Smilin' Jack 3: 2019

Life goes on . . .

It's been a while since I've visited with this Blog. I think I entered these pictures for Chapter 6 sometime in late November or December of last year (2018) but then I was struck with a malaise of listlessness and, yes, even an unhealthy dose of melancholy. I was, for a good while, a pensive old man.

I also feel now, as I sit and reflect on my dispirited condition, that there were simply too many photos to work with; too much required to give them context and make them semi-interesting. It was too great a duty to give them some bit of life and interest. I simply quit; walked away.

Yet, I began coming back to this Blog these last few months until, finally, I made the decision to put the Chapter out there. I have a definite cynical view of this venture of mine. I had, once, thought it might be somewhat interesting but now realize it's just for me (and one or two others). And that's OK. It is my mark, as it were, on the world that I could affect and make uniquely my own.

And so, here it is again. I'll try to give some guidance to these pictures but I think, after all this time, that they will have to stand on their own. Too much time has gone between the then and the now to try and recoup the feelings or attitude of the person I was then (a scant period of around nine months!!) and the fellow I am now. I can only guess to the feelings I had then.

Let's begin . . . I have conflicted feelings about the beach here in Lincoln City, It has its beauty which I appreciate but as a fun place to be it's far too cold, windy and rough for this boy who grew up with the sunny, hot and generally calmer beaches of Southern California. I can count on two hands the number of times I've been ON the beach in the last two years. I want to be there but I don't make any effort to be there.

Here's a typical day in LCO. Cool and windy.

I have an almost primeval urge to capture the strength, fury, beauty of the waves moving to the shore and I always feel I've missed it in some way; that the picture I have is lacking and doesn't draw together to give an idea of what I was personally seeing.

Ratz.

And, yet, I try.

In the words of the immortal song, 'Tubthumping', by those intellectual giants, 'Chumbawamba',

I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down
I get knocked down, but I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down

Hahaha, get the idea?

This is a good one, Amy and Michelle took me on a '70 on Route 66' trip (a trip of a lifetime!!) in November of '18. On it, I got this puzzle and shortly after I got back home, I began assembling it.

And it were good,

Victory!!

It took some doing but I persevered. It was, truly, fun to see these places I'd visited with my daughters come together.

Keen fun.

The Mother Road

A poignant and significant memory of my childhood.

Hey, back to the beach wave thingie.

I must really have a thing for waves.

The wave action was particularly heavy this day. Larger waves than normal. I'm betting ALL these were taken from the comfort of my bluff.

My living room and, for me, an interesting view in lines, shadows and monotony.

I am trying to capture . . . order? I work at reflecting symmetry, repetition, continuity in my work. I just can't quite achieve in the photo what I'm seeing in my head.

Just the yellow Macs contrasted by the grays of the sea and sky.

Waves!! What a surprise!!

There was some kind of moon out. Lately it seems they're so little under-employed that they create quirky names for the various moons each month. In our technological world, we have so much free time that we've created a career niche for folks to find things to amuse, entertain, distract, guide or focus us on.

Seriously, what is the significance to we urban dwellers in our electronically computer enhanced lives in knowing this is a 'Blood Moon' or that is a 'Wolf Moon' other than to give us some activity with which to fill our long hours; to distract us, divert us or amuse us.

Our modern world has given us too much free time I think.

And, for me, the time filler was to go out and capture an image of this particular moon. Much like I've done a dozen times before.

BUT!! And therein lies the attraction!! This is a "______" (fill in the blank with your favorite catchy tune) Moon!!

And that's the allure. A distraction to help us fill our days.

(P.S. If this was taken in November, as I think it was, then this is a 'Beaver Moon'. How apropos for this, the Beaver State. I don't believe there's any connection, though.)

Aw, c'mon, no one can fault me for this; the ocean AND a dramatic sunset.

From the Bluff!!

Heaven forbid I actually go down ONTO the beach.

Hahaha, it never gets old, does it!?!

And it especially attractive when there is a human element to give it some order. Something for the mind to use to put it in scale.

What!?!

A picture of the moon!?!

How novel!!

I do like this Oregon beauty.

I drove down to the south of LCO for a walk. It was through a residential area that trailed along the beach. Where I parked, I found this hidden lake . . . this treasure set quietly along the parking lot in this residential area.