I had the same experience with art...although mine were roads into the horizon or to houses. Later it just became houses. I was a military brat whose grandparents all passed away before I was born. We had no home, my parents were gypsies. When I realized that I was collecting images of the road home I began paying attention to where I felt at home. Several years ago I moved to the mountains of WNC and I stopped searching.
Only my husband could soothe my colicky baby. I think the child was just picking up on my stress, but my husband was so calm it must've been contagious.
I find I'm fascinated with reflections, especially reflections in water. I have a print from Venice of a canal that is more about reflected buildings than about the scene above water. I find myself noticing and snapping pictures of reflections in streams and lakes. One of my favorite photos that my dad took of me is in Yosemite. I am silhouetted in front of a mountain lake with reflections of a snowy and icy shore on the far side. I don't know if my dad liked reflections, too, but I have all the slides he ever took so I'll be looking for reflections in them.
This is interesting, I too like reflection pictures and take them still to this day. I took one a couple of days ago of the lake behind out condo in Florida and the water in the morning was still and the vegetation/mangroves were reflecting on the water in duplicate, so the picture is like what's up, what's down? I too was in the Navy and one of my favorite pictures I took was at the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. There were big flood lights that lit up the Parthenon at night and this one had a red lens and as I looked at it the Parthenon was reflecting in the lens so, I took the picture and of my limited work in picture taking, it's always been a favorite. The Parthenon is an amazing structure, and it still stands the test of time, and the Greeks were the first to create a democracy. The building still stands, will ours.
I wonder if that is what they gave me when I was having my son in 1976. I was 18....the nurse of medical person looked like they were pulling apart like silly putty....I was screaming no....next thing I remember was waking up in recovery - evidently (someone told me later) i believed they stole my baby so they brought him in to see me in recovery, - that I remember so clearly - his hand wrapping around my finger and his deeply blue eyes looking into my eyes...as if to say it will be alright... I was a single mom who had just gotten off the streets a few months earlier from a random encounter with a priest who connected me with Catholic Charities....so the fear that they took my baby was real...the one lady at CC was determined to talk me into giving him up. But that had happened to me already when I was 15 & was forced to give up my baby by others.....a very long story...but - yes water....and babies crying and doing our best to figure it all out....jo
Jess, I'm hoping you recognize me from Twitter. I'm the Rockn'roll Rabbi in Austin, Texas.
Because of your posting about the utter failure of the Democratic machine in rural Missouri,
I took it upon myself to run for the Chair of the party in Texas. As you know, rural Texas is as red as tomato soup. Democrats here have been, at best, half hearted in their work on the dirt roads.
I aim to change that, from my bastion in the very blue state capital.So far, all my opponents are standard issue Democrat apparatchiks, and they talk about consultants and how much money they've raised.I have no such track record. Wondering if you might advise me, informally, on how to get attention of state Democrats. I so appreciate your writing and your wit.
Thank you Jess. You are the bright, colorful heart of the Democratic Party, an organization whose arms and legs have lost their way and needs a fresh infusion of activist blood. We have become plain, passive and obsessed with "fad gadget" issues that don't resonate with a whole lot of America.Folk like you and I have to, in the words of rural Texan Don Henley..." Turn this thing around. I will not go quietly. I will not lie down". Mishabendavid@gmail.com
Jess, This is an absolutely beautiful post, on so many levels. I keep re-reading it. I've lived near water most of my life, and I'm always calmer. Thank you.
While I don't live in Missouri, I'll be in St. Louis for a few days next month; any chance you'd be in that area Feb 16-19? I'd love to meet you in person.
I am sitting here at the laundromat in Baton Rouge Louisiana bored to death flipping through my Gmail and I saw this and it made my freaking day girl that just brought me back to a wonderful days on Smith lake with my dad in Winston county Alabama! Thank you for a beautiful story and great memories!
I can relate to the colicky baby thing. My son was literally like the baby from hell. And the godawful green syrup prescribed (I tasted it and immediately wanted to punch myself in the face for it) nasty horrible stuff. He screamed when hungry and screamed when full and his tummy would tense up and be hard as stone.
In my 40s I developed this Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) which is an intense nausea for no apparent reason. Bouts would last for several days and the only relief I got was from frequent hot showers
Ah Jess, there is so much in this latest post from you that I can relate to. I also had a terribly colicky baby but, unlike you, she was my first. It was dreadful and I had to put her down screaming and walk away. She didn't sleep for more than about 2 hours for the first 4 months and would wake up in full wail. Like you, I too never learned to swim well. It was the high school summer swim teachers who took me out to the deep water and let me flail. And I too LOVE artistic depictions of water and also have them throughout my home. Thank you so much for the perspectives you give us your View. I grew up in rural Iowa, not quite the same as Missouri, but still rural and getting redder every year. Keep the fight going - I'm right there with you.
Beautimous! The importance of water in all of our lives and in our childhoods is often almost taken for granted. For me it was a frog pond a block or so from my childhood home, and the big woods and the Flat Branch of the Sangamon about a 2 mile hike down the tracks. And given permission to play in the rain and splash in big puddles. Life shaping places and times.
I just realized after someone asked me: the navy color on my wall is called anchors away❤️
This is a balm for the soul. It's a great time to look at ourselves and recognize those things which both give us strength and calm us. Thank you❤️
I had the same experience with art...although mine were roads into the horizon or to houses. Later it just became houses. I was a military brat whose grandparents all passed away before I was born. We had no home, my parents were gypsies. When I realized that I was collecting images of the road home I began paying attention to where I felt at home. Several years ago I moved to the mountains of WNC and I stopped searching.
I love this
You are so lovely. Thank you for a sweet mood lift
I think we all needed a little break today
Ever so much❤️
Only my husband could soothe my colicky baby. I think the child was just picking up on my stress, but my husband was so calm it must've been contagious.
My husband was a godsend too
FWIW, one of my happiest moments was when I figured out the bass line to the opening for Smoke On the Water on my violin.
🤟
thanks!
I find I'm fascinated with reflections, especially reflections in water. I have a print from Venice of a canal that is more about reflected buildings than about the scene above water. I find myself noticing and snapping pictures of reflections in streams and lakes. One of my favorite photos that my dad took of me is in Yosemite. I am silhouetted in front of a mountain lake with reflections of a snowy and icy shore on the far side. I don't know if my dad liked reflections, too, but I have all the slides he ever took so I'll be looking for reflections in them.
Reflections - many layers of meaning there!
Ohhhh… you should write more about this
I have taken a bunch of photos like this too! 💙
This is interesting, I too like reflection pictures and take them still to this day. I took one a couple of days ago of the lake behind out condo in Florida and the water in the morning was still and the vegetation/mangroves were reflecting on the water in duplicate, so the picture is like what's up, what's down? I too was in the Navy and one of my favorite pictures I took was at the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. There were big flood lights that lit up the Parthenon at night and this one had a red lens and as I looked at it the Parthenon was reflecting in the lens so, I took the picture and of my limited work in picture taking, it's always been a favorite. The Parthenon is an amazing structure, and it still stands the test of time, and the Greeks were the first to create a democracy. The building still stands, will ours.
I wonder if that is what they gave me when I was having my son in 1976. I was 18....the nurse of medical person looked like they were pulling apart like silly putty....I was screaming no....next thing I remember was waking up in recovery - evidently (someone told me later) i believed they stole my baby so they brought him in to see me in recovery, - that I remember so clearly - his hand wrapping around my finger and his deeply blue eyes looking into my eyes...as if to say it will be alright... I was a single mom who had just gotten off the streets a few months earlier from a random encounter with a priest who connected me with Catholic Charities....so the fear that they took my baby was real...the one lady at CC was determined to talk me into giving him up. But that had happened to me already when I was 15 & was forced to give up my baby by others.....a very long story...but - yes water....and babies crying and doing our best to figure it all out....jo
I’m so very sorry, friend. I’m thinking of you.
Jess, I'm hoping you recognize me from Twitter. I'm the Rockn'roll Rabbi in Austin, Texas.
Because of your posting about the utter failure of the Democratic machine in rural Missouri,
I took it upon myself to run for the Chair of the party in Texas. As you know, rural Texas is as red as tomato soup. Democrats here have been, at best, half hearted in their work on the dirt roads.
I aim to change that, from my bastion in the very blue state capital.So far, all my opponents are standard issue Democrat apparatchiks, and they talk about consultants and how much money they've raised.I have no such track record. Wondering if you might advise me, informally, on how to get attention of state Democrats. I so appreciate your writing and your wit.
Yesssssss!!! oh my God, this makes me so happy
Thank you Jess. You are the bright, colorful heart of the Democratic Party, an organization whose arms and legs have lost their way and needs a fresh infusion of activist blood. We have become plain, passive and obsessed with "fad gadget" issues that don't resonate with a whole lot of America.Folk like you and I have to, in the words of rural Texan Don Henley..." Turn this thing around. I will not go quietly. I will not lie down". Mishabendavid@gmail.com
Jess, This is an absolutely beautiful post, on so many levels. I keep re-reading it. I've lived near water most of my life, and I'm always calmer. Thank you.
Given your story, you might enjoy The Light Pirate, by Lily Brooks Dalton (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60468332-the-light-pirate). Story of a child born in a hurricane.
Thank you, friend
While I don't live in Missouri, I'll be in St. Louis for a few days next month; any chance you'd be in that area Feb 16-19? I'd love to meet you in person.
I am sitting here at the laundromat in Baton Rouge Louisiana bored to death flipping through my Gmail and I saw this and it made my freaking day girl that just brought me back to a wonderful days on Smith lake with my dad in Winston county Alabama! Thank you for a beautiful story and great memories!
❤️
Isn’t there a (Calvin Klein?) advert, where someone goes to a laundromat? Have you already watched it?
Other than that, there’s a film called ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ - that should be long enough to take you through the wash, spin and drying cycles ….
Greetings to you - I remember those times!
:-)
I can relate to the colicky baby thing. My son was literally like the baby from hell. And the godawful green syrup prescribed (I tasted it and immediately wanted to punch myself in the face for it) nasty horrible stuff. He screamed when hungry and screamed when full and his tummy would tense up and be hard as stone.
In my 40s I developed this Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) which is an intense nausea for no apparent reason. Bouts would last for several days and the only relief I got was from frequent hot showers
Oh my goodness. I feel that.
Nausea is the worst. A hot shower is the only thing that helps me feel better when I have a cold or the flu. Then I can sleep.
Ah Jess, there is so much in this latest post from you that I can relate to. I also had a terribly colicky baby but, unlike you, she was my first. It was dreadful and I had to put her down screaming and walk away. She didn't sleep for more than about 2 hours for the first 4 months and would wake up in full wail. Like you, I too never learned to swim well. It was the high school summer swim teachers who took me out to the deep water and let me flail. And I too LOVE artistic depictions of water and also have them throughout my home. Thank you so much for the perspectives you give us your View. I grew up in rural Iowa, not quite the same as Missouri, but still rural and getting redder every year. Keep the fight going - I'm right there with you.
Nice, enjoyable, calming read. Thank you.
Beautimous! The importance of water in all of our lives and in our childhoods is often almost taken for granted. For me it was a frog pond a block or so from my childhood home, and the big woods and the Flat Branch of the Sangamon about a 2 mile hike down the tracks. And given permission to play in the rain and splash in big puddles. Life shaping places and times.
I bet Chris Jones will like this one, Jess!!