Sit
Solitude:
sol·i·tude [ˈsäləˌt(y)o͞od]
noun
the state or situation of being alone: she savored her few hours of freedom and solitude
synonyms: loneliness, solitariness, remoteness, isolation, seclusion
Far from loneliness!… more like contentment.
I never sit! It’s not in my DNA. Poor Colleen! The chairs beckoned on this fine fall day. Clouds in the distance, sun overhead, the chairs beckoned, we sat. Me? I did! The warmth of the sun, the one you love, gentle breeze, sounds of the sea, call of the gulls – idyllic. You can be remote and all alone but not alone. Solitude is not so bad sometimes. It defied description on this day.
Can you find…?
… picture you took in December, 2017? Jane. You gotta love her. She asks innocent questions as though magic occurs regularly. I got a lot of pictures that I take every year. In 2017 I took 45, 000 images. Ok!? December, easy right?! No. She could be referring to any other picture I took and that showed up in some context in December, 2017. For instance I might have posted said picture to my blog and it came from some other time? I have a good database and file system. I can look at images in multiple ways and can usually find anything. But!?! I need a clue. Jane gave me sparse clues without context. So I have no idea what pic? She could not send me a copy. It’s easy to copy anything you see. She could even take a picture of what she saw. She has an iPhone. Nope. It would not send. ???? Ok. I give up. Maybe some day????
Meanwhile, in my files there were these two iconic shots that had a copy date from December, 2017. They were taken many years before in Cape Cod when I ran away from home. (That’s another story.) The house is gone now – torn down in the name of progress and revenue $. Nope. Not the one, I shall await Jane. Or, she didn’t care enough to try harder and forgot about it all.
In the beginning
2003, my birthday, I was gifted a Canon G3 from Lisa. She had gone to B&H and gotten the recommended latest greatest (at the time) without breaking the piggy bank. Cutting edge technology for the future. Yes, she was, and I acknowledge, good to me sometimes. The first images? My kitchen? Why not? It was there that I received this life changing gift. I just reviewed the meta data and it is all wrong. Don’t overthink. I am happy to have the image. We used the flash and Lisa took my picture. These are two things rarely done from my cameras. Ha ha. It feels so long ago… so much has changed. My mustache is now white.
Do you believe this
This is hilarious: Colleen posing over my head in a selfie. We bike ride a trail that gives us spectacular views. Remember? The trail, yes; the selfie, no! Nope. I do not remember taking this picture. Sure. It’s in the photo archive. Wow! The picture is right beside a house Colleen want to buy somewhere up in Milford. I passed – too much work to restore an old house. But, boy was it a beauty with lots of potential. Pie? Yes, those pics were right nearby in my catalog too. I can say for sure I made the sour cream apple walnut pie. Colleen and I had been chasing that recipe forever, in order to faithfully recreate it. Ok! I/she/we made a pumpkin pie too. But! The kiwi pie? Nope. No recollection. It’s right there next to the other pies. There is no sign this pie was store bought. So, Colleen made it! That’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it.
Light
LED lighting. Where have I been? The neat thing is that it is bright without the heat of incandescent lighting. And now we see how it can be shaped whimsically into many forms. Bright! There was an industrial fixture with 26,000 lumens. Bright! I settled for 3000 lumens; it was a big noticeable improvement. Modern, and a bit high tech out of sync with our house (?); we are living with it and have begun to not notice it except for the light which is brighter. It will work until some other design comes along that is better.
Party ready
All dressed up with nowhere to go. Ha ha. We are taking a calculated risk during corona. We are safe. And our kids are safe. We have all been isolated safely for quite some time. So! The house is all neat and ready for company. This is a first in months (too many to mention) when we have actually seen the floor and table tops. Since the tables have been otherwise covered, Colleen hasn’t had an opportunity to play games. She loves to beat me. (I always let her win. NOT.) In the midst of everything our 1860’s spinning wheel found a place as treasured photo prop. Don’t laugh. It’s only clean this brief moment until everyone leaves. After – we believe a house is not a home, unless it’s lived in.
As time goes by
The saying goes, “The shoemaker’s son has no shoes.” We cleaned up the back of beyond. All the dead brush and the phragmites are reduced to near nothing. Phragmites are locally invasive (very tall) grass that obscure my pond view. Efforts to remove it did not get beyond talking. So, one January day when the temp hit 63 degrees, I cut them down with a manual hedge trimmer. It was tedious! To my surprise it worked and the grass never returned in any significant quantity. Who would’ve guessed? This year we put the final touches to the cleanup. I sought before and after pictures. Easy!? Nope. It was hours before some pics were found. And it seems I don’t have a good shot of when the phragmites obscured the view. Imagine that? I was at a loss for a picture!
The front of the house was unique, which was a nice way to say – “odd looking.” The appearance is indeed unique, as one would love a special child. It’s a work in progress. Before, there was no hint of interest. Now, I have been on a multi-year plan to obscure the balcony with green. Wisteria and ivy are growing in. There is a climbing honeysuckle. Yes, I know wisteria take over and the climbing honeysuckle may be more nuisance at a later time.
For better or worse, this remains a work in progress. There is a very fine line before I cross over into messy. For all the pictures that I take of every single thing and event, you would think that I would have extensive image documentation of this change. Surprise! There’s not much to show. Ha! I culled more than a few but it was harder than I expected.
We are in a border dispute. When I cleared the phragmites I found a park bench on the edge of the pond between the pines. Ours? We had a bench and I didn’t know it? Or, the neighbor? It seems that the neighbor has claimed the bench. He can have it. There are too many mosquitoes.
Before
I guess it’s nice to keep looking back. There was a time when we were less cluttered. Ahem. Would that be: are we more or less organized now than once before? It’s interesting to see how things were and compare to now. No matter, that bare wall is not bare any longer.
The mess
It got out of hand. We live in the midst of projects. Sometimes things sneak upon us. We have been quietly blissfully buying sheep fleece. The source! It has to be less expensive to start with raw material. A finished skein is costly $$$. It’s often sold by the ounce and the money quickly adds up. Weaving can be expensive. So, we found ourselves with more unwashed fleece than we knew what to do with. Don’t ask! But it meant a lot of fleece needed washing. And it meant a lot of space was needed to dry it after the wash. No, you cannot put it in the dryer. I told you not to ask! It was already crowded. Now, it’s a mess. We don’t actually have two places to sit and eat among two tables and twelve chairs. Don’t ask!
Elle? Yes, she really is hemmed in by the mess. The cats love it. It’s an obstacle course with lots of hiding places.
149 Guy
We moved to West Virginia and lived in this rental house. I don’t know its status at this time. It has a nice paint job. It is entirely smaller as I view it as an adult. I remember Dr. Roberts would come around on house calls when I was ill. It was always evening and I got a painful shot (of antibiotics) in the butt. Imagine being sick in the bed all day long and waiting for the doctor and his needle.
Randomly bad
Since I was inspired by the lecture at the Biggs Museum on photographic judging, I have sought/run into situations that are not ideal. No matter. Just shoot. Don’t mind wires, houses, or any other extraneous distracting elements. At least you have something. It won’t be in any major photo exhibition. But I have that decidedly ‘funky’ look that maybe more fun than I had otherwise considered. That art critic taught me that anything goes and what he likes should not have any influence upon what I might like.
Harald’s house
Harald had his home custom built by farmers in his valley. It was made from logs that were carefully selected and then aged (three to five years). His roof was a green roof full of weeds. There were chains for down spouts to drain water. The house was built into the hillside and was economical and efficient since winter is bitter cold up near the Arctic circle. All in all it was quite and experience to have attended the party.
Boothbay Harbor Bridge House
It’s a fairly famous location. And it has been for sale for a while. It still had a sign when I passed most recently. The house sits in the middle of a footbridge in Boothbay Harbor. It retails for $700k+. I suppose the terms and price are negotiable. You would of course be living in a goldfish bowl. One buyer bemoaned the fact that you could not park and unload your car conveniently. Me? I like walking around in my underwear at home. This would be a real issue here.
photobackstory 