Morning Walk. See, But Can’t Sit.

~ Live & Learn

It started on Friday with my virtual Aussie friend commenting on my T.G.I.F. post: “So, are you sitting there yet.” And like Pavlov’s dog, I take the bait and reply: “Sitting? There? Anywhere? No.”  But, the punch lands and it hangs all day yesterday, and into the wee hours of this morning when I reply: “It’s 2:10 am here. Lifeline required.” She gives me another shot, this time about gadget addiction.  What is it about me that encourages these blows?

I step away from her truths (therapy) and go back and re-read her last post titled “Accept…then Act” @ Living in This Moment —  “change comes from making space in stillness to see my situation from a higher perspective…” Like WTH is that, and where does one start? I totally have the “Act Act Act” part down, or perhaps better stated” Do Do Do Do.”

I read several chapters in Susan Burton’s new book “Empty: A Memoir” and stop at “…A deeper understanding, a new tenderness.” I close the book, crawl out of bed and get ready for my morning walk.

4:30 am. I’m out the door.

Day 80. Same loop. To/from Cove Island Park. 5 miles. Getting bored of the same track. No.

I had always loved photographs. But hated taking pictures. Figure that one out.

So, for one that has no shortage of gadgets, we add another to the inventory. And the memory card. The sling to carry the extra lens. And an extra battery.

And me and my camera things Walk.

So, what I have I learned in 80 days?

“So, are you sitting there yet.”

No.  But, I can stop. Not for long. Just a few seconds to take the shot. And I see you smirking —  “Giant win DK!” And I would say, “It’s Something.” It’s not for long. It’s not long enough to wait for the bird to move into the right light for another shot.  And certainly, no, not to Sit on the bench at Cove Island Park and watch the morning Sun rise. No. Not once. And I have passed that bench 80x.

But, But…But for this new camera, and this new hobby, I would not stop.  And as John Ruskin said some time back in the 1800’s: “Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.”

I’m beginning to See.

 

Notes:

  • Photo: Daybreak. 5:36 am. July 25, 2020. 71° F. Humidity 97%. Wind: 2 mph. Gusts: 3 mph. Cloud Cover: 23%. Weed Ave, Stamford, CT
  • John Ruskin Quote: Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels

52 thoughts on “Morning Walk. See, But Can’t Sit.”

  2. When my daughters were playing sports, I would bring my “gear” and take hundreds of pictures, trying to get that prefect, action shot. Too bad I never got to see and enjoy the games. Sometimes, us guys, we learn slow.

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    2. “Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
      He went flying down the river in his boat
      with his video camera to his eye, making
      a moving picture of the moving river
      upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
      toward the end of his vacation. He showed
      his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
      preserving it forever…
      so that after he had had it he would still
      have it. It would be there. With a flick
      of a switch, there it would be. But he
      would not be in it.
      He would never be in it.

      The Vacation
      BY WENDELL BERRY

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  3. Being able to see…to notice what you are noticing is incremental and liberating. I’m glad you have found a glimpse of the wonder of it. Someday you will be like Big Bird sitting on the Central Park bench. That was a photo you posted that has stayed with me when I’m busy being quiet and noticing. P. S. It’s also addicting in a good way and watching a sunrise doesn’t take too long.

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  4. Our Aussie friend has a way of laying her finger right on the nerve ending, doesn’t she? 😉 Sometimes it can take a bit for the scales to fall from our eyes, but seems to me like you’re getting there, pal. Keep the faith…

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  5. The Theatron — Greek reference to “The Seeing Place,” the early amphitheater of the Classical Age. We sit. We hear. We See. the action unfolds before us, but the chorus does not move much—the chorus just speaks–fills in the lines with obtuse information and ideas. The audience is required to do some of this work. Do we See? Can we see? We sit, We eat, Drink wine, We participate in civic/cultural life.
    That’s what this is. Another seeing place, and more…
    More…here and there

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  6. Are you hearing my sighs, do you feel the breeze of my head flying from left to right and back? Are you listening to a word I say? …..
    Of course, thought so!

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  7. Good morning David, I left a note on Karen’s blog. Thank you for introducing me to her. I read her post a few times to let the words sink in. A great deal of wisdom in her post.

    I also took a peak at Susan Barton’s new book. Intriguing.

    Your post inspires me to go out today to take pictures, just for the sheer joy of taking pictures. I don’t compose, set apertures, or fiddle around at all. I do stop, notice, see, and for a brief moment, time stands still. A temporary respite.

    “I’m beginning to See.” Goosebumps.

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    1. Hi Erica. If you haven’t, check out Karen’s “About” page on her blog. She is a woman who speaks and counsels from real painful experiences. Someone that I respect highly. Thanks for dropping by and sharing.

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  9. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    PHOTOGRAPHY … “Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.” – I’m beginning to See.!!

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  11. There are three kinds of people in the world.
    1. The kind that sits and savors, when ever they get the chance.
    2. The kind that stands there and takes pictures, for kind #1 to enjoy.
    3. YOU!

    As for our dear friend Karen, “”There is a secret medicine given only to those who hurt so hard they cannot hope,” Rumi promises. “The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.””
    ~ Mirabai Starr, Caravan of No Despair.

    I do not wish you or anyone else what makes Karen see what we never will.

    I hold both of you in my heart. What you see. And what she sees.

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          5. Transformation, with an upper case T!
            1. No Transformation took place.
            2. Hence, there will be no Great Unraveling.
            3. Now that you keep saying that I should go in for a blood test. I might be menopausal and I don’t know it. Maybe this is the change you keep talking about.

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  12. Ok, I’m the naysayer here…you’ve ‘seen’, Dave – were it not for all you’ve observed, you wouldn’t be able to describe the nuances and details of your life experience so beautifully. So beautifully in fact, that it allows others to see, too. Are you a competitive, somewhat irascible, loveable insomniac? Without question 😉

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  13. Oops, I hit send too soon…All of this doesn’t mean that with your new camera and lens in hand, you won’t change the perspective, enlarge the vista by narrowing the view. And it arguably will require a bit of patience…and we will love what you allow us to see.

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  15. Oh I’m so touched by such beautiful community and comments here. Dave if I seem tough, and annoying!! Ha 🙄 it’s because I too, with one very busy mind, could never sit down and be with this immense beauty. Maybe deep down there was a belief I didn’t deserve to sit in the presence of this beauty, either way, the practice was for me to test it, and once I began to feel this sacred union, there was no going back. You are seeing this beauty. In so many ways. In your way, in your time. I’m just the Aussie in the background cheering you on further 👏👏👏👏🥰💕💚

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  16. This post reminds me of what Chris is going through now. The “What now, once what I have asked for repeatedly is given (with this move)? Freedom, hmm. What to do with it? A chance to reinvent myself, to delve back into my artistic soul.” I am so happy that he gets this chance before he is too entrenched in a profession that he no longer remembers. How. To be. To create. ❤

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