Home   |   LCS Prints Store   |   About Me   |   FAQ   

Monday, March 17, 2014

Butt in Chair...



Sunday 10:55 a.m.  I need a blog post for tomorrow, and I’ve got nothing, a position I find myself in a lot lately.  But I know this.  If I start writing, it will come.  That’s why I don’t believe, really, in writer’s block.  Sure, life gets in the way of writing sometimes, well, lots of times, but when I force myself to sit down, something ALWAYS ends up on the page, although, as I type this, I have no idea what.  

I could talk to you about how, in a sort-of back up to corned-beef and cabbage (I like it, my husband doesn’t), about the shepherd’s pie I plan on making after conjuring up this post. (Happy St. Patrick's Day, folks.)  But I’m pretty sure that highlights the paucity of my subject matter.

I could write about the pond down the street, and how the ice is still thick enough for men to stand on.  A group of them gazed down at their fishing holes as we drove by on our way to church early this morning. I don't remember the ice ever being strong enough in mid-March to risk it.   But these days, everyone’s complaining about the cold and I don’t feel like adding to the chorus. More power to the fishermen for their long season.  In a few weeks fissures will spider across the ice, then chunks of it will bob on the breeze.  Not long after, the sun will drop one day and we'll register the music of peepers.  There's no surer sound of spring. (Just cheated there and gave myself a peeper-preview on YouTube, oh, such a hopeful sound.)

I could stick a picture or two in here, and perhaps I will. 




During the the last mild weekend, my husband and I beat it out of the house to walk around the harbor.  I convinced him to trespass a few hundred yards up to the Jesuit retreat and we found the best seat outside of the house.
Later, we climbed Beacon Rock, a mountain of stone at the water’s edge.  I think I remember it is called Beacon Rock because back in the day, folks climbed it to signal to the light keepers stationed a mile out at Minot Light.
The shallow steps chiseled out of rock, and rusted spikes that look like they may have held a safety chain once, offer testimony to that.




That gets me on a train of thought about those light keepers. Imagine being trapped inside a column of stone in the middle of a raging ocean until the cresting seas subside?  I've mentioned in earlier posts, before they built the current tower mid-nineteenth century, two light keepers lost their lives when an earlier version tipped over in a storm.  It would have taken a pretty self-reliant customer to choose that job.  I’m guessing back then, those intrepid keepers felt as far away from earth as astronauts do today, an unfathomable world apart...

Which triggers one last thought...

That movie Gravity may have won a lot of awards, but the idea of watching it scares me to death.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the pictures you posted and I kind of shivered when you talked about the lighthouse keepers--I couldn't do it during a storm at sea! It must take a special kind of person :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You live in such a beautiful spot! That lighthouse photo is amazing.
If you are prone to dizziness, close your eyes when she starts to spin in Gravity.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Lovely pictures -- which shows winter can be beautiful even without snow.

I figure you had to have the temperament of a hermit to be a lighthouse keeper.

Robin said...

Do you remember when I was blogging EVERY day back in 2010? I often ran out of material. That lead to those 15 minutes and one word stream of thought posts. Some interesting stuff came out of that exercise. And I'd use bullet point posts when I had a bunch of thoughts... but nothing substantial enough for its own post. What I am trying to say, albeit the long way around, is that we all go through Idea Drought.

The best part of this post was the mental meandering about lighthouses and lighthouse keepers. But, I wouldn't trade how you put it all down. I think it fascinating to watch a mental journey. So, even though that was the part I liked best, what I liked second best was how you got there!

Old Kitty said...

I'd love to see Gravity in super duper cinema imax 3D type thing! LOL!

Awwww happy St Patrick's to you too!

Lighthouse keeping must have been such a tough lonely job but oh so necessary!! Amazing stuff! Take care
x

Yvonne Osborne said...

I agree, there is no such thing as writer's block. Pick up a pen and write what you see. Just like you did. We are similarly still iced in and the Great Lakes look like arctic landscapes.

Bish Denham said...

Even when you don't think you have anything to say, you say lovely things. That last picture is AWESOME!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I wouldn't like the job of lighthouse keeper but it would be a good place for a writer.

Jennifer Shirk said...

Lovely photos as usual. It's funny, I kind of feel the same way about seeing Gravity.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Your photos are amazing. I particularly love that last one.

And I agree, writer's block is a fantasy (unless we give power to it and don't sit down and just write).

Arlee Bird said...

When in doubt write about the things you could write about if you knew what to write about. I do this a lot.

The photos are beautiful.

Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog

Anne Gallagher said...

The peepers have arrived down here, but then faded into the trees the last couple of days. We had another ice storm. Love the pics. Make me more homesick why don'tcha?

mshatch said...

Wow, love that pic of Minot light. Actually, I love all your pics, Oh, and I think that iron spike or rod is a boundary line marker (I work at a land survey company).

Carol Kilgore said...

You take the best photos! I know you said it was a mild weekend, but these scenes look quite cold to my Texas eyes.

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

hahaha! You've got me grinning with the comment about Gravity. I decided to watch it on dvd instead of the big screen because I was such a chicken.
And I love your photos of your neighborhood. I feel like I've gone on a walk with you. :)

Robin said...

Just in case you forget to come back.... I am going to comment to your comment on the HERE'S TO YOU. I could do it here, but I want to give you another crack at everyone else's videos:)

Lydia Kang said...

I really adore that last photo of the light house and crashing surf. Amazing!