I am the Audience

Cameras are not eyes

February 27, 2023

dancing in the field of dreams

Eyes are not cameras. I’m not sure which way of saying that is best. Both are obviously accurate and, obviously, accurate.

To use a camera well, one must get in the habit of seeing the background and periphery of whatever one is focused on so that one can modify the view to preserve the image one wishes to record. Or one must be prepared to edit the photograph taken to remove the excess.

I am quite sure that professional and habitual photographers look at the world with different eyes than (many? most?). I’m not sure if that means their view/vision encompasses more or less than the eyes of those of us less camera oriented.

My eyes don’t notice the smudge on my window where a bird had a spasm and missed the feeder in its excitement. My camera does. My eyes don’t notice the screen in the window. My camera does. My eyes see the tree. My camera swallows the tree in the green behind it. Frankly, sometimes my eyes don’t see dust on a table until it’s changed the color of the paint.

Eyes as metaphor for Ego is easy. But, cameras are still Ego, just on a grander scale. And with a different Perspective.
Bonsai adjacent

February 10, 2023

bonsai

I have a friend who is a potter and I have been the recipient of several gifts from her. She made 3 bonsai pots for me and had given me a small, rectangular decorative pot that used the same glaze even before that. I have been keeping moss in the little pot.

Shitakusa in a Patti pot

There is even a name for my pot of moss in the bonsai world. It is “shitakusa.” Shitakusa are little accent plants that are displayed along side bonsai.

Another side item is “suiseki.” These are stones that are particularly interesting. I’m pretty sure that’s where Terry Pratchett got the idea for the bonsai mountains tended to by Lu Tze, the History Monk. The National Arboretum in Washington, DC has a lovely display of suiseki in their bonsai exhibition. I do not have any suiseki.
Wood fire

February 9, 2023

a day in this life, family

I will never in my life watch a wood fire burn without thinking of my maternal grandmother. Kate always had a fire place and used it.

I vividly remember going to her house one year for Xmas and sitting by the fire to eat pound cake and drink orange juice. The orange juice was odd. Not as odd as drinking it after brushing your teeth. But, it should have been milk. I suspect something didn’t get picked up at the grocery. And, aside from my grandfather who had already gone to bed, I have no clue where the rest of my family was.

When I reminded her of that night 30-odd years later, she was surprised that I remembered it, too.

After her house was broken into twice after my grandfather died, she decided to take my parents up on their offer to live with them. (She was out of town both times.) That mother-in-law’s apartment had a fireplace, too. When she didn’t remember to open the flue when she started a fire and sat bundled in a blanket with the windows open until they came home from work, her daughter and son-in-law had to start making plans for her to live somewhere with more supervision as they both still had to work full time and there was no one to stay with her when they weren’t there.

I have no idea how many nights we sat by a fire and talked about poetry and history. She was especially enamored of the Tudors.

Orange and black embers with a lick of blue flame is a portrait of my Mama.
I did not take pictures because they would be pointless

February 3, 2023

art, Beautiful

Tonight, we went to the Gregg Museum of Art & Design at NC State University in Raleigh, NC. The Gregg is on the small side. But, every time we have been there, they have had amazing exhibitions that are worth the hour in the car to visit.

There was an opening event for the newest exhibition this evening. I can’t go on the weekend and they aren’t open late any weeknight. So, in order to go with my friend, Kimberlin, we had to go tonight. We were all 3 gobsmacked.

This is Not: Aldwyth in Retrospect is overwhelming. She has made massive collages and found art sculptures that are just fabulous.

We intend to go again, during the day, when we mostly have the place to ourselves. I may try to get some photos to show you what has me so blown away. I may be incapable.
Watching together

January 25, 2023

family

I do not remember going to the movies with only my dad. I vaguely remember going to the drive-in with both of my parents when I was wee, before I had sisters. and I remember being in the car with the sound box in the window more than I remember the movie, although I’ve been told that’s where I saw Snow White the first time.

Our parents did take all of their daughters to see Blazing Saddles. They had already been to see it and wanted to watch us when the cowboys had beans around the campfire. My sisters were 9 and 7; I was 14.

My mother, grandmother and I went to see Mary, Queen of Scots together. I was shocked by the murder of Lord Dudley. They were surprised by that. Kate said, “You knew he was murdered.” I said, “I guess I didn’t expect to watch it happen.” The only other movie I ever saw with my grandmother was Titanic and she was ready to leave after the ship sank. The love story was uninteresting to her. I believe she thought it was going to be a documentary.

I watched television with my dad. Laugh In. M*A*S*H. Hee Haw. Carol Burnette. I remember the 3 of us watching Ed Sullivan and Red Skelton together. But, when I was older, my mother either did other things while we watched those shows or didn’t really participate in the laughing and commentary.

One of her oddities was her loathing of day time soap operas but love of the night time ones. She did everything she could to stop me watching All My Children and Dark Shadows. I assumed she thought Dark Shadows would give me nightmares. But, I think she just hated that it was a soap opera. I binged AMC 2 or 3 times in my life, watching for a few weeks and then getting tired of it and leaving it alone for years. She always rolled her eyes and nagged me about watching it.f

But, my parents watched the night time soaps together and she loved them. Dallas and Knots Landing were never missed. Except by me. I thought they were stupid, the people and the stories. And not in an amusing way. The 30 minute day time shows amused me and the 60 minute night time shows did not.

Cameras are not eyes

Bonsai adjacent

Wood fire

I did not take pictures because they would be pointless

Watching together