Where is my muse of humour?

A NEW LEARNING
Don’t writers speak of visitations by muses who inspire their creative processes? I woke early today, concerned that the comic muse was avoiding me. Oscar Wilde wrote, "Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow." I have been writing solemn blogs for a while and I need a change. I need a chuckle.

My preacher illustrated a truth with this humorous story on Sunday. A thief who broke into a darkened home was collecting stealables when he heard a voice said, “Jesus is watching you.” He peered into the darkness but could see no one and continued with his rummaging. Again the voice said, “Jesus is watching you.” Freaked, he shone his flashlight around the room until the beam settled on a parrot. The thief spoke to the parrot. “Are you talking to me?” The parrot answered, “Yes I am. I am warning you?” The thief skeptically questioned. “You’re warning me? What’s your name?” The parrot said, “Hitler.” “Hitler! The thief exclaimed. What kind of people would name their parrot Hitler?” The answer came. “The kind of people who would name their Rottweiler ‘Jesus’.”

Now I can’t recall the point the preacher’s joke was illustrating, but I needed the laugh so it’s good. And the giggle needs feeding.

I permitted the absence of the humour muse to disturb my sleep without knowing anything about muses. Ancient Greek mythology embraced a sisterhood of goddesses or nymphs, nine in number. Yes, these inspirational paranormals are all female. I have always associated a ‘nymph’ with biology and insects. I had no idea that they looked as voluptuous as the ancients imagined them in human form. The muse I need is Thalia. Her name means ‘blossoming one.’ She is the muse of comedy and bucolic poetry (country or pastoral).

I called Thalia tonight and she referred me to my funny bone. Well it’s not a bone at all. Rather my ulnar nerve runs down the inside of my elbow and affects the feelings in my fourth and fifth fingers and when it is bumped against the humerus – did you get that? Hyoo-muh-rus. The long bone from elbow to shoulder I get a strange and funny feeling. How a-musing! Oh, and did you know that the English term 'museum' derives from the Greek Μουσείον (Mouseion, which denotes a place or temple dedicated to the Muses (the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts), and hence a building set apart for study and the arts. I think I will be OK now. My last pearl for the day is "It was all so different before everything changed."