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November 2009 
What might you learn to live without, and why?
Posted on Jul 25th, 2008
by 
Geo
Geo
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for July 25, 2008:
Walls, I have too many walls in my life, both literal, figurative and imaginative.
The walls that I place too much stuff inside of to be categorized, kept and collected, but very possibly not used. Go figure.
The walls that I place around myself when it comes to my relationship with others. Too many years of not trusting anyone (at work) can spill over into my personal life. I was brutally confronted with this when my ever-patient therapist (shrink) was looking at a collection of my photos and she commented that there are almost no people in any of the photos, except for the twins. In those photos, there are no adults. Kind of like the Peanuts cartoon strip in which adults are only featured as faceless legs and unintelligible voices.
Hmmmm.
I also know that I place too many walls around what I think I can and cannot do. I don't speak up when I should like Dawn did at a recent book signing where she chastised the so-called green author for his book not being printed on recycled paper. I would have kept silent. I didn't speak up when the so-called carpenters repairing my cube stomped all over my flowers and dug up others, not knowing that Russian sage is NOT a weed! But I kept quiet, not wanting to rock the boat in public housing. Our residency here is tentative at best, being able to be kicked out on a whim of the housing board and all.
And, I know that I dislike walls as I am not a city person. I can do without looming buildings, walling us all in at the bottom of a concrete and glass canyon. Visit, yes, live, not hardly. I need space around me, space without limit except for sky and mountains. Pick a season, and I am usually out and about. Even when camping, I dislike having to sleep in a tent, preferring to plop down and gaze skyward for a truly unlimited view of the cosmos.
A treasured memory was sailing on Lake Superior one sultry summer and it was a hot one! But, just a mile or so off-shore, the mighty Gitcheegumee would be as cool as an early spring morning, the heat left far behind. Sleeping on the deck on a moonless, cloudless night is something everyone should experience.
There is a black dome overhead and water, water everywhere. Flat, flat horizon lines in the magic hour just after sunset with purple skies reluctantly revealing her jewelery for the evening. I think I forgot to blink for most of that evening, as there was so much to take in and try to comprehend. A sense of size and place were implanted that evening, and the evenings to follow.
So, walls, I guess are what I could do without. Without them, you could come and go as you please and I would do the same!
The walls that I place too much stuff inside of to be categorized, kept and collected, but very possibly not used. Go figure.
The walls that I place around myself when it comes to my relationship with others. Too many years of not trusting anyone (at work) can spill over into my personal life. I was brutally confronted with this when my ever-patient therapist (shrink) was looking at a collection of my photos and she commented that there are almost no people in any of the photos, except for the twins. In those photos, there are no adults. Kind of like the Peanuts cartoon strip in which adults are only featured as faceless legs and unintelligible voices.
Hmmmm.
I also know that I place too many walls around what I think I can and cannot do. I don't speak up when I should like Dawn did at a recent book signing where she chastised the so-called green author for his book not being printed on recycled paper. I would have kept silent. I didn't speak up when the so-called carpenters repairing my cube stomped all over my flowers and dug up others, not knowing that Russian sage is NOT a weed! But I kept quiet, not wanting to rock the boat in public housing. Our residency here is tentative at best, being able to be kicked out on a whim of the housing board and all.
And, I know that I dislike walls as I am not a city person. I can do without looming buildings, walling us all in at the bottom of a concrete and glass canyon. Visit, yes, live, not hardly. I need space around me, space without limit except for sky and mountains. Pick a season, and I am usually out and about. Even when camping, I dislike having to sleep in a tent, preferring to plop down and gaze skyward for a truly unlimited view of the cosmos.
A treasured memory was sailing on Lake Superior one sultry summer and it was a hot one! But, just a mile or so off-shore, the mighty Gitcheegumee would be as cool as an early spring morning, the heat left far behind. Sleeping on the deck on a moonless, cloudless night is something everyone should experience.
There is a black dome overhead and water, water everywhere. Flat, flat horizon lines in the magic hour just after sunset with purple skies reluctantly revealing her jewelery for the evening. I think I forgot to blink for most of that evening, as there was so much to take in and try to comprehend. A sense of size and place were implanted that evening, and the evenings to follow.
So, walls, I guess are what I could do without. Without them, you could come and go as you please and I would do the same!
Access: Public
In Japanese landscape paintings there is almost never a person, the idea being that the person viewing the work interjects themselves into it. I like that. I like the idea of leaving space.
Walls and stuff, the gigantic boxes we make out of our lives - I don't know about that part. I don't think we need that but I still put treasures in boxes all the time.
I like some walls, but not all the time. :-)
and I get lots of negative feedback about speaking up too often, but it doesn't seem to deter me. farland is my courage. :-)
great photograph. wish I was there-ish right now. the commcenter walls are closing in. too many dignitaries in aspen at the moment.
I'm with Dawn on liking some walls sometime. I might write something about this. but you know, I was thinking about what your therapist said, and though I don't want to counter her too strongly, I'm thinking about your photos of your friend Cathy, your veteran friends, your cousin and George, Farland, Rog, and Nancy. and photos of you. you're a nature photographer, and your soul is sparked by the natural world primarily, methinks, when it comes to photography.
I'm sorry about your Russian sage.
I'm laughing right now because when I read Laura's comment I was thinking of a person- Russian Sage and some vague idea of an assasination or accidental death and heart break. Maybe because Kiley was speaking to me about taking Russian lessons from a person recently.
I'm sorry about your beloved Russian sage too George. perhaps we should hold a wake and drink vodka and sing loudly in your garden? DW would love that, eh?
Ha! Too funny, Dawn! Yes, alas poor Demitry, my Russian sage! Too short a life living in front of my little deck, dispensing very sage advice with a thick Russian accent!
DW would join us all in toasting my sage's demise, but I think she would be leading the chorus, vodka in one hand, her beloved TiVo remote in the other!
ah yes, I can visualize that for sure.
adam & I JUST decided to have a 2 year wedding aniversary celebration in our yard on sept 3, 2008. you are invited. you are now officially the first invitee. of course, I have no idea what the s.o. or comm schedule looks like so I don't know if the date is viable yet, but I'll keep you posted.
bring the ghost of your russian sage or any other guest you like. :-) but not tivo. tivo is definitely not invited. too much of a killjoy. heehhe.
what is Tivo? I guess I could look it up.
TiVo is for television watchers what the book mark and libary card are to you and I. You can subscribe to a service through your cable provider so that you can record certain shows and play them when you are home and then you can also fast forward through the commercials and play back certain parts– I think. I've never used it but I know some people who tell me that's how it works. DW is one of our co-workers who lives near Geo. She's a TiVo aholic. She might even spend more time watching TVo than I do reading books and flitting aroudn the library and bookstores.