a mess of my confidence as a wood stacker. So what else could I do – but take a lead from Kern and Fields:

Nothing's impossible I have found

For when my chin is on the ground

I pick myself up

Dust myself off

Start all over again.

Don't lose your confidence if you slip

Be grateful for a pleasant trip

And pick yourself up

Dust yourself off

Start all over again.

Yesterday morning, with ‘Pick Yourself Up’ playing on my iPod, I rebuilt the woodpile. Nowhere near as deftly and nimbly as this [7]. But more stably than before. I think. Will it collapse again? I hope not. But it may. And if it does? I’ll pick myself up…