Titling this picture Checkered Stairway somewhat nagged at me; would have been more appropriate to title it Checkered Mind based on the journey it triggered in mine. I reasoned that the stairs aren’t checkered, it’s the floor in front of the stairs that are, which led to images of hopscotch, chess, and naturally, the game of checkers. And, to dancing (old Fred Astaire movies from the 30’s and 40’s came to mind), which led to images of tripping the light fantastic and my pondering that expression’s origins. I searched online and found this:
“To trip the light fantastic is to dance. It is an odd phrase, one that makes little sense on its face. That is because it is a garbled version of a line from Milton. In his 1632 poem L’Allegro, Milton wrote:
Com, and trip it as ye go,
On the light fantastick toe.
And in thy right hand lead with thee,
The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty”
Happy Saturday! I should mention, it poured rain overnight and continued into this morning, although the sun is now breaking through the clouds. Real water fell from the sky here in Southern California!! All’s right with the world once again. ~SueBee (photo by SueBee)
Note, this photo was taken two weeks ago in Doheny Memorial Library at the University of Southern California.
SueBee and Kat 
Hooray for the rain.
We’re all very happy, except for those poor folks up north of Los Angeles who ended up with a mudslide covering their homes. One extreme to the next it seems.
Great quote, thanks for finding it! And did you know… Fred Astaire was the son of the composer Fritz Austerlitz? Cool.
Yes, rain. Real actual rain. Hallelujah!
Interesting! Yes, rain, rain, rain, and coolness!! Hallelujah for sure.
WONDERFUL!
Thank you!! ~SueBee
A checkered past obviously haunts SueBee! That image reminds me of high school, which we won’t go into how long ago that was! Congrats on the rainfall.
Haha! You’re most likely spot on!! Thanks for the congrats… it’s very exciting to see rain. We almost forgot the experience. 🙂