Retroblogging 1980: May 31, 1980

I like to take dancing lessons.

I like to draw pictures.

Summer school will start soon.

I'm glad I could come to earth.

I like rain.

Bunnys are cute and funny.

Flowers are pretty {illegible} ugly (crossed out).

I went to dancing lessons.
Yesterday

I went to piano. tuesday

I like to go to church.

I like to work, sometimes.

I love my brothers.

I like my Grandmas.

They are nice.

Fathers day will be soon.

I like bananas and apples.

Rediscovering your childhood three decades later is pretty funny. Especially when you can see exactly how much you have, and haven't, changed.

I still like to work, sometimes.

BUT I LOATHE BANANAS!

Paddling -- Adrift at Sea for a bit

Please pardon a brief blogging pause.

I'm going to let this drift on life's currents for a while while I paddle around and try to get my true bearing.

Sand Hollow State Park, January 2012

There's too much noise due to the rough surf, and there are some minor swells that need to be watched. Right now, I can't hear my Navigator's voice through all the din to find my way to the right shore. I need to listen -- so can I find my own way to a safe port, and then be a life preserver, in turn, for others out to a stormy sea.

Avalon Shore, March 2012

All will be well. I just have to find the right beacon.Newport Light, March 2009

I'll be back surfing the 'Net before you know it.

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Photo of the Day: Photographic Personal Revelation

For all the Silver Girls, like me, who may need a Friend, or friend or two, to help ease a mind over some troubled waters.

I'm having a series of revelatory moments, which I'm now realizing started last week, of all things, on my morning commute. After a horrendous night with no sleep, due to construction and jack-hammering, and other urban disturbances, I decided to take a later train. Unfortunately, it was one of those commutes where I had to stand in the vestibule the whole way, due to crowding, which is murder on my feet and back, and I got overheated and nauseated. But that's not what was unusual. That morning, I did something seemingly uncharacteristic.

I had the urge to take a photo.

Last night, while flipping through folder of totally unrelated photos,
I had another important little personal revelation.

I realized that sometimes the answers you don't know you need,
come as mere whispers of thought ...
and trigger actions you can't explain.

Look up.
Look up now.

Get your camera out.
Get any camera out.

Look out the windows.
Now.

Really.

Yes.

Now.

Take pictures.

Just here.
Doesn't matter of what.
Doesn't matter if they come out.

Just do it.
That's it.
That's all.

Good girl.

It wasn't until last night that I got the message.

This picture.
Study it.
So you see it almost everyday;
What does it say to you ... today?

Yes.

Beauty can be all around.
In the things you see every day.
Through the grime,
through the routine,
through the drudgery...

LOOK.

Look up.

Fair skies are just on the horizon.

Perhaps the song that I've now triggered in your heart needs to be there for a reason.

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

Write this down.
You'll need to remember.*

When you're weary, feeling small

When tears are in your eyes,
I will dry them all
I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you
I'll take your part
When darkness comes
And pain is all around

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Sail on Silver Girl,
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
If you need a friend
I'm sailing right behind

Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind

~P. Simon, 1969

*Post-script: Today I learned this message wasn't just for me.
Turns out, I may be just the messenger for a Friend.

Photos from Avalon: Homesick

One of the other things about the Avalon trip.

It made me homesick.

Not homesick, like homesick: depressed or melancholy at being away from home and family;

But homesick, as in homesick: I miss the house I spent my formative years in.

Once you've spent time in an American Foursquare, you begin to recognize the architectural stylings.

I was innocently peering out the car windows on our drive through Avalon, looking at the various housing options: condos from various eras, beach hotels of varying skeevyness, older cinder block houses, Cape Cod and Tudor-esque homes, and then the new construction of the multilevel, multi-porch, multimillion dollar McMonstrosities, when I saw this light green home:

Seem vaguely familiar?

My room was the one on the right on the second story, with the 3 windows over the porch.
I actually had 4 windows in my corner bedroom.

I thought I liked the enclosed porch and widow's walk on the light green house, until I was in our rental and out the kitchen window I glimpsed this regal edifice.

Another American Foursquare, this was a much fancier model. An established home on a corner lot, you could tell it was one of the older houses in the neighborhood, due to the mature plantings and the care that it's been given. Look at the dental- and fancy details in the porch work. The enclosed porch widow's walk: imagine the views to the beach! Fancy diamond-paned windows!

And a matching bird house?! How can I get the keys and let myself in?

I can almost imagine what growing up was like in that house. Almost.

I wouldn't trade my time in my 1923 Foursquare for anything.

Sadly, it's still on the market.

Sadly, it would cost me less to pay for a monthly mortgage payment than what I pay in month's rent right now, IF I could get financing, and IF I wanted to move back to CT and deal with that much house ....

and the ghosts of childhoods past.

Please do me -- actually, my folks-- a favor. Please pray to the Deity or deities of your choice that they get a viable offer soon. After almost two years on the market, countless showings, etc., it's time for us all move on and let another family learn to love our American Foursquare.

Even me.

It's good to be homesick, but better to be homesick for things like this:

Home is where your family is.